Full Details of the Speaking and Writing Sections of PTE

The PTE (Pearson Test of English) is a computer-based English language proficiency test. It tests your all skills like reading, writing, speaking, and listening. In this article, I will provide you full detail of the Speaking and writing sections of PTE. This speaking section consists of Read Aloud, Repeat Sentence, Describe Image, Re-tell lecture, and Answer Short Questions.
You have to start this section with your Introduction. You will not get any marks for it but it provides you an opportunity to tell the institution about yourself. You will get 30 seconds to record your introduction. You will get only one chance to record it, so speak clearly. The detail of all question types has been mentioned below:

1. Read Aloud: It contributes both your reading and speaking scores. You will get 30 to 40 seconds first to read and understand the text. In this time, you can identify any difficult words and try to pronounce them. You can check where to pause in the sentence. You will have another 30-40 seconds to read it out.

2. Repeat Sentence: In this question, you will listen to short audio. Repeat what you have heard. The microphone opens immediately after the audio ends so you have to pay full attention to listen to the audio. You have to do this exercise 10-12 times without any break, so answer each question with full force. Close your eyes while listening and memorize the sentence. But if you can’t remember the whole sentence just focus on the keywords and repeat it.

3. In the Describe image questions types, you have to record the information which you are seeing in the image. You will get 5-6 questions of this type in the exam and get 25 seconds to understand the image and get another 46 seconds to record your answer. There is no need to add your views about the image. You have to only describe the image. All of these images in real PTE relate to an actual academic scenario.

4. The next question is the Re-tell lecture, you will hear a lecture and after listening to the lecture, you will have 10 seconds to organize your thoughts and frame your response. After that, the microphone will open up and you have to start speaking. You will get 40 seconds to give your response. You have to retell what you have just heard from the lecture in your own words.

5. The last question is “Answer Short Question” you will hear a question and give an answer in a word or a few words.

You can improve your speaking ability with practice. You can watch some English movie or any video on YouTube and try to repeat the dialogues. Practice daily, so that it can become your habit and it also improves your fluency. Always speak clearly, there should not be any whispering sounds. Speak English as much as you can whenever get a chance it will decrease your hesitation. If you realize you made a mistake, continue speaking and don’t stop.

The more you speak you will gain more confidence and you will achieve a good score in the PTE tests.

Many students find difficulty in the writing module in the PTE test. This test determines your writing ability, the knowledge to understand the text, the way to express things, grammar, and vocabulary. There are two sections in the PTE test, Summarize the written text & Essay writing. You have to use a well-constructed and clear sentence structure. You should follow these tips to get a good score in the PTE Test:

• Try to understand the meaning of the passage, but if you are not getting the main idea of the topic, choose the keywords and put them into a sequence to make it meaningful.

• Your essay or summary should be related to the topic and you should extract the main idea of the topic very well.

• Do not start writing just after reading the topic. Take a few minutes to plan your points.

• Keep word limits in mind while writing the essay or summarize the written text. The summary should be between 5 to 75 words, and in a single sentence. Use connectors and linking words correctly.

• Make your own sentence using the keywords, do not copy the whole sentence from the paragraph.

• You have to practice using Compound and Complex sentences. It will boost your score in the PTE test.

• There should not be any typing errors or grammatical errors. Computer count typing errors as grammatical errors, which lead to deduction of the score.

• Look for your weak points, and mistakes in writing, and try to improve them with practice.

• Avoid using slang language in the PTE Test. This is an Academic exam and requires a formal tone. Learn new words, synonyms, and antonyms to enhance your vocabulary. The best way to improve vocabulary is by reading articles or newspapers. Read things which you are more interested in like comics, novels, articles, magazines, etc.

• Time management is very important in this section as you will get only 20 minutes for each essay. It seems like a lot of time but if you are not well organized it can pass quickly.

• Understand the type of essay, the majority of essays are argumentative. You have to generate ideas for both sides of the argumentation. But you have a clear position on one side.

• Your essay should be a structured way with an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Avoid using the bullets. You can explain the topic with the help of quotes, illustrations, and examples. You can also include supporting arguments where it is required. In the last paragraph, you will mention the conclusion and your opinion on the topic.

• There is a word limit in essay writing. The essay should be between 230-250 words.

• You have to do lots of writing practice for both.

• Keep time for proofreading what you have written. You should pay attention to the spelling errors, grammatical errors and improve them as much as possible to get a good score.

I hope, you should take advantage of the tips mentioned above to get a good score.