In the latest format of GCE O level Higher Chinese Language (HCL) exam, summary writing is one of the 4 sections to be assessed.  Hence, learning Chinese summary writing is essential to all HCL students.

Students have been trained to be detail, precise and thorough when answering the comprehension questions and elaborating their ideas in essay writing.  They need to fully explain why the answer or why the view, to convince the readers.  This means that our students will need to be “long-winded” in order to be able to explain and elaborate their points clearly.

However, there is no need for them to be “long-winded” when they are doing the summary writing.  It is totally the opposite.  In this section, students only need to be straight to the points.

In this case, isn’t it very easy for our students?  As students are always having problem at elaborating.  However, does this means that the students will be good at “straight to the points”?

The answer is otherwise.  Our students not only having problem elaborating, they also having problem to identify “the key points”

As I told my students, this is a section where you can score full marks.  If you can identify the key points, by applying the 3 easy steps, you are able to score for it.

The steps

When learning Chinese summary writing, one should imagine yourself doing shopping for your 21st birthday party, or the prom night.  Your aim is to get something SIMPLE but make you look GORGEOUS.  With this clear aim, your target is clear.  So,

step 1, you go straight to the relevant shop / department, GRAB ALL main pieces that you will need, (but don’t buy yet!)

Then you

step 2, hide at a corner with those stuffs you grabbed.  REMOVE any duplication, mismatch pieces, exaggerated pieces, irrelevant stuffs that you grab by accident, and ALL accessories? (Remember, we need things that are SIMPLE!)

So, you ended up with 3 outfits, 1 necklace, a pair of long dangling dangle earrings, 2 pairs of shoes.  Before you make payment,

step 3, check if you are within budget!!  Don’t forget that you are only given $80!! (the word limit, so just imagine your $80 can get you what you NEED)  So do not spend more than that.  If whatever left with you are out of budget, then you need to TRIM them.  Discard 1 of the 2 pieces of the same colour (don’t be surprised that you might only be keeping 1 of the 3), get a shorter necklace,  change the dangle earrings to a stud earrings, and keep only 1 pair of shoes.

So after these 3 steps (Grab – Remove – Trim), you should be able to get something within budget and will make you look SIMPLE but gorgeous for the night.

Full mark summary

Attached is the answer script of one of the Sec 4 HCL students, score her full mark summary writing in the Prelim exam.