A relevant point is a piece of information that directly answers the task as it was worded. An interesting detail is something vivid, surprising or well written that does not. When a task asks for a summary, you are rewarded for the first kind, so the skill is to tell them apart quickly.
This is the first lesson in summary selection and synthesis, and everything later depends on it.
What test can you use on each sentence?
Start with the task, not the passage. Underline the words that set the focus: what kind of information (benefits, problems, causes), and whose (students, residents, the writer).
Then put each sentence through three questions:
- Does it answer the task as worded? A benefit answers “benefits”. A problem does not.
- Is it a point or an illustration? A point is an idea. An illustration is a particular scene that shows the idea.
- Does the summary still work without it? If yes, it is probably a detail.
A sentence only needs to fail one question to be left out.
Worked example
Read this original passage.
Dina’s ride to school takes twelve minutes, where the bus took thirty-five. Her bicycle is bright orange and has a bell shaped like a frog. She saves RM6 a day in fares. Her cousin once rode a bicycle across Sarawak in nine days. Dina says the exercise wakes her up, so she concentrates better in the first lesson. On wet mornings, though, she arrives damp and has to dry her books.
Task: Give the advantages Dina finds in cycling to school.
Step 1, focus: “advantages”, “Dina finds”. So the points must be benefits Dina experiences.
Step 2, test each sentence:
| Sentence idea | Answers the task? | Decision |
|---|---|---|
| Twelve minutes against thirty-five | Yes, it is quicker | Keep |
| Orange bicycle with a frog bell | No, it is description | Leave out |
| Saves RM6 a day | Yes, it saves money | Keep |
| Cousin rode across Sarawak | No, it is about someone else | Leave out |
| Exercise helps concentration | Yes | Keep |
| Arrives damp on wet mornings | No, it is a disadvantage | Leave out |
Step 3, write: Dina finds cycling much quicker than the bus, cheaper because she saves on fares, and helpful for concentrating in her first lesson.
Three points were kept and three were left out, even though the frog bell is the most memorable sentence in the passage.
The mistake to watch for
Students often keep a detail because it is vivid, or because it is the only sentence that stuck.
Mistaken answer: Dina’s orange bicycle has a frog-shaped bell, and cycling saves her time and money.
The first half describes the bicycle. It is not an advantage, so it takes words and earns nothing.
The same thing happens in the other direction. A point that is relevant to the passage but answers a different question, like the wet-morning problem here, also needs to be left out. The correction is to go back to the task words and ask “is this an advantage?” before any sentence is copied into your notes.
Check yourself
Use the same task: Give the advantages Dina finds in cycling to school.
1. Is “Dina keeps her bicycle chained to the railing by the canteen” relevant?
Show answer
No. It describes where the bicycle is kept. It is neither an advantage nor a reason she gives, so it is detail.
2. A new sentence is added: “Because she no longer queues at the bus stop, she is at school before most of her class.” Is it relevant, and is it a new point?
Show answer
It is relevant because it is a benefit. It is not a new point, though: it supports the idea that cycling is quicker and more convenient. You would fold it into the time point rather than list it separately.
3. Change the task to: Describe the difficulties Dina faces. Which sentence from the passage is now the only relevant one?
Show answer
“On wet mornings, though, she arrives damp and has to dry her books.” The focus changed from advantages to difficulties, so a sentence that was left out before is now the answer.
Where this leads next
Once you can filter reliably, learn to combine repeated ideas without losing meaning. You can practise the selection step in the summary selection and paraphrase studio.
If you understand the test here but still select inconsistently on new passages, a teacher in online one-to-one English First Language tuition can look at your own drafts with you.