Reference and Study Skills: Dictionary Use, Note-making and Summary
What reference and study skills test
This domain tests dictionary use, note-making, and summary. You need to locate information quickly, record it economically, and reduce a passage without losing its argument.
Core rules
- Dictionary: use guide words at the top of the page; entries are alphabetical. Read the part of speech, example phrase, and the sense that fits the context. For 'bank', the river sense and the finance sense are separate entries.
- Note-making: give a title, use headings and subheadings, indent sub-points, use abbreviations and symbols, and write phrases rather than full sentences. Keep the original order of ideas.
- Summary: state the main idea first, then the supporting stages; omit examples, repetition, and dialogue; keep the proportion of the original. A summary is usually about one-third of the passage.
- Both skills require you to distinguish main ideas from details.
Worked example
Passage: 'Many students revise by rereading notes. Rereading feels easy, but it produces weak recall. Testing yourself, by contrast, forces retrieval and exposes gaps. Short daily quizzes therefore work better than long rereading sessions.' Notes: Revision methods
- Rereading - feels easy, weak recall
- Self-testing - retrieval, exposes gaps
- Recommendation - short daily quizzes > long rereading Summary: 'Rereading notes is a weak revision method because it feels easy; self-testing improves recall by exposing gaps, so short daily quizzes are more effective.' Reasoning: the notes keep hierarchy and omit the example; the summary keeps the contrast and the recommendation.
Traps
- Copying full sentences into notes.
- Summarising only the first half.
- Adding your own opinion.
- Choosing a dictionary sense that does not fit the sentence.