Précis of a 210-word passage: brevity versus compression
The composition section carries a précis item worth 5 marks on a 210-word passage about water conservation; candidates must write about one-third of the length and supply a title. The key divides the marks as 2 for content points (there are six), 2 for brevity and language, and 1 for the title. Three scripts are on your desk. Candidate A writes 52 words, covers four of the six points, supplies no title, and ends with 'मला वाटते सरकारनेच पुढाकार घ्यावा'. Candidate B writes 88 words, covers all six points, supplies no title, and misspells जबाबदारी once. Candidate C writes 61 words but lifts the first two sentences of the passage verbatim and paraphrases the rest. A colleague says C should get full brevity marks because 61 words is well inside the limit, and that B should be capped at 3 for exceeding one-third. You have to settle both claims with a rule your co-examiners can apply consistently.
1. Award marks to A, B and C, and settle both of your colleague's claims.
Read the worked answer
- Candidate A - 3/5. Content: six points carry 2 marks, so each point is one-third; four points ≈ 1.5, and the closing opinion earns nothing because it is not in the passage - it is added material, not a point. Brevity and language: 1.5 - short, clear, but the added opinion shows the writer has not yet grasped that a précis contains only the source's content. Title: 0.
- Candidate B - 3/5. Content 2 (all six points). Brevity and language 1 (88 words against a 70-word target, one spelling error). Title 0. Reject the cap of 3: an overrun is a fault inside the brevity mark, which is where it has just been charged. A cap would charge it twice and would also mean a candidate who wrote 71 words could never score above 3, which is indefensible.
- Candidate C - 2.5/5. Content 1.5 (the points are there, but not in the candidate's own words). Brevity and language 1 - reject the colleague's claim: 61 words is short, but brevity is not the objective; compression in one's own words is. Two sentences copied verbatim are not a précis, they are a transcript. Title 1, if the title is the candidate's own compressed label.
- The teachable distinction: length is measured; compression is judged. Only the second is what the item tests.
2. Write the rule and a three-step checklist that your co-examiners will use for the whole batch of 40 scripts.
Read the worked answer
Rule (to sit beside the key):
- Content: one-third of a mark per key point, up to 2. Points added by the candidate earn nothing; points omitted earn nothing.
- Brevity and language: count the words. Within 10% of one-third (63–77 words on this passage) = full tolerance. Beyond it, deduct 0.5 per 15 words over, 0.5 if the précis is so short that a key point is lost. Copied sentences cost under this mark, because 'own words' is a quality of a précis, not of the source.
- Title: 1 mark only for a compressed label of the passage's idea. A title lifted from the first sentence, or a full sentence with a verb, earns 0.
- The title is not counted in the word limit; state this on the key so no examiner counts differently.
Checklist for candidates and for examiners:
- Underline the key points in the source and number them; six here.
- Draft each point as a clause in your own words; join clauses with linkers, not with commas copied from the source.
- Count words excluding the title; write the count in brackets; add a title of three to six words.
3. A candidate covers five of the six points in 105 words. A colleague wants to give full content marks because 'the content is all there'. Decide, and explain the reasoning in one paragraph suitable for the marking meeting.
Read the worked answer
- Content 1.5–1.7, not 2; brevity and language 0.5. Five points out of six cannot earn six points' worth of content, however generous the reading; awards of that kind are what make a key unusable on recheck. But the real failure is the 105 words against a 70-word target - the candidate has not selected or compressed, which is the single skill the item exists to test. A précis of half the source length is a summary, not a précis.
- Reasoning for the meeting: the six content points are the what; the one-third limit is the how. A candidate who reproduces the what and abandons the how has completed half the task. Marking it as complete tells the next batch that the word limit is decorative.
- Fairness check: apply the same arithmetic to all scripts; if three or four candidates cluster at 100–110 words, the fault may be that the passage's key points were not identifiable, and the passage, not the candidates, should be reviewed for the next paper.