Summarize Written Text (SWT) 是PTE写作中的第一道题,也是考生刚考完口语后心神未定前遇到的第一道题。主要考察考生的阅读和写作两项能力。官方给出的答题要求为:
After reading a text, write a one-sentence summary of the passage. The prompt length of the passage is up to 300 words. You are required to finish this task in 10 minutes.
(读完一个文章片段后,写一个一句话的总结;文章片段长度一般在300字以上。你需要在10分钟之内完成这篇文章)。
可以看出来,官方明确要求只用一句话写总结,也就是说,你写的答案中只能有一个句号。那这道题如何评分呢?根据官方得分指南:
可以看出,内容分只占了2分,而结构语法词汇占了5(1+2+2)分。以此推断,SWT的高分要求是:用一句话(50-75字)较为完整的涵盖采分点(往往是关键词),句子用一些连词连接,并且能体现一定的逻辑关系和没有明显的语法错误。很多考生往往过于纠结于如何尽量多地涵盖采分点,而忽视了写一个通顺完整没有错误的句子的要求,导致得分下降。
那在考试和练习中如何准确找到采分点,增加内容分并且完整连成句子呢?我们拿一道题做例子:
Spurred by the sense that disorderly behavior among students in South Euclid was increasing, the school resource officer (SRO) reviewed data regarding referrals to the principal's office. He found that the high school reported thousands of referrals a year for bullying and that the junior high school had recently experienced a 30 percent increase in bullying referrals. Police data showed that juvenile complaints about disturbances, bullying, and assaults after school hours had increased 90 percent in the past 10 years.
A researcher from Kent State University (Ohio) conducted a survey of all students attending the junior high and high school. Interviews and focus groups were conducted with student identified as victims or offender teachers, and guidance counselors. Finally, the South Euclid Police Department purchased a Geographic Information System to conduct crime incident mapping of hotspots within the schools. The main findings pointed to four primary areas of concern: the environmental design of the school; Teacher knowledge of and response to the problem; parental attitudes and responses and student perspectives and behaviors.
The SRO worked in close collaboration with a social worker and the university researcher. They coordinated a Response Planning Team comprising many stakeholders that was intended to respond to each of the areas identified in the initial analysis. Environmental changes included modifying the school schedule and increasing teacher supervision of hotspots. Counselors and social workers conducted teacher-training courses in conflict resolution and bullying prevention. Parent education included mailings with information about bullying, an explanation of the new school policy, and a discussion about what could be done at home to address the problems. Finally, student education included classroom discussions between homeroom teachers and students, as well as assemblies conducted by the SRO. The SRO also opened a substation next to a primary hotspot. The Ohio Department of Education contributed by opening a new training center to provide a nontraditional setting for specialized help.
The results from the various responses were dramatic. School suspensions decreased 40 percent. Bullying incidents dropped 60 percent in the hallways and 80 percent in the gym area. Follow-up surveys indicated that there were positive attitudinal changes among students about bullying and that more students felt confident that teachers would take action when a problem arose. Teachers indicated that training sessions were helpful and that they were more likely to talk about bullying as a serious issue. Parents responded positively, asking for more information about the problem in future mailings. The overall results suggest that the school environments were not only safer, but that early intervention was helping at- risk students succeed in school (South Euclid (Ohio) Police Department, 2001).
文中粗体部分即是每段话的概括语句,由于西方人的写作逻辑(学过雅思作文的都知道),他们习惯于在一个段落的开头或者结尾写总结性的话语,所以考生们可以着重观察每段话的开头或者结尾部分,准备将其归纳进入自己的答案中。现在我们找到的句子有:
1.Police data showed that juvenile complaints about disturbances, bullying, and assaults after school hours had increased.
2.The main findings pointed to four primary areas of concern: the environmental design of the school; Teacher knowledge of and response to the problem; parental attitudes and responses and student perspectives and behaviors.
3.The SRO worked in close collaboration with a social worker and the university researcher.
4.The results from the various responses were dramatic.Early intervention was helping at- risk students succeed in school.
在找句子的过程我们需要注意把无关紧要的时间人名,地名和从句,举例说明全部省掉。现在根据这几句话用连词(逻辑关系词的运用可以给句子加分,然而PTE的机改并不会真正意义上判别你文中的逻辑关系)将他们连成一句话。
Since police data showed that juvenile complaints about disturbances and assaults after school hours had increased, and other research pointed to four primary areas of concern: the environmental design of the school, teacher knowledge of and response, parental attitudes, student perspectives and behaviour, The SRO worked in close collaboration with social workers and the university researchers, which leads to a positive result that early intervention was helping at-risk students succeed in school. (72 words)
当然这只是个初步的答案,但是基本已经完成了对于SWT回答的要求。很多同学会有疑问,直接照抄原文真的可以吗?关于这个问题,根据实战结果得出的结论是:照抄原文是可行的,由于PTE的机器踩点评分,在写作水平不高的情况关键词最好不要做替换,以免被误判错。
当然关于SWT还有很多的小技巧,比如实在无法连接2个句子的时候可以使用分号“;”。而and 是学术写作的黄金连词,一个很简单的词就可以将两个不太相关的简单句连接成一个高分复杂句。强烈推荐同学们在自己的写作练习中多运用and,这里还要提到一个关于and使用的习惯:当and后面跟着的句子没有主语时,and前面是不加逗号的,and并列的是两个动词,例如:
I ate an apple and drank a cup of tea this morning.
这句话主语为I,and并列了两个动词 ate 和drank.
而and后面跟着的句子有自己的主语时,and前面需要加逗号,例如:
I ate an apple, and he drank a cup of tea this morning.
这句话中and并列的是两个简单句。
关于PTE写作SWT的得分技巧就分享到这里。如果同学们对于其他题型还有疑问,可以看我的帖子或者加我微信,直接沟通。