Structured Practice

Precis practice: The meaning of resilience

Precis

Precis 20 marks 35 minutes 120 words

Read the following original passage and write a précis of approximately one-third of its length. Supply a suitable title.

Resilience is sometimes mistaken for the ability to return to the previous condition after a shock. In many societies, however, the previous condition already contained deep vulnerability. Rebuilding the same unsafe housing, unequal services, or fragile supply chain merely recreates future loss. Genuine resilience combines resistance, adaptation, and transformation. It protects essential functions during disruption, learns from failure, and changes the structures that produced excessive risk. The concept is therefore both technical and political, because decisions about what to protect and what to transform distribute costs and benefits among groups.

Practice workspace

Write notes or your response

35:00

Suggested approach

Identify the central claim, remove examples and repetition, preserve logical relationships, write in your own words, and add a concise title.

Self-assessment rubric

Accuracy 40%; compression 20%; coherence 20%; language 15%; title 5%.