PTE Writing guide
PTE Summarize Written Text: Format, Scoring and Tips
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PTE Academic & PTE Core
Summarize Written Text gives you a passage and asks for a summary in a single sentence. The challenge is choosing the main idea and joining the key points into one clear, grammatical sentence inside the word range.
How the task works
- Time
- 10 minutes for the task
- Length
- One sentence, 5–75 words
- Scored on
- Content, form (one sentence, within the range), grammar and vocabulary
- Counts for
- Writing and Reading
Strategies that help
- Read the passage once for the overall topic, then again to note the main idea of each paragraph.
- Build your sentence around the main idea, then add one or two key supporting points with connectors such as “while”, “because” or “which”.
- Paraphrase where you can, but you may reuse key terms from the text.
- Aim for roughly 25–50 words: long enough for the key points, short enough to stay grammatical.
- Check that you wrote exactly one sentence — one capital letter at the start and one full stop at the end.
Common mistakes
- Writing two sentences, which fails the form requirement.
- Copying the first sentence of the passage instead of summarising the whole text.
- A very long sentence that loses its grammar halfway through.
Example
Although remote work gives employees more flexibility and saves commuting time, the passage argues that companies must invest in communication tools and clear expectations to prevent isolation and maintain productivity.
One sentence, about 30 words: the main idea plus the key benefit and the key condition, joined with “although” and “to”.
Related guides
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