You read the passage carefully, understand its meaning and complete your précis within the available time.
But is your answer actually good?
Many NICL AO aspirants believe that a short, grammatically correct paragraph is automatically an effective précis. However, even a well-written answer can be weak if it omits essential arguments, changes the author’s meaning or includes unnecessary details.
The biggest challenge in précis writing is not simply reducing the word count. It is deciding what must remain unchanged while shortening the passage.
In this Bank Whizz guide, we will examine eight common mistakes that can weaken your NICL AO 2026 précis and demonstrate how to correct them.
1. NICL AO 2026 Précis Writing: What Matters?
Précis Writing carries 10 marks in the NICL AO 2026 Descriptive English Test.
The complete descriptive examination carries 30 marks and has a total duration of 30 minutes.
NICL has not published a detailed précis-writing marking rubric. Therefore, the mistakes discussed below are based on established principles of effective summarisation, not an official allocation of marks.
2. Mistake 1: Missing the Central Idea
Some candidates focus on individual sentences without understanding the author’s overall argument.
Original:
“Digital banking improves financial accessibility, but limited digital literacy and cybersecurity risks prevent some individuals from using these services effectively.”
Weak Précis:
“Digital banking improves financial accessibility.”
The answer ignores the challenges that form an essential part of the original message.
Improved Précis:
“Digital banking improves financial accessibility, although digital literacy and cybersecurity challenges restrict its benefits.”
How to avoid it: Before writing, express the author’s central message in one sentence.
3. Mistake 2: Copying Complete Sentences
A précis should demonstrate understanding and the ability to restate ideas concisely.
Simply reproducing the original passage does not achieve this effectively.
Original:
“Financial literacy enables individuals to make informed decisions about savings, borrowing and investments.”
Weak Approach:
Copying the sentence without meaningful compression.
Improved Version:
“Financial literacy supports informed financial decision-making.”
How to avoid it: Understand the idea first, then express it naturally in your own words.
Do not replace words mechanically with unsuitable synonyms.
4. Mistake 3: Removing Essential Information
Some candidates become so focused on shortening the passage that they remove important qualifications.
Original:
“Artificial intelligence can improve productivity, but its adoption may create challenges involving employment and privacy.”
Weak Précis:
“Artificial intelligence improves productivity.”
Improved Précis:
“Artificial intelligence can improve productivity while creating employment and privacy challenges.”
How to avoid it: Pay attention to words such as however, although, but, therefore and unless.
They often indicate important relationships between ideas.
5. Mistake 4: Including Too Many Examples
Examples help explain a passage, but not every example belongs in the précis.
Original:
“Renewable energy sources such as solar power, wind energy and hydropower can reduce dependence on fossil fuels.”
Weak Précis:
“Solar power, wind energy and hydropower reduce dependence on fossil fuels.”
Improved Précis:
“Renewable energy can reduce dependence on fossil fuels.”
How to avoid it: Replace lists of examples with an accurate broader expression when the examples are not essential to the argument.
6. Mistake 5: Changing the Author’s Meaning
Inaccurate paraphrasing can distort the original message.
Original:
“Financial education can help consumers avoid unsuitable borrowing decisions.”
Incorrect Paraphrase:
“Financial education prevents people from taking loans.”
The author does not argue that borrowing should be avoided entirely.
Improved Paraphrase:
“Financial education helps consumers make responsible borrowing decisions.”
How to avoid it: Compare every important claim in your précis with the original passage.
Never introduce a stronger or different conclusion than the author intended.
7. Mistake 6: Adding Personal Opinions
A précis should represent the author’s views, not the candidate’s recommendations.
Original:
“Improving public transport can reduce congestion and support environmental sustainability.”
Weak Addition:
“The government should immediately ban all private vehicles.”
This recommendation does not appear in the original statement.
Improved Précis:
“Better public transport can reduce traffic congestion and support environmental sustainability.”
How to avoid it: Do not add opinions, predictions or solutions unless they are present in the passage.
8. Mistake 7: Writing Disconnected Sentences
Some aspirants identify the correct points but present them without logical connections.
Weak Version:
“Insurance provides protection. Awareness is limited. Education is necessary.”
Improved Version:
“Insurance provides financial protection, but limited consumer awareness creates difficulties. Financial education can help individuals make informed insurance decisions.”
How to avoid it: Connect the author’s ideas using appropriate relationships such as cause, contrast and consequence.
Your précis should read as one coherent explanation.
9. Mistake 8: Ignoring Evaluation After Practice
This is one of the most damaging preparation habits.
A candidate attempts several précis mocks but never checks whether the central message was preserved.
Another candidate repeatedly copies sentences without recognising the problem.
A third candidate consistently writes overly long answers.
Without evaluation, these weaknesses may continue.
How to Avoid This Mistake
After every practice attempt, check:
| Evaluation Area | Question |
|---|---|
| Central Idea | Did I preserve the main message? |
| Essential Points | Did I omit anything important? |
| Concision | Did I remove unnecessary details? |
| Paraphrasing | Did I change the original meaning? |
| Grammar | Are my sentences accurate? |
| Coherence | Does the précis flow logically? |
Writing more précis answers is useful only when you learn from the mistakes identified in previous attempts.
10. Practice Exercise: Find the Mistakes
Read the following original passage.
Original Passage
Financial inclusion can improve economic participation by expanding access to formal banking services. However, limited financial literacy, inadequate infrastructure and geographical barriers continue to restrict access in underserved communities. Financial institutions and public authorities must combine improved service availability with consumer education to promote meaningful financial inclusion.
Candidate’s Précis
“Financial inclusion is very important. Banks should open more branches everywhere. Everyone must use digital banking because it is the best solution for economic development.”
Identify the Problems
The candidate has made several mistakes:
1. Missing Central Ideas: Financial literacy and infrastructure barriers are omitted.
2. Adding Opinions: The passage does not argue that everyone must use digital banking.
3. Changing Meaning: The original emphasises access and education, not compulsory digital banking.
4. Weak Precision: The expression very important does not communicate the author’s actual argument.
Improved Précis
“Financial inclusion supports economic participation, but financial literacy, infrastructure and geographical barriers restrict access. Improving banking availability alongside consumer education can help underserved communities participate more effectively in the formal financial system.”
What Should You Learn?
An effective précis is not necessarily the one with the fewest words.
It is the one that preserves the essential message accurately and concisely.
11. How Bank Whizz Helps You Correct Précis Writing Mistakes
You may recognise some of these mistakes in your own writing.
Perhaps you struggle to identify the central idea.
Perhaps you paraphrase inaccurately.
Or perhaps your précis contains too much unnecessary information.
Different mistakes require different corrective exercises.
At Bank Whizz, our descriptive English mentorship approach focuses on identifying individual weaknesses through diagnostic assessment and using targeted practice and feedback to improve writing.
The objective is not merely to complete more mocks.
It is to understand:
- What did you do correctly?
- Where did your answer become inaccurate?
- What should you practise next?
Start with an independent diagnostic attempt and identify the skills that need attention.
Explore NICL AO Descriptive English Preparation at Bank Whizz:
https://bankwhizz.com/NICL-AO/nicl-ao-2026-landing.php
Bank Whizz – Identify Your Mistakes. Correct Them. Improve Your Précis.
Conclusion
Précis Writing requires accuracy, concision and a clear understanding of the author’s message.
Avoid copying unnecessary sentences, removing essential ideas, changing the author’s meaning or adding personal opinions.
Most importantly, evaluate your work after every attempt.
Your next précis should not simply be another practice answer. It should demonstrate that you have corrected a weakness from your previous attempt.
Official Reference: National Insurance Company Limited Recruitment Website: https://nationalinsurance.nic.co.in/recruitment
The examples and evaluation guidance in this article are educational recommendations, not an officially published NICL marking rubric.