The written summary counts among the relevant intellectual output allowing to develop and assess competencies across various curricular areas. In many countries assessment standards list the summary together with other texts students write for widely accepted certification or entrance examinations. In Moldova, according to the present school curriculum, the specific competency of „Summarising Literary and Non-literary Texts” is generic for the competencies derived in each grade, and is assessed during the gymnasium graduation exam. A teacher may follow various didactic scenarios when exercising the students' ability to reduce a given text to its essence. Our article presents two of these: Saving and Elimination. Both will only work after the class has done a guided primary processing of the text, directed by the teacher.