A guide to summarize written text in the PTE Academic test

Bhargavee Sisodia

06 May 2024

Summarizing Written Text is the first task of the writing section of the PTE test. In this part, students will be given between 1 to 3 passages to summarize. Most students find it difficult to summarize long passages into a single sentence because of less time given in the exam. However, with the right approach and practice, anyone can gain good scores in this particular section of the PTE exam. Here we have created a guide to summarize written text in the PTE Academic test, following which you can earn great points. Scroll down to know tips and strategies that you can follow to summarize written text in a manner that fulfills all the scoring guidelines of this section.

What is PTE Summarize Written Text?

As the name speaks for itself, PTE Summarize written text is all summarizing a paragraph into a concise summary. In the exam, you will get a long paragraph of 150-200 words which you have to read, analyze and summarize in one single sentence of 5-75 Words. In order to score well, you will have to complete this particular task within 10 minutes.

Scoring Pattern

If you want to score well in this section of your PTE exam, remember the below mentioned scoring pattern. You can easily earn good points if you keep the guidelines of summarizing content in the mind:

Content

2 -  very well structured summary text including all significant points mentioned. 1 - Clear yet concise summary of the text with unmissable important points mentioned. 0 - Poor summary of the text with fewer important points mentioned.

Vocabulary

2 - Words are used appropriately and are explaining the main context of the text. 1 - Words are not used in the right manner or place but content is still understandable. 0 - Words are used inappropriately and content is not understandable.

Form

1 - Content is very well written in a single complete sentence. 0 - Content is written in long and multiple sentences or is not defined in the appropriate number of words.

Grammar

2 - Content is defined in proper grammatical structure and includes all the basic grammatical elements required. 1 - Content has reasonable grammatical structure but not perfect. 0 - Content is defined in a poor grammatical structure that interferes with comprehension.

Practice With the Scoring Guidelines

To effectively summarize written text, students must take care of one of the most important things that is the scoring guidelines. If you remember these guidelines you can easily practice summarizing content based on the most important factors.

• You must always use the words that you are familiar with and know how and when to use them. This strategy will help you guarantee your 2 points for vocabulary.
• You should always follow the rule of writing in a single sentence. This will help you gain 1 point for form.
• You must summarize or make a gist of the major points in the content that is there is the exam. This will help you acquire at least 2 points for your content.

Most students find the grammatical section very difficult because writing grammar properly can be complex to figure out, even for native speakers. If you can curate content using correct grammar, you can easily gain at least a single point for that section.

General Grammar Guidelines:

• Always take care of the punctuation
• Include commas whenever required
• Use third person when writing a sentence
• Capitalize the first word in a sentence
• Capitalize proper nouns

Do’s and don’ts of the summarize written text

• Notice the timer when you summarize text. Your timer turns red once you have under five minutes left.
• Make sure to copy your text before making any radical changes to your summary. It will help you save time or energy in case you wish to use the content past the changes.
• Always remember that you can only cut, copy, and paste from the text that you have written inside the box.
• In case you have completed your summary and still had some time left, make sure to utilize that time in checking your grammar, spelling, and punctuation again. Going next does not save you the remaining time.

Overall Tips:

• You must try to write short sentences of between 35-45 words. Too long sentences are not generally grammatically correct. PTE scoring algorithms are not designed in a manner to evaluate your long sentences correctly. So try to make sentences as short yet informative as possible.
• Make sure to capitalize the starting words and nouns (Names) in the sentence.
• Write the summary in third person form. Avoid using words like I, We, you… etc.
• Make sure to write big sentences in bullet points for each paragraph to start.
• Try to summarize all your bullet points into a single sentence.
• Make sure that you don’t write any reasons or examples to justify your answer.
• Generally, the heart of the content lies in the conclusion part. Make sure to curate a summary in the last paragraph.
• Pay attention to the small details and facts that you use only full stop/period at the end of the sentence.
• Check your grammar just after you write so as to avoid grammatical errors.
• Also, try to make a gist of each para first so as to curate a single sentence out of it.
• Make sure to not miss out any significant information when you summarize the content.
• Make sure to use transition words like however, or, but to create a healthy yet authentic content.
• Do not include any information that is not given in the text.
• Use words that you know well.
• Make sure that you follow all the scoring guidelines when writing and practicing.
• Make sure that you don’t repeat the same words as in the text. Try to use synonyms or other different words concluding the same meaning as given in the text.
• Practice typing before you appear for the exam. This will help you type fast in your exam and save time for further corrections.

If you're planning to score well in your summarizing written text section of your PTE exam you must practice each of the above-mentioned tips. In your practice sessions, you can pick any text you want to strategize your exam accordingly. You can also use a page out of a book or a page from a magazine or newspaper to summarize the content into single sentences or pointers. Try to include all the important information into one short sentence to provide a clear idea about what that was all about. Make sure to avoid information that is not required or not related to the text. You don’t have to speak in this particular section of your exam, but your writing skills are evaluated by the summary you write in the exam. A well-structured summary reflects your knowledge of the English language. We hope you got all the information you were looking for about summarizing written text in the PTE Academic test. For more such information, you can also contact us directly at D – Vivid Consultant. With constructive counseling sessions and guidelines laid by our experts, we can help you prepare for the writing section so that you acquire good scores in your PTE exam. We also advice 30-days PTE academic preparation plan at our PTE coaching in Surat.