In the PTE exam, the Summarize Written Text task is an essential component of the Speaking & Writing section. With the rise of global challenges like climate change, topics surrounding sustainable and climate-smart practices are becoming increasingly prevalent. This article provides a detailed breakdown of the Summarize Written Text task using the theme of Climate-smart Agriculture Practices, a topic frequently addressed in both academic and practical settings.
Sample Summarize Written Text: Climate-smart Agriculture Practices
Below is a sample passage for the Summarize Written Text task. This passage focuses on the pressing issue of climate-smart agriculture practices. Your task is to summarize the passage in one sentence within a maximum word count of 75 words.
Passage 1: Climate-smart Agriculture Practices
Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) refers to an approach that helps in transforming and reorienting agricultural systems to support food security under the new realities of climate change. By integrating climate change mitigation, adaptation, and food security, CSA entails the use of practices like crop diversification, agroforestry, and efficient water management. These practices not only reduce greenhouse gas emissions but also enhance resilience by improving the productivity and sustainability of farming systems. Additionally, CSA seeks to ensure better livelihoods for farmers through innovative methods such as using technology to monitor soil moisture and condition, precision agriculture, and the dynamic use of organic fertilizers.
Task Prompt: Summarize the text in one sentence. Your response must be between 5-75 words.
Sample Responses Based on Different Band Scores
High Band Score (79+ Points)
Climate-smart agriculture helps to transform agricultural systems by integrating climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies, through practices such as crop diversification and water management, which not only reduce greenhouse gas emissions but also enhance the sustainability and productivity of farming systems while improving farmers’ livelihood.
- Content: Comprehensive inclusion of key ideas – Climate change mitigation, CSA practices, and its benefits.
- Form: Perfect as the word count is under 75 words and uses a single sentence.
- Grammar: Accurate use of complex sentence structure and grammar with no errors.
- Vocabulary: Precise use of advanced terminology from the original text.
- Spelling: No spelling errors.
Mid Band Score (65-79 Points)
CSA involves reorienting agriculture to support food security by using practices like crop diversification and water management to reduce emissions and improve sustainability.
- Content: Key ideas like CSA’s role in supporting food security and reducing emissions are included, but lacks the emphasis on how it benefits farmers.
- Form: Word count is appropriate; but the sentence could be more detailed.
- Grammar: Generally accurate, but simpler sentence structure is used.
- Vocabulary: Satisfactory, though some terms could be more precise.
- Spelling: No spelling errors.
Low Band Score (50-64 Points)
Climate-smart agriculture uses techniques like change in crops and water control for food security and to reduce greenhouse gases.
- Content: Misses several key ideas such as adaptation and the importance of sustainability.
- Form: Sentence is valid but near the lower end of acceptable range in terms of word count and lacks depth.
- Grammar: Simple sentence structure; lack of diverse grammatical constructs.
- Vocabulary: Basic vocabulary with little use of advanced terminology from the text.
- Spelling: No spelling errors.
Very Low Band Score (Below 50 Points)
CSA helps agriculture and climate.
- Content: Missing almost all relevant information from the passage.
- Form: Far too short.
- Grammar: Extremely basic sentence structure.
- Vocabulary: Very limited use of vocabulary.
- Spelling: No spelling errors, but the response severely lacks content.
Climate-smart agriculture focuses on reducing greenhouse gases through sustainable practices
Vocabulary and Grammar in Climate-smart Agriculture
Here are some essential vocabulary words from the passage along with their pronunciation, meaning, and an example sentence to help you in your PTE preparation:
-
Resilience /rɪˈzɪliəns/ – the capacity to recover quickly from challenges.
Example: The resilience of farmers improved through climate-smart practices. -
Mitigation /ˌmɪtɪˈɡeɪʃən/ – the act of reducing the severity or seriousness of something.
Example: Climate-smart agriculture helps in the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions. -
Diversification /daɪˌvɜːsɪfɪˈkeɪʃən/ – the process of varying products to reduce risk.
Example: Farmers rely on crop diversification to ensure food stability. -
Agroforestry /ˌæɡroʊˈfɔːrɪstri/ – the intentional integration of trees and shrubs into agricultural landscapes.
Example: Agroforestry is an essential practice in sustainable farming. -
Precision agriculture /prɪˈsɪʒən ˌæɡrɪˈkʌltʃər/ – farming management concept based on observing and responding to inter and intra-field variations in crops.
Example: Precision agriculture helps farmers make better decisions on fertilizer use. -
Sustainability / səˌsteɪnəˈbɪləti / – the ability to maintain a certain rate or level over the long-term.
Example: Climate-smart agriculture is crucial for agricultural sustainability. -
Adaptation /ˌædæpˈteɪʃən/ – the action of adjusting to new conditions.
Example: Adaptation strategies allow farms to withstand climate change. -
Organic fertilizers /ɔːrˈɡænɪk ˈfɜːrtəlaɪzərs/ – fertilizers derived from animal matter, human excreta, or vegetable matter.
Example: Use of organic fertilizers enhances soil health in climate-smart agriculture. -
Greenhouse gas emissions /ˈɡrinhaʊs ɡæs ɪˈmɪʃənz/ – gases that trap heat in the atmosphere, contributing to global warming.
Example: Reducing greenhouse gas emissions is a goal of climate-smart farming. -
Food security /ˈfuːd sɪˌkjʊərɪti/ – the state of having reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food.
Example: Climate-smart agriculture enhances food security for communities.
Conclusion
Summarizing written texts is a challenging but crucial skill in the PTE exam, and practicing with topics like climate-smart agriculture practices can enhance both your linguistic abilities and understanding of current issues. This task is common in the exam due to the significance of environmental subjects. We encourage candidates to continue practicing and share their summaries in the comments for constructive feedback!
