Summarize Written Text is the first task in on PTE Writing section. I will be sharing 3 different strategies, which helps to achieve either 50 or 65 or 79+ respectively. Let us see what this item type has, the scoring structure and strategies, that I mentioned.
Understand PTE Summarize Written Text Task
In PTE summarize written text, after reading the passage write a single sentence with proper punctuations. A capital letter at the beginning and a full stop at the end. Don’t forget the full stop and don’t write more than one sentence. If you do so, the score will be zero. In the exam we will get either 2 or 3 questions with text up to 300 words. You will be having a maximum of 10 minutes for this task to respond. This looks more time but sometimes it will be hard to write within this time limit.
Moreover, we should maintain the word count between 5 to 75. However, keep it between 50 to 60 as it is appropriate limit and we can avoid much spelling and grammar mistakes. Summarize written text contributes marks for reading and writing sections. You can do cut copy paste of your response. But don’t use keyboard shortcuts as it is not working properly. Use the cut copy paste buttons available in the screen.
Scoring structure
PTE Summarize Written Text contributes around 10 marks for both reading and writing sections. ‘The quality of your text’ and ‘its key points’ are evaluated based on your response. Moreover, the score is calculated based on the below factors.
Content
Content is scored by identifying the main idea of the passage and its supporting key points. It should not be irrelevant to the text. If it is not representing the topic or the purpose of the passage, your summary will be scored zero. Therefore, focus only on the main idea and its supporting key points.
Form
As I already mentioned, if your summary contains lesser than 5 words or more than 75 words, you will not receive any score in PTE summarize written text.
Grammar and Vocabulary
‘Grammar’ is scored by determining the basic structure of the sentence. Use the complex and compound sentences or linking words appropriately. Paraphrase only the insignificant words (non-keywords) such as plenty to prolific, tired to exhausted. Don’t paraphrase the key points because if it is not relevant to the passage the score will be reduced. In addition, use academic vocabulary for paraphrasing.
The words such as absolute, tomorrow, opportunity: these words look simple but we may replace ‘a’ with ‘o’ or ‘o’ with ‘a’ and this will be a blunder mistake. Hence, PTE will reduce much marks if we make either one or couple of mistakes like this. Therefore, be careful about spellings and double check your response.
PTE Summarize Written Text Strategies
Try to use complex and compound sentence to summarize the main point and its supporting details.
For 50 plus and 65 plus
Sentence1 from passage1 and Sentence2 of passage2 but/and Sentence3 of passage3.
For 79 plus
The text provides the information about <main topic>, which indicates that <key point1>, <key point2> and <key point3> are fundamental elements, furthermore, the unique aspects of <key point4>, <key point5> as well as <key point6> were delineated, however/moreover, the significance of <key point7>, <key point8> and <key point9> really could not be overestimated.
Understanding the template
Here ‘which indicates’ – this is what the complex sentence. The key point1 and key point2 may be in second sentence. To join them with the first sentence, we can use which clause. ‘Furthermore’ is a compound sentence to combine the sentences. You can use moreover, in addition, however, or besides which helps to link the sentences to single sentence.
You can use these two strategies to get your desired score. I cannot guarantee you to score 90 marks but for 79 plus this will do. On top of that make sure the other tasks such as write from dictation, reading drop-down fibs should be perfectly correct. If you do one or couple of mistakes in those tasks then your score may end up to 78 or 77. Because, in summarize written text we have to stick to below 75 words, therefore, we may not be able to capture more key points to fit with the template.
Moreover, if you use key points, make sure that the phrases should have 4 or 5 words and not more than that. Also if you write a perfect sentence without key points, the marks will be zero. As a result, using key points from the text is significant in PTE summarize written text. So keeping all these in mind you can use the template at your own risk. However, if we follow the method, we can capture all or most of the key points in summarize written text.
Let’s look at couple of examples with all these strategies.
Namibia
When Namibia gained independence in 1990, teenager Pascolena Florry was herding goats in the country’s dry, desolate northern savannah. Her job, unpaid and dangerous, was to protect her parents’ livestock from preying jackals and leopards. She saw wildlife as the enemy, and many of the other indigenous inhabitants of Namibia’s rural communal lands shared her view.
Wildlife poaching was commonplace. Fifteen years later, 31-year-old Pascolena’s life and outlook are very different. She has built a previously undreamed-of career in tourism and is the first black Namibian to be appointed the manager of a guest lodge. Her village and hundreds of others have directly benefited from government efforts to devolve wildlife management and tourism development on communal lands to conservancies run by indigenous peoples. “Now we see the wildlife as our way of creating jobs and opportunities as the tourism industry grows”, she also says. “The future is better with wildlife around, not only for jobs but also for the environment” (Florry2004).
PTE Summarize Written Text – Strategy1
We will start with strategy1. This is a small text, so grab first, middle and last sentence from the passage.
Fifteen years later.. – this can be the middle sentence. However, if you are confused on which one to pick between these two sentences, read them and pick the important one. Here she has built a career which is more important than the above one. So pick that one. And finally the last sentence. So we can combine the selected sentences using the compound sentence like below.
Sample response
When Namibia gained independence in 1990, teenager Pascolena Florry was herding goats in the country’s dry, desolate northern savannah and she has built a previously undreamed-of career in tourism and is the first black Namibian to be appointed the manager of a guest lodge and the future is better with wildlife around, not only for jobs but also for the environment.
We got 61 words which is completely fine.
PTE Summarize Written Text – Strategy2
Now we will see the strategy2 to score 79 plus in summarize written text.
When Namibia gained independence in 1990, teenager Pascolena Florry was herding goats in the country’s dry, desolate northern savannah. Her job, unpaid and dangerous, was to protect her parents’ livestock from preying jackals and leopards. She saw wildlife as the enemy, and many of the other indigenous inhabitants of Namibia’s rural communal lands shared her view.
Wildlife poaching was commonplace. Fifteen years later, 31-year-old Pascolena’s life and outlook are very different. She has built a previously undreamed-of career in tourism and is the first black Namibian to be appointed the manager of a guest lodge. Her village and hundreds of others have directly benefited from government efforts to devolve wildlife management and tourism development on communal lands to conservancies run by indigenous peoples. “Now we see the wildlife as our way of creating jobs and opportunities as the tourism industry grows”, she also says. “The future is better with wildlife around, not only for jobs but also for the environment” (Florry 2004).
How to use the template
First type the template quickly in the text box on the screen and then grab the key points.
The text provides the information about <main topic>, which indicates that <key point1>, <key point2> and <key point3> are fundamental elements, furthermore, the unique aspects of <key point4>, <key point5> as well as <key point6> were delineated, however/moreover, the significance of <key point7>, <key point8> and <key point9> really could not be overestimated.
Try to understand the passage, identify the main topic and pick whatever is connected with the main idea, ignore the other details. Mostly the topic will be present in the first sentence and rarely in the second sentence. So here the topic is about her job. After we find the topic we need to identify the the supporting points. Grab only what she is doing, for what purpose she is doing and so on. Just ignore the details like where, when and how.
If the sentence is following the previous sentence, use ‘moreover’. If it is opposing the previous sentence, use ‘however’. Here, “jobs and opportunities are created by wildlife”, hence use ‘moreover’. If it is spoiling by wildlife then use ‘however’.
Sample response
The text provides the information about Pascolena Florry’s job, which indicates that she was herding goats, protected livestock and saw wildlife as enemy are fundamental elements, furthermore, the unique aspects of career in tourism, benefits of village, wildlife management as well as tourism development were delineated, moreover, the significance of creating jobs, opportunities and environment really could not be overestimated.
Use as many keywords as possible and stick to the word limit. We got 60 words for this text, which is more than enough. This is small text, therefore, with this template we can capture more keywords. Suppose if the passage is lengthy we will not be able to capture many key phrases. That is why we can get 79 plus but not sure about 90. We will see that as well in the next example.
Now let’s look at the method for this text.
PTE Summarize Written Text – Strategy3
When Namibia gained independence in 1990, teenager Pascolena Florry was herding goats in the country’s dry, desolate northern savannah. Her job, unpaid and dangerous, was to protect her parents’ livestock from preying jackals and leopards. She saw wildlife as the enemy, and many of the other indigenous inhabitants of Namibia’s rural communal lands shared her view.
Wildlife poaching was commonplace. Fifteen years later, 31-year-old Pascolena’s life and outlook are very different. She has built a previously undreamed-of career in tourism and is the first black Namibian to be appointed the manager of a guest lodge. Her village and hundreds of others have directly benefited from government efforts to devolve wildlife management and tourism development on communal lands to conservancies run by indigenous peoples. “Now we see the wildlife as our way of creating jobs and opportunities as the tourism industry grows”, she also says. “The future is better with wildlife around, not only for jobs but also for the environment” (Florry 2004).
Sample response
When Namibia gained independence in 1990, Pascolena Florry was herding goats, protected livestock and saw wildlife as the enemy, however, fifteen years later, she has built a career in tourism, which benefited her and her village to devolve wildlife management and tourism development, furthermore, wildlife created jobs and opportunities through tourism, and ameliorated the future.
Here she has built a career in wildlife, but she saw this as enemy. Even though this is negative point, she has done something positive. Therefore, mention however instead of moreover. “Creating jobs and opportunities as the tourism industry grows”. This is supporting the previous sentence. So use furthermore or moreover.
Here you can paraphrase the words: protected to guarded, saw as considered, devolve to transfer. Wherever possible use the synonyms but don’t paraphrase the entire key points. The words such as livestock, tourism, wildlife – keep these words as it is. But try to use the academic vocabulary such as ameliorate instead of better, use only if you are confident. Otherwise keep it as it is. So using the method we got 55 words.
Let’s see how to respond for lengthy text.
Reduce Crime Rates
Armed police have been brought into NSW schools to reduce crime rates and educate students. The 40 School Liaison Police (SLP) officers have been allocated to public and private high schools across the state. Organizers say the officers, who began work last week, will build positive relationships between police and students. But parent groups warned of potential dangers of armed police working at schools in communities where police relations were already under strain.
Among their duties, the SLPs will conduct crime prevention workshops, talking to students about issues including shoplifting, offensive behavior, graffiti and drugs, and alcohol. They can also advise school principals. One SLP, Constable Ben Purvis, began to work in the inner Sydney region last week, including at Alexandria Park Community School’s senior campus. Previously stationed as a crime prevention officer at The Rocks’ he now has 27 schools under his jurisdiction in areas including The Rocks, Redfern and Kings Cross.
Constable Purvis said the full-time position would see him working on the broader issues of crime prevention. “I am not a security guard”, he said. “I am not there to patrol the school. We want to improve relationships between police and schoolchildren, to have a positive interaction. We are coming to the school and giving them the knowledge to improve their own safety.”
The use of fake ID among older students is among the issues he has already discussed with principals.
Parents’ groups responded to the program positively, but said it may spark a range of community reactions.
“It is a good thing and an innovative idea and there could be some positive benefits”, Council of Catholic School Parents executive officer Danielle Cronin said. “Different communities will respond to this kind of presence in different ways.”
Strategy1
This has 5 paragraphs. But for strategy1 we just need 3 sentences. But it’s fine to pick even 4 sentences as well.
Sample response
Armed police have been brought into NSW schools to reduce crime rates and educate students and Constable Purvis said the full-time position would see him working on the broader issues of crime prevention and it is a good thing and an innovative idea and there could be some positive benefits but different communities will respond to this kind of presence in different ways.
The last two sentences are contradicting to each other, so we should use ‘but’ instead of ‘and’.
Strategy2
Similar to the previous example, type the template first.
The text provides the information about <main topic>, which indicates that <key point1>, <key point2> and <key point3> are fundamental elements, furthermore, the unique aspects of <key point4>, <key point5> as well as <key point6> were delineated, however/moreover, the significance of <key point7>, <key point8> and <key point9> really could not be overestimated.
Find the main idea from the first line. Here, this is to teach students on how to reduce crime rates. Mention this in the main topic and now find the supporting points. Again focus on what they are going to teach and what the students are going to learn. Ignore the rest of the details. ‘Parent groups…’: connect this sentence with main idea. When compared to educating students, this seems to be an extra detail. Hence, ignore this.
Sample response
The text provides the information about reducing crime rates and educate students, which indicates that it will build positive relationships, conduct crime prevention workshops and talking about issues are fundamental elements, furthermore, the unique aspects of having a positive interaction as well as improving their own safety were delineated, moreover, the significance of innovative idea and positive benefits really could not be overestimated.
Now review it and correct the grammar. Here, I just grabbed only 9 key points. For that itself we are getting 63 words. Though we didn’t capture all the key points, this will do. We will also see the other strategy quickly.
Strategy3
Armed police have been brought into NSW schools to reduce crime rates and educate students. The 40 School Liaison Police (SLP) officers have been allocated to public and private high schools across the state. Organizers say the officers, who began work last week, will build positive relationships between police and students. But parent groups warned of potential dangers of armed police working at schools in communities where police relations were already under strain.
Among their duties, the SLPs will conduct crime prevention workshops, talking to students about issues including shoplifting, offensive behavior, graffiti and drugs, and alcohol. They can also advise school principals. One SLP, Constable Ben Purvis, began to work in the inner Sydney region last week, including at Alexandria Park Community School’s senior campus. Previously stationed as a crime prevention officer at The Rocks’ he now has 27 schools under his jurisdiction in areas including The Rocks, Redfern and Kings Cross.
Constable Purvis said the full-time position would see him working on the broader issues of crime prevention. “I am not a security guard”, he said. “I am not there to patrol the school. We want to improve relationships between police and schoolchildren, to have a positive interaction. We are coming to the school and giving them the knowledge to improve their own safety.”
The use of fake ID among older students is among the issues he has already discussed with principals.
Parents’ groups responded to the program positively, but said it may spark a range of community reactions.
“It is a good thing and an innovative idea and there could be some positive benefits”, Council of Catholic School Parents executive officer Danielle Cronin said. “Different communities will respond to this kind of presence in different ways.”
Sample response
Armed police have been brought to public and private schools to reduce crime rates and educate students by building positive relationships, conducting crime prevention workshops, talking about issues, having a positive interaction and improving their own safety, furthermore, parents’ groups responded positively, and there could be some positive benefits, however, different communities will respond in different ways.
Parents group responded.. – this is partially supporting as it talks about the positive response and the benefits of educating students. So we can include this as well.
Different communities… – Even this as well. Now make the grammatical corrections. Here the last two sentences are contradicting each other. Therefore, use however. Finally use the vocabulary wherever is possible such as reduce – diminish, improve – develop etc. But leave as it is if you are not sure. Now without the template we are getting 57 words. With this strategy, we are able to capture almost all key points within the word limit.
Conclusion
In summary, always ensure that you are not making any grammar mistakes and spelling. Use proper synonyms in PTE summarize written text. Also we may think that we have more time to respond but sometimes 10 minutes is not enough. Therefore, use the strategies and start typing after reading each sentence. Don’t waste time to read the entire paragraph. Because to read the paragraph itself it will take around 2 minutes. But if you type along while reading, you can manage the time and have sufficient time for reviewing.
Don’t even make a single mistake in grammar and spelling. As a result, it will affect the score drastically. Sometimes we may feel that we did all correct but unknowingly we may do mistakes. Therefore, double check your response word-by-word and make sure everything is perfect. Take around 2 minutes, only for reviewing. Hope this post gives some useful tips. Well thanks for reading and have a wonderful day.
