Friday 6 January 2017

Introduction - My struggle with PTE / IELTS


Dear Readers

The primary idea of this blog is to help average students who need to appear for either PTE or IELTS either for migration purposes or to get an admission into a university.

I would start with myself first. I recently finished my degree at Central Queensland University and achieved the score of 82 in PTE (IELTS 8 Equivalent).  However getting there was not easy and I did gave the exam more than once. It took me 3 months to achieve my goal and I would like to share my journey with you.

So lets start..

I'm originally from Punjab, India where English is not taught as a second language rather its a third language in school. I did studied english at school and I was an average student at best. Hence the task of getting a higher score in IELTS or PTE was very daunting.

I knew I need help and started exploring the coaching options available in Sydney. But these coaching classes are not cheap and honestly I could not afford it.

For the readers of my blog in Sydney who have the money to spend on these coaching classes. I would recommend the below (1 each for IELTS and PTE). The basis of my recommendations are the trial classes I took from them just to know what the exam is all about. In my opinion these are better than the lot and I DID NOT TAKE ANY MONEY FROM THEM TO MENTION THEM IN MY BLOG

IELTS


IELTS preparation course at Macquarie University (Link Below)

http://ielts.mq.edu.au/IELTSprep/


PTE

Sydney PTE Institute (Link Below)

http://ptesydney.com


Now for students like me who could not afford these coaching classes continue reading. Firstly, I would answer the biggest question of all PTE or IELTS and the answer is PTE. The reasons for choosing PTE were as below


  1. Plenty of dates available as the exam is scheduled almost every day excluding public holidays.
  2. The structure of the exam is easier than IELTS and less complicated
  3. 24 Hour turnaround to get your score via email.

Hence this blog will primarily deal with PTE preparation tips, tools and relevant strategies. I would first start with the structure of the exam and would then subsequently go into each section and explain them.

The structure of the exam is as below


PART 1: SPEAKING & WRITING (77 – 93 minutes)
Personal Introduction
Read aloud
Repeat sentence
Describe image
Re-tell lecture
Answer short question
Summarize written text (one sentence) Summarize written text (paragraph) Essay (20mins)
PART 2: READING (32 – 41 minutes)
Multiple choice questions (x2) Re-order paragraphs
Fill in the blanks (x2)
A ten minute break is optional
PART 3: LISTENING (45 – 57 minutes)
Summarize spoken text multiple choice x2
Fill the blanks
Highlight the correct summary Select missing word
Highlight incorrect words Write from dictation

 See below the score guide


Before I go into explaining each of the sections of PTE. I would like to recommend the below
  • ENGLISH GRAMMAR BRUSH UP


 Its not a bad idea to brush up the English Grammar before you start your preparation for either PTE or IELTS. I did the same and hence would like to share my resources with everyone who want to do well in PTE.

 Firstly, I would like you to download the GMAT Ultimate Grammar book for GMAT (Link Below). This pretty much covers all the grammar brush up you need for your PTE or IELTS exam. It will take you a week to complete this if you study at least 3 hours a day.

 http://gmatclub.com/static/GMATClubGrammarBook.pdf



  • BUILD VOCABULARY 
Building vocabulary is important for a good score PTE or IELTS score. For this I would highly recommend to download the below app

Magoosh TOEFL English Vocabulary Cards

This app is available for free on Google Play and Apple Store.

Now, how to use this app

1) This app has about 600 words which I would say are a must have in your vocabulary arsenal. These words are divided into Common Words, Easy Words, Medium Words, Hard Words and Very Hard Words. Do atleast 10 words a day. As this is available in an app, you can do this on the go. The app also gives a sentence to explain the usage. 

2) Each word you don't know or haven't heard before, please write it down and listen to the pronunciation of the word.You can do that on the below website.


Please practise speaking these words on a voice recorder on your phone till you get the pronunciation right.

  • READING AND SPEAKING
Its important to cultivate the habit of reading and to start reading out of the blue when you are not a reader for an exam is kinda too much to ask for and its pretty boring. So I will keep this relevant for PTE and IELTS test goers. I would recommend to download the actual TOEFL Essays (Link provided below). Now this is a great book and I will be mentioning in my other posts as well when I will cover Writing section for PTE. For now, I would just like you to read 1 essay a day at your normal reading speed and use voice recorder while you read out loud (1 Paragraph Only). Suggestion: Pick essays from different topics.
Now I know you must be wondering why the hell I'm giving you the resources for TOEL and GMAT. The answer is simple. TOEFL is the first English exam that came into existence and IELTS or PTE are very similar to TOEFL. Now, for GMAT you require a very good grammar as the exam is meant for MBA aspirants. Hence this covers all the bases.

 In my next post I will start with PTE sections starting with writing as this is the area people struggle the most including myself. Keep an eye out for my new post and Happy Studying.

 if you like what I'm doing please share my blog with your friends. I'm happy to take questions on shristiarya42@gmail.com

 Thanks and Happy Reading

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