Summarize Written Text asks you to read a passage and produce a 25–50-word summary in 10 minutes. Your response should communicate the main idea and the most important supporting information in complete sentences.
PTE Core allows one or more sentences for this task. You do not need to force every idea into one long sentence.
Find the message before shortening the wording
Read the passage once for its overall purpose. Then identify its central statement and the details needed to explain that statement.
A useful set of questions is: What is happening? Who is affected? Why does it matter? What action or result is described? Use only the questions that fit the passage; not every text contains all four elements.
Examples, repeated explanations and background details are often candidates for removal. Keep a number, date or condition when it is essential to the meaning rather than deleting all specific information automatically.
Preserve the relationship between ideas
An accurate summary retains more than keywords. It also preserves cause, contrast, sequence and uncertainty.
If a passage says a policy may reduce costs, do not write that it will reduce costs. If a service is available to some residents, do not expand that to everyone. If two events occur together, do not invent a causal relationship between them.
Paraphrase where you can do so accurately. Keep a precise term when replacing it would make the message less clear.
Practice example: a community announcement
Passage:
The community centre will introduce free weekend cycling lessons for adults next month. The programme is intended for beginners who want to become more confident riding on local roads. Qualified instructors will teach basic handling skills and road safety. Participants may borrow a bicycle and helmet if they do not have their own. Places are limited, so residents must register in advance. The centre hopes the lessons will encourage more people to use bicycles for short journeys.
Sample summary:
The community centre will offer free weekend cycling lessons for adult beginners next month, covering basic skills and road safety. Equipment can be borrowed, and advance registration is required because places are limited.
The summary keeps the announcement, audience, teaching focus and practical participation conditions. It leaves out a secondary aspiration about future travel habits.
Use clear sentence connections
Simple connectors such as and, but, because and so can join ideas when the relationship fits. You can also use separate sentences to avoid an overloaded sentence.
Be careful with however. It does not connect two complete sentences with only a comma:
The service is free. However, advance booking is required.
That version is clearer than joining both sentences with a comma before and after however. A semicolon before however is another valid option when used correctly.
Practice example: preserving uncertainty
Passage:
A local employer is considering a flexible starting-time policy. Staff would be allowed to begin work between eight and ten in the morning while completing their normal daily hours. Managers believe this could make commuting easier, but no final decision has been made. A staff survey will be conducted before the proposal is reviewed next month.
Sample summary:
A local employer is considering flexible starting times to ease commuting while retaining normal daily working hours. A staff survey will inform next month's review before any final decision is made.
The summary keeps the proposal tentative. It does not present the new policy as already approved.
Use the final minutes to edit
Work through reading, selecting, drafting and proofreading within the 10-minute limit. Leave enough time to check your response rather than spending the entire task searching for impressive vocabulary.
Before submitting, check:
- Coverage: Does the summary express the main message?
- Accuracy: Are important conditions and qualifications preserved?
- Length: Is it within 25–50 words?
- Language: Are the sentences complete, grammatical and correctly spelled?
During practice, compare your summary with the passage and highlight the evidence for each claim. Anything you cannot trace back to the passage should be reconsidered.
