How to choose the best English test for US college admissions

We recently had the opportunity to speak with David Booth about the ways you can excel when it comes to taking the PTE Academic Speaking and Writing sections. If you weren’t able to join us for the webinar, here are the highlights from the conversation.  

Let’s take a look at David’s tips for the Speaking portion of the test first.  

Pitch and accent 

When asked if the pitch of the test-taker makes a difference to the score, David had this to say: ‘Pitch is a critical part of intonation. Having natural intonation is important in order to get a good score.’ Having an exaggerated pitch, however, will not help. It needs to be natural. The same can be said for accent, and it’s important to note that your accent will not affect the score.  

Improving the ‘repeat sentences’ and ‘read aloud sections’ 

If you’re wondering how you can improve your score in the ‘repeat sentences’ and ‘read aloud sections,’ the best thing you can do is to speak naturally. It’s important to understand how different words are stressed within sentences, so working on any pronunciation exercises that will allow you to identify and practice this will help.  

The scoring system for both sections  

We know many of you are curious about how the scoring system for both sections works. Because this is such a hot topic, we’re going to run another webinar in the future that will address this. In the meantime, the PTE Academic score guide provides a comprehensive break-down of the scores for each task, so we encourage you to take a look at the website for more information.  

Summarizing spoken text 

We asked David if there’s any structure that test-takers need to follow in order to summarize the spoken text. The key element here is to ensure that the main context points are addressed. It might feel easier to summarize the points in order, but you should be sure to identify the key point early on in your answer.  

There were lots of questions about the Writing portion of the test which we asked David to explain more about. You can read about his top tips for this section of the test below.  

Standard spelling 

Test takers were curious to know which type of standard spelling the PTE Academic follows and if they should use the British or American versions and how that impacts their score. You’ll be glad to know that you can use any standard spelling conventions.  

Using the IELTS template  

We know that many test takers have practiced with multiple types of tests, so you want to know if your score will be impacted by choosing to use the IELTS template or method of writing. The important thing to remember here is that no test taker is penalized. To get a high score on the test, you need to think about how proficient writers in English would present their writing. The scoring engines are trained by using answers from a wide range of students. The answers which will receive higher scores are those that will have similar characteristics to other examples of writing that have also been given high scores by highly trained examiners.  

Paraphrasing  

We received a question around whether or not you should paraphrase the ‘summarize written text’ and ‘re-tell the lecture’ sections of the test in order to get a better score. David’s recommendation here is that you should be able to write in the same way that a highly proficient learner of English would write. Paraphrasing is very likely to be a characteristic of that writing, but just repeating key lexis is likely to be indicative of a lower proficiency learner.  

Keywords in the writing summary 

How can you find keywords in the writing summary and is there a certain number of conjunctions that should be used? Here, the advice is again that PTE Academic is primarily meaning-focused. When connecting ideas, you should think about how meaning is referenced in a text. In technical language, this is referred to as anaphoric or cataphoric referencing, referencing forward or backward in a text. You can also use different nouns and pronouns to connect ideas. Moreover, it’s important to remember that merely using common conjunctions would not necessarily indicate a high level of proficiency.  

We hope these tips and techniques are useful to you! Learn more about ways you can improve your score in the Speaking & Writing Section.

In Part 1 of PTE Academic, you will require many core English skills to pass. It is very important that you prepare and look at ways you can maximize your score.

We’ve put together some tips to help based on each question type.

Read aloud

In the Read Aloud question type, you will be scored based on content, oral fluency and pronunciation.

As part of this question type, you will need to speak aloud and say all the words in the correct order.

Here are some tips to help maximize your chances of receiving points:

• Make sure you do not replace any words, leave any words out or add any. If you make a mistake and try to correct it, it will be counted as added words.

• Once prompted, you must speak into the microphone right away and read with a smooth, easy natural speed. Try not to speak too fast or too slow.

• Use English rhythm with chunking and sentence stress used correctly.

• Try not to hesitate or repeat words as you will lose points.

Repeat sentence

The Repeat Sentence question type is scored based on the same elements as the Read Aloud question type: content, oral fluency and pronunciation.

Here are some tips to help gain points in this question type:

• Say all of the words in the exact same order. Do not rush.

• Do not use the Erasable Noteboard Booklet, keep the sentence in your head.

• It’s easier to keep the sentence in your mind if you understand the meaning. Try to understand the meaning.

• If unsure of a word the speaker used, say what you think you heard.

• Do not speak too fast or slow.

• Similar to read aloud, use English rhythm with chunking and sentence stress. You will also lose points in this question type if you hesitate, repeat words or stumble to start.

• Speak with the sounds of an English speaker and copy the intonation pattern of the speaker, but do not change your accent.

Describe image

In the Describe Image question type, you will be scored based on content, oral fluency and pronunciation.

To be able to describe the image, you will need to understand it as it could be a graph, picture, map, chart or table. Always read the title and make sure you understand the parts that make up the image.

Some extra tips include:

• Use the Erasable Noteboard Booklet to take notes about the image, which you can use in your answer. For example, if the image is a graph, chart or table, is there a trend you can comment on? If it’s a map or picture, what are the important features?

• Include all aspects and elements of the image in your answer.

• Start with a general statement about the image then summarize the most important points.

• If there are words on the image you want to use but are unsure how to pronounce them, don’t worry, just say them how you think they should be said.

• Try using connector words to link the information you give. For example, use words such as: also, however, as or besides.

You can receive up to 5 points based on your content. In order to score above 1, you will need to include the relationships between parts of the image, possible developments and conclusions or implications of the information in the image.

Don’t forget to talk with a smooth, natural speed at all times during the speaking test.

In total, there are five speaking sections of Part 1: Speaking and Writing.

We recommend that you read more about the other question types such as Re-tell Lecture and Short Answer Question types and learn how to pick up points for these.

Want to learn more about the smart way to prepare for PTE?

Smart Prep brings all our free and paid preparation into one convenient place, so you can mix and match to fit your unique needs.

• Smart Prep provides a clear path to test day, guiding you through the official paid and free resources available for your test

• It can be accessed whether you’ve booked a test or not – just create, or sign in to your myPTE account

• Preparation materials include guided practice tests, introductory videos, video courses and test tips.

Being an experienced English speaker does not guarantee you a high score

It can come as a surprise to test takers, who consider themselves to be fluent in English, that they can score less well in an English test than they expect.

Dr. Alistair Van Moere, a member of Pearson’s Technical Advisory Group, explains that it’s not unusual for people who have recently learned English to score higher than those that have spoken English for a long time. This happens on all high-stakes tests, not just on PTE Academic, as fluent speakers are often not prepared to do the test. PTE Academic contains question types that a fluent English speaker may not have done for a long time, for example, writing an essay.

This is why all test takers, including fluent English speakers, should prepare before test day.