iGCSE First Language English - How to get top marks for the summary 2/3 (2020 Specimen Paper)
Summary
TLDRThis educational YouTube video from the GCSE Success channel guides students on how to excel in the Cambridge First Language English exam, focusing on the summary writing question. The host explains the importance of summarizing key points effectively, using one's own words, and maintaining an objective third-person style within the 120-word limit. The video provides a detailed walkthrough of the summary question from the 2020 specimen paper, demonstrating how to identify and synthesize ideas from a text about the discovery of a well-preserved baby mammoth named Lyuba. The host illustrates the process of creating a concise summary that captures the essence of the text, emphasizing the need for clarity, organization, and grammatical accuracy to achieve top marks.
Takeaways
- π The channel 'GCSE Success' is dedicated to helping students prepare for the Cambridge First Language English exam.
- ποΈ Content is posted on YouTube at least once a week, aiming to ease the high school journey, especially during the intensive IGCSE years.
- π The video series focuses on tackling the summary writing question, which is a challenging part of the exam.
- π A summary is a shortened version of a given text, including only the main ideas, and can be either fiction or nonfiction.
- π Key skills for summarizing include identifying key points, synthesizing ideas, expressing ideas in one's own words, adopting a suitable style, and producing a clear and concise summary.
- π The Cambridge exam has shifted from asking students to summarize one idea to two, making the task more challenging.
- βοΈ Students are required to write in continuous prose, not in note form, using discourse markers to link and develop ideas.
- π― For top marks, responses must demonstrate a thorough understanding, a wide range of relevant ideas, and skillful selection to provide an overview.
- π The mark scheme awards ten marks for reading comprehension and five for writing quality, emphasizing clear, concise, and well-organized responses.
- π The example provided walks through the process of summarizing a text about the discovery of a baby mammoth named Lyuba, focusing on her uniqueness and scientific significance.
- β±οΈ The video suggests allocating around 20 minutes to complete the summary question, leaving more time for other parts of the exam.
Q & A
What is the purpose of the GCSE Success channel on YouTube?
-The GCSE Success channel on YouTube is dedicated to helping students prepare for their Cambridge First Language English exam by posting content that aids in their study and understanding of the subject matter.
How often does the channel aim to post new content?
-The channel aims to post new content at least once a week, although the creator admits they might not always meet this frequency, they try to post as often as they can.
What is the focus of the three-part series mentioned in the video?
-The three-part series focuses on preparing students for the summary writing question in the Cambridge First Language English exam, with the second part discussing the summary question and the third part to cover the March 2020 paper.
What is a summary in the context of the Cambridge First Language English exam?
-In the context of the exam, a summary is a shortened version of the given text, which includes only the main ideas. It could be based on a fiction or nonfiction piece.
What are the core skills needed to summarize successfully according to the video?
-The core skills needed for summarizing successfully include identifying and tracking key points, synthesizing ideas, expressing ideas in one's own words where appropriate, adopting a suitable style for the summary, and producing a clear and concise summary within the 120-word limit.
What is the change in the Cambridge exam regarding the summary question?
-The change in the Cambridge exam is that instead of summarizing one idea from the text, students are now asked to summarize two ideas, making the summary question more challenging.
What is the main focus of the summary question from the 2020 specimen paper?
-The main focus of the summary question from the 2020 specimen paper is to determine what made Lyuba a remarkable and precious scientific specimen and what scientists hoped to discover by studying her.
How many marks are allocated for reading and writing in the summary question according to the mark scheme?
-According to the mark scheme, there are ten marks allocated for reading and five marks for writing in the summary question.
What are the key aspects Cambridge looks for in a top-scoring summary response?
-For a top-scoring summary response, Cambridge looks for an effective response that demonstrates a thorough understanding of the task, a wide range of relevant and well-focused ideas, skillfully selected points, and a response that is clear, fluent, well-organized, and mostly concise with accurate spelling, punctuation, and grammar.
How does the video guide students through the process of answering the summary question?
-The video guides students through the process by first reading and understanding the text, identifying key points and evidence, organizing these ideas, and then typing out a response that addresses both parts of the question within the 120-word limit, using the identified evidence and quotes.
What is the time frame students generally take to complete the summary question according to the video?
-According to the video, students generally take about 20 minutes to complete the summary question, allowing them more time for other challenging questions in the exam.
Outlines
π Introduction to GCSE English Channel
The channel is dedicated to assisting students in preparing for the Cambridge First Language English exam. Content is posted on YouTube with the aim to ease the high school journey, particularly during the intense IGCSE years. The video series will cover the writer's effect question and the summary question, with an upcoming review of the March 2020 paper. The focus is on helping students excel in the summary writing question, which requires condensing the main ideas of a text into a 120-word limit.
π Core Skills for Effective Summarization
The video emphasizes five key skills for successful summarization: identifying and tracking key points, synthesizing ideas, expressing ideas in one's own words, adopting a suitable style, and producing a clear and concise summary. It highlights the importance of continuous prose and the challenge of summarizing two ideas from the text, as seen in the 2020 specimen paper. The video also discusses the grading criteria for reading and writing, aiming for top marks by demonstrating a thorough understanding and a well-organized response.
𦣠The Baby Mammoth Discovery: A Scientific Marvel
The text 'Waking the Baby Mammoth' reviews a television program about the accidental discovery of a perfectly preserved baby mammoth named Lyuba in Siberia. The program explores the scientific world's fascination with this rare find and the questions surrounding her mysterious death. It follows the scientific process of studying Lyuba, including high-tech scans and examinations, to understand her life during the Ice Age and the impact of Earth's changing climate on woolly mammoths.
π Analyzing the Summary Question from the 2020 Specimen Paper
The focus shifts to the summary question from the 2020 specimen paper, which asks about the significance of Lyuba as a scientific specimen and the scientific community's hopes for what can be learned from studying her. The video demonstrates how to identify ten key points from the text, with five points addressing each part of the question. It emphasizes the need for a well-organized, concise summary that adheres to the 120-word limit.
βοΈ Crafting a Succinct Summary Response
The presenter guides viewers through the process of typing a response to the summary question, emphasizing the importance of using one's own words where appropriate and avoiding repetition. The response should be well-organized, using discourse markers and complex sentences to synthesize ideas. The example response provided in the video demonstrates how to effectively address both parts of the question within the word limit, resulting in a clear and concise summary.
π― Final Summary and Upcoming Video Preview
The video concludes with a final proofread and review of the summary response, ensuring it addresses all ten points and remains under the 120-word limit. The presenter also previews the next video, which will break down the directed writing question, inviting viewers to subscribe and engage with the content.
Mindmap
Keywords
π‘GCSE
π‘IGCSE
π‘Summary Question
π‘Synthesize
π‘Continuous Writing
π‘Discourse Markers
π‘Word Count
π‘Mark Scheme
π‘Woolly Mammoth
π‘DNA Extraction
π‘Ice Age
π‘Climate Impact
Highlights
The channel aims to prepare students for their Cambridge First Language English exam.
Content is posted on YouTube at least once a week to assist high school students during their IGCSE years.
The video is part of a three-part series focusing on the summary writing question for the exam.
A summary is defined as a shortened version of the given text, including only main ideas.
Key skills for summarizing include identifying key points, synthesizing ideas, expressing in own words, adopting a suitable style, and being clear and concise.
The summary question has a strict 120-word limit, which is unique among exam questions.
Students are moving towards summarizing two ideas from the text instead of one, increasing the challenge.
The video provides a detailed walkthrough of the summary question from the 2020 specimen paper.
For top marks, students must demonstrate a thorough understanding, relevant ideas, and an effective summary.
Writing marks are awarded for clarity, organization, vocabulary, sentence structure, and grammatical accuracy.
The video includes a step-by-step guide to answering the summary question, including reading and understanding the text.
Evidence from the text must be identified and used to construct a summary addressing the question's focus.
The response should be well-organized, using discourse markers and complex sentences to synthesize ideas.
The video demonstrates how to avoid common pitfalls, such as going over the word count or redundant material.
A model response is created in real-time, showing the thought process and strategy for summarizing effectively.
The importance of proofreading and conciseness is emphasized to meet the 120-word requirement.
The final summary integrates all ten points, maintaining an appropriate tone and using connectives for coherence.
The video concludes with a summary that captures the essence of the text within the word limit and exam criteria.
Transcripts
hello and welcome back to a GCSE success
a channel dedicated to everything first
language English and if you are new here
welcome I post content here on YouTube
to help prepare students for their
Cambridge first language English exam
I'd like to say that I post content here
on YouTube at least once a week but I
probably would be lying however I try to
jump on as often as I can
I know high school can be a difficult
five years for many students
particularly during those intense two
years of doing your IGCSE so if I can
make that journey that processed a
little bit easier than with this channel
I'm doing something Brian and as I
mentioned in my previous video this is
going to be a three part series if
you've not checked out my previous video
I will link it up here in this video I
look at the writers effect question and
today's video is all about that dreadful
summary question in the next week or so
I will also be going through the March
2020 paper guys the March 2020 paper it
is finally here is a sneak preview so
without further ado let's get on with
today's video and I'm going to call this
video how to get 15 out of 15 for this
summary writing question now let's start
with the basics
what is a summary but simply a summary
is a shortened version of the text you
have been given now this could be a
fiction piece or a nonfiction piece but
it includes the main ideas only now
let's look at some of the core skills
needed to be able to summarize
successfully the first skill is being
able to identify and track the key
points from a text and as a rule of
thumb for IGCSE this is usually about 10
points but more on that later
you also need to be able to synthesize
ideas and what I mean by this is that
you need to organize similar ideas which
address the focus of the question now
the third skill is being able to express
these ideas in your own words where
appropriate and again more on that later
now number four is adopting a suitable
style for your summary remember it's
objective
and it's written in third-person now the
last skill is being able to produce a
summary which is clear and concise and
remember you only have 120 words and
it's probably important to note that
whilst other questions do have suggested
workouts it's only the summary question
which stipulates that students mustn't
go over the 120 word limit so now that
we know the skills let's take a look at
the 20/20 specimen paper and I will pose
the summary question here and don't
worry if you suddenly blinked and found
the paper had disappeared from your
screen I will be going through it in
approximately 30 seconds now there are a
few important things to note so if you
have some paper nearby in a pen get some
of these things down now it used to be
the case at Cambridge with our students
to summarize one idea from the text now
they're moving towards asking students
to summarize two ideas from the text
arguably making the summary question
that much more challenging and that
certainly true for the 20/20 specimen
paper
let's read it okay so what you are
seeing on your screens now is the
summary question from the 20/20 specimen
paper now this is readily available
however for your convenience I will
leave a link in the description bar but
let's take a read of the question read
text be waking the baby mammoth in the
insert and then answer question 1f on
this question paper and that question is
according to text B what made Luba
I think that's pronounce such remarkable
and precious scientific specimen and
what did scientists hope to discover by
studying her you must use continuous
writing not no form and use your own
words as far as possible your summary
should not be more than 120 words and
then of course there's ten marks for the
reading and five marks for the quality
of your writing now of course there are
ten marks for the reading so when
students are given a question which
asked them to summarize two ideas I
always recommend
then finding five ideas for each part of
the question so what that means for you
is reading the text understanding the
text and eventually highlighting ten
ideas from the text it's also important
to note that Cambridge require students
to write in continuous prose and not
note form it's imperative that your
ideas are well organized they use
appropriate discourse markers to link
and develop your ideas for example and
as mentioned earlier in this video you
need to be able to express the ideas
from the text in your own words where
appropriate and what I mean by this is
that if a writer has used I don't know
adjectives for example you would be
expected to use synonyms for those
adjectives technical terms for example
you would not be expected to use your
own words of course there are five marks
for the writing so it's really important
that you are able to adopt a suitable
style and your writing is formal you use
appropriate vocabulary choices
appropriate sentence structures etc now
let's look at the official Mart scheme
and see how your work is going to be
graded hi guys so what you are looking
at now is the mark scheme for the 2020
paper so the marks allocated to reading
and writing and as mentioned you get ten
marks for reading and five marks for the
writing and I'm just going to assume
that most people watching this video are
aiming for top marks so let's just go
through a few skills at Cambridge want
students to be able to demonstrate so
let's have a read of these three top
bullet points and these are for the
reading marks so students need to be
able to write a very effective response
that demonstrates a thorough
understanding of the requirements of the
task they need to be able to demonstrate
an understanding of a wide range of
relevant ideas which is consistently
well focused and students points need to
be skillfully selected to demonstrate an
overview put simply guys what this means
is are you able to summarize effectively
are you able to use a range of ideas
which are focused on the question are
your ideas relevant so no redundant
material okay and are you able to I
guess avoid any careless repetition and
to get top marks for writing students
need to be able to provide a relevant
response that is clear that is expressed
clearly sorry fluently and mostly with
concision the response is well-organized
the response is in the candidates own
words where appropriate using a range of
well chosen vocabulary which clarifies
meaning spelling punctuation and grammar
are mostly accurate so obviously to get
top marks guys your response needs to be
succinct and I mentioned about not
including any redundant material before
it needs to be well organized use your
discourse markers that quite complex
skill of being able to synthesize
similar ideas together is so important
appropriate vocabulary choices need to
be used appropriate complex sentences
for example
and lastly grammatical accuracy is so so
important if you want to get top marks
for the writing and now the bit you've
been waiting for I'm going to take you
through the summary question from the
2020 specimen paper what you are looking
at now is text thee from the 2020
specimen paper I will link this in the
description bar Gigi was to have a go at
this question as you know the first step
to any question is always reading the
text carefully ensuring you thoroughly
understand it so that's exactly what we
are going to do together we are going to
read text be titled waking the baby
mammoth now this text is a review of a
television program called waking the
baby mammoth so a piece of nonfiction
only a handful have been found before
but none like her her name is Lai you
a one-month or baby mammoth she walked
the tundra about 40,000 years ago then
died mysteriously discovered on a
riverbank in Siberia she's the most
perfectly preserved woolly mammoth ever
discovered Lyuba hasn't mesmerised the
scientific world with her arrival
creating headlines across the globe poor
walking waking a baby mammoth a new
television program tells a tale of this
single accidental discovery of a frozen
baby mammoth in a Siberian tundra and
how the discovery has enriched our
understanding of these extinct
magnificent beasts the program begins
with the incredible fortunate discovery
of labour by a reindeer herder who
feared that disturbing the remains of
the dead might lead to a curse to
optimus such findings the preserved
creature will be dug up and sold leading
to irreversible decomposition and the
loss of a treasure trove of valuable
information
however the herd had enough foresight to
contact authorities and scientists began
the careful retrieval process everyone
wanted to know how my Eva had died what
could she tell us about life during the
Ice Age and the Earth's changing climate
the program follows a scientific process
and the hurdles in understanding where
lie you became from and what she can
tell us about her Pleistocene life that
being said
apart from scientific experiments
involving high-tech bone scans tissue
extraction and dental examinations the
program does not delve too far into the
intricate data we are left wondering
whether scientists will be able to
extract her DNA and what secrets that
might uncover it's impossible to watch
the work on Luba without sharing the
anxiety the scientists must have felt to
get it right the program succeeds
brilliantly in bringing drama - quite an
amazing story we are presented with
stunning 3d animations of my uber and
her mother in
in a magic form labor is brought to life
as an active fairy baby mammoth bouncing
along nexor scientists as they
contemplate the frozen carcasses secrets
the visuals are beautiful light shines
of the baby's birth and her shadows
dance in just the right way to really
make her come alive the program has
truly woken the baby mammoth within our
minds and hearts and a little glossary
there at the bottom okay guys now that
we've finished reading the text let's
just remind ourselves of question one
and the foci of question one so
according to text B what made why you
bus what a remarkable and precious
scientific specimen and what did
scientists hope to discover by studying
her so remember we are looking for ten
pieces of evidence okay five pieces of
evidence for the first part of the
question and five pieces of evidence for
the second part of the question okay
guys so we are ready to find five pieces
of evidence for the first part of the
question now if you printed this off
have two highlighters ready or two
different colors I'm simply going to
highlight evidence on the PDF I'm not
going to read the text again Blanche is
going to quickly scan over the text and
I'm going to be looking for anything
which I guess suggests layovers
circumstances are unique unprecedented
precious remarkable as per the question
so straight away only a handful have
been found before so again this is sort
of suggesting how unique and unheard of
allow uba's circumstances are one month
old baby mammoth did it at a forty
thousand years ago so she's remained
frozen for a pretty long time guys you
might want to look at the mystery behind
her death and the fact that she's the
most perfectly preserved woolly mammoth
ever so already we've got one two three
we've got four things already guys now
there was something about here it is
so this reindeer herder finds the
remains and you know most people would
perhaps arguably if the remains up and
sell them for profit however he goes
through the appropriate authorities and
of course the remains are retrieved in a
very sort of careful manner so I guess
the the fact that she's not dug up she's
not sold that is quite unheard of so
that makes it incredibly precious do we
have enough I believe say we've got five
things one two three four five okay so
the next part of the question asks us to
look at what the scientists hoped to
discover by studying her now let's just
have a look towards the later part of
the article I would imagine
all of the evidence for the second part
of the question is around this area that
usually is the case here we go so
everyone wanted to know how lyova had
died so the mysterious circumstances
surrounding her death so we've got our
first thing already
and then following on from that what
could she tell us about life during the
Ice Age and the Earth's changing climate
see I mean you could separate those two
things if you wanted to so we're like
either came from okay so tell us more
about woolly mammoths and their lives
and let's go with as well we are left
wondering
whether scientists will be able to
extract her DNA and what secrets that
might uncover okay guys I think I've got
enough to address the second part of the
question we should end up hopefully with
ten quotations I have pasted the ten
quotes which I will be using and
hopefully this will be far more helpful
than me just sticking a model response
at the end of the video so I am going to
be typing a response to this question
I'm going to talk you through my thought
process the process that you should go
through in order to end up with a
succinct response which addresses both
parts of the question now the first
focus of course is why lyova
is such a remarkable and precious
scientific specimen and the second focus
is what did scientists hope to discover
by studying her and I'm going to use all
ten quotes so I end up with ten points
in my summary remember it's only a
hundred and twenty words and I'm going
to do my best to stick to that word
count and I know it's really really
quite difficult many many many of my
students over the years often go over
the word count but you really need to
stick to that word count or be slightly
under one or two words over I don't
think it will be a problem but when
you're sort of going into that realm of
130 140 150 you're not going to end up
with a concise summary and that's really
what Cambridge is asking you to do okay
so we are now ready to begin typing up
our response I often get asked about the
timings for this question I think this
question isn't too difficult so you
don't want to be spending too much time
on it my students generally get this
question finished in about 20 minutes
and that gives them more time for the
slightly more challenging questions such
as a righteous effect
the directive right in question and
obviously they've got all the newer
questions to answer as well
now remember 120 words where possible we
need to use our own words and I just
want to give you a quick example of that
before I start typing my response now
let's look at some of these quotes we
have a phrase here only a handful okay
so I would imagine Cambridge would want
you to find an alternative rather than
using only a handful the fact that
lyova died mysteriously so finding an
alternative adverb for mysteriously and
perfectly preserved maybe finding an
alternative for perfectly and just where
possible using your own words of course
technical turn scientific terms ice age
for example you wouldn't be expected to
use your own words so let's have a go at
typing a response and guys I do
apologize if you can hear me typing as
mentioned I wanted to give you a proper
walkthrough to give you my thought
process rather than just sticking a
model at the end so I'm going to start
with a clear topic sentence and I guess
I'm going to mention and you know the
fact that it's been frozen preserved for
40,000 years and that in itself is quite
remarkable or quite precious so let's
have a go at doing this so I'm going to
start and an excuse me if I make any
glaring typos so I will go back and
check then the discovery of let's put
lie users
I don't know 40,000 year whoops
year old remains has made one of the
most let's
remarkable from the question remarkable
discoveries ever made so that's why I
guess clear topic sentence to begin my
summary with and I've already addressed
40,000 years ago and I guess only a
handful as well what can we put let's be
a bit more explicit about there only
been a handful discovered so due to the
let's say due to there being only let's
say a small number of similar findings
let's say the story whoops the stories
surrounding let's not use mysterious
mystifying
that's the only one I can think of
presently and quite tied the mister vine
death of lai you but let's that's in a
nice verb has captivated the world I
like that okay so we've addressed a few
things and from our five quotations
what's important to note guys is that
you need to reorganize the ideas and
although these quotes are in
chronological order you don't
necessarily need to adopt a
chronological approach group similar
ideas together use complex sentences to
synthesize ideas
otherwise you'll find that you will run
out of words you've only got 120 words
remember so let's use a connective
additionally additionally with like uber
being the best okay so the quote is
perfectly preserved let's just use best
best prison
bully whoops mammoths ever recorded or
discovered and that are we on the last
quote okay and that and that her remains
were not carelessly selfishly I don't
know carelessly extricated extricated
and sold for profit should we put that
and sold for profit
no let's just put sold because I'm
worried that's a little verbose
extricated and sword makes her Sir
circumstances even more let's use
pressures from me from the question and
then we have it guys already we have
addressed those five quotations and
hopefully you've seen that process
apologies I've got so much sort of I got
birds tweeting I've got a gardener
outside so I do apologize if the audio
is not the clearest but hopefully you
can see that I'm grouping similar ideas
together I'm synthesizing ideas using
complex sentence structures otherwise we
are going to run out of words let's just
check okay so sixty-six we've got a few
more words to play with so the second
focus is what did scientists hope to
discover by studying her so we kind of
need to get these five quotations into
the rest of our word count so how can we
start let's say scientists scientists
hope that's why Yuba I think that's how
you pronounce it by the way guys I just
hope that ly you Burt
let's probe lie uba's DNA would reveal
let's say unlock a number of clues to
not only the circumstances surrounding
her death but to her let's say let's say
species and where she came from
okay so we've addressed a few bullet
points already let's let's use a
connective so furthermore whoops
furthermore it was hoped that let's put
it was hoped that her discovery would
fused unlock already
reveal what life was like what do we
need to address during the Ice Age okay
would reveal what life was like during
the Ice Ice Age and which one do we have
left and the earth changing climate so
how can we incorporate that I think the
suggestion is that the earth changing
climate impacted the woolly mammoths so
let's put like during the Ice Age and
how the changing climate impacted this
right let's do the word count guys 118
words guys 118 now let's just proof
readers I know it was done really
quickly the discovery of law you buzz 43
thousand there we go whoops
forty thousand year old remains has made
her one of the most remarkable
discoveries ever made due to there being
only a small number of similar findings
the stories surrounding that's why you
have to proofread guys surrounding the
mystified death of Luba has captivated
the world additionally with Ryu bir
being the best preserved woolly mammoth
ever recorded and that her remains were
not careless Lee extricated and sold
makes her circumstances circumstances
even more precious scientists hope that
la Huber's DNA would unlock a number of
clues to not only the circumstances
surrounding her death but to her species
and where she came from furthermore it
was hoped that her discovery would
reveal what life was like during the Ice
Age and how the changing climate in
pacted this impacted this there we go
guys there is my summary we've addressed
all ten points we've got a range of
points it's under the word count with
synthesized ideas it's an appropriate
tone with youth connectives and
ultimately guys that is what you want to
achieve remember we are not necessarily
rewording every single word look for any
kind of descriptive language any kind of
adjectives that are used and then use
your own words where appropriate that's
it from me guys again I hope this video
has been useful my next video is going
to be breaking down the directed writing
question so if that interests you like
subscribe comment all of that jazz
and I will be back very soon until next
time bye bye
you
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