PTE Writing Sample – Summary
PTE Summary Sentence
Read the passage and summarize it using one sentence. You have 10 minutes to finish this task. Your response will be judged on the quality of your writing and on how well your response presents the points in the passage.
The hype around artificial intelligence suggests that it could either spell the end of humanity or solve its biggest problems; however, much like computers and scientific publications, AI may simply become another tool that transforms scientific practice, provided scientists gain the skills and training to use it.
The debate about artificial intelligence (AI) reveals both a negative and positive side. On the negative side, there’s fear of mass unemployment, killer robots, and the extinction of humanity. On the positive side, the potential to solve some of humanity’s biggest problems by accelerating the pace of scientific discovery.
It’s not the first time that technologies have been hyped up. For example, the telegraph of the 1850s heralded world peace, and the internet the reduction of inequality and nationalism.
While those ambitious targets were never met, many new approaches and new tools have resulted in bursts of scientific discovery and innovation. For example, the microscopes and telescopes of the 1600s encouraged researchers to make their own observations and question those of antiquity. Later, scientific journals created a way of sharing their findings and, together, these unlocked more powerful means of making discoveries, by allowing people and ideas to mingle in new ways and on a larger scale, ultimately resulting in rapid progress in astronomy, physics and other fields.
With the late 1900s came research laboratories, which concentrated scientific minds and resulted in artificial fertilizers, pharmaceuticals, and the transistor, the building block of the computer. Computers, in turn, enabled new forms of science based on simulation and modelling, from the design of weapons and aircraft to more accurate weather forecasting.
Today, these early forms of AI tools and techniques have penetrated almost every field of science, and the idea that it might transform scientific practice is feasible, but only if human scientists are willing and able to use such tools. Many lack skills and training, and some worry about being put out of a job. Fortunately, there are hopeful signs. AI tools are now moving from being pushed by AI researchers to being embraced by specialists in other fields.
PTE Writing Sample – Essay
What are the advantages and disadvantages of a cashless Society?
The lure of a cashless society is stronger for some than for others. While governments may be drawn to its transparency, others, who may be less technologically adept, less inclined to having their spending under a microscope, or less trustful of governing bodies, tend to be far from enthusiastic.
On the one hand, for governments, the appeal of a cashless society lies in the straightforwardness of taxation. Seeing just how much money an individual has would make tax assessments clean, easy, and effortless. Moreover, without coins and notes circulating, those governing bodies might expect to see less crime in the form of theft and illegal activities related to drugs and smuggling. However, the reality, with regard to crime, might be far different since criminals will always find ways to circumvent any barriers to their livelihood.
On the other hand, for individual members of society that heightened transparency holds less appeal, especially for those who live in developing societies where the internet, smart phones, and computers are a rarity. For them, a pocket full of change provides a sense of security. Similarly, for those living in countries with communist leanings, the level of mistrust in governing bodies might leave them fighting tooth and nail against a cashless economy.
At the end of the day, a cashless society may hold more promise for governments than for anyone else because it would add hurdles rather than remove them. When all said and done, governments may be short sighted in thinking that it would impact crime rates as criminals would simply turn to a bartering economy, and hackers would have a field day.
