(Summary writing)

Grade 9 IGCSE

Part 6 Writing Section Paper, is summary writing. A passage will be given, on which you are
required to write a summary.

What is a summary?
The formal definition is: a brief statement or account of the main points of something. And that’s
exactly what you have to do. Identify the main, relevant points and write them in your own
words in an organized manner.
 Read the question properly.
What exactly do you have to write a summary on. In the question, they could specify one or
more detail. So you need to write the summary on just those details. Leave out the rest.
Read the passage.
As you go, underline the points that you need to include in your summary, that are relevant and
important to the question.

 Write the summary.

That’s easier said than done. You have got all your points, now you need to collate and organise
it into one write-up using your own words.

 Write a one-line introduction that tells the examiner what you’re writing a summary on.
Keep it short. In the example above, you could start the summary by writing : In his article,
the author explained ----------------------------------------

 Start organising the points. You could do it chronologically, advantage-disadvantage
format or problem-solution format- whatever works for the task at hand. In the example
above, writing points in their chronological order seems to be the right choice since it’s a
narrative type of article.

 Use connectives, lots of them, to organise your points and add a sense of continuity. Some
examples are: Firstly/Secondly/Thirdly, In Addition/Also/Furthermore, Consequently/As a
result, Thus/Hence etc.

 Use your own words. Use synonyms of word in the passage, if possible

 You don’t have to write a conclusion. If the question asked you to write the summary on
the entire passage, then maybe a conclusion would be fitting. But in questions like the one
above, it is irrelevant to the question.

 Stick to the word limit. For the extended paper you have to write at least 100 word but not
more than 120 words. For the core paper you need to write at least 70 word but not more than
80 words. Don’t write too much; scrap unnecessary points not relevant to the question; cut
short words.
 Lastly write your prediction using conditional 2

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Keep practicing past paper questions, nothing more. Polishing up your vocabulary
skills might be helpful in using your own words.
Time Management
Spend about 15 minutes on this exercise. Reading the passage should take about 5 minutes and
the rest 10 minutes should be used to write your summary.

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 Sound of Silence
In his article, the autor elaborated that

In the future, I predict that if we----------------------------------------, we would live in a more

restful world away from unwanted sound.

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