How can You improve Your PTE score to 79+?
- If your target is 79+ in all sections but you do not score higher than 60-65, you should first improve your English. If you are close to 79 and even score 79+ in some sections but always fail at least one section, then you learn the right methods and practice.
- You should have methods for all tasks. I would recommend using E2language methods. They have a lot of free videos if you do not want to buy a membership.
- In Read aloud, repeat sentence, answer short question tasks of Speaking section, as soon as you finish speaking, reading or answering click on next. Recorded silence is bad for your fluency score.
- Point 2 is applicable for describing images and retell lectures if you cannot talk anymore, but it is recommended that you use the time (40 seconds) to the maximum in these sections. JUST TALK!
- In describe images, do not afraid of saying wrong information. The computer does not care about it. Do not try to construct complex sentences in this section, as it will confuse you and affect your fluency. Do not force yourself to say correct numbers, years. JUST speak. If you say something incorrectly, do not correct yourself.
- In retell lecture try to take notes while concentrating on the context of the lecture. But if you fail to get the main idea of the lecture, then when you start speaking mention at least the topic of the lecture, not score zero for content, and then just improvise looking at your notes. I understand that 10 seconds for preparation is very short, but we cannot change it. That is why we should just speak, so computer/algorithm has something to assess.
- In a repeat sentence if you fail to memorize many words of the sentence as in recording, but you still got the idea of what he/she told then try to say a sentence that contains words. Because in this section you are scored not only on content and pronunciation but also on your fluency. This tip will help you to keep your fluency score high even if you miss many words of the sentence (content).
- Remember!!! In speaking, section fluency is highly important. So SPEAK, SPEAK AND SPEAK!
- Summarize Written Text (SWT): If you are confident in using long, complex sentences containing 4-45 words, do it. If not then limit yourself to 30-35 words. This is a word length recommended by E2 tutors. Use which, that, when, where, as well as, and, despite, although, etc. to add points and make your sentence complex. Try to use synonyms rather than borrowing words from the text. First, start by writing a simple sentence and then add points. In case if you run out of time, you have at least a simple correct sentence to submit. Leave some time to check for errors, grammar, spelling, punctuation, capital letter, and full stop. Practice this task until you get confident in it.
- Essay: practice the predetermined essay structure and stick to that. Write about the topic, but do not stress yourself on bringing up perfect ideas. The focus should be on your vocabulary, coherence and cohesion (which is written discourse), correct grammar and sometimes using complex sentences. Not all of your sentences should be complex, however, you should show that you can do it with at least two complex sentences. Try to “intentionally” use “good” words, for example, “indictment”, “alleviate”, “impediment”, “eradicate”, “mitigating factors/conditions” etc. These words, collocations can be intentionally used in many topics. I explained how to do it above. You can lie by writing that “According to the research conducted by professors of ABC (add any uni) University, blah blah blah…”. Leave some time for reviewing your essay.
- Reading does not spend too much time on one task. Make sure you have enough time to re-order paragraphs. In this task failing the order of one paragraph will mess up the order of other paragraphs as well. However, in other questions say MCQ if you fail to choose the right option, you just fail to get that mark not others.
- In MCQ multiple answers, choose only options that you are sure about. If you are sure about A, but you guess B also could be an option, please choose only A. Scoring 1 is better than scoring zero, as there is a negative marking for this task.
- However, other reading questions never leave questions unanswered, at least guess one.
- Listening. Make sure you leave enough time for the last section, which is Write from dictation. This task is not that difficult, however many people fail to do it well due to a lack of time. It is easier than repeat sentences, even though they look similar. Because you have time to think about what you are writing. If you have a short memory problem (as I do), then the first type the words partly and then correct them. For example, sometimes I memorize the sentence but by the time I type it and reach the end of the word I forget some of the articles, adjectives, etc. Because I focus on correct spelling as well. For example, you memorized the sentence as it is and when you start typing you first type: “the dev in the inf tec has greatly changed the way ppl work and imp their pro”. Then you complete the sentence “ The development in the information technology has greatly changed the way people work and improved their productivity”. This tip is for those who have a “short memory” problem and of course if you have enough time left to do this. Another tip for this task, to guess articles. Sometimes when we focus on keywords, we miss memorizing articles (whether it was a the, or even there was one). After typing just check the sentence and use your logic and knowledge of English to guess.
- If you took the test many times, I would recommend you to analyze your results and compare them. Think about what you did differently in your last exam when you scored higher say, in the writing section.
I hope these tips will help you. Good Luck!