5 common PTE mistakes - and how your students can avoid them

Reading time: 7 minutes

Learning from our mistakes is one of the best ways to improve. This is also true for anyone who is preparing for an English language proficiency exam, like PTE Academic.  

 In this post, we’ll look at five common PTE Academic errors test takers make, and how you can help your students to avoid these mistakes when they are sitting their exam.  

1. Reading: reordering paragraphs

In the PTE Academic reading section, test takers are asked to reorder paragraphs taken from an academic text. They see one panel on the screen with a number of sentences in the wrong order, and need to drag these sentences to a second panel in the correct order. This activity tests how well test-takers can understand the structure of a written text in English.  

However, many people struggle with this. They don’t pay attention to language clues such as linking words or sentences that open with an introductory statement. These are all things that allow texts to follow a cohesive pattern.  

Image - reordering paragraph

Check out our Instagram page for activities like this to help students prepare for their PTE exam! 

To help students avoid this mistake, it’s important to teach them about linking words, opening and concluding statements, and how to give opinions or examples in English. You can also have students practice reordering paragraphs in class. For example: 

  • Bring in some news articles, blog posts, or short academic texts  

  • Cut each one up into a number of paragraphs and mix up the order  

  • Put students in groups and have them reorder the paragraphs 

  • When complete, ask students to read the reordered text aloud and have them explain why they chose this order, focusing on the language clues.  

2. Listening: summarize a spoken text 

One of the listening tasks requires candidates to summarize a spoken text. The objective of this is to test how well students can understand the main ideas of a lecture and how well they can summarize those ideas.  

Students listen to an audio recording, and can take notes while listening. They then have 10 minutes to write a 50-70 word summary of the audio. For this task, they’re judged on both the quality of their writing and how well their response presents the key points from the lecture.  

However, test takers often simply copy what they heard in the audio, word for word. This shows they have recognized and understood the words within the audio. But it doesn’t represent their ability to summarize in their own words, using a range of vocabulary and grammatical structures.  

In order to get a good score, candidates must paraphrase as much of the listening material as possible. To help them achieve this, you can try the following in class:  

  • Choose a short video to watch, such as a Ted Talk. If it’s only a few minutes long, play it twice so they have a better understanding of the ideas. 

  • Ask students to work in pairs to take notes and paraphrase the key points of the video. The pair that uses the most new vocabulary and synonyms in their summary will win.  

  • Have the pairs present their summary to the rest of the class, give feedback, and select a winning pair.  

3. Speaking: describe an image 

One of the PTE Speaking tasks calls for candidates to describe a picture. The aim of this exercise is to test students’ ability to explain what they see - using their own words - in a graph, chart, map, table or picture.   

Students have 25 seconds to look at an image on the screen and think about what they’re going to say. Then, they have 15 seconds more to describe the image out loud. The microphone automatically turns off after 40 seconds.  

A common mistake that candidates make here is that they memorize a response to images they have seen when preparing for the exam. This often means they don’t actually describe the image they’ve seen in front of them. When this happens, they usually get a very low score, or even a zero.  

Students may do this if they don’t feel confident with their level of vocabulary. To help them avoid making this mistake, practice describing a range of images in class. Have students record themselves doing the task. Then listen back and identify areas where students can improve and note down any gaps in vocabulary which can then be taught in future classes.  

Image- Describe image

Check out our Instagram page for images like this to help students prepare for their PTE exam! 

4. Writing: writing an essay   

There are two PTE writing tasks to complete in the exam. One of these involves writing an essay, which tests candidates’ ability to write a short, persuasive or argumentative piece.  

Test-takers are given a short written prompt asking them to agree or disagree, state their opinion, or comment on a situation or problem. The response is judged on how well they’re able to develop a position, organize their ideas, present supporting details and write with a high level of academic English. They must write between 200 and 300 words in 20 minutes.  

Image - Write essay

Check out our Instagram page and discover more essay questions to help students prepare for their PTE exam! 

One big mistake? Test-takers often do not follow the word count. The essay score guide states that if they write fewer than 120 words or more than 380 words, their answer will be scored a zero. 

One way to help students prepare for this is by getting them to practice writing the essay under timed conditions. When finished, have them swap their essays with another student and ask them to total each other’s word counts before handing them in.  

Read more tips for the Writing Essay task.  

5. Not checking answers  

Apart from the task-related mistakes, candidates can often make, the biggest problem that we see are simple errors in written answers. This may be because the candidate has not checked over their work before moving on to the next task.  

Before moving on to a new question, it is vital that test-takers spend a few seconds proofreading their answers. By doing this, they may avoid simple errors in spelling, punctuation, vocabulary, or grammar. Furthermore, it gives them time to check that they’ve completed all the information set out in the question.  

To help students get used to doing this, you could have them proofread each other’s written work in class. They can then provide feedback to the other student and work together to correct the errors. Another idea is to create your own short text with a number of spelling, punctuation, and grammar mistakes in it. Tell students that there are X amount of errors in the text, and that they need to work in pairs to find and correct them.  

This way, they’ll train themselves to proofread their work for any small mistakes that could affect their overall PTE score.  

Discover more resources to help you teach PTE!

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    Listening: Self-Improvement Part 1

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    Reading time: 3 minutes

    After working through the strategies to improve your English listening skills, you can work on specific areas of the test. In this part, you will need to apply a number of listening and writing skills.

    Below are improvement tips on the question types that combine writing and listening skills.

    Summarize Spoken Text

    In the Summarize Spoken Text questions you will be scored on content, form, grammar, vocabulary, and spelling.

    Content and Form

    Make sure you write a good, clear summary of all the key points in the text and also condense the most important supporting points.

    In this question, you will not be given the context of the recording before it starts. Make sure to listen carefully from the start to help understand the context and the information given.

    Some helpful tips for the content and form, to maximize your score are:

    • Take notes on your Erasable Noteboard Booklet or in the response box on the screen

    • Do not try to write down sentences (you will not have enough time)

    • Use symbols and abbreviations in your notes

    • Write down key points and their relationships with others

    • Start with an overview sentence to introduce your summary

    • Use cohesive devices to link the information as you write

    • Try to write between 50 and 70 words

    Overall, make sure you summarize the text in your own words as this will show that you have understood the purpose of the text. If you do not write in your own words, you will score zero for content.

    If you write less than 40 or more than 100 words, you will score zero.

    Grammar

    It is important that grammar is correct as you will be tested on sentence structure, punctuation and capitalization.

    Try not to be too ambitious with your grammar to avoid making mistakes. Try to use grammatical structures you feel comfortable with.

    In this question type you should:

    • Communicate meaning clearly and concisely

    • Use complex sentences where possible to score more points

    • Write sentences between 18 and 30 words – long sentences are hard to control grammar

    • Check your response for common errors before submitting

    Vocabulary and Spelling

    You will score points if you use the correct and appropriate vocabulary in the Summarize Spoken Text question type. Use words from the recording if you use them appropriately, however, try to use synonyms to replace words already used.

    You will also need to make sure to spell every word correctly to receive maximum points. Try to type as carefully as possible during this question. If you can not remember how to spell a word, guess as it is better to include the word than leave it out, even if it is incorrect.

    Don’t forget to use the space bar to show the end of each word.

    Write from Dictation

    Another question that tests both listening and writing is the Write from Dictation question type.

    In this question type, you will need to write the words in the correct order with the correct spelling in order to score points.

    Before the recording starts, place your cursor in the response box and get ready to type as soon as you hear the recording. Make sure to reproduce what you hear exactly as you heard it as the recording will only be played once.

    Remember to start the sentence with a capital letter and end it with a full stop (period).

    Type as you hear it and when finished, check for any mistakes. Always make sure that to read over your answer before clicking next.

    Continue improving your listening skills by reading our Listening: Self-Improvement Part 2 article.

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    Listening: Core English Skills Part 1

    By PTE Author
    Reading time: 3 minutes

    The last part of PTE Academic, Part 3: Listening, requires a large combination of core skills.

    The very first skill you will need to develop involves how you listen (listening methods).

    Below, is information on different types of listening and where you may need to use them during PTE Academic.

    Listening Methods

    Predicting

    One of the listening methods you will need to develop is predicting. Before listening, most people will have some idea about what they are going to listen to and prepare themselves for it. They predict.

    It helps to think about the recordings before you hear it spoken, it helps you listen more effectively.

    This listening method will help during Select Missing Word questions as the topic of the text you listen to is given in the instructions. It will also help in the Re-tell Lecture questions as the image will give you an idea of the general context of the listening text.

    Listening for Gist

    Listening for ‘gist’ will allow you to understand the general meaning of a text quickly. When someone is talking, listen in a general way and think about what the speaker is trying to communicate and how they might feel about the topic based on their tone of voice.

    When practicing, try to listen for the gist before listening for a second time more intensively for specific information.

    This reading method will help in the Multiple-choice, Choose Multiple Answer and Multiple-choice, Choose Single Answer questions. Remember in PTE Academic you can not replay the listening track.

    Listen for Specific Information

    You will also need to be able to listen effectively to find specific information. This is more detailed listening and is often used when you need to answer comprehension questions. You first need to understand what information you are looking for in the text.

    When practicing, if you listen to a text that does not have questions write some yourself. Questions that may help could be:

    • What happened?

    • When did it happen?

    • Where did it happen?

    • Why did it happen? Or, why did it happen in this way, and not another way?

    While listening for specific information, you should listen for synonyms and paraphrasing to match the meaning of the text with the meaning of the questions.  This is because you will not hear the exact words in the question.

    Listening to Infer Meaning

    At times you can understand what the speakers are saying by inferring meaning, as the information is not always stated by the speakers.

    To infer meaning, you need to listen for clues in the text or use general knowledge to guess the meaning of what the speakers are saying. Do this by working out the relationship between the speakers, the tone of voice or the words they use.

    You may need to use this listening method in the Multiple-choice, Choose Multiple Answer and Multiple-choice, Choose Single Answer questions.

    In addition to listening methods, you will also need to understand how words are pronounced on their own and together in a sentence. Read more about pronunciation in Part 2 of Core English Skills.

    Want more prep ideas?

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    Reading: Core English skills part 2

    By PTE Author
    Reading time: 3 minutes

    Once you have practiced and improved your grammar and vocabulary, for Part 2: Reading in PTE Academic, you will need to learn reading methods and the different styles of writing.

    As the PTE Academic is an integrated skills test, the skills developed will be applicable to most sections of the test.

    Firstly, the reading methods you will need to learn and develop are:

    Skim Reading

    By quickly moving your eyes over the text you will be able to get the general meaning of the text. This is the fastest way to understand the text’s meaning.

    Scan Reading

    The fastest way to locate specific information in a text is to scan read. Scan reading helps you find the keywords in a text. Once you find the section of text needed, slow down and read intensively until you understand the information needed to answer the question.

    Intensive Reading

    Intensive reading is done at a slower pace and more carefully. After using scan reading to find the section of text containing the answer you need, you will then need to read intensively to locate the specific information required to answer the question.

    If you are unable to answer the question from the section read, go back to scan reading the whole text to find the correct section, then intensively read that section.

    Critical Reading

    To read critically, you need to think more deeply about what you are reading to understand the text at a deeper level. You will then be able to identify the writer’s purpose, as well as the organization of the text in order to make inferences or understand the textual value.

    You may have to read critically to answer the reading questions Multiple-Choice, Choose Single Answer and Multiple-Choice, Choose Multiple Answers. You may also need this skill to answer the writing question Summarize Written Text, as you will score zero points if you don’t correctly identify the purpose of the text.

    The last question type this skill is used for is the listening question Highlight Correct Summary, as you may need to clarify and organize information to identify the correct summary of the text heard.

    You will also need to be able to identify the style of writing used in the reading texts throughout the test.

    Style of Writing

    For PTE Academic, you will need to understand the style or register of English texts. The style or register refers to the way in which text, that has the same meaning, can be written in different ways.

    When writing, you will need to be able to choose the appropriate words to fit the correct style of the text, as well as understand the style of texts you are reading. For example, an email to your friend will be in an informal style. However, a journal article will be in the academic style. Abstract ideas are also usually written in the academic style.

    Two or three-part verbs (phrasal and prepositional verbs) are generally informal while Latinate verbs are formal, or academic. For example, find out (informal), pick up on (informal) and discover (formal or academic).

    You will need to be able to understand not just the meaning but also the style of a text for the Reading & Writing: Fill in the Blanks questions.