PTE Summarise Written Text A Simple Strategy for Your Target Score

 

Your PTE Summarise Written Text strategy should match your target. At IPT Brisbane, we recommend selecting and connecting the right lines for Proficient English and below, and adding clear paraphrasing for Superior English. Your final result depends on performance across the test. 

 

Choose your SWT approach

Proficient English and below  Select the lines that express the main idea and essential supporting points. Keep useful source wording and connect those ideas logically. Make the small grammatical changes needed for the sentence to read correctly. 

Superior English  Start with the same main ideas, then paraphrase them clearly. Rephrase clauses, combine related points and remove unnecessary detail while preserving the original meaning. Aim to demonstrate that you can express the passage in your own words. 

Pearson’s highest Content band rewards effective paraphrasing and concise, coherent synthesis of the main ideas.  This is why our advice for students aiming for Superior English includes practising paraphrasing.

 

Remember the basic SWT requirements

In PTE Academic, SWT assesses Reading and Writing. You have ten minutes to summarise a passage of up to 300 words in one complete sentence containing 5 to 75 words. Use a capital letter at the beginning and one full stop at the end. 

Use enough words to cover the main message clearly. You do not need to fill all 75 words. 

 

Select and connect the right lines for Proficient English and below

Read the whole passage first. Identify what it is mainly about, then select the supporting information needed to explain that message. Look for a reason, an important contrast or a result. Include a conclusion when it adds an essential point. 

Leave out repeated examples, minor background details and descriptions that do not help explain the central message. Selecting the right lines matters more than collecting as many lines as possible. 

Connect the selected ideas according to their relationship. Use “and” to add a related point, “because” to explain a cause and “although” to show a concession. Use “moreover” when the next point adds relevant information. Adjust pronouns and verb forms so the combined sentence remains grammatical. 

Before moving on, read your answer by itself. A reader should understand the main message without needing to return to the original passage. 

 

Add paraphrasing for Superior English

Once you have selected the right ideas, practise expressing them more concisely. You can change a clause structure, turn a long phrase into a shorter one or use a suitable synonym. You do not need to replace every word. 

For example, “the way we shop, listen to music and communicate has been transformed” can become “the Web has transformed shopping, music and communication”. The meaning stays the same, but the information is expressed more compactly. 

Keep names and precise technical terms. Concentrate on clear wording you can use accurately within ten minutes. Random synonym changes will not repair a sentence that misses the main idea or connects the wrong information. 

 

Practise with two complete SWT passages

Read each passage and write your own one sentence summary before looking at the examples. For Proficient English and below, practise selecting and connecting the right lines. For Superior English, then practise paraphrasing those ideas. Use the explanations to check what you included and what you left out. 

 

Practice passage 1 The World Wide Web

Original passage 

He is the man who has changed the world more than anyone else in the past hundred years. Sir Tim Berners-Lee may be a mild-mannered academic who lives modestly in Boston, but as the inventor of the World Wide Web he is also a revolutionary. Along with Galileo, William Caxton and Sir Isaac Newton, he is a scientist who has altered the way people think as well as the way they live. 

Since the Web went global 20 years ago, the way we shop, listen to music and communicate has been transformed. There are implications for politics, literature, economics – even terrorism – because an individual can now have the same access to information as the elite. Society will never be the same. 

The computer scientist from Oxford, who built his own computer from a television screen and spare parts after he was banned from one of the university computers, is a cultural guru as much as a technological one. 

“It is amazing how far we’ve come,” he says. “But you’re always wondering what’s the next crazy idea, and working to make sure the Web stays one web and that the internet stays open. There isn’t much time to sit back and reflect.” 

He invented the Web, he says, because he was frustrated that he couldn’t find all the information he wanted in one place. It was an imaginary concept that he realised. 

Choose the essential information 

• Main topic: Tim Berners-Lee and his invention of the World Wide Web. 

• Reason: he wanted to find the information he needed in one place. 

• Effects: the Web changed everyday activities and widened access to information. 

The descriptions of his personality, the list of other famous thinkers and the story of building his own computer are background details. Leave them out so the summary concentrates on the invention and its effects. 

Connected lines for Proficient English and below 

Sir Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web because he was frustrated that he couldn’t find all the information he wanted in one place; moreover, the way we shop, listen to music and communicate has been transformed, and an individual can now have the same access to information as the elite. 

51 words 

Paraphrasing practice for Superior English 

Sir Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web because he was frustrated by scattered information, and its global spread has transformed shopping, music and communication while giving individuals access to information previously associated with the elite, fundamentally changing how people think and live. 

43 words 

What changed in the paraphrased version 

The long explanation about being unable to find information becomes “frustrated by scattered information”. The description of shopping, music and communication is compressed into a shorter phrase. The answer keeps the name of the invention and connects its purpose with its effects. 

 

Practice passage 2 Economic forecasting

Original passage 

For economists in the corporate sector, forecasting is usually a key function, and to do the job they draw upon a wide range of statistical data. But economic forecasting is a long way from a precise science. Forecasters must, after all, start somewhere and their assumptions about how an economy works can vary widely. 

‘The differences in beliefs are enormous; so varied and conflicting that economics is jokingly said to be the only field in which two people can get a Nobel Prize for saying exactly the opposite thing,’ says William Sherden, author of the highly-regarded The Fortune Sellers. 

Sherden argues that the record of economic forecasting is rather poor, especially for volatile statistics such as interest rates-although they do better for some stable statistics, such as government spending, and about the same for statistics such as real GNP growth and inflation. 

Choose the essential information 

• Main topic: corporate economists use statistical data to make forecasts. 

• Limitation: forecasting is imprecise because assumptions about the economy differ. 

• Results: the forecasting record is particularly poor for volatile statistics, with better results for some stable statistics. 

The Nobel Prize quotation illustrates disagreement, so it can be left out once that point is included. Notice that the passage distinguishes better forecasts for some stable statistics from forecasts that perform “about the same” for real GNP growth and inflation. Keep that distinction accurate. 

Connected lines for Proficient English and below 

For economists in the corporate sector, forecasting is usually a key function, and to do the job they draw upon a wide range of statistical data; however, economic forecasting is a long way from a precise science, and their assumptions about how an economy works can vary widely; moreover, the record of economic forecasting is rather poor, especially for volatile statistics, although they do better for some stable statistics. 

69 words 

Paraphrasing practice for Superior English 

Economic forecasting is a key function for corporate economists who draw upon statistical data; however, it is far from a precise science because assumptions vary widely, and its track record is poor, especially for volatile statistics, although forecasts perform better for some stable statistics. 

44 words 

What changed in the paraphrased version 

The opening clauses are combined into a shorter description of the economists’ role. “A long way from a precise science” becomes “far from a precise science”, and the explanation of differing assumptions is shortened. The contrast between volatile and some stable statistics remains. 

 

Check your answer before submitting

Leave time to check these four things: 

• Have I included the main idea and the essential supporting points? 

• Do the connectors express the relationships in the passage? 

• Is the meaning accurate, with no added opinion or outside information? 

• Is my answer one grammatical sentence containing 5 to 75 words? 

Practise SWT with IPT Brisbane

Practise SWT with tutor feedback at IPT Brisbane in Upper Mount Gravatt, or join online. Explore our PTE courses or call +61 481 332 072.