Summary Writing
Twenty marks, one hundred and fifty words: selecting only what the question asked for, and writing it in your own words without a single example.
A summary answers a question, not "the passage"
The commonest failure is answering the wrong task. The question is never "summarise the passage". It is always narrower: summarise the difficulties the villagers faced, summarise the benefits of the scheme.
Everything in the passage that is not a difficulty, or not a benefit, is invisible to you, however interesting. Half the marks lost on this question are lost before a word is written, by students summarising the whole text.
The paper gives you roughly 600 words and asks for about 150. That ratio is deliberate: three quarters of what you read must not appear.
The method that fits the time
1. Underline the question's key noun. Difficulties. Benefits. Reasons. Write it at the top of your working.
2. Go through the passage once, numbering points. One number per separate idea that matches the key noun. Expect to find between eight and fifteen.
3. Cross out duplicates. Writers restate. Two sentences making the same point score one mark, so merge them now, not later.
4. Write in continuous prose, one point per short clause, joined with commas and semicolons. No bullet points, the paper marks style as well as content.
5. Count. Over the limit, the examiner stops reading at the cut-off and the points beyond it are lost.
Worked: eight lines down to three
Passage extract (original): "The clinic opened at eight, but the queue formed by six. Many had walked from villages four or five kilometres off, since the bus ran only on Tuesdays and Fridays. Those who arrived after nine were usually turned away, not from unkindness, but because the single doctor could not see more than forty people in a day. Medicines, when they existed, were free; more often the pharmacy shelf held nothing but paracetamol and the prescription had to be filled in town."
Q: Summarise the difficulties patients faced.
Model (own words, 42 words): "Patients had to queue two hours before opening and many travelled several kilometres on foot, as buses ran only twice weekly. Latecomers were refused because one doctor could treat only a limited number, and drugs were frequently unavailable, forcing a further journey to buy them."
Five points. No example kept, no figure quoted unnecessarily, not one phrase lifted.
What must be cut, without exception
Examples. If the passage names three crops as an illustration, write "crops failed", not the list.
Direct speech and quotation. Convert to reported statement or drop it.
Description and imagery. The writer's effect belongs to a different question.
Your own opinion. "This was very unfair" is not in the passage and earns nothing.
Introductions. "In this passage the writer talks about…" spends fifteen of your words saying nothing. Start with the first point.
Figures are the one judgement call: keep a number only when the number is the difficulty ("one doctor for forty patients"), not when it is decoration.
Own words under pressure
You cannot paraphrase everything, and you are not expected to. Proper nouns, and words with no real synonym, stay. Everything else should move.
Fast substitutions that work almost anywhere: problems → difficulties; not enough → insufficient/a shortage of; a lot of → numerous/considerable; get → obtain; because of → owing to; could not → were unable to.
Compress with grammar, not just vocabulary. Two sentences become one clause: "The bus ran twice a week. Many people walked." → "With buses running only twice weekly, many walked." That is how 200 words become 150 without losing a point.
Where marks go
- Summarising the whole passage. Answer the question asked.
- Keeping examples. The single biggest waste of words.
- Lifting phrases. A copied point often scores zero even when correct.
- Bullet points. Continuous prose is required.
- Going over the word limit. Later points simply are not read.
- An opening sentence that says nothing. Start on point one.
What to remember
- Underline the key noun in the question; ignore everything else in the text.
- Number the points, merge repeats, then write.
- No examples, no quotations, no opinion, no introduction.
- Continuous prose, own words, inside the limit.
- Compress by joining clauses, not by dropping points.
Watch one worked through
Here is one done slowly, with the reason for every move. Then one for you.
You must summarise a passage in no more than 80 words. Describe the method.
- Underline only the points that answer the question asked.question: why did the scheme fail? → underline causes ONLYA summary is not a shortened version of everything. Material that does not answer the question earns nothing however interesting.
- Number the points and cut anything repeated.12 underlined → 8 distinct pointsWriters repeat themselves with different words. Two phrasings of one idea count once.
- Write them in your own words as continuous prose.own words · one paragraph · no examplesExamples, quotations and figures of speech are illustration, not content. They are the first thing to cut.
- Count the words and trim.95 words → cut adjectives, join sentences → 78Going over the limit means the excess is not read. Trim by tightening expression, never by dropping a point.
Answer: Select only points that answer the question, remove repetition, rewrite in your own words as prose, then trim to the word limit without losing points
In a summary, should you include the author's examples? Answer yes or no.
Show the answer
no
Practise Summary Writing
Everything on QuizByt for O Level English that goes with this lesson: read it first, then test yourself while it is fresh.
🧠 7 quizzes on Summary Writing (4 easy, 2 medium, 1 hard)
Work up from easy to hard: the hard quiz asks the O Level exam-style questions on Summary Writing.
🖨️ Printable worksheet
Summary Writing on paper for O Level, with room to write the working out. Preview the first page free.
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