It doesn't hurt to approach the problem in different ways during the preparation stage, like what you're doing now. See if you can eliminate step 1 gradually, minimize step 3 so you won't spend too much time writing on the exam but still capture the essence, and narrow down the "new words" in step 8 to the crucial ones that you're likely to see again, for example, transitional words and words that are indicative of one's attitude.