Summarise and persuade for an audience
Select the material the task requires, then write a concise explanation or persuasive response suited to its audience and purpose.
Original StudyForA teaching and fictional practice scenarios. Model responses illustrate reasoning; other well-supported answers are possible. These tasks do not award Cambridge marks or grades. A broad topic map is not a complete current-affairs reading programme. Full-length unseen-paper practice, an authenticated reading bank and calibrated human assessment remain outstanding.
Before you begin
- Read short English passages
- Distinguish a claim from its supporting reason
Work on paper. Try each question before revealing help, and explain why your method works.
Quick readiness check
What should a reasoned answer do?
What you will learn
- Summarise and justify using relevant information
- Write concise, audience-appropriate persuasive responses using evidence and own ideas
A summary selects rather than copies
Identify the question’s focus and collect only the relevant points. Group overlapping ideas, use your own wording where asked and remove repeated detail. A summary of disadvantages should not add benefits or your own policy recommendation unless the task requires them.
Fictional notes: volunteers want evening opening; staffing costs rise; some visitors lack transport; a shorter pilot could test demand. A summary of obstacles should select staffing cost and transport, not reproduce every note.
Persuasion still needs evidence
Identify audience, purpose and a feasible action. Use relevant facts, reasoning and appropriate language; inclusive wording or a rhetorical question cannot substitute for evidence. Acknowledge a significant concern where doing so strengthens the argument.
The 2028–2030 comprehension route includes a 12-mark persuasive task in Section B with an upper limit of 150 words. The earlier paper uses a different Section A persuasion format. Read the actual task for your exam year; these short rehearsals and model responses are formative, not an official marking grid.
Sources for this lesson
Pause and explain
What determines what belongs in a summary?
Worked example
Use the fictional notes to give a concise summary of obstacles to evening opening.
Show the worked solution
- Select costs and transport.
- Group them into a clear sentence.
- Avoid adding unsupported details.
Answer Evening opening faces higher staffing costs and transport barriers for some visitors. This selects the relevant obstacles without including the proposal or inventing figures.
Try a topic test
Choose Easy, Normal or Difficult. Save your answers and open worked review after finishing.
Test this topic →From guided practice to a new situation
Write your answer and reasoning first. Use a hint only if you are stuck. The model solution is for self-checking; your written work is not automatically marked.
Guided: Summarise the two obstacles in the fictional notes using your own words.
Give me a hint
Exclude the proposed solution from an obstacles-only task.
Compare my reasoning
- Higher staffing cost is one barrier.
- Transport is another.
- Combine them without repeating irrelevant notes.
Longer opening hours would require more spending on staff, and some visitors could still struggle to travel. This concise version restates both obstacles without adding an unsupported cause, statistic or recommendation.
Look for these in your work
- Selects both obstacles
- Uses own wording
- Avoids irrelevant information
Independent: Write a short appeal to trustees for a limited evening-opening pilot, using the notes and addressing one concern.
Give me a hint
Make a feasible request and acknowledge cost.
Compare my reasoning
- Explain the access purpose.
- Propose a limited pilot to test demand.
- Ask for a cost and transport review.
Please support a limited evening-opening pilot so people unavailable during the day can try the service. A short trial would test demand before a long-term commitment. Because staffing costs and transport may limit access, trustees should review use, expenditure and visitor feedback before deciding whether to continue.
Look for these in your work
- Addresses trustees
- Uses the supplied reasons
- Makes a feasible conditional request
Application: Explain why ‘Only uncaring people oppose the plan’ weakens a persuasive response, and offer a stronger approach.
Give me a hint
Respond to the concern instead of attacking the person.
Compare my reasoning
- The sentence dismisses opponents rather than their reasons.
- Acknowledge cost or access concerns.
- Explain how evidence or a pilot could address them.
The sentence attacks people and ignores possible legitimate concerns about cost or access. A stronger response recognises those concerns and proposes a limited pilot with a review of demand and costs. This gives the audience a reason to support a practical next step while leaving space for a reasoned decision.
Look for these in your work
- Identifies the attack
- Engages the concern
- Replaces it with evidence-based reasoning
Common mistakes
- Copying all material rather than selecting relevant points
- Adding personal opinion to a task that asks only for a summary
- Using emotive language without a reason or evidence
- Applying the new persuasive-task format to the older exam year
What can you explain now?
What determines what belongs in a summary?
Compare with the explanation
The focus and instructions of the task
Select relevant ideas and respect any own-words or length requirement.
After trying it yourself, choose your next review. This is your self-assessment.
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Make it stick
What determines what belongs in a summary?
If you needed the solution, close it and solve the problem again from a blank page. A correct answer is stronger when you can explain the reason for each step.