Free tool

Summary-length trainer

Student comparing a printed passage with a shorter handwritten note.

Check your summary for length and spot words lifted straight from the passage. Nothing is saved.

How to read your result

Start with length: if you are well over your target, you are almost certainly including detail or examples a summary should leave out. Then look at repeated words: they often mark a point you have made twice, or a chance to vary your phrasing. Finally, rewrite anything flagged as lifted: say the same idea in your own words, more briefly. A good summary is not the passage shortened; it is the passage rethought, and these three checks push you towards that.

The next step

The trainer can count and flag, but it cannot tell you whether you chose the right points to include: the heart of the skill. That is where a teacher helps, by reading your summary against the passage. They show which ideas earned marks and which were detail you could drop. Run the check and tighten the obvious things, then bring it to a lesson for the judgement a counter cannot make.

Trainer FAQs

What does this trainer check?
Three things: length, concision and lifting. Length is your word and sentence count against a target you set. Concision means words you repeat too often. Lifting means runs of six or more words copied straight from the source. Paste the source passage too, and the trainer highlights lifted phrases so you can rewrite them before they cost you marks.
What target word count should I use?
Use the word guidance in your board’s current syllabus for your paper. Your school or the official syllabus can confirm it. We never state a board’s word limit from memory, so you enter your own target and the trainer shows how far over or under you are. Summaries are usually marked down for going well over the guidance, so staying close matters.
Why is lifting such a problem?
Summary marks reward choosing the key points and putting them in your own words. Copying phrases from the passage suggests you have not processed the meaning, and examiners are trained to spot it. The trainer flags copied runs so you can rewrite them. Saying the same idea more briefly, in your own words, is exactly what earns the marks.
Is my writing stored?
No. Everything runs in your browser and nothing is uploaded or saved. Your text never leaves your device. If you want a teacher to look at it, bring the summary to a lesson.

The trainer shows how close a summary is to the word limit. A teacher can mark your child’s own summary in a paid one-hour trial.

Book a Trial Class

You may also find IGCSE English tuition options and skills guides useful. Next, visit our original practice tasks to put the result to work. Our First Language English tuition page explains how lessons run. When you are ready, the paid one-hour trial is the first step.

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