Hello aspirant, Myself Sultan along with my fellow mates have struggled a lot with PTE, in this journey we felt the need of support with materials and guidance, hence we thought of assembling all required things at a common platform and sharing with the world.
Please go through and get acquainted with PTE
In continuation of this blog, I have presented my strategies in the form of a book - Immigrant's English. If you the blog is not enough you can read the book. I hope that helps you understand the pattern of PTE.
Structure of PTE Academic
It is a computer-based test, where we have to attempt all four sections viz Listening, Reading, Writing, Speaking using the computer.
The test takes approximately three hours to complete. This includes an un-timed introduction to the test and one optional scheduled break of up to 10 minutes. There are three timed parts:
1. Speaking and writing ------- 77 to 93 minutes
2. Reading --- 32 to 41 minutes
Optional Break
3. Listening ---- 45-57 minutes
Type of Questions asked and skills assessed in those questions
PTE Score Guide - This can be downloaded from inside of your myPTE account.
NEGATIVE MARKING
Every test taker must be aware that a few questions have negative marking and you need to be cautious about that, I am listing them below
1. Reading Section
a) Multiple-choice, choose multiple answers - Points deducted for incorrect options chosen
2. Listening Section
a) Multiple-choice, choose multiple answers - Points deducted for incorrect options chosen
b) Highlight incorrect words - Points deducted for incorrect options chosen
PTE test day experience :
PTE Academic Lesson Idea
PTE Test Tips
Some more videos shared at the end regarding each section.
Now sharing some tips & strategies taken by persons who have attempted PTE and cleared with good scores, Please note you can devise a new strategy which you find comfortable to practise.
0. By self - A generic technique; I more or less practised in this way, but time gaps were larger
Imagine one month left for the exam ;
take the free practise test on day 1- that will help you analyze your weak points, work on them for 9 days
take practise test 2 on day 10, then again analyze your weak points
work sincerely on your weak points, again and again, and take 3rd practise test on day 25
Well, there is a lot more in the book - Immigrant's English
1. Shared by Amrit Pai
Some generic advice but important. Work on your flaws which are needed for this exam. No need to work on everything. Play clever.
1. You are being scored by a computer so think like a computer giving the test
2. A computer has limited ability. It will catch you on spelling error..Less time spoken etc etc
3. Speak slowly in speaking.
4. Don’t think too much about content …But be clear when you speak and speak for the time frame given to you.
5. Do not take a break when speaking…As recorder stops recording if you don’t speak for more than 3 seconds. And your game over.
6. While writing…NO spelling mistakes.
7. Retell lecture – Try to write fast when they speak. Also note important words and try to understand context. It will be easier that way.
8. in writing the most important is the grammar..you may write the perfect content with high vocabs but if there are grammar mistakes then you wil loose the marks drastically
Also before booking center....Visit it once before booking. Check if its congested or not. Faced this issue in my first attempt. I scored 90 in others and 60 in speaking all coz the recorder recorded noises of all people around me. The computer didn't recognize my answers
Timeline strategy for reading
All MCQ- 6 mins
Reorder- 2 mins for each
Fib drop down- 1.5 mins for each blank
fib mcq- 10 mins for all
2. Own tips
Reading - we need to do a good time management
If you are aiming for 79+, then have a strategy in place for the test day, practice more and more on fill in blanks, I found them scoring.
The options in Fill in blank seem very close to each other, so during practice get to know the meaning of each and every word, this will develop your vocabulary and later on give an explanation with the correct choice of that particular answer
Read a lot of standard material online - newspaper websites are good
Blogs - they sometimes have low standard English with grammatical mistakes, so avoid reading miscellaneous blogs for some time. CNN, BBC, First post, Hindu website are good -their English vocabulary is at a level better than others
If possible take an article, read it and paraphrase it in some notepad - it will increase your reading and writing skill
Reorder paragraphs are like a jigsaw puzzle, u need to fit in the pieces, see the start and end of a line and compare with other lines, in 2-3 glances u will be able to set it in order
Single choice answer - take a quick glance at the paragraph, then read the question, try to relate question and portion of paragraph which has the keyword asked in the question, now go through the portion which contains that keyword, search for your answer and click the option which is best
Multiple choice - same technique, just be cautious, the options are very close and choose any option only if you are 100% confident, else leave it.
Last not least, don't be demotivated at any stage, understand the pattern, practice and practice, nothing else.
3. Re-tell Lecture
This strategy is originally from Sneha Patil
Before starting your test, write on your erasable notepad these three lines
1. The speaker highlights
2. The professor throws light on
3. The lecturer focuses on
then when re-tell lecture starts, recording will play for around 2 minutes, listen patiently and see the image/graph/table/pie chart (if any), during this time try to note as many keywords spoken in the recording as possible, u will have around 10-12 seconds to prepare yourself with what to speak.
When time starts for recording answer, start with any 1 of 3 lines u have written on your erasable notepad, mention the keywords u have noted down and try to fill in text by yourself to present a story. keep necessary pauses between sentences, but not more then 3 seconds.
Use the three different lines for the different lectures, generally ppl dont get more then 3 re-tell lectures, follow this strategy you shall be clear
4. Summarize text -
two questions of this type, you get 10 mins to answer each i.e. 20 mins
read the given text to scan general idea, read second time to get connecting details( cause, effect), read third time to relate to any example etc if any
While reading keep writing the key points, connection, example which you find relevant to main idea of the text
Now start writing actual summary, it should start with a capital letter, avoid using capital letter anywhere else(even if you feel its required),
In 1st line write the main point indicated in text put a comma then write supporting detail and finally put a full stop at the end
Key points to take care of - your summarize text shall cover the main idea and a supporting statement or inference, it should be a single line summary starting with a capital letter and separated by commas, full stop only to be provided at the end.
5. Graphs Tips n Tricks
Sometimes you get too much or too less information in explaining the graphs which may
include Line Graphs, Bar Graphs, Pie Charts to name a few. So what is the best strategy
to tackle this problem,
You have to make a right strategy within 25 seconds so that you can easily explain the
graph in 40 seconds.
Here are some of the tips that works
1) Identify the inputs given in the graph. Check the inputs/ variables given in the X axis
and Y axis.
For example - You are sometimes given population, sales etc in the Y axis and years
range in the X axis.
2) Check what the overall graph is about. It may be related to population density of
different countries, sales in different companies etc. So you may start by saying - This line
or bar graph illustrates / gives information about ..................................
3) Sometimes there are too many lines in a single graph. Firstly check the highest point
then the lowest point, check the similar patterns, trends ( increasing or decreasing or
fluctuating etc). For instance you can start by saying that the highest population among
all the countries was recorded by USA which was around 50 millions in the year 2002 and
the country with lowest population was France with a population of approximately .......
The two countries namely India and China has witnessed an almost similar trends in their
population over the past 10 years. However, the population of India showed a
dramatic increase after 2010 ..................................
4) You can use some connectors also to improve your speaking. You can use - However,
It is interesting to see .............. , Although, Similarly, Overall, On the contrary.
5) Some terminologies that can be used for expressing the trends - Dramatic increase,
Significant increase, Exponential increase, decreasing/ increasing trend, fluctuating trend,
declined considerably, huge increase, rapid fall, etc.
6) You can also use - population of X was almost 3 times then Y country. The sales of
company X was almost 1/3rd then the sales of company Y.
If the information is too less then it is advised to speak slowly and can add some
additional information as well related to the topic.
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6. Speaking Tips - Contd...
Tips collected from my friends
For people who need support in the Speaking section:
Some tips for speaking:-
Describe Image:- Whether you are understanding the graph or not, the only prime thing to keep in mind is that it is a speaking task so you have to speak and show that you can speak, keep on speaking for describing image or graph. When you describe the graph and if you are not getting what to say, you can
· firstly describe what the image is depicting with words like the graph shows, illustrates or depicts.
· You can say about the numbers which are on the vertical axis and the years which are on the horizontal axis, following this you can add the units like the graph has degree Celsius as unit or the million dollars or percentage.
Please say these things if you feel weak as a speaker, your main focus should be to say at
least 3 sentences.
1. you can say about the topic.
2. you can say the unit
3. you can say the horizontal and vertical axis points like years or percentage.
7. Summary (Writing) - By Amrit Pai
There are three tips that should follow for summary
1. Write in present tense
2. Use independent clauses with dependent clause
3. Use main ideas with supporting points. exclude personal opinion,
Examples, unnecessary info
8. Describe Image Sneha Patil's Note
The notes here shows keywords to crack any graph and words to use for indicating pattern
of graph.
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10. Tips by Sanjeev
In the Speaking Section
Retell lecture - Have organisation chart method to take notes. Manager(Mgr), Team Leader(TL), important team members(ITM). Manager is introduction. TL is key pts and ITM are supporting ideas. There would be junk. Avoid all of them. It is your English that computer is interested than the content. Have 7 sec rule. 7sec for intro, 7-8 sec for key point1+support, 7-8 sec key point 2+idea, By the time you reach 60% of recording plan to start your conclusion. Without conclusion do not DO NOT DO NOT hope to score more marks. Try to restrict the talk to 5-6 properly constructed sentences with good grammar. Don't worry about the content but worry about the English. Stick to 35 sec.
For charts/image/graph - many have given best solution here. I have to say again that this is English test. Don't impress the computer with your maths ability but you should show-off your English. Make 3-4 sentences around graph with vocabulary involving pattern of graphs/chart etc. Once you reach 60-70% recording. Then start your conclusion. Conclusion is goalkeeper in football. Without him there won’t be team. He may not be the world’s best, But he should be there. Try to restrict to 35 sec.
For repeat sentence. Take notes on first letter of every word. You need to be fast. Look at blog there are links for practice.
Remember you score more marks if you repeat words in same order. Imagine train(Indian), Engine first, next is General compartment next is Sleeper wagon and luxury wagon ending by guard cabin. There would be a complex sentence having two parts with some connected words. Try to imagine fully into situation then you will be able to repeat in same order. Otherwise goods come first then luxury in-between comes engine and general compartment. Train won't look like train and you will loose the marks in listening and speaking
For Reading Section
Fill in the blanks - Work on your grammar and collocation list from your favourite website. This is paramount importance for filling the blanks. Understanding the synonyms will help you score more. Grammar rules will tell you when to use wherever, however, thus, so.
Re-order Paragraphs - For jumbled paragraph look for independent sentence which does not need any one support. Look for cue words like “since” “then” They represent the timeline. So place a timeline before this word. Pronouns needs nouns. So place them. You will have to practice a lot to get them right. I ask all to practice CAT test. They have tougher ones. But with practice you will do lot better in main exam.
For Writing Section
Summary in a sentence/ Summarize Written Text - Read the paragraph, Bring in your MGR, TL, ITM strategy mentioned above(Retell Lecture).
Write 3 simple sentences. Use connecting words to make one complex sentence. With all this done on your Notepad, now move to screen.. Start capital letter and put full stop immediately. Move your cursor in-between them and type. Remember any other full stop you will loose marks. Write around 25-30 words If you write more, the first thing that goes out of the window is your friend grammar.
Essay writing - This list is fixed. Help yourself by practicing beforehand. This saves planning time in exam. Write good introduction with intention to impress. Blog has many suggested methods. Write first paragraph with key points suggesting your key point with examples. Use suggested essay vocabulary. Please write globally recognized example. Don't write something close to your building or local example. This shows your deeper understanding of topic. Once you are done with first paragraph, immediately conclude. Write 3-4 lines in conclusion and move back to write 2nd para, In case you don't write conclusion then essay is not complete and you will not get marks. Your 2nd or 3rd para can remain incomplete. You may loose marks for written discourse but not structure.
For Listening Section
Summarise the lecture - Follow same strategy of retell lecture on notes taking. Write 5-6 full grammar sentences. You should he good. One usually write 8-10 words in sentence. 6 Sentence 6*10=60 words.
General Tip
Listening to the English should become your daily regimes. If you are sincere to that then you will get success. If not then don't hope to get good score, to score in the Pte the 3 secret strategies are... Practice, practice & practice.
10. Tip shared by Mukesh Dawar - For Summarize spoken text
Lines mentioned in image can be used as a template for summarize spoken text by filling in the gaps you listen in recording.
+ Get your passport ready a night before the exam.
+ Be relaxed and never get stressed.
+ Try to reach 40min earlier at the exam place, before your
exam starts.
+ Never recall the words or notes, try to get relax all the time.
+ Always get your microphones checked by invigilator.
+ Don’t introduce yourself in full details: Just mention, My name
is -------- and I’m taking the PTE Academic Test.
+ When you get on the record and playback option, always
double check your microphones, whether recording properly or
not.
+ Fix the position of microphone in a correct position near to
your position, don’t play with any other button on the
equipment e.g trying to increase microphone volume, always
get it done by invigilator.
+ Click on Next Section to begin the exam.
Speaking Section:-
1) Read Aloud
+ No. of items are 6 or 7
+ Try to give stress on key words and high frequency
vocabulary words.
+ Be smooth and clear
+ Never hesitate as it will negatively influence your oral fluency
+ Read aloud score goes in reading as well.
+ Never try to correct your mistakes by going backwards as you
will make more mistakes.
+ You would be provided 35 seconds in the beginning to read
the passage, avail that time to get yourself familiar with
anonymous words.
+ There would be a beep when the recording starts. Keep an eye
on recording always.
2) Repeat Sentence
+ Try to grasp maximum ideas or words of the speaker.
+ Write the second half of the sentence quickly, if you are having
a short-term memory concern.
+ Partially credited-doesn’t weigh too much score.
+ Always try to deliver maximum information.
+ NEVER TAKE A SILENCE BREAK OF 3 SEC, as the recording will finish recording. Use gap fillers in every section of speaking,
except read aloud section, e.g. let me see/think, I see, as far as I
know etc.
3) Graph/Describe image
+ What kind of graph it is. i.e. line graph/pie chart/bar graph etc.
+ What is the title of graph
+ Time span i.e. from the year ---- to ------.
+ Highest percentage/proportion
+ Lowest percentage/proportion
+ Use specific vocabulary of graph.
+ Never hesitate
+ Use gap fillers, if unable to deliver information on time
4) Re-tell lecture
+ Note down key-words, points and ideas.
+ Start with” The speaker/lecturer/lecture depicts about-----
+ Introduction of topic
+ Causes and effects/advantages and disadvantages/comparison
+ Conclusion
5) Answer short-questions
+ Recall answers/information that sound familiar with the
question.
+ Everyday life/calendar/scientific general knowledge questions
relevant to academic subjects.
Writing Section:-
1) Summary:-
+ Try to give main point of the passage in one sentence only.
+ Separate the sentence using punctuation.
+ Always start from Research shows/Study reveals/The lecture
depicts about-----
+ Try to focus on words limit mentioned in the question.
+ Keep an eye on time-frame i.e. 10 minutes for each summary.
+ Set aside a minimum of 1 minute approx. for checking
mistakes, spellings, grammar and vocabulary.
+ Never mention irrelevant idea as it will affect your written
disclosure(idea mentioned properly).
2) Essay:-
+ Word limit should not be less than 200 and not more than 300
as your essay will not get checked by the computer.
+ Mentioned paragraphs and ideas properly.
+ Keep an eye on time frame i.e 20 min for each essay
+ Use proper grammar and high frequency vocabulary words as
they will entail (increase) your score.
+ Leave 2 minutes at the end for re-checking the essay.
(Skip to Next Question after completing each section, as computer
will not do it by itself)
Good Luck.
12. Tips for Re-order Paragraphs - Taken from CAT website, modified to suit PTE
Re-order paragraphs (RoP) questions are of the type - 4/5 sentences are given in a random order and you have to reorder all of them.
The best approach
a) The best approach to solving RoP questions is the ‘go through’ one. That is, develop a high reading speed and scan all 4-5 sentences. Try to get a feel of what the passage is about,
b) Look at the options and find the one which suits best as opening sentence, place/mark it at top for meanwhile
c) Look at the other options and find the once which suits best as concluding statement or ending statement, place/mark it at bottom for meanwhile
d) Look at the remaining options and try to find linking words in them, place them accordingly
RoP strategies to save time and increase accuracy
Strategy 1: Once upon a time long ago... / ...and they lived happily after: Identify the opening/closing sentence using what we discussed above. Either the tone of the paragraph or the option elimination method.
Strategy 2: Where's the interlock dude? Identify links between two sentences and try to see if that link exists in multiple answer options (a sure way to know that you are on the right track). A combination of 1 and 2 will take you home most of the time.
Place your magnifying glass on the following,
Strategy 2a: Make it 'personal'. Look out for personal pronouns (he, she, it, him, her, you, they). Personal pronouns always refer to a person, place or thing. Therefore, if a sentence has a personal pronoun without mentioning the person, place or object it is referring to, mark it in your head and scan the paragraph for the original person, place or object that it refers to.
For example if you go back to the opening jumbled paragraph of this article, the third sentence starts with 'it'. We now need to figure out what 'it' refers to and the sentence containing the original 'it' will come before this sentence.
Strategy 2b: Look for 'Poriborton' (Change, in Mamata Banerjee's tongue). Certain words called 'transition words' help the author to shift from one thought flow to another. In other words, they usher in change. Some transition words that appear regularly are --- hence, besides, simultaneously, in conclusion, etc. While you practice RoPs whenever you come across a transition word --- note it down. Make a list!
Strategy 2c: Demonstrate! Look for demonstrative pronouns --- this, that, these, those, etc. Again, if you look at our opening paragraph, the first line starts with 'for this' --- now we know that we need to figure out what 'this' refers to and the sentence containing the original 'this' will come before this sentence.
Strategy 3: Main samay hoon! Sometimes the events mentioned in the paragraph can be arranged in a chronological order making it easy for you to identify the sequence. Example,
A: Alexander Bain, Scottish clockmaker, patented the electric clock.
B: The next development in accuracy occurred after 1656 with the invention of the pendulum clock.
C: Clocks have played an important role in man's history.
D: Spring-driven clocks appeared during the 15th century, although they are often erroneously credited to Nuremberg watchmaker Peter Henlen around 1511.
It is quite obvious by studying the chronology what the sequence should be.
Strategy 4: The abbreviation Approach. Sometimes you will find that for some terms in the paragraph both the full form and the abbreviation have been used. For Example IMF --- International Monetary Fund, Charles Dickens --- Dickens, Dr Manmohan Singh --- Dr Singh. In these cases where both the full form as well as the abbreviation is present in different sentences, then the sentence containing the full form will obviously come before the sentence containing the abbreviation.
Strategy 5: What an Idea! If there are two sentences, one containing an idea and another giving examples of the same idea then the sentence containing the idea should come before the sentence containing the examples. But they need not necessarily be exactly side by side. Example,
A: Nicaragua possesses the largest stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction in the world.
B: 489 missiles carrying up to 1,788 warheads and 12 submarines carrying up to 609 warheads form a looming threat.
A will come before B in this case, even though there might be sentences in between.
Strategy 6: An article of faith. It is highly unlikely that the definite article 'the' will be part of an opening sentence. If 'a/an' and 'the' both are used for the same noun then the sentence containing 'the' will come after the sentence containing a/an.
Tips for beginners
Focus on improving your reading skills. Also try to improve your cognitive ability. For example --- Go to a random website article. Go immediately to the second paragraph and after reading it try to guess what the author could have possibly said in the previous paragraph and the next paragraph. This will help you with a couple of other types of questions as well which we shall discuss in later articles.
Tips from 90 scorers
Whenever you solve RoP the accuracy and speed is a function of how quickly you can become comfortable with the topic. So from today for every RoP you solve, plug a sentence from the RoP into Google which will throw up the source of that RoP or similar articles. Read up that article fully. This will broaden the base of your reading.
Speaking Tutorial 1
Writing Tutorial 1
Listening Tutorial 2
Listening Tutorial 3
Listening Tutorial 4
Listening Tutorial 5
Listening Tutorial 6
Listening Tutorial 7
Listening Tutorial 8
Will keep sharing tips and strategies as and when we come to know about something good, meanwhile if you feel like adding something then please comment, we will add it here so that others can use it
Listening Section - writing from dictation Click here
Thanks to Bankim, Ishan, Suganya, Sneha, Amrit, Mukesh and Sanjeev for extending support.
