Sample Summary English PMR

More and more animals are surrendered to Zoo Negara. Sometimes, the animals are abandoned at the gates.

      Zoo Negara accepts the animals for humane reasons but the dumping of these animals poses management problems for the Malaysian Zoological Society. The dumping of animals here has grown tremendously.Most of these animals are those commonly kept as pets.

    Some animals arrive at the zoo ill and malnourished. Feeding and handling them incur costs. They might even bring diseases and infect other animals. The animals are quarantined for three months before they can go into enclosures or cages, where they are treated for any diseases. As such, they take up the limited quarantine space the zoo has.

     Zoo Negara is unable to keep all the animals dropped at its doorstep. Thus, they are given away to other zoos. Primates, such as monkeys, are released into the forests as they attack each other in shared enclosures.

   The zoo does not accept species listed under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) for fear of illegal origins. However, as some of these animals are just left at the zoo, the management has no choice but to take them in.

(Adapted from The Star, 2005)

Write a summary on why Zoo Negara has problems with the animals left at the gates.

Your summary must:

• not be more than 60 words, including the 10 words given below
• be in continuous writing (not note form)
• be written in one paragraph

Use your own words as far as possible without changing its original meaning.

Begin your summary as follows:

          Zoo Negara accepts the abandoned animals but the dumping has ...

Content points:

1. grown tremendously.
2. animals arrive at the zoo ill and malnourished.
3. Feeding and handling them incur costs.
4. They might even bring diseases and infect other animals 
5. they take up the limited quarantined space the zoo has.
6. Primates (are released into forests as they) attack each other in shared enclosures.
7. The zoo does not accept species listed under CITES for illegal origins (but these animals are also being left at the zoo.)

Sample student's answer:

Zoo Negara accept abandoned animals but the dumping has/ cause problems to the Malaysian Zoological Society. The first problem is some animals arrive there are ill and malnourished (C1). In addition, high cost incurred to treat these animals (C2). They also bring diseases (and infect other animals). Moreover, limited quarantine spaces also becomes a problem too (meaning has changed from the original text). Finally, they fear for illegal origins of endangered species (C3).

(58 words)

Content points – 3 marks

Language – 3 marks

Total marks – 6

*underlined words  indicate language errors

Important tips:

• Copy the points EXACTLY from the text to avoid making sentence errors and changing the meaning of the original text. 
• You may paraphrase the sentence ONLY if you are really confident that your new sentence is correct.

Suggested answer:

Zoo Negara accept abandoned animals but the dumping has grown tremendously (C1). Some animals arrive at the zoo ill and malnourished (C2). Next, feeding and handling them incur costs. Furthermore, they might even bring diseases and infect other animals (C3). Moreover, they take up the limited quarantined space the zoo has (C4). Primates attack each other in shared enclosures.(C5)

(56 words)

Content points – 5 marks

Language – 3 marks

Total marks - 8