Sea Level Rise and Coastal Cities: Summarize Written Text in PTE Test

The Summarize Written Text task in the PTE Academic test evaluates candidates’ ability to comprehend and concisely express the main ideas of a given text. In this article, we focus on a common topic found in this section, “Sea Level Rise And Coastal Cities.” Coastal cities across the world are increasingly threatened by rising sea levels, a direct consequence of global warming. For PTE test takers, this topic provides a relevant and challenging text to summarize, assessing skills in reading comprehension, writing, and summarization.

Now, let’s dive into a sample Summarize Written Text prompt and provide responses at various proficiency levels. Summarizing these texts effectively can help you better grasp topics related to real-world challenges, such as the impact of climate change on cities.

Sample Summarize Written Text Prompt: Sea Level Rise and Coastal Cities

Climate change is accelerating the rate of sea level rise due to the melting of polar ice caps and thermal expansion of seawater, leading to increasingly severe impacts on coastal cities around the world. Coastal areas, including cities like New York, Tokyo, and Mumbai, are at risk of frequent flooding, erosion, and infrastructure damage. Additionally, rising sea levels threaten freshwater supplies due to saltwater intrusion, thereby affecting millions of people living in these regions. Nations and local governments are considering adaptation strategies such as building sea walls, restoring wetlands, and elevating critical infrastructure. However, these solutions can be costly and are often inadequate to address the long-term effects of rising seas unless global carbon emissions are significantly reduced.

Task: Summarize the passage in one sentence. The summary should be between 5 and 75 words.

Model Responses for Different Band Scores

Perfect Response (79-90 band)

Rising sea levels caused by climate change are severely affecting coastal cities by increasing the risk of flooding, saltwater intrusion, and infrastructure damage, prompting governments to adopt costly and often insufficient adaptation measures without reducing carbon emissions.

Evaluation:

• Content: Accurately conveys all key points from the passage, including the causes, effects, and responses to rising sea levels.
• Form: The summary is within the required length (48 words).
• Grammar: Flawless grammar, structure, and punctuation.
• Vocabulary: Excellent use of precise words (e.g., “adopt,” “measures,” “insufficient”).
• Spelling: No spelling errors.

Good Response (65-78 band)

Sea level rise due to climate change is causing flooding and saltwater intrusion in cities, leading to expensive but often insufficient efforts like creating sea walls and restoring wetlands, unless carbon emissions drop.

Evaluation:

• Content: Captures the primary ideas but misses some descriptive detail such as the mention of thermal expansion of seawater.
• Form: Meets the word count (37 words), concise.
• Grammar: Mostly correct; minor structural improvement could enhance clarity.
• Vocabulary: Adequate word choice but less sophisticated than higher-level responses.
• Spelling: No errors, but could expand precision in vocabulary.

Average Response (50-64 band)

Rising sea levels from climate change are causing problems for coastal cities and necessitate measures like sea walls and restoration to manage the damage.

Evaluation:

• Content: Omits critical details such as saltwater intrusion and the long-term insufficiency of adaptation without carbon emission reductions.
• Form: Within required word count (27 words), though lacking balance in content.
• Grammar: Grammatically sound but could improve sentence complexity for a higher score.
• Vocabulary: Basic; fails to demonstrate a wide range of advanced vocabulary.
• Spelling: No errors observed.

Low Response (below 50 band)

The rise of sea levels is affecting coastal cities and requiring changes.

Evaluation:

• Content: Simplistic and incomplete, leaving out major components like saltwater intrusion and adaptation strategies.
• Form: Too short at 12 words, failing to meet word count requirements.
• Grammar: Basic sentence structure with minimal complexity.
• Vocabulary: Very limited, lacking any advanced or subject-specific terms.
• Spelling: Correct spelling but needs substantial improvement in content and vocabulary.

Essential Vocabulary from the Text

Here are 10 challenging words from the sample text, their definitions, and examples of usage in different contexts:

1. Accelerating /əkˈsɛləreɪtɪŋ/ (v): Increasing in speed.

   • The warming climate is accelerating the melting of glaciers.

2. Thermal /ˈθɜːrməl/ (adj): Related to heat.

   • Thermal expansion of water occurs as ocean temperatures rise.

3. Intrusion /ɪnˈtruːʒən/ (n): The process of forcing into another space or material.

   • Saltwater intrusion threatens groundwater in many coastal cities.

4. Adaptation /ˌædæpˈteɪʃən/ (n): Adjusting to new conditions.

   • Adaptation measures are necessary to protect against sea level rise.

5. Infrastructure /ˈɪnfrəˌstrʌkʧər/ (n): The basic physical systems of a city or society.

   • Rising sea levels are undermining the infrastructure in coastal areas.

6. Restoration /ˌrɛstəˈreɪʃən/ (n): The act of returning something to its original condition.

   • The city is investing in wetland restoration to mitigate flooding.

7. Erosion /ɪˈroʊʒən/ (n): The gradual removal of soil or rock by natural forces like wind or water.

   • Coastal erosion is becoming more severe due to sea level rise.

8. Adequate /ˈædɪkwət/ (adj): Sufficient or enough.

   • Current solutions are not adequate to deal with the long-term effects.

9. Severe /sɪˈvɪə/ (adj): Very serious or harsh.

   • Severe flooding affects millions of people annually.

10. Mitigate /ˈmɪtɪˌgeɪt/ (v): To make less severe or harmful.

    • Interested parties are seeking ways to mitigate the impacts of climate change.

Conclusion

The Summarize Written Text task in the PTE Academic test assesses your ability to synthesize complex information in one concise sentence. The sample question on sea level rise and coastal cities is a recurrent theme in many high-stakes tests due to the global nature of the challenge. Effective summarization requires attention to detail, good grammar, a wide range of vocabulary, and a clear understanding of the subject.

If you found this helpful, consider engaging with additional material on related topics like Climate change and migration patterns and Impacts of climate refugees to deepen your understanding.