PTE Summarize Written Text Practice

PTE Summarize Written Text requires test-takers to condense a passage into a single sentence of 5 to 75 words within 10 minutes. Pearson scores the response on content, form, grammar and vocabulary, and a response over 75 words scores zero on form. Three sentence templates cover most passages: same-idea, contrast, and cause-and-effect.

What is SWT in PTE?

SWT stands for Summarize Written Text, the first task in the PTE Academic writing section. You read a passage of up to 300 words and write one single sentence of 5 to 75 words that captures its main idea, with 10 minutes on the clock per item. Most test-takers see two or three SWT items, and the task is scored on content, form, grammar and vocabulary.

SWT at a glance	Detail
Full name	Summarize Written Text
Section	PTE Academic Writing (part 2 of the test)
What you produce	One sentence, 5 to 75 words
Time per item	10 minutes
Passage length	Up to 300 words
Scored on	Content, form, grammar, vocabulary
Scores it feeds	Both Writing and Reading
Instant zero	More than one sentence, or outside 5 to 75 words, scores zero on form

SWT is worth learning first because it feeds two scores at once. A single well-built sentence raises your Reading score as well as your Writing score, which no other writing task does.

The PTE summarize written text section is one of the important parts of the Writing module of the PTE test.

Candidates will be asked to summarize the passages provided. The difficulty of this task is not only about reading and understanding but also writing and summarizing information in only one full sentence. 

Don’t panic!

This article can help you with some tips to get the best score.

Let’s dig into the details.

(Click here to read our Vietnamese version)

Key Takeaways

• Depending on the text, you can express your ideas using three types: same, Opposite, or Cause and Effect.
• Using a PTE summarize written text template is a necessary tool for success in the Writing task. It provides a structured approach to your response.
• At the end of this blog, you will find the three useful PTE Summarize Written Text tips that can help you get higher scores.

Related:

• PTE simulation that can help increase your scores fast!
• The most important things to know about the PTE full-form exam
• PTE tips & tricks from high-scorers
• PTE writing format – Everything you need to know

PTE Summarize Written Text Overview & Scoring Guidelines

This task will ask you to read 1 to 3 passages and then summarize in one sentence of 5 to 75 words. The language should be academic and written concisely and persuasively. 

You should mention the main idea and important sub-idea (if any). Only one full stop is allowed in the sentence; otherwise, your content is not valid. 

The screen layout will include the following parts:

• Instruction
• The given passage
• Space for writing
• Word count display
• Cut, copy, and paste buttons
• Timer (next to the Instruction)

The summary written text task is assessed by 4 criteria: form, content, vocabulary, and grammar.

Sample: Read the passage below and summarize it using one sentence. Type your response in the box at the bottom of the screen. You have 10 minutes to finish this task. Your response will be judged on the quality of your writing and on how well your response presents the key points in the passage.

Cities are constantly changing and evolving, driven by the relentless pursuit of wealth and prosperity. However, this pursuit often comes at a steep cost, as the very wealth that fuels urban growth can ultimately lead to its downfall. History has shown time and again that cities rise and fall due to overexploitation of resources. In their quest for economic gain, cities often extract and consume vast amounts of materials from the surrounding countryside, disrupting the delicate balance between urban centers and their environments. This unchecked exploitation can have devastating consequences, depleting natural resources, polluting air and water, and ultimately undermining the very foundations upon which cities depend. The relationship between cities and the environment is an intricate dance, where the actions of one partner inevitably affect the other. As cities continue to expand and consume resources at an alarming rate, it is imperative that we recognize the interconnectedness of urban and natural systems and strive for a more sustainable approach to development.

 

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Form: You should write 1 sentence of 5-75 words. You’ll get:

• 1 point: if your summary is 1 sentence, with the length required. 
• 0 point: if more than 1 sentence or inappropriate word count.

Content: You should present a good summary containing the main point and supporting ideas. You’ll be awarded: 

• 2 points: if relevant aspects are covered.
• 1 point: if the summary has most of the important points mentioned.
• 0 point: poor summary with irrelevant content.

Vocabulary: You need to use proper words in your content. You’ll receive:

• 2 points: If you have an appropriate word choice
• 1 point: Some words may be used improperly, but you deliver understandable content.
• 0 point: inappropriate words and hard-to-understand content.

Grammar: You should show your grammar skills. The best answer often includes the main clause and the subordinate clause. Your response will be marked:

• 2 points: If you use correct grammar structures.
• 1 point: structures are not perfect with a few mistakes. 
• 0 point: poor structures with many mistakes. 

Grammar is considered the most difficult criterion, even for native speakers. You should pay attention to: 

• Capitalization of the first letter of the sentence and proper nouns
• Use the third person
• Include proper punctuation (especially commas should be included)

3 Common Types Of Ideas In The SWT Section 

Depending on the given text, you can express your ideas based on 3 types: Same, Opposite, or Cause and Effect. 

The Same Central Idea

The text is usually about a fact known or accepted by people. Your sentence should include the main point of the fact and other sub-ideas to support it.

For example:

Flour is one of the cheapest goods in the world and can be used to make various products such as cakes, noodles, or wrapping covers for deep-fried chicken and fish.

The Opposite Central Idea

The given content may begin with a misconception and discuss the opposite fact with an explanation. In this case, you should start with grammar structures such as although, though, despite, inspire, etc. And then mention the actual fact (opposite from the misconception) in the second part of the sentence. 

For example:

Although many of us think 8 hours of sleep is perfect for people to relax, a survey conducted by the National Health Care Center proves that the necessary sleeping hours vary depending on people’s gender, health, age, and working conditions.

Cause And Effect Idea

The paragraph often explains a series of actions and their impact. You need to point out the sequence with cause and effect. 

For example:

Research by the University of Health Care shows that drinking alcohol is the number one reason leading to liver damage due to its poisonous content.

PTE SWT Templates You Can Try 

To be successful in this Writing task, you should learn how to use a PTE summarize written text template. Let’s find out what templates are suitable for you and how to use them effectively.

For Students With Average To Good English Skills

For this group of students, the aiming score is from 60 to 80. If it’s your target, the template introduced later can help you achieve it. However, remember that the template is just one of the useful tools during practice and testing. 

To have the best result, you should also practice getting used to the test requirements and know how to identify the central idea, important keywords, and key phrases.  

While reading, you should note down all this necessary information and then correctly fit it in the template pattern to form a proper response. Plus, capturing the smaller phrases is also useful. Yet, don’t go too deep into detail. 5 to 6 words are enough to help you avoid grammatical errors. 

You can make changes to the template if you feel uncomfortable using it. Yet, if you stick to it, you’ll be able to complete the task with enough information to put in one complex sentence.

Our template includes a well-developed grammatical structure, with the first part of the sentence introducing the main idea and the clever insertion in the second part to add the subordinate clause. You can even extend the sentence with the third part as well.

One more important thing to remember is that your keywords should fit the template based on both meaning and grammar. You can change the word form to create a correct grammar structure.

Here is how you can do it:

The text/ research gives information about/ shows that <central idea>, because <keyword/ keyphrase 1> and <keyword /keyphrase 2> are important elements; furthermore, the <keyword/ keyphrase 3>, <keyword/ keyphrase 4> as well as <keyword/ keyphrase 5> were mentioned as a result of <keyword/ keyphrase 6>, <keyword/ keyphrase 7> and <keyword/ keyphrase 8>.

Now let’s see how you can use this template in the example below:

“Older people are growing healthier, happier, and more independent, say American scientists. The results of a 14-year study to be announced later this month reveal that the diseases associated with old age are afflicting fewer and fewer people, and when they do strike, it is much later in life.

Researchers, now analyzing the results of data gathered in 1994, say arthritis, high blood pressure, and circulation problems are major medical complaints in this age group, troubling a smaller proportion yearly. And the data confirms that the rate at which these diseases are declining continues to accelerate. Other disorders of old-age dementia, stroke, arteriosclerosis, and emphysema are also troubling fewer and fewer people.

‘It raises the question of what should be considered normal aging,’ says Kenneth Manton, a demographer from Duke University in North Carolina. He says that the problems doctors accepted as normal in a 65-year-old in 1982 do not appear until people are 70 or 75. Clearly, certain diseases are beating a retreat in the face of medical advances. But there may be other contributing factors. Improvements in childhood nutrition in the first quarter of the twentieth century, for example, gave today’s older adults a better start in life than their predecessors.”

Answer:

The research shows that elderly people have better life quality and grow happier than their older generations because they benefit from their childhood nutrition improvement; furthermore, chronic diseases were also mentioned as a reason for healthier elderly.

For Students With Poor English Skills

A target of a moderate score of around 40 to 60 is suitable for this group of students. If you’re in this group, don’t be upset. It’s always better to set a realistic goal and achieve it, then you can go for something higher. Practicing every day can improve your results. 

Try your best to practice with the above template. But if you can’t point out the exact keywords or key phrases, there’s nothing wrong with repeating the sentence (in a logical way and concerning the given text). 

Below is a simple template you can use when you’re struggling and there are no other choices.

Sentence 1 from Passage 1 and Sentence 2 of Passage 2, but/and Sentence 3 of Passage 3 or Passage 4.

Let’s see how you can use this template in the example above:

Elderly people are growing healthier, happier, and more independent because high blood pressure and circulation problems are troubling a smaller proportion every year, and there are improvements in childhood nutrition in the first quarter of the twentieth century.

PTE Summarize Written Text Tips For Higher Scores

Tips On Reading The Text

This section requires you to have strong reading skills, including speed reading and deep reading, to complete the task well. You need to understand the passage well before summarizing it. 

Here are some tips to perfect your skills while reading and finding important information.  

• You need to read and find the main overall idea. Once you identify it, you need to look for its supporting points. Remember, don’t pay attention to the details, but the keywords only.
• You can form your summary by collecting the central idea of each paragraph and combining them together.

Tips On Time Management

Time management plays an important role in the exam. Especially when you sit in the exam room, time seems to fly faster, and you start to become nervous and rush out. 

Therefore, learning how to divide your time during the test is important. It will help you use your few minutes effectively and avoid major setbacks to complete the task successfully.

You’ll be given 10 minutes to do the summarizing test. Ensure you fully use this time to read and write perfectly with the following tricks.

You should spend the first 2-3 minutes carefully reading the paragraph. Try to understand its meaning so you will not produce irrelevant content.

The next 4 to 5 minutes are for writing the sentence. Though it’s only one sentence, it requires lots of thinking, forming structure, rearranging, and rewriting until you get a satisfactory result. 

The last 1 – 2 minutes should be used for checking grammatical and vocabulary mistakes. Ensure you use the correct structure, relevant words, and place the punctuation in proper places.

Remember that if you finish earlier, your remaining time will not be moved to the next section, so recheck your sentence as much as you can.

Combine The Two Tips

Below is what you need to do in each precious minute of the test.

Step 1. Skim the text for 1 minute

Skimming will give you a general idea about the topic. 

Step 2. Deep-read the text for 2 minutes.

While re-reading the passage again for detailed information, note down the keywords. Remember that you’re limited to 1 sentence and a certain number of words; thus, you can use synonyms or one word to replace the whole long phrase if possible. 

Step 3. Take 4 minutes to organize the keywords in a sentence. 

Imagine you’re telling the information to someone who has no background or has known about the passage, so you should make it as clear and understandable as possible.   

Besides, avoid including your own ideas in the content of your summary. Add conjunctions to connect parts of the sentence logically. 

Ignore the details. Only choose keywords to include in your answer.

The ideal length is around 30-35 words. The longer you write, the more mistakes will be exposed. And don’t exceed the required word count.  

Step 4. Recheck and edit

Spend the last 2 minutes of your given time to fix the grammatical structure, vocabulary usage, and punctuation and simplify the sentence if possible. 

Frequently Asked Questions

What does SWT mean in PTE?

SWT is the abbreviation for Summarize Written Text. It is the first task in the PTE Academic writing section and requires one sentence of 5 to 75 words summarising a passage of up to 300 words.

How many words should a PTE SWT answer be?

Between 5 and 75 words, written as one sentence. Aim for 35 to 45 words: long enough to include the main idea plus two supporting points, short enough that the grammar stays under control. Anything outside 5 to 75 words scores zero on form no matter how good the content is.

Can I write two sentences in Summarize Written Text?

No. The response must be a single sentence. Two full stops means zero for form. Join clauses with commas, semicolons, “which”, “while” or “whereas” instead.

How many SWT questions are in PTE?

Usually two or three, depending on the version of the test you receive. Each is timed separately at 10 minutes, so the whole task takes 20 to 30 minutes of your writing section.

How do you score 90 in PTE Summarize Written Text?

Full marks need all four traits at once: the main idea plus the key supporting points, one sentence inside the word limit, correct grammar and precise vocabulary. The reliable route is a fixed template, because it removes the two most common failures at the same time, sentence count and word count.

Is SWT scored in Reading or Writing?

Both. Summarize Written Text contributes to your Writing score and to your Reading score, which is why it repays practice more than any other single task in the test.

Conclusion

The PTE summarize written text is not as easy as your one-sentence answer should summarize the passage’s main idea with relevant information, correct grammar, and vocabulary. You need to train your reading skills to get the main idea of the content in a short time and convert it into a proper response.

You can use the above tips and templates to assist your skills in practicing and completing the task well in the exam room. Make sure you practice them a lot and are confident while taking the test to get high scores.

PTE Summarize Written Text at a glance

Detail	What Pearson specifies
Where it appears	Part 1, Speaking & Writing
Source text	Up to 300 words
Your answer	One single sentence, up to 75 words
Time	10 minutes per item
Scored skills	Reading + writing
Practical rule	The one-sentence requirement is scored under form, and a two-sentence answer loses that mark no matter how good the content is. Write the content first, then join the clauses — semicolons and dashes are legal, full stops are not.

Format details follow the official PTE Academic test format published by Pearson.

PTE Summarize Written Text practice questions with answers

Three practice passages below, each inside the official 300-word source limit, each followed by a model one-sentence answer under 75 words. Give yourself the real 10 minutes per passage and write before you read the model — comparing your sentence against a model you have already seen teaches almost nothing.

How to practise these Summarize Written Text questions

1. Two minutes reading, six writing, two checking. The most common failure is spending eight minutes reading and then writing a rushed sentence that breaks the word limit.
2. Find the paragraph jobs, not the topic. In a three-paragraph source, one paragraph usually states the claim, one gives evidence, one gives the limitation. Your sentence needs all three jobs, not three details.
3. Build the sentence as a spine plus clauses. Start with subject and main verb, then attach the supporting content with “which”, “because”, a dash or a semicolon.
4. Count the words before you check the grammar. Over 75 words is a form penalty you cannot argue with; a slightly clumsy clause is not.
5. Do not copy long strings verbatim. Reusing key terms is expected and correct; lifting a whole clause from the source is what costs vocabulary marks.

Practice passage 1

Cities across the world are planting trees at a scale not seen in a century, and the justification has shifted from beauty to measurable public health. A mature street tree intercepts rainfall before it reaches the drain, reducing the volume that storm systems must carry during heavy rain. Its canopy lowers surface temperatures beneath it by several degrees, which matters because heat-related mortality in cities is concentrated in a small number of extreme days. Leaves also trap particulate matter, the fraction of air pollution most closely associated with respiratory illness.

The economics have become clearer as these effects have been quantified. Studies in several North American cities have put the annual value of the services a single large street tree provides — stormwater management, cooling, air filtration and carbon storage — at between fifty and two hundred dollars, against a planting and maintenance cost that is lower over the tree’s life. Property values on tree-lined streets are consistently higher than on comparable streets without them.

There are limits that enthusiastic planting programmes tend to underplay. Young trees deliver almost none of these benefits; the returns scale with canopy size, so a newly planted tree is a thirty-year investment rather than an immediate intervention. Species chosen for fast growth are often short-lived and structurally weak. And in dense city centres, the underground space needed for roots frequently does not exist, which is why survival rates for street trees in some districts fall below fifty per cent within a decade.

Model answer (60 words, one sentence)

Cities are planting trees increasingly for measurable health and economic returns — stormwater interception, cooling, air filtration and higher property values worth fifty to two hundred dollars a year per mature tree — but because those returns scale with canopy size they take decades to arrive, and poor species choice and insufficient root space cause high street-tree mortality in dense districts.

Why it scores: it carries all three paragraph jobs — the shift in justification, the quantified benefit, the limitation — and uses dashes and “because” to stay inside one sentence. It keeps the source’s key terms but no lifted clause.

Practice passage 2

The idea that sleep consolidates memory is no longer controversial, but the mechanism has proved more specific than early research suggested. During slow-wave sleep the hippocampus appears to replay the neural sequences recorded during the day, transferring them to the cortex for longer-term storage. This replay happens at a compressed speed, which is why a night’s sleep can process far more material than the waking hours that produced it.

Different kinds of learning depend on different sleep stages. Factual recall — vocabulary, dates, names — benefits most from the deep slow-wave sleep concentrated in the first half of the night. Procedural skills such as playing an instrument or a sport improve most with rapid eye movement sleep, which dominates the second half. Cutting a night short therefore does not reduce all learning equally; waking two hours early removes disproportionately more REM sleep, and with it more of the motor learning.

The practical implications for students are unusually direct. Reviewing material shortly before sleeping produces better retention than reviewing the same material in the morning, because the interval before consolidation is shorter. Sleeping fewer than six hours after a study session largely cancels its benefit, so an all-night revision session before an examination trades a small gain in exposure for a large loss in consolidation. Naps of ninety minutes, long enough to include both stages, restore some of the deficit but do not eliminate it.

Model answer (56 words, one sentence)

Sleep consolidates memory through compressed hippocampal replay during slow-wave sleep, with factual recall depending on early-night deep sleep and procedural skills on later REM sleep, so shortened nights damage the two kinds of learning unequally and all-night revision is counterproductive, since sleeping under six hours after studying largely cancels the session’s benefit.

Why it scores: the mechanism, the stage-specific split and the student-facing consequence all survive. Note that the numbers kept — six hours — are the ones the source uses to make its point, not every number in the text.

Practice passage 3

When researchers in psychology attempted to reproduce a hundred published findings in 2015, fewer than half yielded the original result. The exercise was widely reported as evidence of misconduct, but the more mundane explanations turned out to matter more. Studies with small samples produce unstable estimates, and a literature that publishes only statistically significant outcomes will inevitably fill up with results that were partly luck.

Two publication incentives compounded the problem. Journals preferred novel findings to confirmations, so replications were difficult to publish and therefore rarely attempted. Researchers, assessed on publication counts, had reason to analyse data in several ways and report the version that reached significance — a practice that is not fraud but does inflate the apparent strength of an effect.

The reforms that followed have been structural rather than moral. Preregistration requires researchers to declare their hypotheses and analysis plan before collecting data, which removes the freedom to choose an analysis after seeing the results. Registered reports go further: journals accept a study on the basis of its design, before the outcome is known. Larger multi-site collaborations have replaced single-laboratory studies in several fields. Early evidence suggests these changes work — preregistered studies report null results far more often than the older literature did, which is what a healthier publication process should look like.

Model answer (55 words, one sentence)

A 2015 attempt to reproduce a hundred psychology findings succeeded fewer than half the time, caused less by misconduct than by small samples and publication incentives rewarding novel significant results over confirmations, prompting structural reforms such as preregistration, registered reports and multi-site collaboration whose early effect is a much higher rate of reported null results.

Why it scores: it resists the trap the source sets. A weak summary would lead with “psychology research is unreliable”; the passage’s actual argument is that the cause was structural rather than dishonest, and the model answer says so.

How to mark your own Summarize Written Text answers

Check	Pass condition
Form	Exactly one sentence, 5–75 words, starting with a capital and ending with one full stop
Content	The main claim plus the two or three supporting ideas the source spends most space on — not the most interesting detail
Grammar	The long sentence still parses. Read it aloud: if you lose the subject, restructure it
Vocabulary	Source key terms retained, but no clause copied word for word

The failure mode to watch for: most low scores here are form failures, not comprehension failures. Two sentences, 78 words, or a missing full stop each cost a mark that has nothing to do with how well you understood the passage — so check form first, every time.

Related PTE Writing guides

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