How to choose the best English test for US college admissions

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.

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

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

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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.