Summarize Written Text requires multiple skills at the same time to face it successfully. To name a few, test-takers need to comprehend, summarise, focus and so on to deal with this item type. In this article, we will be exploring from basic information about this question type to the most effective step-by-step strategy for the highest score possible.
Fundamental information
Task: After reading a paragraph, summarise the passage in one sentence no more than 75 words
Summarize Written Text is evaluated based on Form, Content, Grammar (spelling) and Vocabulary. We need to understand how this question is scored to get the most out of this unique strategy because everything is academically developed based on the grading elements to help test-takers achieve the highest score possible. Take a look at this article: “PTE grading elements and how questions are scored” to understand how all PTE question types are scored.
Please bear in mind that learning strategies only help students utilise their current level in the most effective way, not to improve a huge gap. For example, if your current level is around 40-50 scores, this strategy will increase your chances of getting 50 scores but not over 60. In case you want to achieve 60+ or even higher, then you need to upgrade your four English skills. At the end of this strategy, we left a link to “05 PTE unique preparation steps” to achieve any desired score for your study.
And now, let’s get started.
Step 1: Read and tips to take notes
Recommended timer: 5-6 minutes
Some students may ask “Why do we use up to 5 minutes in this Step to read and take notes?”. There are a few reasons to explain. Firstly, the text is up to 300 words, which is very long for most students. Secondly, we only need to write up to 75 words to answer, so we may need around 3 minutes to do so. Last but not least, reading the whole text thoroughly and taking notes carefully are truly crucial to comprehend all key points in order to write a concise and accurate summary. As a result, we spend half of the time given to do this preparation.
1.1. How to read
If we sit for the PTE Academic, we can only read it silently while facing texts during the test. Therefore, whatever question types students are facing, please only read them in silence.
cre: Pearson
It applies to all question types that have texts to read, we need to read the whole text to comprehend it before taking notes. Go read this article “Strategies to take notes in the PTE” for a better understanding of why we should read the whole text before taking notes. We strongly recommend you read that article first before finishing this one.
If we read silently, the normal reading speed is around 130 words per minute. Therefore, if you are a slow reader, you would need a maximum of three (03) minutes to complete a text of 300 words. Moreover, most of the time, the number of words doesn’t reach 300, so we will spend less than three minutes to complete it. While reading, test-takers need to completely focus on reading the text to comprehend the main content. There may be words that we do not understand for sure, don’t worry, just relax and keep reading because our job is to comprehend the main content and related key points, not to understand word by word.
1.2. How to take notes
If you already read the above article “Strategies to take notes in the PTE”, we know “Taking notes from memory” is the only way we can do it during the test. After reading the whole article, we will take notes from what we understand and remember. As we already analysed in the previous part we will need a maximum of three (03) minutes to complete the text, so we have at least 1.5 minutes left to take notes from what we remember.
Let’s focus on this example, Question number 01, Part 1: Summarize Written Text on the PTE Practice Platform for FREE accounts. PTE takers can practice this question for free on our platform as well.
cre: TADE Hub
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A recent interdisciplinary study at the Texas A&M School of Public Health used a novel method of data collection to show that employees really are less active and more prone to mistakes on afternoons and Fridays, with Friday afternoons representing the lowest point of worker productivity. The study, published in a recent issue of PLOS ONE, was authored by Drs. Taehyun Roh and Nishat Tasnim Hasan from the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, along with Drs. Chukwuemeka Esomonu, Joseph Hendricks, and Mark Benden from the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, and graduate student Anisha Aggarwal from the Department of Health Behavior. The researchers looked at the computer usage metrics of 789 in-office employees at a large energy company in Texas over a two-year period -- January 1, 2017, to December 31, 2018. "Most studies of worker productivity use employee self-reports, supervisory evaluations, or wearable technology, but these can be subjective and invasive," said Benden, professor and head of the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health. "Instead, we used computer usage metrics -- things like typing speed, typing errors, and mouse activity -- to get objective, noninvasive data on computer work patterns." The team then compared computer usage patterns across different days of the week and times of the day to see what kinds of patterns emerged. "We found that computer use increased during the week, then dropped significantly on Fridays," said Roh, assistant professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. "People typed more words and had more mouse movement, mouse clicks, and scrolls every day from Monday through Thursday, then less of this activity on Friday." In addition, Roh said, computer use decreased every afternoon, especially on Friday afternoons.
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First of all, we strongly recommend you stop here for a while, access the PTE Practice Platform and practice taking notes by answering this question on your computer. Please remember to focus on reading to comprehend the main content, NOT understand them word-by-word.
If you are ready, go read it first and get back here after finishing it.
All right, it looks like you already finished your reading. How many minutes did you spend? If it was less than three minutes, wonderful! If it was over three minutes then we need to advance our reading skills and try to read faster time after time. Students can refer to this article, “Strategies to improve your reading” to practice day after day.
Next step, we focus on taking notes from our memory. Your job now is to write down all key points and the main content of the text that you remember. Please do it now, otherwise, you will forget them very fast.
Are your notes ready? If they are ready, let’s take a look at our notes here:
A study at the Texas A&M School used a novel method of data collection to show employees are less active and tend to make more mistakes on afternoons and Fridays, especially Friday afternoons;
The study published in a recent issue of PLUS ONE was authored by many scientists;
The study was conducted of over 789 in-office employees in 2 years period – Jan 1, 2017 to Dec 31, 2018;
They (scientists) used computer usage metrics such as typing speeds, typing errors, and mouse activity to get data;
The first half of the text has the most important key points, while the second half only explains the first half in detail. So we don’t need to take too many things from the second one. The main idea of the text is about research on worker productivity, so we only need to focus on key information which is closely related to the text.
Step 2: Layout your structure
Recommended timer: 3 minutes
Our strategy to lay out the structure is simple. We only need to paraphrase all the key points and put them in order to create a concise summary. Regarding four (04) key points that we took notes on earlier, we need to paraphrase them and write in the same order as we took notes. Apparently, if your English level is upper intermediate, you are able to change the order but still have a coherent summary. However, we strongly recommend you write them in the same order as you took notes, which is much easier.
Before paraphrasing all key points, let's learn some Opening statements that PTE takers should use to start your summary.
The text is of ...
Text is about ...
It is the text of ...
The text shares/ tells/ delivers ...
Test-takers can use any of the above statements to start your writing. Please stop here for a while, go write by yourself first and check our answer later. Kindly remember that you can practice this question on the PTE Practice Platform – TADE Hub.
If you already got it done, let’s check our summary.
It is the text of an interdisciplinary study from the Texas A&M School of Public Health using innovative data collectionreveals decreased worker activity and increased errors on afternoons and Fridays, with Friday afternoons exhibiting the lowest productivity point; additionally, analyzing computer usage metrics of 789 in-office employees from early 2017 to the end 2018, the study sheds light on work patterns, indicating decreased computer activity on Fridays and afternoons, as published in PLOS ONE.
We wrote this summary by paraphrasing all the key points that we took notes in Step 1 and putting them in the same order as well. It’s not hard to connect one key point with another, we simply use linking words, relative clauses, and other grammatical structures.
According to our sample summary, kindly pay attention to some of the following grammar structures used.
Blue words: They are linking words, which some students call transition words, which help connect points with points and sentences with sentences to create readable writing. PTE takers can check sixteen categories in their Dashboard on the PTE Practice Platform.
cre: TADE Hub
Red words: This is the subordinate clause, which provides additional meaning to the main clause.
Orange words: Here are the reduced relative clauses that show a high level of using grammatical structures in academic writing.
The Pearson Test of English Academic evaluates test-takers' skills based on the complexity of grammatical structures used. Consequently, the more complex the structure we apply in our writing, the higher the score we get. It depends on the desired score you want to obtain, we have different strategies to learn specific grammatical structures that best support our purpose. We will be sharing the top common grammatical structures used in English proficiency tests very soon for your preparation.
Step 3: Review key points and mistakes
Recommended timer: 1 minute
Grammar (Spelling) is one of the four (04) grading elements in P1: Summarize Written Text. Hence, we definitely need to review our work again to avoid regrettable mistakes, including Punctuation, Grammar and Spelling.
3.1. Punctuation
This is the mistake category that test-takers make the most. It looks easy, but it isn’t. We need to comprehend it deeply in order to use it correctly for a higher score. Most of the time, in any English proficiency tests, we use the comma “, ” and the full stop “ . ” the most. Let’s explore how to use punctuation accurately, especially the comma and the full stop.
a. The comma “ , ”
We use the comma “, ” to pause within or separate parts of sentences, making your answers clearer and readable. In order to do that, there are rules to follow.
Rule 1: Use a comma “ , “ to separate a series of nouns, adjectives, or verbs.
Here is a shortcut from our summary, let’s take a look at it and identify a series of nouns, adjectives, or verbs.
For example: “Additionally, analyzing computer usage metrics such as typing speeds, typing errors, and mouse activity of 789 in-office employees over two years from Jan 1, 2017, to Dec 31, 2018, to get data.”
Did you see any? Yes, “typing speeds, typing errors, and mouse activity” are a series of nouns, so we use commas to separate them.
Rule 2: Put a comma before a FANBOYS when connecting two independent clauses.
What does FANBOYS stand for? FANBOYS stands for “For And Nor But Or Yet So”. If test-takers need to connect two (02) independent clauses, they have to use an appropriate FANBOYS and put a comma before it.
For example: “An interdisciplinary study from the Texas A&M School of Public Health using innovative data collection reveals decreased worker activity and increased errors on afternoons and Fridays, and Friday afternoons exhibit the lowest productivity point…”
Rule 3: Put a comma after adverbs
Adverbs are used the same as linking words to connect sentences and sentences besides making our points clearer and more readable.
For example: “Additionally, analyzing computer usage metrics such as typing speeds, typing errors, and mouse activity of 789 in-office employees over two years from Jan 1, 2017, to Dec 31, 2018, to get data.”
Note: We only shared the top common rules that test-takers can use most in their English proficiency tests. If you want to know more about how to use commas accurately, please go search it on Google.
b. The full stop “ . ”
We use the full stop “ . “ to pause longer between sentences, show if a point is made or end suggestions or commands.
Test-takers should always remember NOT to make long sentences so they are able to have attention from others.
For example: “An interdisciplinary study from the Texas A&M School of Public Health using innovative data collection reveals decreased worker activity and increased errors on afternoons and Fridays, and Friday afternoons exhibit the lowest productivity point, as published in PLOS ONE.”
We used the full stop “ . “ after “in PLOS ONE” because we wanted to show a clear point. If we keep writing without using the full stop, our key point will be unnecessarily long and won’t make any value.
Let’s practice, we have the following paragraph, please add commas, full stops, or other punctuation if any.
An interdisciplinary study from the Texas A&M School of Public Health using innovative data collection reveals decreased worker activity and increased errors on afternoons and Fridays and Friday afternoons exhibit the lowest productivity point as published in PLOS ONE additionally analyzing computer usage metrics such as typing speeds typing errors and mouse activity of 789 in-office employees over two years from Jan 1, 2017, to Dec 31, 2018, to get data.
Please work it out by yourself first before checking our answers as follows:
An interdisciplinary study from the Texas A&M School of Public Health using innovative data collection reveals decreased worker activity and increased errors on afternoons and Fridays, and Friday afternoons exhibit the lowest productivity point, as published in PLOS ONE. Additionally, analyzing computer usage metrics such as typing speeds, typing errors, and mouse activity of 789 in-office employees over two years from Jan 1, 2017, to Dec 31, 2018, to get data.
3.2. Grammar and Spelling
Test-takers usually make typing mistakes which leads to wrong spellings. Besides, if test-takers don’t pay close attention to the grammar used in the question and what they write, making grammar mistakes is inevitable. Consequently, spending time reviewing is genuinely crucial to correct as many grammar and spelling mistakes as possible to aim for higher scores.
Students should make this as a habit when they practice on the PTE Practice Platform to get used to it. On top of that, after submitting answers, their answers are evaluated automatically, and they receive instantly detailed feedback so they are able to check whether there are any mistakes that remain. In this case, they can learn from their own mistakes and avoid them in the future.
Things to avoid
Underestimate the note-taking step: Pearson allows test-takers to take notes for reasons. They know taking the PTE Academic is not easy, and taking notes will help a lot in answering questions correctly. Besides, they also provide the necessary equipment and tools for note-taking. As a result, never underestimate this step and follow our guide thoroughly to win this test.
Read the text and take notes at the same time: Again, if we do this, we will not understand the whole picture of the content, which makes it harder to take notes. Please follow our note-taking strategy to deal with it.
Undervalue the reviewing step: We always make mistakes, this is what we are sure of 100%. The only way to minimise mistakes is to review our answers before submitting them.
Practice makes perfect!
Live-PTE Practice Platform with instant feedback
For future success, we need to commit to our study plan and practice every day. Without repetitive practice, everything else is nothing. Test-takers can utilise our PTE Practice Platform, which has the following benefits:
Thousands of practice questions;
2-hour mock tests and estimated scores;
Instantly detailed feedback for all question types;
Same grading elements as Pearson;
Three supportive vocab lists;
An integrated dictionary;
And other self-study supporting features.
For example, this is our sample feedback for Summarize Written Text. We evaluate users’ answers based on the same grading elements as Pearson, including Content, Form, Grammar, and Vocabulary.
cre: TADE Hub
Feel free to review our video sample feedback for a better understanding of how the PTE Practice Platform helps test-takers achieve their desired scores effectively and affordably.
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