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How to write a good summary - PMR

You will be asked to write a summary of not more than 60 words in Section B of the

PMR English Language Paper 2

Read the question carefully and identify the nouns in the question. (Circle

them as this will help you to detect the points)   

Then look at the 10 words given.         

Try to find the 10 words in the text, sometimes not the whole 10 words could

be found in the text. If, the 10 words is no where in the text, look back at the

question; words from the question could be in the text. (Usually the points are

directly after the words and in the second paragraph) 

Read the text carefully to identify important facts/ points. (Underline the

important facts/points; leave out details like examples or lengthy descriptions).

Before you write your summary. List down the points, write them down in your

answer sheet and then, count the words. Name of people and places are

considered as one word. Examples: Kota Kinabalu, Tun Mahathir Mohamad.

After that, do some cutting, pasting and joining; cut redundant words and try

to join the points and re-organise them. 

The main procedure is to use your own words as far as possible without

changing the original meaning but use the same tense as in the passage.

You must use / begin your summary with the 10 words given.

Use sequence / sentence connectors or whatever suitable words to link the

facts or merge points. (Firstly, moreover, in addition, then, lastly/finally,

besides, therefore, furthermore, subsequently etc.)

Write your summary in not more than 60 words and in one paragraph.

Don't forget to write the number of words in brackets as the end of your

summary. (The people who marks your paper also marks hundreds and hundreds of other

candidates' papers. Surely he or she doesn't have enough time to count the number of words

in your summary. He or she will just estimate and when the estimation gets over 60 words, he

or she will ignore the rest. That's more than enough to make us upset.)

Sample Question (Section B, Paper 2 – PMR 2006 )

Write a summary on why Zoo Negara has problems with the animals left at the gates.

Your summary must:

not be more than 60 words, including the 10 words given below be in continuous writing (not note form) be written in one paragraph Use your own words as far as possible without changing its original meaning. Begin

your summary as follows.

Zoo Negara accepts the abandoned animals but the dumping has ....

The ‘words’ – but the dumping has could be found in Paragraph 2, line 2.

Contents to why Zoo Negara has problems with the animals left at the gates:

1. grown tremendously.

2. animals arrive at the zoo ill and malnourished.

3. Feeding and handling them incur costs.

4. They might even bring diseases and infect other animals (The animals are

quarantined for three months before they can go into enclosures).

5. They take up the limited quarantined space the zoo has.

6. Primates (are released into forests as they) attack each other in shared enclosures.

7. The zoo does not accept species listed under CITES for illegal origins but these

animals are also being left at the zoo.

Comment:

Based on the points above, we could see that: 

1. The first point directly connected to the 10 given word.

2. The second point, is connected to the the nouns - zoo, animals and problems.

3. The third point, is connected to zoo and animals; as feeding and handling is

done definitely in the zoo and the pronoun them, refers to animals. While cost

is the reference to problems.

4. The fourth point, they refers to animals, bring diseases refer to problems and

other animals refer to zoo.

5. The fifth point, they refers to animals, limited quarantined spaces to problems,

and there is the noun zoo.

6. Point six, primates refers to animals, attack each other refers to problems and

close enclosure is definitely zoo.

7. Point seven, The noun zoo is there, so does animals and of illegal origins

refers to problems.

In conclusion, if you have problems getting the points, try to find them based on the

nouns in the question.  

TRY TO FIND THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THESE 2 ANSWERS.

Sample Answer 1:

Zoo Negara accepts the abandoned animals but the dumping has ... grown tremendously.

(C1) Animals arrive at the zoo ill and malnourished. (C2) Feeding and handling them incur

costs. (C3) They might even bring diseases and infect others. (C4) So, they are quarantined

for three months before they can go into enclosures and thus take up the limited quarantined

space the zoo has. (C5) Primates are // released into forest as they attack each other in

shared enclosures. The zoo does not accept species listed under CITES for illegal origins

but these animals are also being left at the zoo. Contents =       5

Style and Presentation =       3 Total = 8/10

Sample Answer 2:

Zoo Negara accepts the abandoned animals but the dumping has ... grown enormously.

(C1) Animals of illegal origins,(C7) malnourished and ailing with infectious diseases (C2) and

thus have to be quarantined are being dumped at its doorstep. (C4) Apart from having

problem of inadequate quarantined space, (C5) primates also attack each other in shared

enclosures. (C6) In addition, Feeding and managing them too incur costs. (C3)  (56 words)  

 Contents =         5

Style and Presentation =         5 Total = 10/10

1. LOOK AT HOW POINTS IN SAMPLE 2 ARE REORGANISED; POINT 7 GOING UP

WHILE POINT 3 AT THE END.

2. CERTAIN WORDS, SUCH AS ILL IS CHANGED TO AILING.

3. LOOK AT HOW POINT 7, 2 AND 4 ARE JOINED.

** Remember: If it is a story..  

1. Remember to change the pronoun; I to he/she, me to him/her, mine to his/hers,

he/she to what it refers to, we to they, us to them, our to their and etc..

2. The points in the summary must be written in sequence. (New)

Section A : Guided Writing.

Guided writing.For this section, you will be given a few boxes of simple cartoon pictures

along with some short notes stated under each picture. Each picture provides you about

5 points in the notes or just 3 at least. Normally, there are only 4 pictures printed,

otherwise your easy will be much longer than expected. Before you start, please, READ

the instructions carefully. You need to do exactly what it says and exactly like how it

wants you to. It will asks you to write any type of essay, suck as formal and informal

letters, stories, articles, reports, speech, dialogues and etc. So far, a lot of candidates

carelessly have chosen to write the wrong type of essay as directed. If the instructions

asks you to write a story, don't write a letter instead or it will go wrong entirely,

especially the formats. For some questions, you'll be given a topic or a title for your

essay to help you out. For instance, this includes article or reports.

You need to use all the notes to help you out, but not necessarily all of them if your head

is filled with bright ideas that is way better than the notes stated. Noted that I'll be

teaching you how to answer each Section later on. Furthermore, it is extremely vital for

you to elaborate each points or notes given. A good essay always has a point, a few

elaborations and followed by some examples within each paragraph.

It is highly recommended that you include along numerous relevant informations for

better scoring. Last but not least, whatever that is that you write, make sure it is not less

than 120 words, or the people who marks your essay won't read the rest of your points.

Section C : Novel.

The last but not least, Section C. This section is all about the novel or literature

components that you learnt from Form 1 to Form 3. Normally, each particular area in

Malaysia studies the different novel. For instance, I choose Robinson Crusoe for the

previous PMR because all Sarawakians study that novel. If you want things to go easy on

you, you better read and be ready. Although, reading novels is a pain in the neck for

some people unless you really interested in reading. First of all, you shall be given a list

of novels studied in the literature component in English Language. It is up to you to

choose which novel is easier to write about that matches the question provided. Based

on ONE of the novel listed, write your answer based on the question asked. It may be

anything, including themes, moral values, characters that you admire, plots and etc. You

MUST provide evidence from the text to support and back up the answers that you

stated. If possible, you should provide examples from the novel before moving up to the

next point. Finally, your response or answer should be not less that 50 words, which is

easy if you do as follows. You also must write in continuous writing, not in notes form. In

other words, one paragraph.

Mr Nobody

In this poem which is of unknown origin, it tells of the mischief in us when we were young ones. Afraid of punishment, we always refuse to admit anything whether of commission or of omission. So this poem tells about the character called Mr. Nobody who does not exist. He is just being mentioned as the fall guy and must take all the blame around the house as if he truly exists in every house. Let us look at the poem again.There are four stanzas. Let us look at the kind of mischief done by Mr. Nobody .

 

In Stanza 1

         He cracks plates.

In Stanza 2

         He tears books.

         He does not close doors properly.

         He pulls off shirt buttons.

         He scatters pins.

         He never oils the door which squeaks.

In Stanza 3

         He puts damp wood upon the fire.

         He muddies and soils the carpets.

         He mislaid the newspapers.

         He also tosses the papers around.

In Stanza 4

         He leaves finger marks on the door.

         He leaves the blinds unclosed.

         He spills ink.

         He leaves his books lying all over.

 He did most of these nasty things. He also failed in his responsibility to do some chores. These included not oiling the squeaky doors, leaving the blind unclosed that will fade the house curtains and leaving his boots everywhere in the house. Interestingly, no one has ever seen Mr. Nobody. Yet he is described as a small and quiet person.

When we read this poem, we can reflect the childhood days where oftentimes we behave irresponsibly and like to point fingers at others. We have yet to grow up, take responsibilities and admit our mistakes or own up to our failings. So, the moral of the story is that everyone must be responsible; for that truly will be a sign that you have grown up.