Summary
NECO summary questions ask you to read a passage and then, in continuous prose and your own words, state the main points of a named part of it - for example In six sentences, summarise the reasons the writer gives for rural–urban migration. Marks are awarded for the number of correct points captured, not for length.
Finding the points
- Treat each paragraph as one likely point; find its topic sentence.
- Ignore examples, statistics, illustrations, repetitions and rhetorical questions - they support a point, they are not the point.
- Watch contrast markers (but, rather, not…but) because the real claim often follows them.
Writing the summary
- One point per sentence, joined with simple linkers (Furthermore, In addition).
- Replace the writer's words with your own synonyms and rephrase the structures.
- Do not add your opinion, and do not start every sentence with The writer says that….
Worked example
Passage: Many students fail examinations not because they lack ability but because they mismanage their time. They spend hours on social media and begin revision only a week before the paper. Weak: Students spend hours on social media and revise in one week. (this is illustration) Strong: Many students fail examinations mainly because they manage their time poorly, not because they are incapable. Reasoning: the not because…but because frame marks the causal claim; the social-media detail only illustrates it.
Traps
- Lifting phrases such as mismanage their time when paraphrase is required.
- Writing one long sentence containing three points instead of three sentences.
- Summarising the whole passage when only a named part was asked for.
- Missing a point buried in the final paragraph.