Dear Aspirant,
Precis is a summary or abstract of the given text. It becomes difficult when not taken seriously. To make a précis of a given passage is to extract its main points and to express them as clearly and in as few words as possible. In fact, it is a straight-forward statement without unnecessary trimmings.
While writing a marks-fetching précis, keep in mind the following do’s:-
- Have a cursory look at the passage given and squeeze out the theme. The theme can be squeezed out by merely going through the first and the last paragraph.
- In the second attempt, read out the paragraph carefully and keep noticing which terms or thought is recurring.
- Provide an apt title keeping in mind the theme that you have squeezed out. The title must not be long enough. It must clearly state what the précis is all about.
- Now, you have to prove your writing skill. Write the précis in your own language. It doesn’t matter whether you’re keeping the compressed version of the first paragraph in the beginning or at last or in the middle. But, always keep in mind whether your précis maintains a logical flow of all the contents. In other words, find out whether your précis is broken from somewhere. If so, then you’re required to re-organize your thought.
- The technical term(s) used in the given passage must not be dropped out. Using the terms, write your précis coherently.
- Avoid Idioms or Phrases or any Maxim or Proverb as these increase the number of words. Just take an example: You can replace the sentence ‘She has gone to the land from where nobody returns’ can be replaced with ‘She has died’. Don’t say, ‘She has given up the ghost’ or ‘She has breathed her last.’
- Don’t write précis using the First or Second Person. Always use ‘Third Person’ (He, She, It, They, etc.)
- Use Indirect Narration and Active Voice for the economy of words.
- Make it confirmed whether the contents agree with the title.
- Finally, find out whether the précis consists of the required number of words. You can get a relaxation of a maximum of 10 words.
I Hope, these do’s will suffice.
Wishing you all the best,
Anandam