Listening Test - PTE

Dear Friends

I welcome you all to my PTE Blog.

Firstly, I would like to apologise for the delay in writing the PTE blog for the Listening Test.

So lets get started,

Listening

Summarize Spoken Text

 In this section, you listen to a recording. You are required to write a summary of the recording for a fellow student who was not present at the lecture. The summary should be between 50-70 words. The duration of the lecture is 60 to 90 seconds. You will have 10 minutes to write your summary. The timer counts down from 10 minutes. After 10 minutes the screen expires and automatically move to the next section, so make sure you finish the summary in about 8 minutes, review your writing and spellings in the rest 2 minutes, and then click next. In this section both your listening & writing skills are tested. You have to listen to all the key points in the lecture, and then write a quality summary of the recording.

Score guide for summarize spoken text

Remember, if you write less than 40 words or more than 100 words, you will score zero marks. Also, If you write all the summary in capital letters ,you will also get zero marks.

Strategies for writing Summary 

• Take notes on the recording. Identify the main points. Pay attention to words which are stressed or phrases that are often repeated. These are central to the main idea of the recording. 

• If you are a fast typer, you can take your notes in the summary dialogue box. This is much easier than writing on a notebook. If you take notes in the summary dialogue box, form your summary of it and then select your notes and click on cut. Your notes will disappear from the summary but you can bring it back by clicking paste. If you don’t need your notes anymore, just delete it with a keyboard command.

 • Write between 50-70 words. The score guide says, for a good score you should cover all the main aspects of the recording. Thus, ideally, I would write 70 words or from 65-70.

 • You should identify the theme or gist of the talk. What’s the main purpose of the summary. Identify the points that supports the main idea.

 • Do not write everything you hear. Try to understand the lecture and take notes at the same time. 

• Start your summary with a topic sentence, add background information only if the word limit allows it. 

• Your summary should follow speaker ideas. If speaker mentions idea A first, B second, and C third. Do the same. Follow the same organization as the speaker. 

• Listen for the speaker opinion if he provides one. Sometime, the speaker also provides an opposing opinion. Mention these in your summary.

Section 2 - Multiple choice-chose multiple answers 

In this section, you listen to a recording. You are given a question about the recording with several options. You have to mark all the correct options. Mostly, two are correct but can be more.

Scoring Guide, Multiple choice, chose multiple answers 

This item only contributes to your listening score, so it means you must practice a lot for these items. It can really boost your listening score if you mark it right. There is negative marking in this section. For each correct option, you score + 1 and for each incorrect answer you score -1. For example, if you mark two answers, one wrong and one correct, you will score zero marks. The minimum marks are zero in this section. So, If a test taker marks two incorrect options, he will still score zero marks.

Always try to answer all the correct options. You may be right.

Strategy for Multiple choice chose multiple answers 

The recording counts down from 7 seconds, you have 7 seconds to look at the question, understand it. Just briefly look at the options. This is the most important part.

• Take notes about the question now. Write everything the speaker says. Don’t worry about the options at this time. 
• Once the recording finishes, answer the question according to your notes.
• Some of the options contain synonyms of words from recording.
• Eliminate options which are clearly wrong or contains opposite information from the recording, this will make your job easy. 
• One of the options is mostly not mentioned in the recording, eliminate this as well.
• Now mark the correct options and move to the next question.

Section 3 - Fill in the blanks 

In this section, you listen to a recording. The transcript of the recording is also given. The transcript contains up to seven blanks. You have to fill in the blanks by listening to the recording and type the missing words. You get about 2-3 of these items depending on your test. The audio counts down from 7 seconds. You can have a quick look at where the blanks are. 

Score Guide, Fill in the blanks 

For each correct blank spelled correctly, you get 1 marks. There is no negative marking in this section. The minimum mark is zero. For example, If you fill 4 correct blanks and one wrong you will get 4 marks. 

Strategy for Fill in the blanks 

• You have 7 seconds before the microphone opens, look at all the blanks and their position in the recording.

• Keep in yours head the word which comes before the blanks. 

• Put your mouse cursor in the first blank and be ready to type. 

• At this point, just type shortcuts of the words, not their full spellings, you can fix the spellings once the recording is finished. 

• If you are not comfortable with typing, you can note the words in your notebook, however, there is a chance you might lose the track of the recording. 

• As soon, as you type the first blank, move your mouse to the next blank, but keep your eyes on the transcript as well. 

• You should spell the missing words correctly otherwise you will not score any marks. 

• If you miss a blank, don’t leave it blank, just guess the blank by looking at the words around it. You might be right. 

Section 4 - Highlight correct summary 

In this section, you will hear a recording. You are given three to five paragraphs in the options. You have to select the paragraph which represents the best summary of the recording. You will do two to three items depending on the combination of your items in your test.

Scoring Guide, Highlight correct Summary

In this section, you are tested for your reading & Listening skills. This item contributes towards your reading & listening score. This item is marked correct or incorrect. There is no negative marking. If you answer the question right you get 1 mark, otherwise you get zero. 

Strategy for Highlight Correct Summary

 • When you hear the recording, you should take notes. You should practice effective note taking.         This helps immensely in the listening test. 

• Identify the main idea in the recording. 

• Identify the points that support the main idea.

 • The correct summary should have the main idea and the supporting points.

 • Exclude summary or summaries which focus on minor idea in the recording.

 • Exclude summary which contains information not given in the recording.

 • Exclude summary which contains opposite information of what is said in the recording.

Section 5 - Multiple choice, Choose single Answer 

In this section, you will hear a recording mostly about academic subjects, such as Science, humanities etc. You are given a multiple-choice question with three to five options. You have to select the correct option according to the recording. Only one response is correct.

Scoring Guide, Multiple choice, Choose single Answer 

This section only contributes to your listening score. This item is scored correct or incorrect. There is no negative marking for this section. 

Strategy for multiple choice, Choose single Answer

 • This question test you for the main idea of the talk or the gist of the talk. If you understand the main idea, you would easily be able to answer the question. 

• Take notes in every listening section. Understand and write as much as you can. Practice your note taking skills. 

• One of the option would not be mentioned in the recording, exclude this. 

• One of the option would contain information from the recording, but it wouldn’t be the right answer. • One of the option would contain opposite of what is said in the recording, Eliminate this.

Section 6 - Select missing word 

In this section, you listen to a recording about a topic which is mentioned in the instruction. At the end of the recording, the last word or group of words is replaced by a beep. You have to predict the correct word from a group of options.

Skills tested in this section

 • Listening

 • Identify the theme 

• Words and phrases appropriate to the context 

• Predicting a sequence of information 

• Predicting a conclusion 

Score guide - Select Missing Word 

This item is either mark correct or incorrect. There is no negative marking in this section. 

Strategy for Select Missing Word 

• The recording counts down from 7 seconds. Quickly look at the topic and skim the option quickly. Then get ready to take notes. Remember, you can do this question without taking notes, however, I strongly recommend taking notes for this one. 

• In order to predict the missing word, you have to follow the speaker ideas. 

• What is most important in this section is mapping of ideas. Listen actively for discourse markers. Discourse markers are used when the speaker introduce new information or link ideas in the recording. Some examples are Anyway, however, in fact, so, well, you know etc. 

• Don’t worry if you miss some words in the recording. If you focus on overall idea of the recording, you will still be able to answer the question. 

• Most important, listen to the second last and last sentence carefully. The meaning of the option should match the last sentence. The meaning should match the second last sentence and the meaning should match the whole recording.

Section 7 - Highlight Incorrect Words 

One of the easiest section of the listening module. Make sure you answer these questions right. In this section of the listening test, you will listen to a recording. The transcript of the recording is given as well. Some word in the transcript differs from what the speaker says. You have to click on the words which are different from the recording. When you click the word, it becomes highlighted in yellow. If you want to deselect, click on it again and the word will be deselected. You will get 2-3 of these items depending on the combination of items in your test. Each recording is 15-50 seconds long, and every recording contains up to seven incorrect words

Scoring Guide - Highlight incorrect words 

This items contributes to your listening and reading scores. There is negative marking in this section. According to the official guide, if someone scores 2 marks for two correct options and -2 for two incorrect one. They will score zero points.

If you mark 2 words right and 3 wrong , you will score zero marks not -1 as the minimum marks is zero in this section. 

Strategy for Highlight incorrect words

 • Listen actively

 • You should move your cursor or mouse with speed of recording. 

• Just one click is enough. 

• Don’t look back to the recording or take notes. 

• You hear the recording once in any listening item in the test.

 • Some recordings maybe fast so train yourself to anticipate this type of question.

Section 8 - Write from Dictation

This is the last section of the test. In this section, you will hear a short sentence. You have to listen carefully and type the sentence in the response box exactly as you hear it. You get about 2-3 of these items. This item contributes to your listening and writing score.

Score Guide write from Dictation 

If you write all the words of the sentence exactly as the recording with correct spellings, you will get full marks. If you make mistakes you will get partial credit.

Strategy for Write from Dictation

 • Listen carefully
 • Type the sentence or take notes in your erasable notebook
• Don’t write full words or spellings just use shortcuts. You can re write the sentence quickly once the recording finish.
• Start your sentence with a capital letter and end it with a full stop.
• Pay attention to grammar and spellings as this item contributes to your writing score as well.
• Don’t forget full stop at the end.


Guys, this concludes my blogs on PTE.  I wish everyone all the very best in their PTE preparation and hope you all realise your dream.

Feel free to email me on shristiarya42@gmail.com if you have any questions. I'll try my best to answer all your queries.

GOOD LUCK :-)

How to get your desired PTE Score?

Dear Friends

First of all a big thank you to all of you who have made my blogs a success and for all your emails of support.

I received hundreds of emails asking me for help and advise and I tried my best to help all those who emailed me.

My blogs are meant to help students who are in same shoes as I was.

This blog is dedicated to all of you who need a game plan to achieve your desired score. All the best :-)

If you are just starting with the PTE and want to know where to begin. These are the steps you should follow.

Step 1: Know the score you want

How much you need to prepare, depends on the score you need. For example, if you need a score of 79+ you may need to put in more preparation than if you need a score of 65+.

Step 2: Take the official mock test:

Pearson has been kind enough to offer scored online mock tests for the PTE Academic. The official Pearson mock test can be taken from home over the internet. You will receive scored results similar to what you would receive in the actual exam, which is the best part. This eliminates the guesswork on how good your English is and gives you a true picture of where you currently stand.

Taking this test is highly recommended, as it is as close you can get to the actual PTE exam, at a fraction of the cost. It makes sense to take this mock test and know where you stand. 

If you've followed the suggestions above and have taken the mock test, you will end up in either one of the situations below:

1. You have got more than the score you need in all sections.
   
   
   Woo hoo! Good for you. You can pat yourself on the back, break into a victory dance or whatever you like to do to have a mini-celebration. You are all set to take the real exam and don't need to put in much work. The actual exam is usually not more difficult than the mock test.
2. You scored below your desired score. Not the best situation, but now you at least know the areas you need to improve upon.

Now after taking the mock test:

• If you fell short of your desired score by 0–7 points, usually all you need to do is to practice a little more. 
  
  
  A good source for practice is the official Pearson Practice CD that comes with their ‘The Official Guide book’. Note that the content in this book is pretty generic and not too useful by itself. It’s the three practice tests with answers that come along with the book that is valuable. 
  
  
  Another one from Pearson is their offline test which you can download here for free. I also recommend using Macmillan Test Builder.
• If you fell short of your desired score by 7–20 points, you need to invest more time and effort in preparation. 
  
  
  For the speaking and writing section, you need to understand the scoring parameters and work to ensure you are hitting on all those parameters in your answers. 
  
  
  Below is a link to the official PTE Score Guide which breaks down how each question type is scored. It will be a good idea to browse through this to make sure you understand the scoring. Click here to get the PTE Score Guide (Free download - Page 1 to 39 is what you need to know)

• If you fell short of your desired score by 20 marks or more, in addition to the above steps you also need to work on improving your overall English. 
  
  
  There is no ‘shortcut’ or ‘strategy’ that is going improve your overall score by 20 points or more in a relatively short amount of time. Based on my experience, to improve your English enough to cover 20+ points is something that can take a minimum of three months to over a year depending on how much effort you put in. The quickest way to improve your English is to consume as much high-quality English you can. You need to work on developing habits that allow for this. A few suggestions to do this:
• Switch from consuming media/entertainment in your local language to English.
• Read as much as possible. Books, articles, newspapers.
• Start listening to English podcasts or Audiobooks while travelling to work/college or doing non-critical tasks.

Guys! getting your desired score is not impossible and you all can do it. What you need is

WILL TO SUCCEED

DETERMINATION

HARD WORK

Nothing is impossible, If I could do it you can too :-)

GOOD LUCK

Speaking Test - PTE (Part 2)

Dear Readers

I welcome you all again to my blog and the second part of the speaking test for PTE.

In this post I will cover the below sections of the Speaking Test

Describe image

Re-tell lecture

Answer Short Questions

So lets start...


DESCRIBE IMAGE

What to expect
You are given an image such as a graph, map, chart, table, flowchart or picture. You have 25 seconds to observe it and need to then describe the image in about 30-40 seconds.
There will be around 7 different images displayed in this section including but not limited to line charts, pie chart, bar charts, image with facts, multiple tables, flowcharts, process diagrams, etc.

How you are scored
Content:
5 Describes all elements of the image and their relationships, possible development and conclusion or implications
4 Describes all the key elements of the image and their relations, referring to their implications or conclusions
3 Deals with most key elements of the image and refers to their implications or conclusions
2 Deals with only one key element in the image and refers to an implication or conclusion. Shows basic understanding of several core elements of the image
1 Describes some basic elements of the image, but does not make clear their interrelations or implications
0 Mentions some disjointed elements of the presentation
Pronunciation: 5 Native-like 4 Advanced 3 Good 2 Intermediate 1 Intrusive 0 Non-English Oral fluency: 5 Native-like 4 Advanced 3 Good 2 Intermediate 1 Limited, 0 Disfluent

Strategy
Keep it simple here. Your description should have 3 mains parts.

1) Start with an introduction,
 2) followed by the main body, and
 3) end with a conclusion.

The goal for you here is to practice enough until you can speak for 35 seconds, without long pauses and hesitations. Needless to say, proper grammatical sentence structure is important as well.
Let’s focus on the 3 parts.

Introduction – Almost all of the content in the introduction will be available in the graph headings and Axis Titles. If the image is not a graph, give a general overview of what the image is about. 

Main body – This should include the key information that the image is trying to display. If it is a graph, any remarkable rise or fall should be noted during this section. You do not need to cover all points in the image. Only key ones will suffice, as quality over quantity is required. Ensure to keep time for the conclusion.

Conclusion – A short line about the conclusion you have come up with after looking at the image. This can be a personal interpretation or opinion of the image. Make sure to save enough time to get your conclusion in. Always include a conclusion. It is an indicator that you were able to analyze the graph/image in a short time.

Stick with a structure of (7-10 sec introduction, 15-17 secs main body, 10 sec conclusion). 

Example

Let’s break the above graph into the three parts

Introduction –The given line chart shows the consumption of Fast Food by Australian Teenagers from the year 1975 to 2000.

Main body – If you follow the graph closely, you can see that the consumption of pizza and Hamburgers have steadily increased over the last few years. Hamburgers were eaten 100 times and pizza was eaten 80 times per year in 2000. The consumption of fish and chips has conversely decreased over the same time period. 

Conclusion – We can conclude from studying the graph, that the overall consumption of fast food has been on the rise, and teenagers should look to switch to healthier food.

General tips:

Don’t be too concerned about the content in your speech. As long as you are speaking something on the lines of what is given in the image you should be fine. Focus on presenting what you have in the 3 parts as given above without breaks in speech. Speak at a steady pace and avoid rushing through.
Don’t pause for more than 3 seconds or the system thinks you have finished recording and will move to the next section. If you still get stuck during the exam use fillers such as ummm or ‘let me think’ instead of not speaking at all. This is not ideal and it will definitely impact your score if used, however it is better than not saying anything at all. 

Important Self Practice Tip

Search IELTS Graph on Google and look under images. You will find hundreds of Graphs to practice. 


RE-TELL LECTURE

What to expect

In this section, you will hear a lecture. After listening to the lecture, in 10 seconds you need to speak into the microphone and retell the lecture in your own words. You will have 40 seconds to give your response
There will be around 3 item sets or lectures in this section. Each lecture will be between 1 to 1 and a half minute long. The lectures can be on a wide range of topics. It can also include an interview or conversational style lecture with two individuals speaking.
There may be background noise in the lecture as well. There will also be a single image displayed during each question. You may use this to guess what the lecture is going to be before it starts.

How you are scored
Content:
5 Re-tells all points of the presentation and describes characters, aspects and actions, their relationships, the underlying development, implications and conclusions
4 Describes all key points of the presentation and their relations, referring to their implications and conclusions
3 Deals with most points in the presentation and refers to their implications and conclusions
2 Deals with only one key point and refers to an implication or conclusion. Shows basic understanding of several core elements of the presentation
1 Describes some basic elements of the presentation but does not make clear their interrelations or implications
0 Mentions some disjointed elements of the presentation
Pronunciation: 5 Native-like 4 Advanced 3 Good 2 Intermediate 1 Intrusive 0 Non-English Oral fluency: 5 Native-like 4 Advanced 3 Good 2 Intermediate 1 Limited, 0 Disfluent

Strategy
The goal for you here is the same as in describe image, speak for 35 seconds, without long pauses and hesitations in grammatically correct English.

You only have 40 seconds to speak and make sure that you include all the main points of the lecture. If you repeat ideas, correct yourself or hesitate, you will use up valuable time and lose score points. So keep talking and ignore any mistakes that you make. 

This section involves listening and note taking skills as well. Try to understand what is being said and the main point that is trying to be conveyed. Make sure you take notes. You may not get time to right down full sentences. If you can write incredibly fast, then that’s great. Most probably you are not going to be able to write entire sentences, so try writing down key points on whatever you hear. Try to include any facts, figures, numbers or dates given as these should be relatively easier to note down.

The lecture will be longer than the time allotted so you do not need to cover all points when you speak. So do not worry if you miss out on few things while taking notes.

Taking notes is one aspect. Even more important is to ensure that you are able to translate those notes into full sentences while speaking. You may have some excellent notes taken down, but if you can’t frame these into grammatically correct sentences while speaking they go to waste and will reduce your score.
You only have 10 seconds before you speak. You don’t want to be writing down notes ideally during these 10 seconds, but instead, you would want to quickly review your notes and get have an idea of what you are going to say.

Correct smooth English, delivered at a natural rate, has higher weightage over content here as well. You get fewer points if your content is correct and your English is bad. This doesn’t mean you talk about ‘life on mars’ if the topic is on ‘conserving nature’. Stay broadly to the topic all the way.
This may seem a difficult section at first but remember that ‘re-tell lecture’ is a skill and you should see improvements after continuous practice. 

ANSWER SHORT QUESTION

What to expect
You will hear a question and need to give a simple and short answer. Often just one or a few words are enough.

There will be around 11 item sets or questions played in this section. The questions are general knowledge in nature and probably related to topics you would have come across in school or daily life. In some instances, you may also be given an image and be asked a question based on the image.

Example:
They show an '@' picture sign and ask where is this symbol commonly used? Answer: Email (address)
There may be up to two or three options given in few a questions.

How you are scored
Correct/incorrect:
1 Appropriate word choice in response
0 Inappropriate word choices in response

Strategy
There isn’t a lot to talk about on this question type. The questions that are asked are general knowledge type and will most likely be something that you have come across during school or day to day life.
There is no use in speaking extra. Marks are awarded for a short, accurate answer. There are no extra marks for additional words so keep it short. Make sure you pronounce the answer as clear as you can as well.
After the question is asked the recording status box will change to recording. Start your answer as soon as you see this. If you wait for more than 3 seconds, the recording will stop and the item status will change to ‘completed’, which means that you have lost your chance to give your answer. 


Guys, this now completes the Speaking Test section of PTE. 

IMPORTANT NOTE

Guys, I've getting lot of emails asking if i tutor for the exam. Unfortunately, I don't. I have a chosen career which keeps me really busy. These posts are just meant to help students out. If you do need tutoring for PTE and if you're in Sydney check the below institute out. I did mention them in my first post as well

http://ptesydney.com


Happy Reading Guys !

If you have any questions for me please don't hesitate to email me at shristiarya42@gmail.com and if you like my work please share with your friends and follow my posts

All the best (Keep an eye out for my post on Listening for PTE)

Cheers!

Speaking Test - PTE (Part 1)

Dear Readers

I welcome you all again to my PTE / IELTS. In this blog, I'll discuss the Speaking Section of the PTE test.

So lets get into it

First, the format

Personal Introduction
Read aloud
Repeat sentence
Describe image
Re-tell lecture

Answer short questions

I'll be covering first 3 of the above in this post. I'll start with the General Tips first on how to approach Speaking Test (Whether it is IELTS, PTE or TOEFL)

General Strategies

Readers, Its important to remember that you can ace this section by developing a few traits like

• Practice talking slow with friends, family or colleagues. If you talk at a fast pace like myself, remind yourself to slow down.
• Learn to pronounce the words you don't know or haven't heard them before.
• Start practicing speaking on voice recorder. Record your voice, time yourself and listen the recording to see if your speech was clear, no pronunciation error, tone etc.
• Pace yourself - Learn to vary the pitch of your voice. Exhibit mood changes. Learn where to pause and where to stress a particular word.
• Take pauses and don't rush.
• Plan your answer (See the strategy below)

Remember, this is the speaking test and they will test your delivery skills. Refer to the below

The below link from you tube demonstrates perfect way you should speak. Listen and learn (Remember the above strategies)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aY9Se-J2ww

Now, lets move to the PTE Speaking Test in detail

Personal Introduction

What to expect
In this section, you are given a prompt and are asked to introduce yourself orally. You speak about yourself for up to 30 seconds. This is not assessed but is sent to institutions along with your score report.
This is a non-scored part of the examination. If you are applying for a university this is a good chance to give a short introduction about yourself and make a good first impression. The institutions that receive you scores may also use it to verify your identity.

Strategy
Be prepared for what you are going to say. This is the first part and delivering a good introduction can boost your confidence for the rest of the section. You can use the below template as a guideline.
Personal Introduction template:

My name is (your name). I am (enter age) years old and I live in (enter location). I have completed my (enter education) from (enter college name). I am currently working at (Company name) as a (job title). In my free time I like to (enter hobby or something unique about you). I am giving this exam as part of the (visa requirement/university requirement) to assess my English language. 

Read aloud

What to expect
In this section, you are given a text on screen. You get 40 seconds to read through the text and understand the content before the time starts. You then have another 40 seconds to read aloud as naturally and clearly as possible.
You can expect around 7 texts for this section. Each text will usually be a single paragraph between 50-65 words.

How you are scored
Content: Each replacement, omission or insertion of a word counts as one error
Maximum score depends on the length of the item prompt
Pronunciation: 5 Native-like 4 Advanced 3 Good 2 Intermediate 1 Intrusive 0 Non-English Oral fluency: 5 Native-like 4 Advanced 3 Good 2 Intermediate 1 Limited, 0 Disfluent

Strategy
The official PTE sample test recordings of answers were completed between 23-28 seconds. As a guideline, this is a good time-frame to keep in mind. Anything out of this range will usually mean you are speaking too fast or too slow.
Although this is a fairly straightforward section, special attention needs to be placed on pronunciation and oral fluency. You may say something and understand what you say, but it’s important that the software interprets what you say correctly as well.
Many people have questions on what the tone of voice should be. The tone should be appropriate to the message conveyed in the text. You have time to go through the text before you speak. Use this time wisely. Make sure you read the text and understand what it says. This way when you repeat it you will have a better chance of speaking in a tone that conveys meaning. While reading the text in the initial time given also pay special attention to words that you may find difficult to pronounce. Repeat in your head or speak aloud how you are going to pronounce any such words during this time.
Another important aspect of the section is to use appropriate pauses during punctuations (full stops, commas, etc.). Full stops generally will have a longer pause and commas a bit shorter. For example, if there is a comma in the sentence, the spacing between the comma and next word is usually longer than when there is no comma. Similarly, the spacing for a full stop should be longer than what you use after a comma. This is fairly basic, but something you want to keep in mind when you practice.

In case you come across instances where quotation marks like “xxx” or ‘xxx’ are used to encapsulate a word, make sure you stress this word higher than the ones around it. 

Repeat sentence

What to expect
In this section, you will be played an audio recording of a short sentence. You have to listen to the phrasing of a short sentence as it is and read aloud
You can expect around 12 item sets or sentences in this section. Each recording will be fairly short and between 4 to 10 seconds long. There can be between 8 to15 words in each sentence.

How you are scored
Content: Errors = replacements, omissions and insertions only
Hesitations, filled or unfilled pauses, leading or trailing material are ignored in the scoring of content
3 - All words in the response from the prompt in the correct sequence
2 - At least 50% of words in the response from the prompt in the correct sequence 1 - Less than 50% of words in the response from the prompt in the correct sequence 0 - Almost nothing from the prompt in the response
Pronunciation: 5 Native-like 4 Advanced 3 Good 2 Intermediate 1 Intrusive 0 Non-English Oral fluency: 5 Native-like 4 Advanced 3 Good 2 Intermediate 1 Limited, 0 Disfluent

Strategy
You hear a short sentence ranging from 8-15 words. Don’t get overwhelmed by this. Focus on understanding the sentence instead of remembering word by word. A strategy that can be used is to break the sentences given to meaningful phrases. This way you have a better chance of reproducing it. You are scored on the correct word sequences that you can correctly speak for this item type.
Copy the stress and intonation of the speaker. If you hear the audio and the speaker stressing on a particular word or set of words make sure you do the same. You do not need to copy the accent but it will help your score if you can reproduce the tone of the speaker.
To illustrate the above two points, let’s take the below sentence as an example. This has 13 words. If I ask you to remember 13 words after listening to it once, it sounds like a scary task. Notice how this can be easily broken down into 3 simple phrases (separated by |). These 3 phrases can be easily replicated and you are more likely to reproduce them if you understand the meaning of the sentence. Words in a phrase will be spoken together in relatively quick succession.

The professor recommends | arriving in the classroom |5 minutes↑ prior to the lecture↓.

In this particular sentence; you can see that the speaker had stressed on “5 minutes” while speaking, so you would want to do the same. The speaker also had a falling intonation towards the end of the sentence at “to the lecture” which you would replicate.
To summarize, listen carefully to the meaning of the sentence, remembering it by breaking the sentence into phrases. Also, pay attention to the tone of the speaker and on any words spoken in high or low tone and copy when speaking.

An important point to note regarding the scoring is that you get 2 out of 3 for content even if you speak more than 50% of the words from the recording. So if the recording is 10 words long and if you speak even 6 words correctly you still get 2 out of 3 for content. The rest of the scoring is for pronunciation (5) and oral fluency (5). The reason I mention this is to stress the importance of speaking what you have understood without compromising on pronunciation and oral fluency. You will score better if you speak a sentence with 60% accuracy and you are fluent than if you speak with 100% accuracy and have breaks in between. The key message is not to worry too much if you miss out on a few words. Just speak what you have understood as fluently and confidently as you can without breaks and hesitations in speech. 

This completes the first part of the speaking section of the PTE exam.

Happy Reading Guys !

If you have any questions for me please don't hesitate to email me at shristiarya42@gmail.com and if you like my work please share with your friends and follow my blogs.

All the best (Keep an eye out for Part 2 of my Speaking post for PTE)

Cheers!

Reading Test - PTE

Dear Readers

In this post I'll cover the Reading Section of PTE

Lets get started

General Strategies

• As You Read Each Question, Determine the Type: Main Idea, Detecting Details, Inference, Tone/Mood 
• Look Back at the Passage When in Doubt 
• Before You Start Answering the Questions, Read the Passage Carefully 
• Get the Meanings of “Tough” Words by Using the Context Method 

Context Method: Suppose you don’t know the meaning of a certain word in a passage. Then try to determine the meaning of that word from the context—that is, from the words that are close in position to that word whose meaning you don’t know. Knowing the meanings of difficult words in the passage will help you to better understand the passage as a whole.

• Don’t Answer a Question on the Basis of Your Own Opinion 
• After Reading the Passage, Read Each Question Carefully.
• Build Vocabulary - Refer to my first post on how to build vocabulary
• Read More - Reading and understanding all the TOEFL essays I shared in my first post will help immensely.

 Strategies for Sentence Completion

• For a Sentence with Only One Blank, Fill the Blank with Each Choice to See the Best Fit* 
• Pay Close Attention to the Key Words in the Sentence 

Now, lets go into each section

Multiple choice questions (choose single answer)

What to expect
In this section, you are given a text. Read the text and answer the multiple-choice question by selecting the correct response. Only one response is correct.
There will generally be 2 questions asked in the exam from this section. The text will be around 100 words each with 4 options provided in each question.

How you are scored
Correct/incorrect:
1 Correct response
0 Incorrect response

Strategy
Read the question first and quickly go through the options given. Don’t focus too much on what the correct answer is going to be at this stage. Just get a sense of what is being asked. Now read the text given. As noted, it is important to read with the intention of understanding. Don’t think about the question, just focus on understanding the text. Once you have read it all, get back to the question and eliminate all the incorrect responses, picking the correct answer.
For difficult questions there may be one or two options that seem correct. If needed, re-read the section of the text that contains content related to the question to narrow down on the answer.
Do NOT try to answer the question in the light of any knowledge which you may personally have. Additionally, as far as possible, do not assume anything to be true in the options unless specifically mentioned or implied.
The options generally fall under the below three categories:

1. The option is true
   
2. The option is false
   
3. Insufficient information given to determine true or false.
   

Only category 1 option is the correct answer. Category 3 options are often included to make it harder, so be mindful of these during the exam.
You will better relate to the above concepts after going through the below example.

Select the correct option after reading the below text: 

Other criminologists, political scientists, and similarly learned forecasters laid out the same horrible future, as did President Clinton. “We know we’ve got about six years to turn this juvenile crime thing around,” Clinton said, “or our country is going to be living with chaos. And my successors will not be giving speeches about the wonderful opportunities of the global economy; they’ll be trying to keep body and soul together for people on the streets of these cities.” The smart money was plainly on the criminals. And then, instead of going up and up and up, crime began to fall. And fall and fall and fall some more. The crime drop was startling in several respects. It was ubiquitous, with every category of crime falling in every part of the country. It was persistent, with incremental decreases year after year. And it was entirely unanticipated—especially by the very experts who had been predicting the opposite.
Question:
Why was the fall in crime rate particularly surprising?

1. It had been predicted at the time by President Clinton
   
2. It happened after six years of steeply rising rates of crime.
   
3. It took place despite fewer people expressing an interest in crime and Justice policies
   
4. It happened in all criminal categories and continued for a number of years.
   

Answer explained:
A is false as the opposite was predicted
B is not specifically mentioned so there is insufficient information given to determine true or false. Notice how ‘six years’ mentioned in the paragraph is part of the question. This is deliberately included to test your understanding. Do not assume that the option is right because it contains certain keywords from the text. Select the correct answer after understanding the meaning of the entire sentence in the option.
C is also not specifically mentioned so there is insufficient information given to determine true or false
D is correct because it has been stated that the every category of crime fell year after year.

Multiple choice questions (choose multiple answers)

What to expect

In this section, you are given a text. Read the text and answer the question by selecting all the correct responses. More than one response is correct.
There will generally be 2 questions asked in the exam from this section. The text will be around 100 to 300 words long and each text with 5 options provided in each question.

How you are scored
Partial credit, points deducted for incorrect options chosen: 
1 Each correct response1 Each incorrect response
0 Minimum score

Strategy
Similar guidelines from the previous section apply to this one. Here too, you can expect some category 3 options (Insufficient information given to determine true or false).
Note that more than one option is correct in the question type.
As per Pearson - "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“
Pay close attention to the second bullet above as it is not something you may have encountered in test before. The minimum score is 0 for each question so it is better to give an attempt.
Scoring for this question explained with an example:
Let us consider a sample question which has 5 options to choose from and 2 options are correct. Let's see how you score for in each of the 4 sample scenarios defined below.

1) You select two correct options: Your score for this question will be +2. (+1 for each correct option selected) 

2) You only select only one option and that is correct: You score will be 0
(You get +1 for the correct option and -1 for the other correct option not selected)
3) You select one correct option and one wrong option: Your score for this question will be 0. (+1 for correct answer, -1 for incorrect option selected and -1 for the other correct option not selected however, minimum score is 0)).
4) You only select three options and they all are incorrect. Your score for this question will be 0 (You get -1 for each incorrect option, however, minimum score is 0)
Given this information, the best strategy is to aim to select all correct answers. Some test takers are under that false impression that they will be conservative and select only one correct answer ensuring at least a point. However, as seen in scenario 2 above you will get 0 if you do this.
Always select a minimum of two answers for this section that you believe to be correct. You can select the third option as well if you have come to the conclusion that it is correct. This will ensure that you are getting the maximum possible score for each question. 

Re-order paragraphs

What to expect

You will be given 5 sentences in a text panel (left) and a blank text panel (right). The text boxes in the left panel have been placed in a random order. Restore the original order by dragging the text boxes from the left panel to the right panel.
There will generally be 2 questions asked in the exam from this section.

How you are scored
Partial credit:
1 Each pair of correct adjacent text box
0 Minimum score

Strategy
You are given jumbled text and need to reorder them in a paragraph that makes logical sense. Most of the sentences given will have a structure and a chronology i.e. sequence of events that happen one after the other. Your goal is to simply identify this.
Start with the first sentence as this is the most easily to identify. This is the sentence that will have the general topic idea/statement within it. Generally; this sentence can stand alone by itself. It will be the first item in the sequence of events. Note any paragraphs that begin with conjunctions such as However, Nevertheless, But, Also, Furthermore, and so on. Such sentences do not usually go first. Additionally, paragraphs that are referring back to text in a previous paragraph will probably contain pronouns referring to someone (he, she, them, they) or something (it). Any other clues that related to sequences (Another, firstly, secondly, finally, next, subsequent, following, in addition, too) should be noted as they will probably not be the first sentence. During the above exercise, you will also get a feel for the other ordering of the sentence.
The below group of words are used to identify connecting ideas.
Words that express the same idea: Additionally, too, also, as well, besides, furthermore, in addition, moreover, likewise, etc.
Words that give an alternate idea: However, Conversely, nonetheless, but, nevertheless, whereas, on the contrary/other hand, then again, while, etc. 

Words that link to reason and outcome: so, as a result, therefore, consequently, thus, for this reason, since, accordingly, because of this, due to, subsequently etc.
Words that demonstrate Sequence or order: Another, firstly, secondly, finally, eventually, in the end, next, subsequent, following, in addition, too, first of all)
Another tool that will help is to ask questions to the different paragraphs in the text. We will try to look at this and some of the concepts above through the below example.
Reorder below text Example

1. a)  However, many citizens resented the Pact due to the invasion of Egypt during the 1956 Suez Crisis
   
2. b)  Britain controlled all aspects of the Iraqi government, which caused resentment towards the Western powers and led to the 14 July Revolution in 1958, overthrowing the Hashemite monarchy.
   
3. c)  When the Baghdad Pact was signed, the governments of the coalition believed it to be beneficial for their citizens.
   
4. d)  Iraq was dragged into the conflict due to their imperial ties with Great Britain, and many Iraqis felt that it was wrong to invade a fellow Arab nation.
   
5. e)  The Central Treaty Organization (CENTO), originally known as the Baghdad Pact or the Middle East Treaty Organization (METO) was formed in 1955 by Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Turkey, and the United Kingdom.
   

Analysis:
1st sentence
Let’s analyze each sentence to see which is appropriate.
a) - Which pact is being referred? Starts with however, so cannot be topic sentence. 
b) - The timeline of 1958 is given which is later than other dates. 

c) - Refers to Baghdad pact. Have more introductory details been given anywhere else about pact?
d) - Which conflict? Which Arab nation?
e) - Sentence can stand alone. Is introductory to other related sentences. Must be topic sentence)
2nd sentence
Sentence c) Gives more details about the pact directly after it was introduced.
3rd sentence
The Pact mentioned in the previous sentence is being referred back to in sentence a). The ‘however’, indicates a contrarian view which is reflected in the resentment versus the benefit noted previously. So this should be third in the order.
4th sentence
The conflict referred to in sentence d) can be tied back to the invasion in Iraq mentioned in the previous sentence. Invasion of Arab nation (Egypt) is also mentioned in the previous sentence.
5th sentence
Britain and Iraq has been referred to previously. Also, the timeline of 1958 gives clue that it should be towards the latter half.
Correct order: e), c), a), d), b)
Note on timing: This is a section that exam takers tend to spend a lot of time on. Be mindful of the time you spend and keep an eye on the timer on screen. Ensure that you keep sufficient time to answer the subsequent sections. 

Fill in the blanks (Drag and Drop)

What to expect

In this section, there will be a text given, where some words are missing. Drag words from the options given to the appropriate place in the text. To undo an answer choice, drag the word back to the box below the text.
There will be 4 item sets in the exam from this section. Each passage will have between 3 to 5 blanks to fill and have between 6 to 8 options.

How you are scored
Partial credit:
1 Each correctly completed blank 
0 Minimum score

Strategy
Skim through the text quickly trying to guess which word would fit in the blank without looking at the options. Search the options for words which match or are close to your prediction and drag it in the box. Make sure that the whole sentence sound grammatically correct when filling blanks. This can be done by taking into account words surrounding the blank and figuring out what part of speech is appropriate(e.g., preposition, conjunction, adjective, plural noun, adverb). If you are unsure for a difficult blank, then quickly narrow down on the words that are a possible fit, pick what sounds right and move on.
Below a few examples of how you can narrow down between words.
Q. The nation ___ turmoil during the recent war. (Options - suffers, faced).
A. Faced is correct as it reflects correct tense of the sentence and is grammatically correct. Suffered would have been appropriate if given instead of suffers which is present tense.
Q. The thief snatched the chain in a ___ of an eye (options- blink, opening)
A. Blink is correct. ‘Blink of an eye’ is an expression used in day to day speech. Be on the lookout for these.
Q. The man had a ___ expression on his face. He was overjoyed after meeting his friend after such a long time. (Options - worried, delighted)
A. Delighted is correct. Note that in this instance it was not possible to guess just by looking at the sentence. Only after observing the surrounding sentence for the ‘overjoyed’ context could we guess the right answer. 

Fill in the blanks (Select from list)

What to expect

In this section, there will be a text given, where some words are missing (blanks). Click on each blank, a list of choices will appear. Select the appropriate answer choice for each blank.
There will be 4 item sets in the exam from this section. Each passage will have between 4 to 6 blanks to fill and have between 4 options for each blank. The text will be between 100 to 250 words long.

How you are scored

Partial credit:
1 Each correctly completed blank
 0 Minimum score

Strategy

In this question type go through the text carefully once and fill it as you go. You will save time this way. Do not skim but make sure you understand what is being written as you read. Look at the text around the blank for clues on what the best answer is. Similar to the previous section use Grammar to eliminate responses.
Do not skip a paragraph of text even if they do not contain blank. They sometimes contain key information that could be the determining factor in picking the correct answer in the blank in next paragraph. Refer to the example given below to illustrate this point.
“Clive was deeply hurt by the sudden death of his mother due to cancer.
He was sent to boarding school. With the Strict rules and _____ (insensitive, egoistic, coolheaded, purposeful) headmaster he resented the place and missed home.”
Explanation: By looking at the paragraph in isolation, the correct answer could be insensitive or egoistic. If we take into account the death of his mother mentioned in the previous paragraph, we can conclude that ‘insensitive’ is the more appropriate response. 

Guys I'm attaching the link below to the PTE Practise Material below (McMillan Book)

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0BzZQKPUH3G7aTVpJTjRFaklsRFE

This covers the reading section of the PTE exam.

Last bit of Advice

Practise, practise and more practise....

Happy Reading Guys !

If you have any questions for me please don't hesitate to email me at shristiarya42@gmail.com and if you like my work please share with your friends and follow my blogs.

All the best (Keep an eye out for my Speaking blog for PTE)

Cheers!