Précis means an intelligent summary of a long passage. NABARD Phase-2, it is expected that there will be a 300-350 word passage which you will need to summarise. Let’s learn how to write a Précis. Qualities of a Good Precis

• Clarity: of language & ideas
• Correctness: grammatical and information-wise
• Coherence: logical with clear interconnection of ideas
• Completeness: should cover all ideas and facts given in original passage
• Conciseness: no unnecessary details. Sticking to the word limit is important.

Rules for Writing Précis

• Own words: A précis should be written in your own words and the writer should avoid borrowing phrases from the original passage.
  • Remove rhetorical statements, ornamental language (metaphors, hyperbole etc).
  • Replace phrases with one words.
  • Make statements more direct. Ex. “His failure follows as a consequence of his indifference to his studies.” Can be replace with “He failed due to neglecting his studies”
• Size:It is generally accepted practice to write 1/3rd of original passage unless otherwise mentioned. If the original passage has 300 words, the précis should not be more than 110 words in length.
• Tense and Person: It should be written in the third person and past tense. In the case of universal truth the present tense should be used.
• Indirect Speech: A précis should be written in indirect speech. If there is direct speech in the passage, it should be changed into indirect speech.
• One Paragraph: write all précis in one paragraph only even if there are more than one in original passage.
• No Omission: do no omit any fact/idea/information form original passage.
• Title: Give it a relevant title. Doesn’t have to be much creative.

Suggested Technique for Writing Précis


Example

Today there are 3000 million people in the world. Fifty years ago only about 2000 million people lived in it. If the earth’s population were evenly distributed over its land surface, there would be about 550 persons to the square mile. But Earth has vast areas of forest, mountains, and deserts which are almost totally inhabited. On the other hand, it has great cities each with millions of people living in a few square miles.

To feed the fast-growing population of our earth, scientists and planners have to discover new ways to produce more. One possible way is to bring more land not under cultivation. This can be done only in places where there is a lot of lands not used for productive purposes. In many places, there is no longer possible all the arable land is already cultivated. A second way is to make use of new types of seeds to produce more. Already a number of new strains of paddy and wheat have been developed in different parts f the world. India is one of the countries where a lot of useful work has been done in the field of agriculture research.

Solution
Title: World Population and Food Production During the last fifty years, the world population has increased from 2000 to 3000 million. It is unevenly distributed with millions of people living in a few big cities. Scientists in India and abroad are, therefore, busy with agriculture research to find out new methods of increased food production to feed them all and they have already developed many new strains of paddy and wheat.