Tip: Summarize Written Text questions tend to have higher repeated rate than other question types in PTE Academic test. Make sure you understand the whole passage. Memorise words as much as you can. We selected some of PTE predicted Summarize Written Text (Writing) for February 2023. You can get full version of this material by accessing PTE Predicted Questions for February 2023.

1.Human Traits | Summarize Written Text (SWT) 

The age-old question of whether human traits are determined by nature or nurture has been answered, a team of researchers say. Their conclusion? It’s a draw. By collating almost every twin study across the world from the past 50 years, researchers determined that the average variation for human traits and disease is 49 percent due to genetic factors and 51 percent due to environmental factors. University of Queensland researcher Beben Benyamin from the Queensland Brain Institute collaborated with researchers at VU University of Amsterdam to collate 2,748 studies involving more than 14.5 million pairs of twins. “Twin studies have been conducted for more than 50 years but there is still some debate in terms of how much the variation is due to genetic or environmental factors,” Benyamin said. He said the study showed the conversation should move away from nature versus nature, instead looking at how the two work together. “Both are important sources of variation between individuals,” he said. While the studies averaged an almost even split between nature and nurture, there was wide variation within the 17,800 separate traits and diseases examined by the studies. For example, the risk for bipolar disorder was found to be 68 percent due to genetics and only 32 percent due to environmental factors. Weight maintenance was 63 percent due to genetics and 37 percent due to environmental factors. In contrast, risk for eating disorders was found to be 40 percent genetic and 60 percent environmental, whereas the risk for mental and behavioral disorders due to use of alcohol was 41 percent genetic and 59 percent environmental. Benyamin said in psychiatric, ophthalmological and skeletal traits, genetic factors were a larger influence than environmental factors. But for social values and attitudes it was the other way around.

Sample Answer:

A team of researchers say that the age-old question of whether human traits are determined by nature or nurture has been answered, and Benyamin said genetic factors were a larger influence than environmental factors in psychiatric, ophthalmological and skeletal traits, but for social values and attitudes it was the other way around. (52 words)

2. Brain Wave | Summarize Written Text (SWT) 

We can’t see it, but brains hum with electrical activity. Brain waves created by the coordinated firing of huge collections of nerve cells pinball around the brain. The waves can ricochet from the front of the brain to the back, or from deep structures all the way to the scalp and then back again. Called neuronal oscillations, these signals are known to accompany certain mental states. Quiet alpha waves ripple soothingly across the brains of meditating monks. Beta waves rise and fall during intense conversational turns. Fast gamma waves accompany sharp insights. Sluggish delta rhythms lull deep sleepers, while dreamers shift into slightly quicker theta rhythms. Researchers have long argued over whether these waves have purposes, and what those purposes might be. Some scientists see waves as inevitable but useless by-products of the signals that really matter — messages sent by individual nerve cells. Waves are simply a consequence of collective neural behavior, and nothing more, that view holds. But a growing body of evidence suggests just the opposite: instead of by-products of important signals, brain waves are key to how the brain operates, routing information among far-flung brain regions that need to work together. MIT’s Earl Miller is among the neuro­scientists amassing evidence that waves are an essential part of how the brain operates. Brain oscillations deftly route information in a way that allows the brain to choose which signals in the world to pay attention to and which to ignore, his recent studies suggest. Other research supports this view, too. Studies on people with electrodes implanted in their brains suggest brain waves, and their interactions, help enable emotion, language, vision and more.

Sample Answer: 

Brain waves created by the coordinated firing of huge collections of nerve cells pinball around the brain, and that beta waves rise and fall during intense conversational turns, so researchers have long argued over whether these waves have purposes, while evidence suggests brain waves are key to how the brain operates, routing information amoung far-flung brain regions that need to work together. (63 words)

3.Product Life Cycle | Summarize Written Text (SWT) 

The product life cycle has 4 very clearly defined stages, each with its characteristics that mean different things for businesses that are trying to manage the life cycle of their particular products.

Introduction Stage – This stage of the cycle could be the most expensive for a company launching a new product. The size of the market for the product is small, which means sales are low, although they will be increasing. On the other hand, the cost of things like research and development, consumer testing, and the marketing needed to launch the product can be very high, especially if it’s a competitive sector.

Growth Stage – The growth stage is typically characterized by strong growth in sales and profits, and because the company can start to benefit from economies of scale in production, the profit margins, as well as the overall amount of profit, will increase. This makes it possible for businesses to invest more money in promotional activity to maximize the potential of this growth stage.

Maturity Stage – During the maturity stage, the product is established and the aim for the manufacturer is now to maintain the market share they have built up. This is probably the most competitive time for most products and businesses need to invest wisely in any marketing they undertake. They also need to consider any product modifications or improvements to the production process which might give them a competitive advantage.

Decline Stage – Eventually, the market for a product will start to shrink, and this is what’s known as the decline stage. This shrinkage could be due to the market becoming saturated (i.e. all the customers who will buy the product have already purchased it), or because the consumers are switching to a different type of product. While this decline may be inevitable, it may still be possible for companies to make some profit by switching to less-expensive production methods and cheaper markets.

Sample Answer:

The product life cycle has 4 very clearly defined stages which are introduction stage, growth stage, maturity stage, and decline stage, and each with its characteristics that mean different things for businesses that are trying to manage the life cycle of their particular products. (44 words)

4. South Africa | Summarize Written Text (SWT) 

The area that is now South Africa has been inhabited by humans for millennia. The San, the original inhabitant this land, were migratory people who lived in small groups of about 15 to 20 people. They survived by fishing and hunting and by gathering roots and other wild foods. They did not build permanent dwellings but used rock shelters as temporary dwellings. Around 2,000 years ago Khoikhoi pastoralists migrated to the coast. In the eastern part of present-day South Africa, iron-working societies date from about 300 AD. The Sotho-Tswana and Nguni peoples arrived in this region around 1,200 AD. They lived by agriculture and stock farming, mined gold, copper and tin and hunted for ivory and built stone-walled towns. Over the centuries, these societies had diverse contacts with the Khoisan. Strife between the San and the Khoikhoi developed over competition for game; eventually the Khoikhoi became dominant. These peoples lived in the western part of present-day South Africa and are known collectively as the Khoisan.

Sample Answer: 

The area that is now South Africa has been inhabited by humans for millennia as the San were migratory people and around 2,000 years ago Khoikhoi pastoralists migrated to the coast, and that the Sotho-Tswana and Nguni peoples arrived in this region around 1,200 AD, but eventually the Khoikhoi became dominant so that these peoples lived in the western part of present-day South Africa and are known collectively as the Khoisan. (73 words)

5. Negotiation| Summarize Written Text (SWT) 

Negotiation is a common process in business to mainly solve business conflicts between both parties. Compromise is a basic negotiation state in which both parties give up something that they want in order to get something else they want more. Compromise usually occur in unfair parties when there is a fixed pie to be divided up, and whatever on one side gets, the other side loses.

In compromise situations, neither side gets all of what they really want, but they each make concessions in order to reach an agreement that is acceptable to both. Both parties usually can reach win-win concept through compromise. However, negotiation cannot resolve all the conflict if one party is unwilling to resolve the problem.

Sample Answer:

Negotiation is a common process in business and compromise is a basic negotiation state in which both parties give up something and get something else in order to reach an agreement that is acceptable to both, but negotiation cannot resolve all the conflict if one party is unwilling to resolve the problem. (52 words)

6. Wine Industry in US | Summarize Written Text (SWT) 

In 1920, the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was enacted, creating yet another serious setback to the American wine industry. The National Prohibition Act, also known as the Volstead Act, prohibited the manufacture, sale, transportation, importation, exportation, delivery, or possession of intoxicating liquors for beverage purposes, and nearly destroyed what had become a thriving national industry. In 1920 there were more than seven hundred wineries in California. By the end of Prohibition, there were 160.

If Prohibition had lasted only four or five years, its impact on the wine industry might have been negligible. But it continued for thirteen years, during which time grapes went underground literally and figuratively, becoming an important commodity in the criminal economy. The fruit juice, which was sometimes made into concentrate, was ideal for making wine. Some of this yield found its way to bootleggers throughout America who did just that. But not for long, because the government stepped in and banned the sale of grape juice, preventing illegal wine production. Vineyards stopped being planted, and the American wine industry ground to a halt.

Sample Answer:

The National Prohibition Act prohibited the American wine industry for beverage purposes which almost destroyed a thriving national industry in 1920, and that it continued for thirteen years when grapes went underground and became a commodity in the criminal economy since the bootleggers traded fruit concentrate until the government banned the sale and prevented illegal production, which caused the industry ground to a halt. (64 words)

7.Voting Rights in UK | Summarize Written Text (SWT) 

Compulsory voting is often suggested as a solution to the problem of declining turnout. But how are individuals and countries affected by compulsory voting beyond boosting electoral participation? Shane Singh investigates the social, economic, and political consequences of compelling citizens to vote.

There has been a lot of discussion about compulsory voting these days. In the United Kingdom, in particular, as voter turnout rates have declined, many commentators and politicians have begun advocating for mandatory electoral participation. Those in favor of compulsory voting often adduce the importance of participation among all segments of society. Citizens of democracies are forced to do many things in the interest of the public good, they maintain, including serving on juries and educating their children, and full participation serves the country as a whole. Those opposed to compulsory voting often argue that, from a democratic theory perspective, the right to vote implicitly includes a right not to vote. Such a right of abstention, they argue, is more important than any societal good that might accompany high turnout. In fact, opponents of compulsory voting often contend that the country may be better off if those who are disinclined to vole are not pushed to participate in public affairs.

Regardless of whether one of these sets of arguments is more persuasive than the other, compulsory voting is commonly used around the world. Several European democracies mandate voting, as do Australia and most of the countries in Latin America. By evaluating results from these countries, it is possible to assess the mechanics and effects of compulsory voting.

Sample Answer:

Voting is essential to make your voice heard on issues that concern you, however, voting drop in last UK general election voting because young people do not trust politicians and inconvenience, and accordingly, to encourage people to vote, government, media, and politicians should make the considerate effort.(47 words)

8. Technology Prediction IBM | Summarize Written Text (SWT) 

As far as prediction is concerned, remember that the chairman of IBM predicted in the fifties that the world would need a maximum of around half a dozen computers, that the British Department for Education seemed to think in the eighties that we would all need to be able to code in BASIC and that in the nineties Microsoft failed to foresee the rapid growth of the Internet.

Who could have predicted that one major effect of the automobile would be to bankrupt small shops across the nation? Could the early developers of the telephone have foreseen its development as a medium for person-to- person communication, rather than as a form of the broadcasting medium? We all, including the ‘experts’, seem to be peculiarly inept at predicting the likely development of our technologies, even as far as the next year. We can, of course, try to extrapolate from the experience of previous technologies, as I do below by comparing the technology of the Internet with the development of other information and communication technologies and by examining the earlier development of radio and print.

Sample Answer:

The effect of information and communication technologies are unpredictable since foreseeing the rapid growth of the Internet and automobile is problematic, but we can try to extrapolate and compare the previous experience to examine the earlier development of radio and print. (41 words)

9. Office Environment | Summarize Written Text (SWT) 

The notion that office space has a role in promoting or inhibiting performance is backed up by solid research. A recent study conducted by Harvard University and Massachusetts General Hospital showed that improvements to the physical surroundings of workers impacted on productivity not just because the working environment was more attractive, but because the changes made employees feel cared for. A Swedish research paper revealed a strong link between the type of office an employee worked in and their overall job satisfaction and health. Various findings have emerged as a result of studies such as this. Pot plants and greenery can apparently have a real impact on psychological well-being. Those who work in a private room tend to be in better health than workers based in open-plan offices.

Sufficient light can reduce sickness among workers and increase productivity, and an attractive office can make workers feel more cared for and therefore more loyal to their company. Most of these points make good rational sense. But some companies aren’t content simply to increase the health , productivity and contentment of their employees. Pioneers such as Google, Walt Disney and Dyson have tried to create offices that will do everything from promoting collaboration between workers to stimulating their creative juices. “Environment, both physical and cultural, can make or break creativity.” says Kursty Groves, author of I Wish I Worked There! A look inside the most creative spaces in business. Stimulating spaces expose the mind to a variety of stimuli – planned or random – In order to encourage people to think differently. Reflective spaces promote the filtering of information into the brain slowing it to make connections. An environment which encourages a team to build trust and to play freely is an essential ingredient for innovation.

Sample Answer:

Although the notion that office space has a role in promoting or inhibiting performance is backed up by solid research, some companies aren’t content simply to increase the health , productivity and contentment of their employees since pioneer companies have tried to create offices that will do everything from promoting collaboration between workers to stimulating their creative juices. (57 words)

10. Museology | Summarize Written Text (SWT) 

What is museology? A simple definition might be that it is the study of museums, their history and underlying philosophy, the various ways in which they have, in the course of time, been established and developed, their avowed or unspoken aims and policies, their educative or political or social role. More broadly conceived, such a study might also embrace the bewildering variety of audiences — visitors, scholars, art lovers, children -at whom the efforts of museum staff are supposedly directed, as well as related topics such as the legal duties and responsibilities placed upon (or incurred by) museums, perhaps even some thought as to their future. Seen in this light, museology might appear at first sight a subject so specialized as to concern only museum professionals, who by virtue of their occupation are more or less obliged to take an interest in it. In reality, since museums are almost, if not quite as old as civilization itself, and since the plethora of present-day museums embraces virtually every field of human endeavor – not just art, or craft, or science, but entertainment, agriculture, rural life, childhood, fisheries, antiquities, automobiles: the list is endless – it is a field of enquiry so broad as to be a matter of concern to almost everybody.

Sample Answer:

Museology, a study of museums, their history and underlying philosophy, not lonely embraces the bewildering variety of audiences and different topics but also specialises as to concern museum professionals, and it is a field of enquiry so broad as to be a matter of concern to almost everybody since it embraces every field of human endeavor. (56 words)

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Tip: Summarize Written Text questions tend to have higher repeated rate than other question types in PTE Academic test. Make sure you understand the whole passage. Memorise words as much as you can. We selected some of PTE predicted Summarize Written Text (Writing) for January 2023. You can get full version of this material by accessing PTE Predicted Questions for January 2023.

1.Dandelion Seeds | Summarize Written Text (SWT) 

The extraordinary flying ability of dandelion seeds is possible thanks to a form of flight that has not been seen before in nature, research has revealed. The discovery, which confirms the common plant among the natural world’s best fliers, shows that movement of air around and within its parachute-shaped bundle of bristles enables seeds to travel great distances — often a kilometer or more, kept afloat entirely by wind power. Researchers from the University of Edinburgh carried out experiments to better understand why dandelion seeds fly so well, despite their parachute structure being largely made up of empty space. Their study revealed that a ring-shaped air bubble forms as air moves through the bristles, enhancing the drag that slows each seed’s descent to the ground. This newly found form of air bubble — which the scientists have named the separated vortex ring — is physically detached from the bristles and is stabilized by air flowing through it. The amount of air flowing through, which is critical for keeping the bubble stable and directly above the seed in flight, is precisely controlled by the spacing of the bristles. This flight mechanism of the bristly parachute underpins the seeds’ steady flight. It is four times more efficient than what is possible with conventional parachute design, according to the research. Researchers suggest that the dandelion’s porous parachute might inspire the development of small-scale drones that require little or no power consumption. Such drones could be useful for remote sensing or air pollution monitoring.

Sample Answer:

While the extraordinary confirms the common plant among the natural world’s best fliers, a ring-shaped air bubble forms as air moves through the bristles and enhancing the drag that slows each seed’s descent to the ground, so critical for keeping the bubble stable and directly above the seed in flight, which inspire the development of small-scale drones that require little or no power consumption. (64 words)

2. Difference in Intelligence | Summarize Written Text (SWT) 

People differ greatly in all aspects of what is casually known as intelligence. The differences are apparent not only in school, from kindergarten to college, but also in the most ordinary circumstances: in the words people use and comprehend, in their differing abilities to read a map or follow directions, or in their capacities for remembering telephone numbers or figuring change. The variations in these specific skills are so common that they are often taken for granted. Yet what makes people so different? It would be reasonable to think that the environment is the source of differences in cognitive skills — that we are what we learn. It is clear, for example, that human beings are not born with a full vocabulary; they have to learn words. Hence, learning must be the mechanism by which differences in vocabulary arise among individuals. And differences in experience — say, in the extent to which parents model and encourage vocabulary skills or in the quality of language training provided by schools — must be responsible for individual differences in learning. Earlier in this century, psychology was in fact dominated by environmental explanations for variance in cognitive abilities. More recently, however, most psychologists have begun to embrace a more balanced view: one in which nature and nurture interact in cognitive development. During the past few decades, studies in genetics have pointed to a substantial role for heredity in molding the components of intellect, and researchers have even begun to track down the genes involved in cognitive function. These findings do not refute the notion that environmental factors shape the learning process. Instead they suggest that differences in people’s genes affect how easily they learn.

Sample Answer: 

People differ greatly in all aspects of what is casually known as intelligence, and that psychology was dominated by environmental explanations for variance in cognitive abilities, but recently researchers suggest that differences in people’s genes affect how easily they learn.(40 words)

3.Prior Knowledge | Summarize Written Text (SWT) 

What is known (prior knowledge or pre-existing knowledge) is the knowledge, skill or ability that a learner brings to a new learning encounter. This includes all knowledge that is available before the learning event, and which has been gathered or developed by any means, and in any situation, including both formal and, quite often, informal learning situations. Learners need enough previous knowledge and understanding to enable them to learn new things; they also need help making links with new and previous knowledge explicit.

It is considered to be valuable to go through a process of what has been called ‘activating prior knowledge’. Teachers often go through this process at the beginning of a new topic. They also use introductory strategies at the beginning of lessons which are continuations from previous lessons. In terms of the practicalities of teaching, this is a process of making children think about the topic or remember what has been covered already. In terms of theory, it is to do with activating particular schemas.

Sample Answer:

Prior knowledge or pre-existing knowledge is the knowledge, skill or ability that a learner brings to a new learning encounter including both formal and informal learning situations, and that it is considered to be valuable as learners need enough previous knowledge and understanding to enable them to learn new things, so teachers often go through process of activating prior knowledge at the beginning of a new topic. (68 words)

4. Brain Wave | Summarize Written Text (SWT) 

We can’t see it, but brains hum with electrical activity. Brain waves created by the coordinated firing of huge collections of nerve cells pinball around the brain. The waves can ricochet from the front of the brain to the back, or from deep structures all the way to the scalp and then back again. Called neuronal oscillations, these signals are known to accompany certain mental states. Quiet alpha waves ripple soothingly across the brains of meditating monks. Beta waves rise and fall during intense conversational turns. Fast gamma waves accompany sharp insights. Sluggish delta rhythms lull deep sleepers, while dreamers shift into slightly quicker theta rhythms. Researchers have long argued over whether these waves have purposes, and what those purposes might be. Some scientists see waves as inevitable but useless by-products of the signals that really matter — messages sent by individual nerve cells. Waves are simply a consequence of collective neural behavior, and nothing more, that view holds. But a growing body of evidence suggests just the opposite: instead of by-products of important signals, brain waves are key to how the brain operates, routing information among far-flung brain regions that need to work together. MIT’s Earl Miller is among the neuro­scientists amassing evidence that waves are an essential part of how the brain operates. Brain oscillations deftly route information in a way that allows the brain to choose which signals in the world to pay attention to and which to ignore, his recent studies suggest. Other research supports this view, too. Studies on people with electrodes implanted in their brains suggest brain waves, and their interactions, help enable emotion, language, vision and more.

Sample Answer: 

Brain waves created by the coordinated firing of huge collections of nerve cells pinball around the brain, and that beta waves rise and fall during intense conversational turns, so researchers have long argued over whether these waves have purposes, while evidence suggests brain waves are key to how the brain operates, routing information amoung far-flung brain regions that need to work together. (63 words)

5. Natural Language | Summarize Written Text (SWT) 

When people start thinking about language, the first question which often occurs to them is this: is language natural to humans? – in the same way that grunting is natural to pigs, and barking comes naturally to dogs. Or is it just something we happen to have learned? – in the same way that dogs may learn to beg, or elephants may learn to waltz, or humans may learn to play the guitar. Clearly, in one sense, children ‘learn’ whatever language they are exposed to, be it Chinese, Nootka or English. So no one would deny that ‘learning’ is very important. But the crucial question is whether children are born with ‘blank sheets’ in their head as far as language is concerned – or whether humans are ‘programmed’ with an outline knowledge of the structure of languages in general. This question of whether language is partly due to nature or wholly due to learning or nurture is often referred to as the nature-nurture controversy, and has been discussed for centuries. For example, it was the topic of one of Plato’s dialogues, the Cratylus. Controversies which have been going on for literally ages tend to behave in a characteristic fashion. They lie dormant for a while, then break out fiercely. This particular issue resurfaced in linguistics in 1959 when the linguist Noam Chomsky wrote a devastating and witty review of Verbal Behavior, a book by the Harvard psychologist B.F. Skinner (Skinner 1957; Chomsky 1959). This book claimed to ‘explain’ language as a set of habits gradually built up over the years. According to Skinner, no complicated innate or mental mechanisms are needed. All that is necessary is the systematic observation of the events in the external world which prompt the speaker to utter sounds.

Sample Answer:

The question of whether language is partly due to nature or wholly due to learning or nurture is often referred to as the nature-nurture controversy, which have been going on for literally ages tend to behave in a characteristic fashion, while Skinner explained language as a set of habits gradually built up over the years and all that is necessary is the systematic observation of the events. (68 words)

6. The National Oceanography Center | Summarize Written Text (SWT) 

The National Oceanography Center (NOC) is engaged in research into the potential risks and benefits of exploiting deep-sea mineral resources, some of which are essential for low-carbon technology, as well as using ocean robots to estimate the environmental impact of these potential deep-sea mining activities.

Late last year the NOC led an expedition on the RRS James Cook that found enough of the scarce element Tellurium present in the crust of a submerged volcano that, if it were all to be used in the production of solar PV panels, could provide 2/3rds of the UK’s annual electricity supply. Recently, the NOC also led an international study demonstrating deep-sea nodule mining will cause long-lasting damage to deep-sea life, lasting at least for decades.

These nodules are potato-sized rocks containing high levels of metals, including copper, manganese and nickel. They grow very slowly on the sea-bed, over millions of years. Although no commercial operations exist to extract these resources, many are planned.

Professor Edward Hill, Executive Director at the NOC commented, “By 2050 there will be nine billion people on earth and attention is increasingly turning to the ocean, particularly the deep ocean, for food, clean supplies of energy and strategic minerals. The NOC is undertaking research related to many aspects and perspectives involved in exploiting ocean resources. This research is aimed at informing with sound scientific evidence the decisions that will need to be taken in the future, as people increasingly turn to the oceans to address some of society’s greatest challenges.”

Sample Answer:

The National Oceanography Center is engaged in research into the potential risks and benefits of exploiting deep-sea mineral resources, and late last year the NOC led an expedition and found enough of the scarce element Tellurium which could provide UK’s annual electricity supply, and NOC also found out that deep-sea nodule mining will cause long-lasting damage to deep-sea life. (63 words)

7. Bank Overdraft | Summarize Written Text (SWT) 

Banks provide short-term finance to companies in the form of an overdraft on a current account. The advantage of an overdraft is its flexibility. When the cash needs of the company increase with seasonal factors, the company can continue to write cheques and watch the overdraft increase. When the goods and services are sold and cash begins to flow in, the company should be able to watch the overdraft decrease again. The most obvious example of a business which operates in this pattern is farming. The farmer uses the overdraft to finance the acquisition of seed for arable farming, or feed through the winter for stock farming and to cover the period when the crops or animals are growing and maturing. The overdraft is reduced when the crops or the animals are sold.

The main disadvantage of an overdraft is that it is repayable on demand. The farmer whose crop fails because of bad weather knows the problem of being unable to repay the overdraft. Having overdraft financing increases the worries of those who manage the company. The other disadvantage is that the interest payable on overdrafts is variable. When interest rates increase, the cost of the overdraft increases. Furthermore, for small companies there are often complaints that the rate of interest charged is high compared with that available to larger companies. The banks answer that the rates charged reflect relative risk and it is their experience that small companies are more risky.

Sample Answer:

Although the advantage that banks provide short-term finance to companies in the form of an overdraft on a current account is its flexibility, the main disadvantage of an overdraft is that it is repayable on demand as well as the interest payable on overdrafts is variable. (47 words)

8. Biology And Climatology | Summarize Written Text (SWT) 

Ecology is the study of interactions of organisms among themselves and with their environment. It seeks to understand patterns in nature (e.g., the spatial and temporal distribution of organisms) and the processes governing those patterns. Climatology is the study of the physical state of the atmosphere – its instantaneous state or weather, its seasonal-to-interannual variability, its long-term average condition or climate, and how climate changes over time. These two fields of scientific study are distinctly different. Ecology is a discipline within the biological sciences and has as its core the principle of natural selection. Climatology is a discipline within the geophysical sciences based on applied physics and fluid dynamics. Both, however, share a common history.

The origin of these sciences is attributed to Aristotle and Theophrastus and their books Meteorological and Enquiry into Plants, respectively, but their modern beginnings trace back to natural history and plant geography. Seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth century naturalists and geographers saw changes in vegetation as they explored new regions and laid the foundation for the development of ecology and climatology as they sought explanations for these geographic patterns. Alexander von Humboldt, in the early 1800s, observed that widely separated regions have structurally and functionally similar vegetation if their climates are similar. Alphonse de Candolle hypothesized that latitudinal zones of tropical, temperate, and arctic vegetation are caused by temperature and in 1874 proposed formal vegetation zones with associated temperature limits.

Sample Answer:

Ecology is the study of interactions of organisms among themselves and with their environment, while climatology is the study of the physical state of the atmosphere, and these two fields of scientific study are distinctly different, but they share a common history and previous naturalists and geographers see changes in vegetation as they explore new regions and lay the foundation for the development of ecology and climatology as they seek explanations for these geographic patterns. (75 words)

9. Two Ways of Learning Language | Summarize Written Text (SWT) 

“Over the years, language teachers have alternated between favoring teaching approaches that focus primarily on language use and those that focus on language forms or analysis. The alternation has been due to a fundamental disagreement concerning whether one learns to communicate in a second language by communicating in that language (such as in an immersion experience) or whether one learns to communicate in a second language by learning the lexicogrammar – the words and grammatical structures – of the target language. In other words, the argument has been about two different means of achieving the same end.”

As with any enduring controversy, the matter is not easily resolved. For one thing, there is evidence to support both points of view. It is not uncommon to find learners who, for whatever reason, find themselves in a new country or a new region of their own country, who need to learn a new language, and who do so without the benefit of formal instruction. If they are postpubescent, they may well retain an accent of some kind, but they can pick up enough language to satisfy their communicative needs. In fact, some are natural acquirers who become highly proficient in this manner. In contrast, there are learners whose entire exposure to the new language comes in the form of classroom instruction in lexicogrammar. Yet they too achieve a measure of communicative proficiency, and certain of these learners become highly proficient as well. What we can infer from this is that humans are amazingly versatile learners and that some people have a natural aptitude for acquiring languages and will succeed no matter what the circumstances.

Sample Answer:

Language teachers alter between two teaching approaches: primarily focusing on language use or forms, which cannot be solved easily because both approaches can be supported by evidence, no matter people pick up languages for communicative needs or sit in a classroom setting, and in conclusion, humans are versatile learners and some people have a natural aptitude of acquiring languages and succeed under different circumstances.(64 words)

10. Skip Breakfast | Summarize Written Text (SWT) 

Skipping breakfast seems a simple way of losing weight or saving time while getting the children ready for school or rushing off to work. But it can also be a sign of an unhealthy lifestyle with potentially dangerous consequences, including a higher risk of premature death. According to a study, adults and teenagers who miss the first meal of the day are less likely to look after their health. They tend to smoke more, drink more alcohol and take less exercise than those who do eat. Those who skip food in the morning are also more likely to be fatter and less well-educated, meaning they find it harder to get a job.

Researcher Dr. Anna Keski-Rahkonen said: Smoking, infrequent exercise, a low level of education, frequent alcohol use and a high body mass index were all associated with skipping breakfast in adults and adolescents. Our findings suggest this association exists throughout adulthood. Individuals who skip breakfast may care less about their health than those who eat breakfast.

Previously, experts assumed that missing breakfast often called the most important meal of the day was simply the marker of a hectic life or a way to try to lose weight. But Dr. Keski-Rahkonen, who led the study at Helsinki University, said the results revealed starting the day without food suggests an unhealthy lifestyle.

Sample Answer:

Although skipping breakfast seems a simple way of losing weight and was the marker of a hectic life, a study has revealed that more smoking and drinking, less exercise, being fatter and less educated as well as higher body mass index are all associated to the adults who miss ‘the most important meal of the day’, and this association exists during adulthood. (62 words)

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Tip: Summarize Written Text questions tend to have higher repeated rate than other question types in PTE Academic test. Make sure you understand the whole passage. Memorise words as much as you can. We selected some of PTE predicted Summarize Written Text (Writing) for December 2022. You can get full version of this material by accessing PTE Predicted Questions for December 2022.  

1.Difference in Intelligence

People differ greatly in all aspects of what is casually known as intelligence. The differences are apparent not only in school, from kindergarten to college, but also in the most ordinary circumstances: in the words people use and comprehend, in their differing abilities to read a map or follow directions, or in their capacities for remembering telephone numbers or figuring change. The variations in these specific skills are so common that they are often taken for granted. Yet what makes people so different? It would be reasonable to think that the environment is the source of differences in cognitive skills — that we are what we learn. It is clear, for example, that human beings are not born with a full vocabulary; they have to learn words. Hence, learning must be the mechanism by which differences in vocabulary arise among individuals. And differences in experience — say, in the extent to which parents model and encourage vocabulary skills or in the quality of language training provided by schools — must be responsible for individual differences in learning. Earlier in this century, psychology was in fact dominated by environmental explanations for variance in cognitive abilities. More recently, however, most psychologists have begun to embrace a more balanced view: one in which nature and nurture interact in cognitive development. During the past few decades, studies in genetics have pointed to a substantial role for heredity in molding the components of intellect, and researchers have even begun to track down the genes involved in cognitive function. These findings do not refute the notion that environmental factors shape the learning process. Instead they suggest that differences in people’s genes affect how easily they learn.

Summarize Spoken Text (SWT) – Difference in Intelligence – Sample Answer: 

People differ greatly in all aspects of what is casually known as intelligence, and that psychology was dominated by environmental explanations for variance in cognitive abilities, but recently researchers suggest that differences in people’s genes affect how easily they learn.(40 words)

2. Dandelion Seeds

The extraordinary flying ability of dandelion seeds is possible thanks to a form of flight that has not been seen before in nature, research has revealed. The discovery, which confirms the common plant among the natural world’s best fliers, shows that movement of air around and within its parachute-shaped bundle of bristles enables seeds to travel great distances — often a kilometer or more, kept afloat entirely by wind power. Researchers from the University of Edinburgh carried out experiments to better understand why dandelion seeds fly so well, despite their parachute structure being largely made up of empty space. Their study revealed that a ring-shaped air bubble forms as air moves through the bristles, enhancing the drag that slows each seed’s descent to the ground. This newly found form of air bubble — which the scientists have named the separated vortex ring — is physically detached from the bristles and is stabilized by air flowing through it. The amount of air flowing through, which is critical for keeping the bubble stable and directly above the seed in flight, is precisely controlled by the spacing of the bristles. This flight mechanism of the bristly parachute underpins the seeds’ steady flight. It is four times more efficient than what is possible with conventional parachute design, according to the research. Researchers suggest that the dandelion’s porous parachute might inspire the development of small-scale drones that require little or no power consumption. Such drones could be useful for remote sensing or air pollution monitoring.

Summarize Spoken Text (SWT) – Dandelion Seeds  – Sample Answer: 

While the extraordinary confirms the common plant among the natural world’s best fliers, a ring-shaped air bubble forms as air moves through the bristles and enhancing the drag that slows each seed’s descent to the ground, so critical for keeping the bubble stable and directly above the seed in flight, which inspire the development of small-scale drones that require little or no power consumption. (64 words)

3. Brain Wave

We can’t see it, but brains hum with electrical activity. Brain waves created by the coordinated firing of huge collections of nerve cells pinball around the brain. The waves can ricochet from the front of the brain to the back, or from deep structures all the way to the scalp and then back again. Called neuronal oscillations, these signals are known to accompany certain mental states. Quiet alpha waves ripple soothingly across the brains of meditating monks. Beta waves rise and fall during intense conversational turns. Fast gamma waves accompany sharp insights. Sluggish delta rhythms lull deep sleepers, while dreamers shift into slightly quicker theta rhythms. Researchers have long argued over whether these waves have purposes, and what those purposes might be. Some scientists see waves as inevitable but useless by-products of the signals that really matter — messages sent by individual nerve cells. Waves are simply a consequence of collective neural behavior, and nothing more, that view holds. But a growing body of evidence suggests just the opposite: instead of by-products of important signals, brain waves are key to how the brain operates, routing information among far-flung brain regions that need to work together. MIT’s Earl Miller is among the neuro­scientists amassing evidence that waves are an essential part of how the brain operates. Brain oscillations deftly route information in a way that allows the brain to choose which signals in the world to pay attention to and which to ignore, his recent studies suggest. Other research supports this view, too. Studies on people with electrodes implanted in their brains suggest brain waves, and their interactions, help enable emotion, language, vision and more.

Summarize Spoken Text (SWT) – Brain Wave  – Sample Answer: 

Brain waves created by the coordinated firing of huge collections of nerve cells pinball around the brain, and that beta waves rise and fall during intense conversational turns, so researchers have long argued over whether these waves have purposes, while evidence suggests brain waves are key to how the brain operates, routing information amoung far-flung brain regions that need to work together. (63 words)

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1.Natural Language

When people start thinking about language, the first question which often occurs to them is this: is language natural to humans? – in the same way that grunting is natural to pigs, and barking comes naturally to dogs. Or is it just something we happen to have learned? – in the same way that dogs may learn to beg, or elephants may learn to waltz, or humans may learn to play the guitar. Clearly, in one sense, children ‘learn’ whatever language they are exposed to, be it Chinese, Nootka or English. So no one would deny that ‘learning’ is very important. But the crucial question is whether children are born with ‘blank sheets’ in their head as far as language is concerned – or whether humans are ‘programmed’ with an outline knowledge of the structure of languages in general. This question of whether language is partly due to nature or wholly due to learning or nurture is often referred to as the nature-nurture controversy, and has been discussed for centuries. For example, it was the topic of one of Plato’s dialogues, the Cratylus. Controversies which have been going on for literally ages tend to behave in a characteristic fashion. They lie dormant for a while, then break out fiercely. This particular issue resurfaced in linguistics in 1959 when the linguist Noam Chomsky wrote a devastating and witty review of Verbal Behavior, a book by the Harvard psychologist B.F. Skinner (Skinner 1957; Chomsky 1959). This book claimed to ‘explain’ language as a set of habits gradually built up over the years. According to Skinner, no complicated innate or mental mechanisms are needed. All that is necessary is the systematic observation of the events in the external world which prompt the speaker to utter sounds.

Summarize Spoken Text (SWT) – Natural Language – Sample Answer: 

The question of whether language is partly due to nature or wholly due to learning or nurture is often referred to as the nature-nurture controversy, which have been going on for literally ages tend to behave in a characteristic fashion, while Skinner explained language as a set of habits gradually built up over the years and all that is necessary is the systematic observation of the events. (68 words)

2. The National Oceanography Center

The National Oceanography Center (NOC) is engaged in research into the potential risks and benefits of exploiting deep-sea mineral resources, some of which are essential for low-carbon technology, as well as using ocean robots to estimate the environmental impact of these potential deep-sea mining activities.

Late last year the NOC led an expedition on the RRS James Cook that found enough of the scarce element Tellurium present in the crust of a submerged volcano that, if it were all to be used in the production of solar PV panels, could provide 2/3rds of the UK’s annual electricity supply. Recently, the NOC also led an international study demonstrating deep-sea nodule mining will cause long-lasting damage to deep-sea life, lasting at least for decades.

These nodules are potato-sized rocks containing high levels of metals, including copper, manganese and nickel. They grow very slowly on the sea-bed, over millions of years. Although no commercial operations exist to extract these resources, many are planned.

Professor Edward Hill, Executive Director at the NOC commented, “By 2050 there will be nine billion people on earth and attention is increasingly turning to the ocean, particularly the deep ocean, for food, clean supplies of energy and strategic minerals. The NOC is undertaking research related to many aspects and perspectives involved in exploiting ocean resources. This research is aimed at informing with sound scientific evidence the decisions that will need to be taken in the future, as people increasingly turn to the oceans to address some of society’s greatest challenges.”

Summarize Spoken Text (SWT) – The National Oceanography Center  – Sample Answer: 

The National Oceanography Center is engaged in research into the potential risks and benefits of exploiting deep-sea mineral resources, and late last year the NOC led an expedition and found enough of the scarce element Tellurium which could provide UK’s annual electricity supply, and NOC also found out that deep-sea nodule mining will cause long-lasting damage to deep-sea life. (63 words)

3. Bank Overdraft

Banks provide short-term finance to companies in the form of an overdraft on a current account. The advantage of an overdraft is its flexibility. When the cash needs of the company increase with seasonal factors, the company can continue to write cheques and watch the overdraft increase. When the goods and services are sold and cash begins to flow in, the company should be able to watch the overdraft decrease again. The most obvious example of a business which operates in this pattern is farming. The farmer uses the overdraft to finance the acquisition of seed for arable farming, or feed through the winter for stock farming and to cover the period when the crops or animals are growing and maturing. The overdraft is reduced when the crops or the animals are sold.

The main disadvantage of an overdraft is that it is repayable on demand. The farmer whose crop fails because of bad weather knows the problem of being unable to repay the overdraft. Having overdraft financing increases the worries of those who manage the company. The other disadvantage is that the interest payable on overdrafts is variable. When interest rates increase, the cost of the overdraft increases. Furthermore, for small companies there are often complaints that the rate of interest charged is high compared with that available to larger companies. The banks answer that the rates charged reflect relative risk and it is their experience that small companies are more risky.

Summarize Spoken Text (SWT) – Bank Overdraft  – Sample Answer: 

Although the advantage that banks provide short-term finance to companies in the form of an overdraft on a current account is its flexibility, the main disadvantage of an overdraft is that it is repayable on demand as well as the interest payable on overdrafts is variable. (47 words)

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Tip: Summarize Written Text questions tend to have higher repeated rate than other question types in PTE Academic test. Make sure you understand the whole passage. Memorise words as much as you can. We selected some of PTE predicted Summarize Written Text (Writing) for September 2022. You can get full version of this material by accessing PTE Predicted Questions for September 2022.  

1.Brain Wave

We can’t see it, but brains hum with electrical activity. Brain waves created by the coordinated firing of huge collections of nerve cells pinball around the brain. The waves can ricochet from the front of the brain to the back, or from deep structures all the way to the scalp and then back again. Called neuronal oscillations, these signals are known to accompany certain mental states. Quiet alpha waves ripple soothingly across the brains of meditating monks. Beta waves rise and fall during intense conversational turns. Fast gamma waves accompany sharp insights. Sluggish delta rhythms lull deep sleepers, while dreamers shift into slightly quicker theta rhythms. Researchers have long argued over whether these waves have purposes, and what those purposes might be. Some scientists see waves as inevitable but useless by-products of the signals that really matter — messages sent by individual nerve cells. Waves are simply a consequence of collective neural behavior, and nothing more, that view holds. But a growing body of evidence suggests just the opposite: instead of by-products of important signals, brain waves are key to how the brain operates, routing information among far-flung brain regions that need to work together. MIT’s Earl Miller is among the neuro­scientists amassing evidence that waves are an essential part of how the brain operates. Brain oscillations deftly route information in a way that allows the brain to choose which signals in the world to pay attention to and which to ignore, his recent studies suggest. Other research supports this view, too. Studies on people with electrodes implanted in their brains suggest brain waves, and their interactions, help enable emotion, language, vision and more.

Summarize Spoken Text (SWT) – Brain Wave – Sample Answer: 

Brain waves created by the coordinated firing of huge collections of nerve cells pinball around the brain, and that beta waves rise and fall during intense conversational turns, so researchers have long argued over whether these waves have purposes, while evidence suggests brain waves are key to how the brain operates, routing information amoung far-flung brain regions that need to work together. (63 words)

2. Fiber

Currently, Americans only eat about 16 grams of fiber — the parts of plants that can’t be digested — per day. That’s way less than the 25 to 30 grams that’s recommended. There are so many reasons why, from fast-food marketing to agriculture subsidies, but one contributing factor is the slow death of cooking, and the rise of the restaurant meal. Americans now spend more on food at restaurants than they do at grocery stores, but restaurant food tends to have even less fiber than the food we would otherwise eat at home. One problem seems to be that restaurant meals aren’t typically loaded with two of the best sources of fiber, unprocessed fruits and vegetables. A revealing study from 2007, in which researchers interviewed 41 restaurant executives, showed that restaurants think fruits and vegetables are too expensive to feature prominently on the menu, and “61 percent said profits drive menu selections.” They also opposed labeling certain menu items as healthier choices, saying that would be “the kiss of death.” So people like to eat out, and when they do, they prefer mushy, fiber-free comfort foods. But that’s a pretty dangerous road to go down.

Summarize Spoken Text (SWT) – Fiber  – Sample Answer: 

Americans only eat about 16 grams of fiber because of the slow death of cooking and the rise of restaurant meals, and restaurant food tends to have even less fiber, and that restaurant meals aren’t typically loaded with two of the best sources of fiber and people like to eat out. (51 words)

3. Sustainable Development

The Brundtland Report, Our Common Future (1987), defines sustainable development as “development which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’. Implicit in this definition is the idea that the old pattern of development could not be sustained. Is this true? Development in the past was driven by growth and innovation. It led to new technologies and huge improvements in living standards. To assume that we know what the circumstances or needs of future generations will be is mistaken and inevitably leads to the debilitating sense that we are living on borrowed time.

Only if we assume that society will remain static can we understand the needs of the future. The way we live today could not have been predicted twenty years ago. The sustainability paradigm fails to recognize this. It is a static view and thus places limits on human ingenuity. Similarly, a whole host of false assumptions dominate environmental thought; the scale of problems is exaggerated, the amount of resources is underestimated and spurious links are made between areas such as green policies and profit, poverty and environmental degradation. Those of us who want a better future need to question these assumptions.

Summarize Spoken Text (SWT) – Sustainable Development  – Sample Answer: 

The definition of sustainable development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generation to meet their own needs is not true since development in the past led to new technologies and huge improvements in living standards, and that the sustainability paradigm fails to recognize needs of the future because a whole host of false assumptions dominate environmental thought. (64 words)

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Tip: Summarize Written Text questions tend to have higher repeated rate than other question types in PTE Academic test. Make sure you understand the whole passage. Memorise words as much as you can. We selected some of PTE predicted Summarize Written Text (Writing) for August 2021. You can get full version of this material by accessing PTE Predicted Questions for August 2021.  

1.The National Oceanography Center

The National Oceanography Center (NOC) is engaged in research into the potential risks and benefits of exploiting deep-sea mineral resources, some of which are essential for low-carbon technology, as well as using ocean robots to estimate the environmental impact of these potential deep-sea mining activities.

Late last year the NOC led an expedition on the RRS James Cook that found enough of the scarce element Tellurium present in the crust of a submerged volcano that, if it were all to be used in the production of solar PV panels, could provide 2/3rds of the UK’s annual electricity supply. Recently, the NOC also led an international study demonstrating deep-sea nodule mining will cause long-lasting damage to deep-sea life, lasting at least for decades.

These nodules are potato-sized rocks containing high levels of metals, including copper, manganese and nickel. They grow very slowly on the sea-bed, over millions of years. Although no commercial operations exist to extract these resources, many are planned.

Professor Edward Hill, Executive Director at the NOC commented, “By 2050 there will be nine billion people on earth and attention is increasingly turning to the ocean, particularly the deep ocean, for food, clean supplies of energy and strategic minerals. The NOC is undertaking research related to many aspects and perspectives involved in exploiting ocean resources. This research is aimed at informing with sound scientific evidence the decisions that will need to be taken in the future, as people increasingly turn to the oceans to address some of society’s greatest challenges.”

Summarize Spoken Text (SWT) – The National Oceanography Center  – Sample Answer: 

The National Oceanography Center is engaged in research into the potential risks and benefits of exploiting deep-sea mineral resources, and late last year the NOC led an expedition and found enough of the scarce element Tellurium which could provide UK’s annual electricity supply, and NOC also found out that deep-sea nodule mining will cause long-lasting damage to deep-sea life. (63 words)

2.Two ways of Learning Language

“Over the years, language teachers have alternated between favoring teaching approaches that focus primarily on language use and those that focus on language forms or analysis. The alternation has been due to a fundamental disagreement concerning whether one learns to communicate in a second language by communicating in that language (such as in an immersion experience) or whether one learns to communicate in a second language by learning the lexicogrammar – the words and grammatical structures – of the target language. In other words, the argument has been about two different means of achieving the same end.” 

As with any enduring controversy, the matter is not easily resolved. For one thing, there is evidence to support both points of view. It is not uncommon to find learners who, for whatever reason, find themselves in a new country or a new region of their own country, who need to learn a new language, and who do so without the benefit of formal instruction. If they are postpubescent, they may well retain an accent of some kind, but they can pick up enough language to satisfy their communicative needs. In fact, some are natural acquirers who become highly proficient in this manner. In contrast, there are learners whose entire exposure to the new language comes in the form of classroom instruction in lexicogrammar. Yet they too achieve a measure of communicative proficiency, and certain of these learners become highly proficient as well. What we can infer from this is that humans are amazingly versatile learners and that some people have a natural aptitude for acquiring languages and will succeed no matter what the circumstances. 

Summarize Spoken Text (SWT) – Two Ways of Learning Language  – Sample Answer: 

Language teachers alter between two teaching approaches: primarily focusing on language use or forms, which cannot be solved easily because both approaches can be supported by evidence, no matter people pick up languages for communicative needs or sit in a classroom setting, and in conclusion, humans are versatile learners and some people have a natural aptitude of acquiring languages and succeed under different circumstances.(64 words)

3.Importance of Soil

It’s very easy to forget about what’s in the ground beneath our feet and why it’s so important to protect it. One tablespoon of soil contains more organisms than there are people on Earth; billions of bacteria, fungi and other microorganisms combine with minerals, water, air and organic matter to create a living system that supports plants and, in turn, all life. Healthy soil can store as much as 3,750 tons of water per hectare, reducing the risk of flooding, and the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has said that 89% of all agricultural emissions could be mitigated if we improved the health of our soil.

Good soil management also increases disease resistance in livestock and ultimately drives profits for farmers – yet soil and its impact on the health of our animals has, over recent decades, been one of the most neglected links in UK agriculture. Over the last 50 years’ agriculture has become increasingly dependent on chemical fertilizers, with applications today around 10 times higher than in the 1950s. Farmers often think the chemical fertilizer NPK (nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium) provides all the nutrition a plant requires, but it also has a detrimental effect on the long-term health of the land: research suggests there are fewer than 100 harvests left in many of the world’s soils.

Summarize Spoken Text (SWT) – Importance of Soil  – Sample Answer: 

Soil organisms matter to create a living system since healthy soil reduces the risk of flooding as well as good soil management increases disease resistance in livestock and ultimately drives profits for farmers, whereas the impact has been neglected in UK agriculture because of rising dependence on chemical fertilizers. (49 words)

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1.Sleep Time

If it seems like you’re not getting enough sleep, you’re not alone. People have evolved to sleep much less than chimps, baboons or any other primates studied so far, a new study finds. Charles Nunn and David Samson are evolutionary anthropologists. They study how humans have evolved to behave the way we do. Nunn works at Duke University in Durham, N.C. Samson works at the University of Toronto Mississauga in Canada. In their new study, the two compared sleep patterns in 30 different species of primates, including humans. Most species slept between nine and 15 hours daily. Humans averaged just seven hours of shut-eye. Based on lifestyle and biological factors, however, people should get 9.55 hours, Nunn and Samson calculate. Most other primates in the study typically sleep as much as the scientists predicted they should. Nunn and Samson shared their findings online February 14 in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology.

The researchers argue that two long-standing features of human life may play into our short sleep times. The first stems from when humans’ ancestors descended from the trees to sleep on the ground. At that point, people probably had to spend more time awake to guard against predators. The second may reflect the intense pressure humans face to learn and teach new skills and to make social connections. That has left less time for sleep.

As sleep declined, rapid-eye movement — or REM — sleep took on an outsize role in humans, Nunn and Samson propose. REM sleep is when we dream. And it has been linked to learning and memory.

“It’s pretty surprising that non-REM sleep time is so low in humans,” Nunn says. “But something had to give as we slept less.”

SWT – Sleep Time – Sample Answer: 

People have evolved to sleep much less than other primates because human’s ancestors descended from the trees to sleep on the ground, and that the intense pressure humans face to learn and teach new skills and to make social connections, so rapid-eye movement sleep took on an outsize role in humans and it has been linked to learning and memory. (61 words)

2.Bank Overdraft

Banks provide short-term finance to companies in the form of an overdraft on a current account. The advantage of an overdraft is its flexibility. When the cash needs of the company increase with seasonal factors, the company can continue to write cheques and watch the overdraft increase. When the goods and services are sold and cash begins to flow in, the company should be able to watch the overdraft decrease again. The most obvious example of a business which operates in this pattern is farming. The farmer uses the overdraft to finance the acquisition of seed for arable farming, or feed through the winter for stock farming and to cover the period when the crops or animals are growing and maturing. The overdraft is reduced when the crops or the animals are sold.

The main disadvantage of an overdraft is that it is repayable on demand. The farmer whose crop fails because of bad weather knows the problem of being unable to repay the overdraft. Having overdraft financing increases the worries of those who manage the company. The other disadvantage is that the interest payable on overdrafts is variable. When interest rates increase, the cost of the overdraft increases. Furthermore, for small companies there are often complaints that the rate of interest charged is high compared with that available to larger companies. The banks answer that the rates charged reflect relative risk and it is their experience that small companies are more risky.

SWT – Bank Overdraft- Sample Answer: 

Although the advantage that banks provide short-term finance to companies in the form of an overdraft on a current account is its flexibility, the main disadvantage of an overdraft is that it is repayable on demand as well as the interest payable on overdrafts is variable. (47 words)

3.Sustainable Development

The Brundtland Report, Our Common Future (1987), defines sustainable development as “development which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’. Implicit in this definition is the idea that the old pattern of development could not be sustained. Is this true? Development in the past was driven by growth and innovation. It led to new technologies and huge improvements in living standards. To assume that we know what the circumstances or needs of future generations will be is mistaken and inevitably leads to the debilitating sense that we are living on borrowed time.

Only if we assume that society will remain static can we understand the needs of the future. The way we live today could not have been predicted twenty years ago. The sustainability paradigm fails to recognize this. It is a static view and thus places limits on human ingenuity. Similarly, a whole host of false assumptions dominate environmental thought; the scale of problems is exaggerated, the amount of resources is underestimated and spurious links are made between areas such as green policies and profit, poverty and environmental degradation. Those of us who want a better future need to question these assumptions.

SWT – Sustainable Development – Sample Answer: 

The definition of sustainable development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generation to meet their own needs is not true since development in the past led to new technologies and huge improvements in living standards, and that the sustainability paradigm fails to recognize needs of the future because a whole host of false assumptions dominate environmental thought. (64 words)

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1.Social Networks ^[NEW]

Ten years ago, Barsky and Purdon (2006) discovered that social networks which are expanding communication through social media are becoming popular and the costs involved are getting further reduced. Yet, library executives did not see how such a phenomenon could become a part of library and information services. They felt that the users should be left to their social media while the library carried on with its traditional roles (De Rosa et al., 2007). This was also the case when Charnigo and Barnett-Ellis (2007) conducted a survey of 126 academic librarians and concluded that 54% of the librarians surveyed did not believe that there was an academic purpose for Facebook. The rationale behind these librarians’ belief was that the social media was a space where students interact with each other, hence, the librarian was not welcome as their coming in might be viewed as an invasion of space. But time has proved that as the technology of the social media became more popular, users and librarians acquired digitally literacy, and libraries, seeing an explosion of social media around it, were forced to reconsider their stance. In a survey involving 497 international librarians, Taylor & Francis (2014) discovered that over 70% of librarians now feel that the use of social media is important. Though the wave began with public libraries (Mon, 2015), today, libraries of every type either have a social media presence or they are seriously considering it. Hence, the use of social media by libraries has become mainstream.

2.Books and Television

To understand the final reason why the news marketplace of ideas dominated by television is so different form the one that emerged in the world dominated by the printing press, it is important to distinguish the quality of vividness experienced by television viewers from the “vividness” experienced by readers. I believe that the vividness experienced in the reading of words is automatically modulated by the constant activation of the reasoning centres of the brain that are used in the process of cocreating the representation of reality the author has intended. By contrast, the visceral vividness portrayed on television has the capacity to trigger instinctual responses similar to those triggered by reality itself – and without being modulated by logic, reason, and reflective thought. 

The simulation of reality accomplished in the television medium is so astonishingly vivid and compelling compared with the representations of reality conveyed by printed words that it signifies much more than an incremental change in the way people consume information. Books also convey compelling and vivid representation of reality, of course. But the reader actively participates in the conjuring of the reality the book’s author is attempting to depict. Moreover, the parts of the human brain that are central to the reasoning process are continually activated by the very act of reading printed words: Words are composed of abstract symbols – letters – that have no intrinsic meaning themselves until they are strung together into recognizable sequences. 

Television, by contrast, present to its viewers a much more fully formed representation of reality – without requiring the creative collaboration that words have always demanded. 

3.Rosetta Stone

When the Rosetta Stone was discovered in 1799, the carved characters that covered its surface were quickly copied. Printer’s ink was applied to the Stone and white paper laid over it. When the paper was removed, it revealed an exact copy of the text—but in reverse. Since then, many copies or “facsimiles” have been made using a variety of materials. Inevitably, the surface of the Stone accumulated many layers of material left over from these activities, despite attempts to remove any residue. Once on display, the grease from many thousands of human hands eager to touch the Stone added to the problem. 
An opportunity for investigation and cleaning the Rosetta Stone arose when this famous object was made the centrepiece of the Cracking Codes exhibition at The British Museum in 1999. When work commenced to remove all but the original, ancient material the stone was black with white lettering. As treatment progressed, the different substances uncovered were analysed. Grease from human handling, a coating of carnauba wax from the early 1800s and printer’s ink from 1799 were cleaned away using cotton wool swabs and liniment of soap, white spirit, acetone and purified water. Finally, white paint in the text, applied in 1981, which had been left in place until now as a protective coating, was removed with cotton swabs and purified water. A small square at the bottom left corner of the face of the Stone was left untouched to show the darkened wax and the white infill. 

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1.Overqualified Worker

If your recruiting efforts attract job applicants with too much experience a near certainty in this weak labor market you should consider a response that runs counter to most hiring managers MO: Don’t reject those applicants out of hand.

Instead, take a closer look. New research shows that overqualified workers tend to perform better than other employees, and they don’t quit any sooner. Furthermore, a simple managerial tactic empowerment can mitigate any dissatisfaction they may feel.

The prejudice against too-good employees is pervasive. Companies tend to prefer an applicant who is a perfect fit

over someone who brings more intelligence, education, or experience than needed. On the surface, this bias makes sense: Studies have consistently shown that employees who consider themselves overqualified exhibit higher levels of discontent. For example, over-qualification correlated well with job dissatisfaction in a 2008 study of 156 call-center reps by Israeli researchers Saul Fine and Baruch Nevo. And unlike discrimination based on age or gender, declining to hire overqualified workers is perfectly legal.

But even before the economic downturn, a surplus of overqualified candidates was a global problem, particularly in developing economies, where rising education levels are giving workers more skills than are needed to supply the growing service sectors. If managers can get beyond the conventional wisdom, the growing pool of too-good applicants is a great opportunity. Berrin Erdogan and Talya N. Bauer of Portland State University in Oregon found that overqualified workers’ feelings of dissatisfaction can be dissipated by giving them autonomy in decision making. At stores where employees didn’t feel empowered, over-educated workers expressed greater dissatisfaction than their colleagues did and were more likely to state an intention to quit. But that difference vanished where self-reported autonomy was high.

2.Ageing World

We live in an ageing world. While this has been recognized for some time in developed countries, it is only recently that this phenomenon has been fully acknowledged. Global communication is “shrinking” the world, and global ageing is “maturing” it. The increasing presence of older persons in the world is making people of all ages more aware that we live in a diverse and multigenerational society. It is no longer possible to ignore ageing, regardless of whether one views it positively or negatively.

Demographers note that if current trends in ageing continue as predicted, a demographic revolution, wherein the proportions of the young and the old will undergo a historic crossover, will be felt in just three generations. This portrait of change in the world’s population parallels the magnitude of the industrial revolution traditionally considered the most significant social and economic breakthrough in the history of humankind since the Neolithic period. It marked the beginning of a sustained movement towards modern economic growth in much the same way that globalization is today marking an unprecedented and sustained movement toward a “global culture”. The demographic revolution, it is envisaged, will be at least as powerful.

While the future effects are not known, a likely scenario is one where both the challenges as well as the opportunities will emerge from a vessel into which exploration and research, dialogue and debate are poured. Challenges arise as social and economic structures try to adjust to the simultaneous phenomenon of diminishing young cohorts with rising older ones, and opportunities present themselves in the sheer number of older individuals and the vast resources societies stand to gain from their contribution.

3.Skip Breakfast

Skipping breakfast seems a simple way of losing weight or saving time while getting the children ready for school or rushing off to work. But it can also be a sign of an unhealthy lifestyle with potentially dangerous consequences, including a higher risk of premature death. According to a study, adults and teenagers who miss the first meal of the day are less likely to look after their health. They tend to smoke more, drink more alcohol and take less exercise than those who do eat. Those who skip food in the morning are also more likely to be fatter and less well-educated, meaning they find it harder to get a job.

Researcher Dr. Anna Keski-Rahkonen said: Smoking, infrequent exercise, a low level of education, frequent alcohol use and a high body mass index were all associated with skipping breakfast in adults and adolescents. Our findings suggest this association exists throughout adulthood. Individuals who skip breakfast may care less about their health than those who eat breakfast.

Previously, experts assumed that missing breakfast often called the most important meal of the day was simply the marker of a hectic life or a way to try to lose weight. But Dr. Keski-Rahkonen, who led the study at Helsinki University, said the results revealed starting the day without food suggests an unhealthy lifestyle.

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1.Small War

In such an environment, warfare is no longer purely directed against the military potential of adversarial states. It is rather directed at infiltrating all areas of their societies and to threaten their existences. The comparatively easy access to weapons of mass destruction, in particular relatively low-cost biological ages of key concern. Both governmental and non-governmental actors prefer to use force in a way that can be characterized as “unconventional” or also as “small wars.” War waged according to conventions is an interstate phenomenon. The “small war” is the archetype of war, in which the protagonists acknowledge no rules and permanently try to violate what conventions do exist. The protagonists of the “small war” observe neither international standards nor antis control agreements. They make use of territories where they do not have to fear any sanctions because there is no functioning state to assume charge of such sanctions or bemuse the state in question is too weak to impose such sanctions. This type of war does not provide for any warning time. It challenges not only the external security of the nation states and inter-national community, but also their internal safety.

2.The World Wide Web

Tim Berners-Lee believes the internet can foster human understanding and even world peace.

He is the man who has changed the world more than anyone else in the past hundred years. Sir Tim Berners-Lee may be a mild-mannered academic who lives modestly in Boston, but as the inventor of the world wide web, he is also a revolutionary. Along with Galileo, William Caxton and Sir Isaac Newton, he is a scientist who has altered the way people think as well as the way they live.

Since the web went global 20 years ago, the way we shop, listen to music and communicate has been transformed. There are implications for politics, literature, economics even terrorism because an individual can now have the same access to information as the elite. Society will never be the same.

The computer scientist from Oxford, who built his own computer from a television screen and spare parts after he was banned from one of the university computers, is a cultural guru as much as a technological one.

It is amazing how far we’ve come, he says. But you’re always wondering what’s the next crazy idea, and working to make sure the web stays one web and that the internet stays open. There isn’t much time to sit back and reflect.

He invented the web, he says, because he was frustrated that he couldn’t find all the information he wanted in one place. It was an imaginary concept that he realized.

3.Books and Television

To understand the final reason why the news marketplace of ideas dominated by television is so different form the one that emerged in the world dominated by the printing press, it is important to distinguish the quality of vividness experienced by television viewers from the “vividness” experienced by readers. I believe that the vividness experienced in the reading of words is automatically modulated by the constant activation of the reasoning centres of the brain that are used in the process of cocreating the representation of reality the author has intended. By contrast, the visceral vividness portrayed on television has the capacity to trigger instinctual responses similar to those triggered by reality itself – and without being modulated by logic, reason, and reflective thought.

The simulation of reality accomplished in the television medium is so astonishingly vivid and compelling compared with the representations of reality conveyed by printed words that it signifies much more than an incremental change in the way people consume information. Books also convey compelling and vivid representation of reality, of course. But the reader actively participates in the conjuring of the reality the book’s author is attempting to depict. Moreover, the parts of the human brain that are central to the reasoning process are continually activated by the very act of reading printed words: Words are composed of abstract symbols – letters – that have no intrinsic meaning themselves until they are strung together into recognizable sequences.

Television, by contrast, present to its viewers a much more fully formed representation of reality – without requiring the creative collaboration that words have always demanded.

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