Templates
Summarize Written Text frames for PTE Core
A short passage, ten minutes, and one sentence of 5 to 75 words that carries its main idea. Form is scored before language: two sentences, or a sentence without a main verb, is zero. These three frames keep one long sentence grammatical while leaving every content word to the passage.
Pearson scores content 0 when the summary does not reflect the passage, and form 0 when it is not a single sentence of 5 to 75 words. Either zero makes the item 0. A memorised sentence such as "The passage discusses several important aspects of a significant issue and the author presents various arguments" reflects no passage. The frames below are joints; the passage supplies the bones.
What the scorer counts as content
The content trait asks whether the sentence contains the main idea of the passage and the key points that support it, in words that show you understood the relationships between them: cause, contrast, consequence, condition. A good summary of a passage about a city's bike-lane trial says what was tried, what happened and what the city concluded, and it links those three with the right connectors. It does not list every example in the passage and it does not add opinions.
Form is mechanical: one sentence, meaning one capital letter at the start and one full stop at the end, with a main clause that has a subject and a finite verb; between 5 and 75 words. The sweet spot is 35 to 55 words, long enough to hold three ideas and short enough to control.
Three sentence shapes
Shape 1: Although ___, ___, which ___
For passages with a contrast or a qualification. The "although" clause takes the minor point, the main clause takes the main idea, and "which" carries the consequence.
Although [the common view or the earlier situation], [the main finding or argument], which means that [the implication the passage draws].
Shape 2: ___ because ___, so ___
For passages with a cause and an effect. The first clause states what happened or what is claimed, "because" gives the reason, and "so" gives the result or recommendation.
[The subject] [did or is X] because [reason from the passage], so [outcome or what the writer recommends].
Shape 3: ___, and while ___, ___
For passages that present two sides and lean one way. The first clause gives the topic and the main position, "while" concedes the other side, and the last clause states where the passage lands.
[Topic] [main point], and while [the opposing or limiting point], [the passage's conclusion].
Each shape has exactly one main clause, so the sentence is grammatical however long the blanks get. Each uses one or two connectors that signal a relationship, which is what the content trait rewards. None of them can be completed without the passage.
A filled example
Last spring the city of Brantwood converted two lanes of its main commercial street into a protected cycle route for a six-month trial. Shop owners had warned that losing parking would drive customers away, and in the first month takings on the street did fall by about four percent. By the end of the trial, however, cycle traffic had tripled, foot traffic was up, and takings were two percent higher than before the lanes went in. The council has now voted to make the route permanent and to study three further streets, noting that the early dip appears to be a normal adjustment period rather than a lasting loss.
Although Brantwood's shop owners feared that replacing two lanes of parking with a protected cycle route would drive customers away, and takings did fall about four percent in the first month, the six-month trial ended with tripled cycle traffic and higher takings, which has led the council to make the route permanent.
Check it against the passage. Main idea: the trial succeeded and the route is now permanent. Key points: the fear, the early dip, the final figures. Relationships: contrast ("although"), consequence ("which has led"). Numbers kept: two lanes, four percent, six months, tripled. One capital, one full stop, one main clause ("the six-month trial ended"), 49 words. Nothing in it could have been written before reading the passage.
Ten minutes, allocated
- Two minutes: read once for the point. Ask what the passage wants you to believe at the end. Write it as five words on the notepad.
- One minute: find the two or three supports. Usually one per paragraph. Note a number or a name for each.
- One minute: choose the shape. Contrast in the passage means Shape 1; cause and effect means Shape 2; two sides means Shape 3.
- Four minutes: write. Fill the shape. Keep the passage's own key nouns; paraphrase the verbs and adjectives.
- Two minutes: check form, then grammar. Count the full stops (one). Count the words (5 to 75; the screen shows it). Find the main verb. Then read it aloud in your head for agreement and articles.
The mistakes that cost the most
- Two sentences. A second full stop, even before a short add-on, is form 0. Join with "and", "which" or a semicolon instead.
- A fragment. "Showing that cycle lanes increase trade" has no main verb. Every shape above forces one.
- Copying a passage sentence. Content credit is for showing the relationships, not for reproducing a line. Copied text also tends to break the one-sentence form.
- Over-length. At seventy words the chances of a grammar slip rise sharply, and seventy-six is zero. Stop at sixty.
- Opinion. "I think this is a good policy" is not in the passage and dilutes content.
- Memorised openers. "The passage mainly talks about the fact that" is nine words of nothing and a known template signature.
Practise with real passages and the ten-minute clock on the task page. The scorer there reports form separately, so you will know immediately if a second sentence or a fragment has slipped in.