PTE Academic Study Guide

Transcription

1 PTE Academic Study Guide

2 Table of Contents Getting Started... 6 Introduction to PTE... 6 Planning your study... 6 FREE PTE Course... 7 Premium PTE Course... 7 PTE Read Aloud... 8 Introduction... 8 Concepts... 8 Method... 9 Tips and Tricks PTE Repeat Sentence Introduction Concepts Method Tips and Tricks PTE Describe Image Introduction Concepts Method Tips and Tricks PTE Retell Lecture Introduction Concepts Method Tips and Tricks PTE Answer Short Question Introduction Concepts Method Tips and Tricks PTE Write Essay Introduction... 26

3 Concepts Method Tips and Tricks PTE Summarize Text Introduction Concepts Method Tips and Tricks PTE Reading Multiple choice Single Answer Introduction Concepts Method Tips and Tricks PTE Reading Multiple choice Multiple Answers Introduction Concepts Method Tips and Tricks PTE Reading Fill in the blanks Introduction Concepts Method Tips and Tricks PTE Reading Writing Fill in the blanks Introduction Concepts Method Tips and Tricks PTE Reorder Paragraphs Introduction Concepts Method Tips and Tricks PTE Summarize Spoken Text Introduction... 50

4 Concepts Method Tips and Tricks PTE Listening Multiple choice Multiple Answers Introduction Concepts Method Tips and Tricks PTE Listening Multiple choice Single Answer Introduction Concepts Method Tips and Tricks PTE Listening Fill in the blanks Introduction Concepts Method Tips and Tricks PTE Highlight correct summary Introduction Concepts Method Tips and Tricks PTE Highlight Incorrect Words Introduction Concepts Method Tips and Tricks PTE Select Missing Word Introduction Concepts Method Tips and Tricks PTE Write from Dictation Introduction... 72

5 PTE Write from dictation Concepts Method Tips and Tricks... 73

6 Getting Started Introduction to PTE PTE (Pearson s Test of English) Academic is an English proficiency test just like the more famous IELTS and TOEFL. The exam is a muchpreferred option for candidates wanting to meet their visa requirements for Australia. The major reason for the wide popularity of PTE Academic is the fully computerized nature of the exam. Writing and Speaking responses which are marked by a human examiner in IELTS, are scored by a computer algorithm in PTE. This removes the human bias and makes the exam fair and equal for all. Pearson is a leader in automated scoring technology that has been developed after extensive research of several years. The use of computers not only makes the scoring equal for everyone, it also leads to faster turnaround. Most students receive their score card in just a couple of days. Planning your study Your time and resources are limited. Therefore, it is important to use them for maximum benefit. Most of the candidates studying for PTE, are doing it along with a full-time job, university and family responsibilities. It becomes difficult to maintain the focus and use time effectively. In such a situation, planning your study becomes even more necessary. If this is the first time you are taking the PTE and have at least a month to spare, then you can start with the basics and gradually build up to the exam day. If, however, you have taken PTE before but failed to achieve the target in one or more sections, you will need to put in more time into preparing for that section. All of us are not equally good or bad at Speaking, Writing, Reading and Listening. It is not uncommon to find someone who speaks very good English but struggles to write a paragraph and vice versa. Therefore, please spend some time understanding your strong and weak points and then develop a study plan that best suits your particular situation.

7 FREE PTE Course Sure Way English provides a FREE PTE course which contains some of the materials from the Premium PTE course. You will get to experience lecture videos and real exam like mock tests. If you have not already done so, you can sign up for the FREE PTE Course at Premium PTE Course If you are looking for a PTE course which covers everything that you need to get a high score in PTE, then the Premium PTE course is for you! It contains 100s of lecture videos, practice tests, full length mock tests as well as guidance from our expert tutors. This is by far the best PTE Preparation available anywhere!

8 PTE Read Aloud Introduction The very first question type that you will face in your PTE exam is the Read Aloud question type in the PTE Speaking section. This is a simple enough question type. You will see some text on the screen. You will have 30~40 seconds to read the text, understand it and prepare your response. After that time the microphone will open up. You will then have 30~40 seconds to record your response. The question type contributes to your reading score also in addition to the speaking score. How well you score depends on how natural and comfortable you come across in your spoken response. If you are able to read the sentence properly without mistakes and your response demonstrates fluency, correct pronunciation, appropriate emphasis and flow of speech, you will get a high score. Concepts Let s first see the basics: Number of questions 6 to 7 Scoring Contributes to Speaking score Negative marking No Time to answer 35~40 seconds to read the sentence and prepare a response 35~40 seconds to record your response If you study and work in an environment which uses English language, you will find this question type simple enough. Most of us have to read reports, give presentations, read passages from text at work or study. This question type is just like that!

9 However, if you are not in a habit of reading out English texts, especially reading them out for others, you will need sufficient practice. Please note that reading a text is very different from reading it aloud! When you read it aloud your focus is on how to make others understand the text and get it s meaning across. If you can do this well, you can score high marks in this question type. Your score depends upon first of all, how well you read all the words in the text. Reading the content accurately is very important. If you miss a lot of words or read a lot of words incorrectly, you will lose marks. Rest of your score depends upon your oral fluency and your pronunciation. Try to sound as natural and fluent as you can. This question type also contributes to your Reading score. After all you can only record correctly if you have read the text and understood it well. Method You will have 30~40 seconds to prepare your response. This is like your rehearsal time. Identify any words that you might find difficult and try to speak them out. In your mind plan how, you will handle the long text for example, you must figure out where you will pause in the sentence. As a rule of thumb, you can pause on punctuations commas, full stops, etc. Try to not come across as monotonous. In your experience, you might have come across people who speak like a robot. As a result, other lose interest in what they are saying or just simply fail to understand which parts of the sentence are more important than others. You need to vary your tone when speaking. Raise your tone and lower your tone at appropriate places. Give indication to your listener. Tell him when you are starting a new sentence, when you are coming to the end of a sentence. Your tone variations serve as these guiding points. Not all words in a text are equally important. Some words carry more weightage because they influence the overall meaning of the text. These words should be spoken with some emphasis. Identify a few words in the text usually adjectives or adverbs and put some stress on them when you speak.

10 If there are any words that seem new to you or seem long and complicated, try speaking them before the microphone opens up. Often you can break a complex word into smaller parts and figure out how to pronounce it. If after all attempts the word still seems difficult, just pronounce it the best you can, even replace it with a similar simpler word if needed. You can use the 30~40 seconds you have to figure out all of these things. This is part of your preparation. Once the microphone opens up, keep your eyes on the text in the screen and start speaking. In your mind you have already decided where to pause, where to raise your voice, where to lower your voice, which words to emphasize and how to handle the difficult words. Use this information while delivering your response. When speaking, there is no time for second guessing. Don t hesitate, don t override what you decided earlier during preparation. If you do your fluency, your pace, your pronunciation can all suffer and adversely impact your overall score. Tips and Tricks With some practice it is possible to easily get a high score in these questions. Here are some tips and tricks that you should follow: Pause at these places Usually you need to pause at punctuation marks commas, full stops and conjunctions such as and, but, etc. If a sentence is very long you can also break it at a logical point. Don t overthink about where to pause or not. Just follow these indicators. Emphasize just the right amount Some people take emphasizing and stress to an extreme. You don t need to stress at every second seemingly important word. If you do, you will sound very unnatural. Just pick 3~4 words, maybe one in each sentence and simply emphasize those. Vary your tone properly Usually when you begin your sentence, you raise your tone and when you come to the end of a sentence, you lower your tone. This is an easy guideline to follow. Don t raise and lower your voice so much that it sounds like someone is singing.

11 Break through difficult words Don t hesitate and stop to think about difficult words. Just keep speaking. Rush through them, replace them with a simpler similar word. Hesitation is your number one enemy in this question type. Speak in larger chunks Someone who is good in a particular language, usually can read and speak a bigger part of a sentence in that language. To convey the same impression in English, you should try to speak a bigger part of the sentence in one go. When you practice, start by speaking 3 words at a time, then gradually increase the number of words you can speak in one go. But don t set a fixed pattern when speaking. If you always speak 3 words, 3 words, 3 words, you will sound like a robot. Mix it and make it sound natural. Practice reading daily Simple daily practice even reading a couple of pages from a newspaper will help you a lot in your preparation. Not only will you improve your speaking skills but also increase your vocabulary. We strongly recommend resources like Ted Talks! Be confident at all costs Even if you doubt your English-speaking skills, when you are speaking, you should try to sound as confident as possible. Do not doubt yourself. You are just recording in a computer program. Think of it as a dumb machine. Speak loudly and with full force It is important that your response is captured properly by the microphone. Only then can the software assess it in the right way. Ignore the others sitting around you in the exam room and just focus on your own speaking. Don t mumble words, they should come out of your mouth completely. Don t be lazy!

12 PTE Repeat Sentence Introduction If you can listen to short English sentences and repeat them correctly, you can get a high score in this question type. This question type is a simple test of how well you can listen, understand and then reproduce what you have just heard. In the exam you will hear a short sentence and immediately afterwards you have to repeat it and record it in the microphone. Your score depends on how much of the sentence have you been able to repeat correctly i.e. how many words did you get correct. The remaining score depends upon your pronunciation and fluency. You will get almost 10~12 questions of this type. Together they can contribute substantially to your overall listening and speaking scores. Concepts Let s first look at the basics: Number of questions 10~12 questions Scoring Contributes to the PTE Speaking and PTE Listening section scores Negative marking No Time to answer 3 seconds before the audio starts. Microphone opens up 1 second after the audio ends. You will have 15 seconds to complete your response. When you are listening, your focus should be on understanding the meaning of the sentence. If you understand the theme and the meaning, remembering words becomes easier. This PTE Question type has partial credit. You will get marks for the words that you are able to repeat correctly. If you pause for more than 3 seconds, the microphone will close and you will not be able to complete your

13 response. So, keep that in mind! There is no point hesitating and thinking too much in this question type. Method There are only a few seconds before which the audio will start playing. In these few seconds make sure to focus yourself on listening. When the audio starts try to remember the sentence, the words in it and the meaning conveyed. It can occasionally help to take some notes, especially for longer sentences. But note taking should not be at the cost of understanding the sentence. We also recommend our students to try to remember the sentence visually. That is, paint a picture in your mind corresponding to what you have just heard. Once the audio ends, the microphone will open up. You should then try to repeat the sentence as correctly as possible. There is no time to think, remember or check yourself. The right approach is to give it your best shot right away. Even if you feel you have made a mistake, forgotten a word or mispronounced a word for example, just keep moving. You will be judged on your pronunciation and fluency. If you think too much or if you haven t practiced your vocabulary or English speaking skills beforehand, it will reflect in your pronunciation and fluency. Tips and Tricks Listening to simple short sentences and repeating them is an easy task if you put in sufficient practice hours before exam. Follow these tips and tricks for getting a high score: Focus on the meaning If you understand the meaning you will be able to repeat the sentence much more accurately. Trying to remember each and every word on the other hand can become quite burdensome and difficult. Don t mimic the speaker Don t try to mimic the speaker. Instead try to understand and the tone and bring about the same expression in your voice. For example, if the speaker is emphasizing on a point, you can also put stress on it. But if you try to copy the accent, each and every up and down in the speaker s voice, you will just get confused.

14 Remember visually Try to see when you hear! Draw a mental picture and when repeating look at that mental picture. This along with taking a few notes is the best way to remember the sentence. Abbreviate the sentence We don t recommend this as the preferred method but for some test takers who find it difficult to understand or remember the sentence, this might be the only practical option. In this approach you try to write down the first letter of each word or the first few letters of each words. When you speak you will look at this short form and use it to reproduce the complete sentence. Brush up your vocabulary Go through the Academic word list and make sure you are familiar with the words that are most likely to appear in an exam like PTE. Knowing the words means you will easily recognize and remember them when you hear a sentence. Get used to listening English audio If you do not work or study in an English speaking environment or are new to it, you must get used to listening and speaking English in the days before your PTE Exam. Check out a resource such as TED Talks.

15 PTE Describe Image Introduction One of the key language skills is the ability to look at a visual and understand it and describe it to others. In your studies or in your work you will often find yourself in situations where you have to interpret visual data. For e.g. you might be required to make a presentation, with some graphs and charts in it. Or you might have to understand a map and explain it to others. This is essentially what the PTE Describe Image question type is about. You will see an image on your screen and then describe what it is about. The software will assess your response on a number of parameters. The question type can appear quite daunting in the beginning, but with a well-developed strategy and well-practiced method and templates, you can soon start to do very well in it. Concepts Let s look at the basics! Number of questions 5~6 Scoring Contributes to your speaking score. Negative marking No Time to answer 30~40 seconds to understand the image and prepare your response 30~40 seconds to record your response You will find a variety of images in your exam. The most common types are: 1. Pie-charts 2. Bar graphs 3. Line graphs

16 4. Maps 5. System diagrams 6. Process diagrams 7. Photos 8. Table 9. Mixed type images Mixed type images are graphics that contain multiple image types. For example, a question that has a bar graph as well as a table. Your score in this question type will depend upon how well you are able to identify the key information in the image and then how well you frame that in your response. You can find plenty of academic images in business and economic sections of newspapers such as The Australian. Method It is important that you speak about the key information in the image. This is not a test of your analytical skills, so don t worry about capturing each and everything. Your response should follow a proper structure and your speaking should display good quality of pronunciation and fluency. In our PTE coaching program, we go through each and every point in detail. In the 30~40 seconds that you have, first of all try to understand the overall theme of the image. This will give you your opening sentence. Next, capture 2~3 main points. These are the points that capture the key trends, the comparisons, the highs and the lows of the image. Finally, if you have some time, give a smart insight as your conclusion. If you are running out of things to speak, you can give a general conclusion corresponding to the image type. Tips and Tricks The describe image question type is something, which with sufficient practice can ensure you a high score in the PTE exam.

17 Don t get lost in details Too many test takers try so hard to capture each and every detail in the image that they lose focus and fail to deliver a strong response. You don t have to sound like someone who is confused and, in a hurry, to read a long list of points. Capture a few points, connect them properly and deliver them in a well-structured response. That will get you a much better score. Speak at the right Some of you think speaking too fast is all you need to do to achieve a high speaking score. Others think speaking slow and putting a lot of stress on each word is needed. However, what is most important is that you speak naturally! What is natural coming from you might not be the same for someone else. So, you must practice, practice and practice to determine what is the optimal speed at which you should speak to sound most natural. Give a structured response Your response should have a well defined beginning, a middle part and a conclusion if possible. It shouldn t be like someone has taken separate sentences and is just reading them one after. The points should follow each other naturally and should be well connected grammatically. Use templates with care Templates give you a good way of structuring your response. Since you already know how to begin and end your response, you won t have to spend time figuring that out. The mistake that test takers make is they don t use the templates properly. For example don t use the same template for each describe image question which says This image describes. Instead try to have different templates for each describe image type question. This will make your response much more targeted, giving you a better score. Get timed practice Always make sure that you practice only in a timed environment. Responding to a describe image question in 2 minutes is very different from responding in 40 seconds. The quality of your response depends directly

18 on the time you spend. So, if you want the best outcome form your practice, keep a timer near you.

19 PTE Retell Lecture Introduction The PTE Academic exam contains question types that mimic real life situations faced by people studying or working in an English environment. One of the most interesting question types in the Speaking section of PTE is the PTE Re-tell Lecture question type. Imagine you are attending a seminar or a university lecture. A friend was supposed to come with you but could not because of some reason. Afterwards, when you meet the friend he asks you to tell him about the lecture. That in a nutshell is what the re-tell lecture question type is about. You will hear a lecture and then have to re-tell it or in other words describe what it was about. How well you score depends upon your ability to listen and comprehend spoken text and on your ability to give a well structured response containing the key points from the text. This sounds like a daunting task to several test takers, but you will soon see that with adequate preparation and by following correct methods you can do very well in this question type. Concepts Here are the basics that you need to know: Number of questions 3~4 Scoring Contributes to Listening and Speaking scores. Negative marking No Time to answer Lecture starts playing after 3 seconds. Once it ends, you will have 10 seconds to organize your response and then another 40 seconds to record your response.

20 The best way to approach Re-tell Lecture questions is to just treat them like a normal classroom or work conversation. Don t stress about capturing each and every piece of information in the audio. As long as you are able to get the main idea and couple of important points, you will do fine. Most of the times you will have an accompanying picture with the audio. These days Pearson has also started giving video lectures. In either case you have a visual beforehand to look at and understand what the lecture might be about. Don t ignore it! Even if your mind gets a little hint about the audio, it will pick up the information much better. Most American and British universities have put up some of their course lectures as free podcasts on their websites. These are a good source of daily practice. For instance, check out this excellent podcast series from Yales. Method The picture is also useful when you are not able to understand anything at all from the audio. Then you can make some statements based just on the visual. Once the audio starts, try to understand the theme and the main points. Take some notes. All you need is 2~3 good points to give a good response. Look out for words that refer to a person, place, thing, event, incident, etc. Words that indicate the beginning of an explanation, a relationship between different parts or an example are also important. Which are these words? Some of these are because, therefore, however, but, for instance, for example, firstly, secondly, finally, etc. There is a complete lecture on the signpost and connecting words that you can use in PTE Academic, in the Premium course. Once the audio ends you will have 10 seconds to organize your response before speaking. Having a template in mind helps to quickly organize the response. If you already know how to begin the first sentence, how to end your response and how to include the main points in between, you will be able to deliver a well-structured response quickly. As soon as the microphone opens, start speaking. Speak confidently! Focus on your pronunciation and fluency. Even if you have doubts about the content of your answer, don t worry about it now. Deliver a complete structured response within the time given to you.

21 Tips and Tricks The biggest mistake that some test takers make in this question type is not following a well defined method and strategy. You can t leave it to chance. Follow these tips to maximize your score. Have a template in mind Have a structure that you will use to deliver your response ready in your mind. Practice speaking the opening sentence and the concluding sentence again and again. In the exam if you spend time thinking too much about how to organize your response, how to begin, how to connect or how to conclude, it will reflect adversely in your spoken response. Your fluency will suffer as a result. Don t let that happen! Don t repeat same thing again and again Make sure to have 2~3 good points and then speak about them properly in your response. You don t need too many points. You should also not make the mistake of repeating the same thing again and again. The only exception if when you don t have anything else to talk about. In that case definitely repeat the point, but if possible, in different ways. Deliver a structured response within given time Keep an eye on timer always. If you see the time is running out, instead of speaking only half a point, try to move to the concluding statement. It is important to demonstrate that you know how to begin and end an explanation. Make use of the picture Often the picture with the lecture can tell you quite a bit. In case you find the lecture very difficult, you can speak a few points based just on the picture. Don t ignore it. Also look at it when listening to the lecture. Try to understand how the audio relates to the picture. This way you will understand much better. Focus more on fluency and pronunciation Don t worry so much about what to say that you ignore how to say it. Keep your response simple. You don t need to dig out every single point that might seem important. Follow a simple approach and focus on delivering the response properly.

22 Keep some filler statements ready This goes hand in hand with the use of templates. Prepare a few generic statements to use in your Re-tell lecture responses. When you can t think of anything else to say, you can use these statements. For e.g. The lecture gives very insightful information about the topic in question.

23 PTE Answer Short Question Introduction Ever had a friend ask you a question, which you answered in a word or two? Well! The Answer Short Question type is the same. You will have 10 to 12 questions of this type in the exam. You will hear a short question and you have to answer it in a word or a couple of words. No need to make full sentences! Recently, Pearson has started including images and videos in their questions. For e.g. you will see a map and the question will ask you a specific detail from that map such as, in which block is the Library located. In a nutshell, if you don t panic you will be able to answer these questions quite well. Concepts Let s get the basic details out of the way Number of questions 10 to 12 Scoring Contributes to both the Speaking and Listening scores. Negative marking No Time to answer Microphone opens up after a second. You will get 10 seconds to record your response. The questions in this type, cover a wide range of general knowledge topics. You are not expected to have any specialized knowledge to answer these questions. The Answer Short Question type in PTE gives you a chance to score really well and in turn increase both your speaking and listening scores. Unlike other speaking questions, you only need to speak for a very short time. This makes it the easiest Speaking question type.

24 Method The method here is simple! You listen to the audio and then without thinking too much, give your best answer in a word or two. The key here is understanding what is being asked. There is usually no time to take notes and review them. Your focus should be one hundred percent on understanding the question. The questions usually come from topics of everyday general knowledge. None of the questions will require you to have any specialized knowledge. As long as you don t panic or overthink, you should be able to give the right answer. Daily practice of listening to English audio and making sense of it will help you not only with this question type but a lot of other sections of PTE Academic. That is why we once again recommend TED Talks. Tips and Tricks Even though Answer Short Question type is one of the simplest question types in PTE, test takers still end up making silly mistakes. Keep in mind the following and you will do well. Do not panic As we mentioned earlier, do not panic. This is one of the biggest mistake you can make while attempting questions of this type. They won t ask you complicated questions. You do not need to have any specialized knowledge to answer these questions. Most questions come from everyday general topic, which you would have come across in daily life or work. Even if a question sounds complicated, it will probably have a simple answer. You just need to follow the question. Do not think too much Thinking too much can harm your score! We have seen students think too much and apply convoluted logic to simple questions. As a result, they end up giving wrong answers. The correct answer in most cases is the simplest answer, the natural answer. Our favorite example here is: Which piece of furniture will you usually find in a bedroom?

25 The simple answer is a bed, because there can t be a bedroom without a bed! But some students think too much and end up answering a cupboard, a couch, a sofa, etc. It s true that these other things are also found in bedrooms, the most common and most obvious is a bed. Concentrate 100% There are 10~12 questions of this type in the exam. And they all come one after the other without a break. People start answering the questions very well, but by the time they reach the 6 th or the 7 th question, they somehow lose their focus. It is almost like they get bored! And that reflects in the answer in your voice. You must avoid this. Start afresh after each question. Think of each question as the first one. Review your vocabulary How well you understand a question and how well you answer it depends upon how much you understand the words in the question! It comes down to your vocabulary. If you have a large enough vocabulary you will know most of the words that will appear in these questions. For example if you know what a newspaper is or what an editor is, you will be able to answer most questions related to newspapers, articles, editing, etc. Our advice is make sure you are thorough with the Academic Word List. Students of the Sure Way English premium course can also take the free vocabulary course to brush up their vocabulary. Do not hesitate, give the first answer that comes to your mind Most of the times, what comes to your mind first will be the right answer. Simply go ahead with it. If you think too much or go back and forth again and again you will increase the chances of making errors. Avoid this at all costs! Draw a picture in your mind This is a very useful technique which we recommend to the students of our online PTE course. When you hear the question and the specific words in the question, use those words to draw a picture in your mind. Then answering the question is simply a matter of looking at the picture and picking a specific information from it. For example, if the question is about a university matter, you can draw a university campus, students etc. in your mind. This is a very effective technique and reduces the chances of errors.

26 PTE Write Essay Introduction No English proficiency test is complete without an Essay type question. In the PTE Academic too you will write one or more essays on a given topic. This is a comprehensive test of your writing skills but begins with how well you can understand the given topic. Not only should you be able to understand the topic, but also what is asked of you. For example, do you have to write an essay explaining your position on the topic or do you have to compare the advantages and disadvantages of the thing mentioned in the essay topic. Your score depends upon how well you answer the question prompt, the richness of your language, the structure of your writing and the correctness of your grammar and vocabulary. Concepts Let s first look at the basics: Number of questions 1~2 Scoring Contributes majorly to the Writing score Negative marking No Time to answer 20 minutes for each essay. Unused time does not carry forward to other questions or sections. You will have 20 minutes to write the essay. The essay should be between 200 and 300 words. A length of around 250 words is usually sufficient to convey the main points and display sufficiently good English writing skills. How you use the 20 minutes is very important. A lot of test takers don t have a proper time management strategy. As a result they end up with a poor quality response.

27 Method You should always spend the first few minutes 1 or 2 minutes on understanding the topic and what is expected of you. Being very clear about the topic will help you come up with good ideas to write. The next couple of minutes should be spent upon coming up with ideas. If it is an advantages/disadvantages question, you can come up with 3-4 ideas in total. A lot of test takers complain that they are not able to come up with any ideas to write about. This is actually not true. Maybe you are not used to thinking in English, but you can certainly think about the topic in your native language and then come up with ideas, that you can then translate to English. You don t need to come up a ton of ideas! Often 3~4 points are sufficient to write a good essay of about 250 words. What is more important is that you make the most of each idea. Get the maximum juice out of it. In your paragraphs, first introduce the idea, then develop the idea in the following sentence or two and finally, add an example. This will ensure you get the maximum mileage out of each idea. Once you have the ideas, use them to first build a skeleton. This will ensure your essay has the right structure Introduction, Couple of main paragraphs and then a Conclusion. In each main paragraph you can include one or two ideas. A good essay is one which is easy to read and understand. It is the writer s responsibility to guide the reader. If you jump from one idea to another abruptly you will confuse the reader. Therefore, make sure you connect your sentences and paragraphs properly. Use linking words that demonstrate the relationship between sentences and paragraphs. Once you have written your essay, leave a few minutes in the end to review the essay and make further improvements. It is almost always possible to improve what you have written the first time. In your final review, look out for these things: Check that you have written strictly on the given topic. It is not uncommon for test takers to lose their way after the first paragraph. For example, an essay that is about the overcrowding in big cities, can end up as an essay on pollution or housing problems in big cities. Don t get into one point so much that you miss the overall picture.

28 Make sure you don t repeat the same point again and again. Discuss an idea in one place only. Once you begin an idea, develop it fully and then close it. Don t keep jumping to it in the subsequent paragraphs. Check for grammar mistakes. Have you used the appropriate sentence structures, punctuation etc.? Check for vocabulary usage. You should try to demonstrate a rich vocabulary. A good way to do that is by using synonyms. Tips and Tricks As long as you follow the basic rules of good essay writing and construct a well structured response, you should be able to get a good score. Follow these tips and tricks to maximize the score: Identify the type of essay In the very beginning identify the type of essay correctly agree/disagree, advantages/disadvantages, etc. This will guide what kind of information you need to include in the essay. If you want to use a template, this will also help you to select the correct template for your response. Use templates wisely Having templates is a good way to write a safe essay. We recommend our students to write as unique essays possible if they want to achieve maximum score. However, templates are very useful in cases where the score target is moderate. But before you write an essay around a template, you should make sure you have the right template. Don t just prepare one template. Have one template for each type of essay questions. Don t start writing immediately First brainstorm, come up with ideas and put them in a skeleton. Only then start writing around that skeleton. This will ensure you end up with a good structure and don t have to rewrite parts of your essay. Pick the safe side In the essay writing question it does not matter what you personally feel about a particular topic. You should pick the side which is easier to write about. For example, if you support high rise buildings in cities, but think it

29 will be easier to come up with points against high rise buildings, then just pick that side. Often it is easier to take the middle road and acknowledge the merit in both sides. On the one hand this makes coming up with points easier, on the other hand this gives you a chance to use language that illustrates relationships between opposing ideas. Don t try to max the word limit Don t think that writing as close as possible to 300 words will get you the maximum marks. It is much better to write lesser but make sure that whatever you write is flawless. This is much better than writing too much but making mistakes in the sentences or just repeating the same points again and again. Diversify your language In the end simply revisit your essay and replace some words with their synonyms. If you feel a word has been used too often, it is a good candidate for replacement with another word. Get some reading and writing practice The more you read, the better you can write! If you read a variety of texts articles, reports, stories, you will become familiar with a wide range of sentence structures and language usage patterns. Then you can use the same in your writing and achieve a better result. Therefore, make some time everyday to read a bit and then write on the same topic from your own perspective. Any newspaper website is good enough for this, a good example is The Age.

30 PTE Summarize Text Introduction The PTE Writing section has only two question types. One of them is the Summarize Text. In this question type you will read a text and then have to write a one sentence summary of it. Having to write only one single sentence complicates this question type a bit. It puts spotlight on our grammar skills more than anything else. This is also a test of your reading comprehension. Can you read a text and get the main ideas out of it? Can you separate a text into what is important and what is secondary information? If you can do all of these things, you have a good chance of getting a high score in PTE Summarize Text. Concepts Let s first look at the basics: Number of questions 2~3 Scoring Contributes to both Writing and Reading scores. Negative marking No Time to answer 10 minutes for each summarize text. Unused time does not carry forward to other questions or sections. You will have 10 minutes to read the passage and write your response. It is vital how you utilize this time wisely.

31 Method First, spend a couple of minutes reading the text starting from the beginning. With each sentence you will get a better idea of what the text is about. When you are reading, you can shortlist the sentences that you think represent the key points in the text. When you read you should ignore the examples, supplementary information and any unnecessary details. For example, if the first sentence introduces a key point such as global warming and the second and third sentences are examples of the impact of global warming, then you don t need to include the second and third sentence. Once you have the key points, your next task is to combine them into a single sentence summary. There are two approaches you can take here. If you are confident of your language skills you can just write down the gist in your own words. But most of us do not have English skills at this level. We can then consider the second approach. In this approach, you write the key sentences one after the other. Then you paraphrase them change the language as much as you can, use synonyms etc., make them look like your own sentences. Finally, you can combine them into one single sentence. To do this you will use conjunctions and punctuations as appropriate. Make sure to leave a couple of minutes in the end to review what you have written. You should first of course review for the content. Does the summary contain the main ideas contained in the text? If someone who has not read the main text reads your summary will he be able to correctly tell what the text is about? If the answer is yes, then great! you have captured all the key points. If not, you need to add more information to what you have written and possibly also take out some information which is not needed. Check that your response is within the word limit. It should be maximum of 75 words and not less than 5 words. An optimal length would be around 35~40 words, provided you can capture all key details in it. Also review for grammar, spelling and punctuations. Since, you have to write only one sentence it is vital you connect different parts of the sentence properly. Sometimes test takers just put commas between

32 independent sentences and think they have converted it into one single sentence. That is wrong! You have to use the appropriate punctuation and conjunctions. Tips and Tricks Here are some useful tips and tricks to help you get a high score in PTE Summarize Text. Pick the key points only The goal of your initial reading of the text should be to identify sentences which contain the key points. Ignore everything else. Your summary should only capture the key points. Don t use complicated language Use simple sentence structures to avoid unnecessary grammatical errors. Using complicated sentences does not mean you will get a high score. Don t refer to the passage Avoid beginning your summary with sentences such as In the passage or The author. Your summary is an independent sentence which should on its own convey the main points to the reader. The reader does not know that there is a long text to go with this summary, so don t give its reference. Stick to the word limit Don t write more than 75 words. It is almost impossible to write less than 5 words which is the official lower limit for summaries. An optimal word limit is around 35~40 words as long as you can fit the key information in it. You can write more than that provided you don t make grammatical mistakes. Leave time for review Use your time wisely and leave time in the end for a thorough review of what you have written. You review should cover: Content: Have I covered all main points? Grammar: Have I used correct sentence structures? Have I connected the different parts of the sentence properly?

33 Vocabulary: Can I improve the vocabulary? Can I replace some words with synonyms? Punctuation: Have I used the correct punctuation while forming the single sentence. Learn from newspapers In a newspaper article, often the main points are summarized in a blurb or a box. Look at the articles and see how they write the summaries, how they figure out the main points. You don t need to make special time for this, this can be part of your daily core skills reading writing practice. Any newspaper will do, even Google News. Pick any article that is current and interests you.

34 PTE Reading Multiple choice Single Answer Introduction The Multiple choice, Single Answer question type in the reading section of PTE is the simpler of the two multiple choice question types in this section. You will see a text on screen and answer a question based on that text. You will be given some options out of which only one is the correct option. How well you in this question type is directly dependent on your ability to comprehend written English text, understand the meaning, the theme and the main ideas in it. If you are also able to read long texts and find specific information in it, you will do well in this question type. Concepts Let s first look at the basics: Number of questions 2~3 Scoring Contributes to Reading score. Negative Marking No Time to answer No time limit on per question basis. Be aware of the time limit for the overall Reading section. This multiple-choice question type tests your reading comprehension. In other words, it tests how well can you understand the ideas presented in a medium to long text. The questions you face may require you to dig out a specific detail from the passage or they may require you to understand and answer based on the overall theme of the passage. It is therefore important that you know what exactly to look for in the passage. When you read the text, you should be clear about what kind of information are you looking for. Is it a specific detail or is it an understanding of the opinion expressed in the text?

35 Building reading skills can take some time. Therefore, make it habit of reading some general text every day. Any major newspaper such as The Australian is a good option. Method The first thing you should do is read the question prompt. Next read the options. Together this will give you sufficient information to go ahead and start reading the passage. As we discussed earlier, do not read the passage without any context. You must always read it with the specific goal in mind. What exactly is the information you need? You can first skim through the passage to get an overall idea of the theme and the organization of information in the text i.e. which paragraph or part of the text talks about what. After that you can scan through the passage to either look for a specific detail or validate the given options. Once you find a reference to the options in the passage, you should read that part of the text again. Also read the sentences before and after to make sure you understand the whole context. Sometimes, the meaning changes after a couple of sentences! Before you submit your answer make sure to look at all the options. Eliminate the wrong options, don t be a hurry to select the first option that looks right to you. Tips and Tricks If you can read an English text in a reasonable time and follow simple steps discussed in the previous section, you can do very well in this question type. Follow these tips and tricks to maximize your score: Never read the text in the beginning You must always first read the question prompt and the options. Once you do that, you have some guiding points which can guide your reading. You will know exactly what to look for in the text. If you immediately start reading the text, you will just end up wasting precious time. Find and validate Once you find a reference to an option in the text, don t immediately decide whether its correct or not. You must stop and validate it in the context of

36 other sentences around it. Read the sentences before and after. That will give you more context. Don t confuse almost with the whole Some options look similar but are not! For example an option that says 90% of people like coffee and an option that says all people like coffee. Someone who doesn t pay attention can often confuse 90% with most or all. That is why you should always read all the options and look for the very specific information. Don t base a decision on your personal judgement All questions require you to answer based on the text. Even if the topic is something you are very familiar with, you should still not use your own judgement. The text might be focused on a limited time frame, or past or future or just a different set of conditions than you are aware of. So, even if it is something whose answer you know from your general knowledge, you should still read through the options and validate them against what is in the text. Keep an eye on the timer Don t get lost in any one question that you forget others. Keep an eye on the overall timer for the Reading section. You must decide before the exam, how much time you are going to spend on each question type. Don t just match words Don t depend simply on finding matches between words in the options and in the text. You should read and try to understand the whole sentences to make a proper decision. Quite often, you will not find a match between the exact words but can find one with a synonym. So look out for synonyms and other words which might mean the same in that context.

37 PTE Reading Multiple choice Multiple Answers Introduction If you have taken any English proficiency exam before, you will be familiar with the famous multiple choice question type. This is the same! You will see a text on the screen and have to answer a question based on the text. You will find a number of options and you have to select all the correct options. In this question type, more than option is correct. There is negative marking! You will lose marks if you pick a wrong option. So, be careful and don t make random guesses. How well you score in this question type depends upon your ability to read and understand a passage in English. If you are able to understand the theme of the text, the implicit and explicit meaning in it, find out specific details from the given text, you will be able to score well. Concepts Let s look at the basics to begin with: Number of questions 2~3 Scoring Contributes to Reading score. Negative marking Yes Time to answer No time limit for an individual question. Be mindful of the overall Reading section time limit. The questions in the reading multiple choice sections can be of few types. They can ask you to pick out the right or wrong sentences. What does that mean? That you have validate each and every sentence against the information in the passage.