Copy the stress and intonation patterns of the sentence you hear

SPEAKING: Repeat sentence

Make a mental note of the way the speaker uses stress and intonation on the recording. These patterns help to convey the meaning. Speak calmly and clearly, copying this stress and intonation.

Remember to check grammar, spelling and punctuation

LISTENING: Summarize spoken text

In your 50-70 word summary, you will be scored on the enabling skills of grammar, spelling and vocabulary. So leave yourself 1-2 minutes after you have written your summary to check your sentences for things like subject/verb agreement, tenses and word order.

Use grammatical structures that you can use confidently, and words that you are sure you have spelled correctly. Finally, check for punctuation: check full stops and commas, and make sure you have begun each sentence with a capital letter.

Note any repeated words in the options

READING: Multiple choice, choose multiple answers

Quickly read through the response options and note any words that are repeated, particularly adjectives (e.g., ‘multigrade’) or nouns (e.g., ‘classes’). If the same noun phrase occurs in a lot of the options, the answer is probably related to this phrase.
  
Scan the text for the repeated words. Then read around them to find the answer more quickly.

Analyze the essay prompt so you know how to answer

WRITING: Write essay

Essay prompts can be written in a number of ways. For example:

• You may need to discuss whether you agree or disagree with a statement.

• You may have to consider how different groups of people might feel about a particular situation.

• You may need to argue for and against an opinion or discuss advantages and disadvantages of a situation. 

If there is a statement followed by a question, read the question very carefully and note key words. Make sure you know what to do.

Listen to the phrasing of the sentence as it is read aloud

SPEAKING: Repeat sentence

You will be scored on the correct word sequences that you produce for this item type, so the more phrases you understand, the better your reproduction of the sentence will be.

If you listen for meaningful phrases in the sentence, you will have a better chance of repeating what you hear accurately.

Make sure you summarize the main point and include the supporting points

LISTENING: Summarize spoken text

When you take notes using an erasable noteboard booklet, whilst you listen to the recording, make sure you note down the supporting points as well as the main idea. From your notes, you can then summarize the main point and refer briefly to the essential supporting points.

Make sure you know how the task is scored

READING: Multiple choice, choose multiple answers

Read the instructions carefully. Remember that more than one option is correct in this type of multiple choice item.  

You will score marks for any correct options but you will lose score points for any incorrect options; these include:
•    options that you have clicked on as correct but which are wrong
•    options that are correct but that you have not clicked on

If you click on all the options, because you do not know the answer, you will lose score points. This applies to Multiple choice, choose multiple answers item types for reading and listening.

Note the key words in the prompt before you read the text

READING: Multiple choice, choose single answer

The prompt for this item type may be a question or a sentence that you have to complete. Whatever type of prompt you get, read it carefully because it will tell you what information you need to find in the text.
 
If you focus on the key words in the prompt, you will find the answer more quickly and spend less time reading the text. This strategy also applies to multiple-choice questions with more than one answer.

Start by analyzing the task

WRITING: Write essay

Before you write anything, note key words in the prompt. Find out the topic, what key points you should focus on to answer the question and any points of view to present and discuss.

Analyzing these four areas will help you to approach the task, structure your essay and decide on your main ideas.

The content of your answer is very important. If you do not write about the topic in the prompt, you will receive no score points at all for this item type.

Make sure your response is in the correct form

WRITING: Summarize written text

When you have written your response, check to make sure that it is only one sentence, with a capital letter at the beginning and only one full stop at the end.

Your response must be between 5 and 30 words so check the word count using the ‘Total Word Count’ counter below the response box. If you write fewer than five words or more than 30 words, your response will not be scored: 

 

Do not pause for too long when you answer the question

SPEAKING: Answer short question
You hear a short question and then the recording status box will change to recording:

Start your answer as soon as this happens. If you wait for more than 3 seconds, recording will stop and the item status will change to ‘completed’, which means that you have lost your chance to give your answer.

When you have started talking, don’t stop for more than a second or two until you have finished. If you stop for 3 seconds whilst speaking, the recording status will change to ‘completed’ even if you haven’t finished, and you won’t be able to continue answering:

If the status changes to ‘completed’, you have to click ‘Next’ to move on to the next item. This also applies to speaking item types Read aloud, Repeat sentence, Describe image and Re-tell lecture.

Make good use of the image to predict the topic of the lecture

SPEAKING: Re-tell lecture
You have 3 seconds before you listen to the recording to quickly look at the image on the screen. Use this time to think about the vocabulary you might hear. This will give you an idea of the topic of the lecture and help you predict what you will hear when the recording begins:

Focus on the main information in the image

(SPEAKING: Describe image)When you look at the image ask yourself ‘‘What is the main idea being shown by the image?’’ and ‘‘What are the details relating to the main ideas?’’. Use your erasable noteboard booklet to note down key ideas and phrases that relate to the main information and the explanatory details. These can be put into sentences when you start to speak:

Listen to the phrasing of the sentence as it is read aloud

(Speaking: Repeat sentence)
You will be scored on the correct word sequences that you produce for this item type, so the more phrases you understand, the better your reproduction of the sentence will be. For example, there are three phrases in this sentence, separated by /, and each one carries a separate message that has its own meaning:

If you listen for meaningful phrases in the sentence, you will have a better chance of repeating what you hear accurately.

Use punctuation to help you decide where to pause when you read

(Speaking: Read aloud) 
You have 30-40 seconds to look at the text before the microphone opens, so use this time to break the text up into meaningful chunks, using the punctuation as a guide. This will show you the places where you can make a tiny pause and alter your intonation – going up when you begin reading a chunk and falling a little when you end a chunk. 

Using appropriate pausing helps you to read more fluently and give the full meaning of the text. This will improve your score. Look at where the pauses / are indicated in the example:

30 Prepare, Practice, Perform!

Before you take PTE Academic, we encourage you to use the valuable Learning Resources available through the PTE Academic website to ensure your success. There are several key ones to help you prepare and practice for PTE Academic:

• PTE Academic Tutorial – in this free tutorial you can become familiar with the screen format, the parts of the test, and how to respond to tasks 
• The Official Guide to PTE Academic– purchase the guide  to review and practice all the item types, the subskills tested, and understand how responses are scored 
• Skills pod for PTE Academic – this free web tool directs you to over 90 on and offline resources to help you develop the subskills tested in PTE Academic 
• Unscored Practice Test – take an unscored practice test and review the feedback (free when you register for PTE Academic) 
• Scored Practice Test – purchase and take a scored practice test to find out if you are ready to take PTE Academic.

29 When you take the test, try to keep your stress levels low

On the day of the test, stay calm. Try to get a good sleep the night before your test. Make sure you get directions to the test center, so that you don’t become worried about getting lost or being late. If you are well prepared and calm, you will be able to do your best.

28 Take a break during the test if you wish to

During the test there is one optional 10-minute break, which you can take after you have completed Part 2 of the test (Reading). Consider taking a break at this time so that you can return fresh and ready to complete the final part of the test.

27 When writing responses, make sure the Caps Lock on the keyboard is OFF

Your written responses should be in correct English and also in the correct form. Writing responses all in capital letters is inappropriate for the test. Use capitals for the beginning of a sentence and for names. Check all the punctuation when you edit your response, including commas.

26 Be aware of how much time you have remaining for each section

The timer in the upper right-hand corner of the screen shows the time remaining for the section you are working on.

A counter in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen shows the item you are doing and the total number of items in the section.

You need to keep track of how much time is available for the section and keep moving through the items using the “Next” button.