Study and Communication Skills (summary, note-making, information transfer)
Study and Communication Skills (summary, note-making, information transfer)
This domain tests your ability to reduce and reorganise information: summarising a passage within a word limit, making notes in a usable form, and transferring data from prose into a table, chart or set of headings. The emphasis is on relevance and concise paraphrase.
Core rules
- Read the task wording first: does it ask for all the reasons, the benefits only, or a comparison? Underline the focus.
- Select points that answer the focus; discard examples, repetition, quotations and background detail.
- Paraphrase: change the structure and wording while keeping technical terms that cannot be replaced. Do not copy whole clauses.
- For notes, use headings, bullet points, abbreviations and symbols; omit articles and full verbs where meaning stays clear.
- For information transfer, match each category to the exact detail; do not add information that is not in the source.
Worked example
Passage: 'The town library extended opening hours because students had nowhere quiet to study after school. The change also allowed job-seekers to use computers in the evening, though staff reported that weekend use remained low.' Task: Summarise the reasons for extending opening hours. (2 marks) Answer: to provide a quiet study space for students after school; to give job-seekers evening access to computers. Reasoning: 'because' marks the first reason; 'also allowed' marks the second. 'Though weekend use remained low' is a contrast or result, not a reason, so it is excluded. Paraphrase 'nowhere quiet to study' as 'a quiet study space' and 'use computers in the evening' as 'evening access to computers'. A weak answer copies the whole passage or includes the weekend detail.
Traps
Exceeding the word limit; copying the source; including interesting but irrelevant details; writing notes as full sentences; losing the distinction between a cause and a result.