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English/answer/Ashish-Jain-181

Speaking Module

How can I improve my score in PTE Academic

speaking module in a week?
My current status is like below. I need to obtain 65 in each of the sections
for my Australia PR application..

Ashish Jain, attempted PTE after a lot of research. Scored 79+ in the first attempt.
Updated Nov 18
Let me be clear, scoring 65+ in PTE Academic is fairly easy in a week but improving your
oral fluency and esp. pronunciation is not. However, you can practice, and improve your
score. Since PTE is computer based and you are a human, you will always have an edge
upon it.

A glance at your score tells me that you know the exam pattern however I am writing a
general answer for the Quora community who are new to PTE Academic. For more detailed
information, please visit both of these answers:

Ashish Jain's answer to What is the best way to prepare for PTE (Pearson Test in
English)?
Ashish Jain's answer to How can I improve my 'Enabling skills' score in 'PTE
Academic'?

Speaking section is divided into 5 sections. I will explain scoring and tricks for each of
them. Also, in the end, I will provide some more tips which are at individual discretion to
follow.

Throughout the speaking section, you are judged based upon oral fluency and pronunciation
with a score of

5 - Native-like

4 - Advanced
3 - Good

2 - Intermediate

1 - Intrusive

0 - Non English

To achieve desired oral fluency, please do a youtube search on schwa sound,word linking
like consonant to vowel, V2V, C2C and try to mimic native english speakers of British,
American or Australia origin. Word linking is easy to learn but require practice to master.
Schwa sound is easy to learn as well as easy to master. Just practice it with lots of examples.

For better pronunciation, please refer to IPA and phonemes. Again search videos on
youtube and practice. As non-native, we are not aware about position of tongue and lips,
however this is very important when it comes to native-like speaking. Here is a link to start
up. Also, focus on intonation as in English each word has ups and downs of voice for each
alphabet in it.

Now, I will explain each speaking section and tips to score more:

Read Aloud:
o Subskills tested: Identifying a writers purpose (to repeat, to inform, to
explain, opinion or a question), style, tone or attitude; understanding academic
vocabulary; reading a text under timed conditions; using correct intonation
o Scoring: Each replacement, omission or insertion of a word counts as
one error.
o Tips:
Rising your tone on contrast words and falling tone at the end of
the sentence can give you good score
Keep speaking, you realized a mistake, dont stop just keep
speaking.
Pay attention to the articles and plurals in the sentence.
Practice speaking at least 100 tongue-twisters every day until the
exam day.
Repeat Sentence:
o Subskills tested: Speaking for a purpose (to repeat, to inform, to explain);
speaking at a natural rate; producing fluent speech; using correct intonation; using
correct pronunciation; using correct stress; speaking under timed conditions;
Understanding academic vocabulary; inferring the meaning of unfamiliar words;
o Scoring: Only replacements, omissions and insertions are considered as
errors. 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
o Tips:
As you can see the scoring mechanism now, nothing more can be
told; just hear with close eyes for full concentration, memorize and speak as much
as you can.
There is no beep, so dont wait - just start speaking after the
computer ends.
Some people prefer taking Caffeine(Coffee) just before the exam
to raise concentration levels of brain.
If you cant remember, at-least give importance to keywords.
Describe Image:
o Subskills tested: Speaking for a purpose (to repeat, inform, explain);
supporting an opinion with details, examples and explanations; organizing an oral
presentation in a logical way; developing complex ideas within a spoken discourse;
using words and phrases appropriate to the context; using correct grammar;
speaking at a natural rate; producing fluent speech; using correct intonation; using
correct pronunciation; using correct pronunciation; using correct stress; speaking
under timed conditions
o Scoring:
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
o Tips:
Use this format (Tell what chart/graph is about, then axes and
units and highest/lowest points). Thats it nothing more or less.
Introduce with words like illustrate, depicts, elucidates etc. Build
your own vocabulary of not-so-common words. Try avoid using show every-time.
Understand the kind of image whether its bar-chart, line-graph
or pie-chart. Line graph is always with a timeline, pie chart with slices and bar
chart compares.
In describing image use the words on the left hand side, on the
right hand side, next to, above, below or bottom, at the top, foreground,
background. Just keep on practicing with these words.
Again the same tip, dont keep silent, speak something about the
image you see.
Try to finish in 3035 secs. Incomplete recorded sentences lose
you marks.
Retell Lecture:
o Sub-skills tested: Identifying the topic, theme or main ideas; identifying
supporting points or examples; identifying a speakers purpose, style, tone or
 attitude; understanding academic vocabulary; inferring the meaning of unfamiliar
words; comprehending explicit and implicit information; comprehending concrete
and abstract information; classifying and categorizing information; following an
oral sequencing of information; comprehending variations in tone, speed and
accent
o Scoring:
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
o Tips:
Use phrases like The lecture provides brief information about.
or According to the speaker, he said.. etc to elaborate the given lecture.
Note the keyword by understanding the context of the topic, so
you can give your best.
For name you can use titles. ex: Dr. James Alexandra says. so
you can say just dr says.
If possible try to catch 3-5 sentences its enough to re-tell the
lecture.
While taking notes just omit vowel and note keywords it saves the
time. (practice it)
Answer short question :
o Sub-skills tested: Identifying the topic, theme or main ideas;
understanding academic vocabulary; inferring the meaning of unfamiliar words
o Scoring:
1 - Appropriate word choice in response
0 - Inappropriate word choice in response
o Tips:
If you dont know the answer, just repeat the words in the
question.
Dont forget the articles a, an, the before some words.
General Tips for PTE Academic:

- This exam like IELTS is also focused on academic vocabulary. Hence, please learn
academic vocabulary as much as you can.

- Taking Disprin/Aspirin 3 hours before exam, together with coffee 45 minutes before exam
has helped many students in achieving superior level of concentration and memory. This is
at your discretion and not a recommendation from me. Please consult some physician, there
is no medical proof associated with it. Generally, it is a non-harmful formula, hence I shared
with you.

- Go to washroom and relax your body. I mean it you should not feel the urge to urinate
during exam. Especially, if you have taken coffee 45 mins before.

- Erasable notepad and pen, you will read a lot about it on forums. It is basically, laminated
notebook with marker pen. So, you get a good speed while writing unlike paper and pen.

- Rest its practice, practice and practice with a bit of over-confidence.

Good Luck !!

https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-best-way-to-prepare-for-PTE-Pearson-Test-in-
English/answer/Ashish-Jain-181

Writing Module

How can I improve my score in PTE Academic

writing communicative skill in a week?
Here is my current status, I would like to understand that why it is
showing 47 in written discourse and 69 in writing. Whats really going on
with my writing and how can I further improve the score
in Writing communicative skill of PTE Academic.

Unfortunately, I dont have much time.

Ashish Jain, attempted PTE after a lot of research. Scored 79+ in the first attempt.
Written Oct 17, 2016
Before I attempt to answer your question, I would suggest what came to me first when I had
a glance at your scores. You really need to work upon your speaking skills and you can click
here to improve your score in speaking section. I am unaware of the purpose but one either
need 79+ or 65+ generally in PTE which is equivalent to IELTS 8.0 & 7.0 respectively. Just
saying so. Cool !

Moving on to the answer that to improve score in writing module of PTE Academic, I would
provide you that how the PTE engine scores your written skills and tips to beat the engine
and perform best to your abilities.

Lets take a look at how writing skill is evaluated in PTE Academic.

Now, you need to write something and only then your written is evaluated. Lets further
deep dive into what writing section is divided into and how one can improve their score in
written module of PTE Academic.

Writing module of PTE Academic is divided into 2 sections. I will provide sub-skills tested
in detail, scoring and tips for both sections. Please read carefully and implement
accordingly.

SUMMARIZE WRITTEN TEXT:

Sub-skills tested: Writing a summary; writing under timed conditions; taking notes while
reading a text; synthesizing information; writing to meet strict length requirements;
communicating the main points of a reading passage in writing; using words and phrases
appropriate to the context; using correct grammar; comprehending explicit and implicit
information; comprehending concrete and abstract information

Scoring:

Content:

- 2 Provides a good summary of the text. All relevant aspects mentioned

- 1 Provides a fair summary of the text but misses one or two aspects

- 0 Omits or misrepresents the main aspects of the text Enabling skills and other traits
scored

Form:

- 1 Is written in one, single, complete sentence

- 0 Not written in one, single, complete sentence or contains fewer than 5 or more than 75
words. Summary is written in capital letters.

Grammar:
- 2 Has correct grammatical structure

- 1 Contains grammatical errors but with no hindrance to communication

- 0 Has defective grammatical structure which could hinder communication

Vocabulary:

- 2 Has appropriate choice of words

- 1 Contains lexical errors but with no hindrance to communication

- 0 Has defective word choice which could hinder communication

Tips:

- If you read carefully how the PTE Academic scoring engine evaluates your written text,
much of the doubts would be clear to you and with this new set of to-do, you think that you
can achieve 90/90.

- Well, one can but I would tell some more tips which will really help one even if his/her
vocab and grammar is not very strong. 90/90 is only possible with strong vocab and
grammar. However, you can expect 73+ with average vocab and grammar with below tips.

- It says between 5 - 75 words but try to write between 3545 words. A too long
sentence is not generally grammatically correct. Even if its correct, PTE scoring algorithms
are not programmed to evaluate long sentences correctly.

- Pretty obvious however pay attention to the fact that you use only full stop/period and that
too at the end of sentence.

- Do capitalize the starting words and nouns (Names) in the sentence.

- Dont provide any examples, reasons and illustrations, whatsoever.

- Write summary in third person form. Dont use I, We etc.

- Generally, most of the summary of the answer is in the last paragraph so concentrate on it.

- Also, try to summarize each para first later concentrate on it and make it single sentence.

WRITE ESSAY:

Sub-skills tested: Writing for a purpose (to learn, to inform, to persuade); supporting an
opinion with details, examples and explanations; organizing sentences and paragraphs in a
logical way; developing complex ideas within a complete essay; using words and phrases
appropriate to the context; using correct grammar; using correct spelling; using correct
mechanics; writing under timed conditions

Scoring:
Content:

- 3 Adequately deals with the prompt

- 2 Deals with the prompt but does not deal with one minor aspect

- 1 Deals with the prompt but omits a major aspect or more than one minor aspect

- 0 Does not deal properly with the prompt

Form:

- 2 Length is between 200 and 300 words

- 1 Length is between 120 and 199 or between 301 and 380 words

- 0 Length is less than 120 or more than 380 words. Essay is written in capital letters,
contains no punctuation or only consists of bullet points or very short sentences

Development, structure and coherence:

- 2 Shows good development and logical structure

- 1 Is incidentally less well structured, and some elements or paragraphs are poorly linked

- 0 Lacks coherence and mainly consists of lists or loose elements

Grammar:

- 2 Shows consistent grammatical control of complex language. Errors are rare and difficult
to spot

- 1 Shows a relatively high degree of grammatical control. No mistakes which would lead to
misunderstandings

- 0 Contains mainly simple structures and/or several basic mistakes

General linguistic range:

- 2 Exhibits smooth mastery of a wide range of language to formulate thoughts precisely,

give emphasis, differentiate and eliminate ambiguity. No sign that the test taker is restricted
in what they want to communicate

- 1 Sufficient range of language to provide clear descriptions, express viewpoints and

develop arguments

- 0 Contains mainly basic language and lacks precision

Vocabulary range:

- 2 Good command of a broad lexical repertoire, idiomatic expressions and colloquialisms

- 1 Shows a good range of vocabulary for matters connected to general academic topics.
Lexical shortcomings lead to circumlocution or some imprecision

- 0 Contains mainly basic vocabulary insufficient to deal with the topic at the required level

Spelling:

- 2 Correct spelling

- 1 One spelling error

- 0 More than one spelling error

Tips:

- Plan your essay in an order by checking it whether it is an Opinion essay, advantages &
disadvantages, or Problem & Solution.

- Be aware of Spellings, Grammar, and Plurals.

- Essay structure Intro, Body, Conclusion.

- Caution: Please dont use bullet points.

- In the body section give examples, reasons, and statistics to describe.

- Length must be between 200300. See scoring carefully.

Good Luck !!

PS: Please share in the comments section, how was your score and if these tips helped you.
Thanks Shradha Jain for A2A.
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Reading module

How can I improve my score in PTE Academic

reading communicative skill in a week?

Ashish Jain, attempted PTE after a lot of research. Scored 79+ in the first attempt.
Written Oct 20, 2016
By Reading Regularly. Yes, by regular reading, you will improve your skill and hence the
score. However, the question is to improve PTE score.
You are looking for some tips and techniques to score up in exam. If you have enough time ,
I would suggest you to improve your reading skill overall. Reading is a combination skill
comprising focus, speed, understanding vocabulary, and getting sense.

Mantra is to get reading fluency first and then focus and then understanding. Ideally, you
need to do it all at once but when practicing or learning the reading skill, learn it step-wise.

PTE Academic - Reading section tests the examine skills in 5 sections as follows with
scoring description and techniques.

Multiple-choice, Choose Single Answer

o Sub-skills tested: Identifying the topic, theme or main ideas; identifying
the relationships between sentences and paragraphs; evaluating the quality and
usefulness of texts; identifying a writers purpose, style, tone or attitude;
identifying supporting points or examples; reading for overall organization and
connections between pieces of information; reading for information to infer
meanings or find relationships; identifying specific details, facts, opinions,
definitions or sequences of events; inferring the meaning of unfamiliar words
o Scoring method:
1 Correct response
0 Incorrect response
o Tips & techniques:
Understand the main reason/text behind paragraph and focus on
repeated words to find the correct answer.
Also focus on the frequency words (sometimes, always, never
many, often, all, never, only.. etc.) eliminate those options and find the correct
answer. Since, there is NO NEGATIVE marking in this question, at least answer
the question. Dont leave it blank. Use this tip only when you are not able to
understand the paragraph and hence unable to evaluate the right option.
Use the rule of elimination. Narrow down your options as much
as you can. It really helps a lot. These are not straight-forward questions,
elimination helps.
Read the question before you read the text. You will know before
hand, what information to look for in the passage. There are going to be very few
people who are actually going to form a habit of reading books. Most are just going
to apply the strategies and techniques.
You can expect to find 60% of the answers in the first or last 2
lines of the paragraph.
Retaining leads to gaining. It is important to remember the
information in the questions because the questions are not going to move in the
chronological order and you might find the answer anywhere in the passage.
You need to familiarize yourself with paraphrasing. Paraphrasing
is a technique by which the same meaning in conveyed by the use of different
words. The sentence structure is also changed in order to complete the process of
paraphrasing.
Multiple-choice, Choose Multiple Answers
o Sub-skills tested: Same as above
o Scoring Method: (Negative marking)
1 Each correct response
 - 1 Each incorrect response
0 Minimum score
o Tips & Techniques:
Same as above
Remember to put aside your worries and distractions. Focus,
focus and focus.
If you score 1 point for correct option and -1 for wrong. Its not
worth. Choose carefully only the right answer. If you are not sure, leave the option.
It may be just 2 options, dont push yourself to click 3rd option.
Re-order paragraphs
o Sub-skills tested: Same as above including following a logical or
chronological sequence of events.
o Scoring method:
1 Each pair of correct adjacent textboxes
0 Minimum score
o Tips & techniques:
Search for heading/topic with major idea of the paragraph to be
formed by re-ordering. It should be first sentence like a topic sentence, a stand
alone - Independent sentence that is not dependent on any other sentences given
there.
Check Proper Nouns-Common nouns-Pronoun-Articles Usage-
Time Phrases order to re-order the sentences.
Focus on pronouns he, she, him, her, they, them, these, those,
etc as these sentences will never come in first.
Also look for contradict phrases like (however, but, although) and
addition phrases like (Also, moreover, furthermore, besides.. etc), they could never
be first and are generally related which could easily be found. Try finding sentence
before it.
Reading: Fill in the blanks / Reading and writing: Fill in the blanks
o Sub-skills tested: same as above
o Scoring method:
1 Each correctly completed blank
0 Minimum score
o Tips & Techniques:
Skim for main idea first and then start answering.
Answer all the questions, even if youre not sure in your answer.
You don't get penalty for wrong answers, so try your luck and write the most
probable answer.
Concentrate on parts of speech before and after the blank, it helps
in finding the missing word.
Select the word, which is mostly collocated with words beside it.
You will find many collocation articles and lessons, if you google it.
Most of the time, missing word will be in the text but as synonym,
it helps in finding an answer, same as paraphrasing.
Good Luck !!
Listening Module

How can I improve my score in PTE Academic

listening module in a week?
Ashish Jain, attempted PTE after a lot of research. Scored 79+ in the first attempt.
Written Oct 21, 2016
There are 2 ways to score better in English Listening module.

1. Practice, learn and master your English Listening skills.

2. Follow the tips and techniques relevant to PTE Academic/IELTS (whatever
exam you are giving)
In some cases, either of them is required, sometime both and examinee needs more time to
attempt the exam before he/she understands. I believe, using scored practice tests, you can
evaluate yourself and proceed, how would you like to go ahead. For everyones benefit, I am
hinting tips for both.

Practice, Learn and Master the English Listening Skills

1. Listen actively. For eg. The music that we listen for enjoyment compared to we
listen for learning music are different experiences as later requiring more
attention. Same is with languages.
2. Start with movies and tv shows. Use sub-titles in first watch and then watch
again without sub titles. (Interest in content also bring attention, hence movies
and tv.
3. Increase your vocabulary. While listening new content increases vocabulary ,
parallely increasing your vocabulary will also boost your english understanding
while listening.
4. Do some listening practice here or search the internet - practice definitely
helps !
PTE Academic Listening Module : Tips & Techniques

This module is divided in 8 parts and test authority PTE is testing these sub-skills of the test
takers:

Identifying the topic, theme or main ideas; summarizing the main idea; identifying
supporting points or examples; identifying a speakers purpose, style, tone or attitude;
understanding academic vocabulary; inferring the meaning of unfamiliar words;
comprehending explicit and implicit information; comprehending concrete and abstract
information; classifying and categorizing information; following an oral sequencing of
information; comprehending variations in tone, speed and accent;

Writing a summary; writing under timed conditions; taking notes whilst listening to a
recording; communicating the main points of a lecture in writing; organizing sentences and
paragraphs in a logical way; using words and phrases appropriate to the context; using
correct grammar; using correct spelling; using correct mechanics

Now, we will understand the scoring method and techniques for each listening part of PTE
Academic test.

Summarize spoken text

 Scoring :
o Content:
2 Provides a good summary of the text. All relevant aspects are
mentioned
1 Provides a fair summary of the text, but one or two aspects are
missing
0 Omits or misrepresents the main aspects
o Form:
2 Contains 50-70 words
1 Contains 40-49 words or 71-100 words
0 Contains less than 40 words or more than 100 words. Summary
is written in capital letters, contains no punctuation or consists only of bullet
points or very short sentences
o Grammar:
2 Correct grammatical structures
1 Contains grammatical errors with no hindrance to
communication
0 Defective grammatical structures which could hinder
communication
o Vocabulary:
2 Appropriate choice of words
1 Some lexical errors but with no hindrance to communication
0 Defective word choice which could hinder communication
o Spelling:
2 Correct spelling
1 One spelling error
0 More than one spelling error
Tips & Techniques
o Restrict your content between 50 - 70 words.
o Start writing with The speaker said
o Use erasable notepad and pen to note down the keywords. Practice and
be quick during the exam.
o Close your eyes for increased attention.
o Concentrate on theme and most repeated words.
o Most of the tips will be same as Re-tell lecture in speaking module.
Multiple-choice, choose multiple answers

Scoring:
o 1 Each correct response
o - 1 Each incorrect response
o 0 Minimum score
Tips & Techniques :
o Pay attention to your answer. Wild guess is not recommended as the
questions with multiple answers have negative marking in PTE Academic
exam.
o As the answers are paraphrased, hence pay attention to meaning.
o Read the question before audio starts.
 o Generally, answers are at end of listening audio, so stay focused till the
end.
Fill in the blanks

Scoring:
o 1 Each correct word spelled correctly
o 0 Minimum score
Tips & Techniques :
o Use erasable notepad and pen to write-down or you will miss the next
missing-word/blank.
o Carefully listen - was that a singular or plural noun, otherwise, you will
lose complete mark for that blank.
o No need to mention, still words of caution: take care of spellings.
Highlight correct summary

Scoring:
o 1 Correct response
o 0 Incorrect response
Tips & Techniques:
o Keep writing down on erasable notepad and pen while listening
o Understand what is conveyed by speaker.
o Use the eliminate method to reach the obvious correct answer.
o In general, the answer with many detail is wrong one. Use this tip only
when you cant understand at all.
Multiple-choice, choose single answer

Scoring:
o 1 Correct response
o 0 Incorrect response
Tips & Techniques:
o Same as above. See Multiple-choice, choose multiple answers
Select missing word

Scoring:
o 1 Correct response
o 0 Incorrect response
Tips & Techniques:
o Listen and understand the topic of discussion, this will help you to
answer the missing words.
o Most of the time, you will have an idea by the first half of audio ends to
eliminate and by 75% of audio, you would be sure, how it will end.
Highlight incorrect words (My favourite, I wish the whole exam would be this easy)

Scoring:
o 1 Each correct word
o - 1 Each incorrect word
o 0 Minimum score

Tips & Techniques:
o Be ready with your mouse and just start hitting the wrong words.
o Review your answers before submitting, if you think you missed
something. Generally, its so easy, you wont miss any word.
o Double-hitting a word - unselects the word. So, pay attention to your
clicks too.
o Be aware of NEGATIVE marking in this part.
Write from dictation

Scoring:
o 1 Each correct word spelled correctly
o 0 Each incorrect or misspelled word

Tips & Techniques:
o Are you good with typing on computer or notepad/pen? If your answer is
paper-pen, then write on paper-pen else type directly in input box. I preferred
typing on computer as after college, I barely write.
o Check your spelling.
o Pay attention to singular, plurals, and commas too.
o Ideally, technique is same as of Repeat Sentence in speaking module.
Good Luck !!
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