Summary and selective information retrieval
Summary tests selective retrieval and compression. You must find only the information the task asks for, express it in your own words, and stay within the word limit without losing meaning.
Rules
- Decode the task: topic, focus (causes, benefits, problems, qualities) and limit.
- Underline candidate points; reject examples, mere illustrations and repeated ideas.
- Group related points and write continuous prose unless bullets are requested.
- Change structure and vocabulary, not meaning. Keep technical terms that cannot be paraphrased.
- Count words; add no opinion, introduction or conclusion.
Worked example
Task: 'Summarise the benefits of community recycling schemes.' Passage: 'Schemes cut landfill waste. They also give volunteers new skills, and neighbours meet weekly, which reduces isolation.' Selection: less landfill; volunteer skills; reduced isolation. Rejected: 'weekly' (detail), 'neighbours' (illustration). Rewrite: 'Community recycling reduces landfill waste, builds volunteers' skills and reduces isolation by bringing residents together.' Reasoning: three content points remain; the weekly detail is dropped; the rewrite uses new wording and one sentence.
Traps
- Copying phrases from the passage.
- Including every fact rather than the requested category.
- Adding judgement such as 'this is very important'.
- Exceeding the limit and losing credit for later points.
- Using bullets when the task requires prose.
Use the mark allocation to estimate how many points are expected.