How to excel in PTE Academic speaking & writing with David Booth

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PTE Author
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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.

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    Why scoring design matters for admissions decisions

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    How test delivery affects the application process

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    How results timelines affect university applications

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    How acceptance works across countries and institutions

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    What the end-to-end testing process looks like

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    A short checklist before you choose an exam

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    Frequently asked questions

    What is the best English proficiency exam for university admissions?

    The best exam is the one your chosen universities or colleges accept and that fits your application timeline. Institutions focus on whether a test produces reliable, comparable results, not on ranking tests against each other. For a comparison of the main tests universities recognise, see which English tests universities accept for international students.

    Is PTE Academic accepted by universities worldwide?

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    How are PTE Academic results scored?

    Results are generated using automated scoring supported by expert human review, which applies consistent criteria across all test takers and supports comparability for admissions decisions.

    How quickly are results available?

    Results are typically available within 48 hours of test completion, which supports timely application planning.

    Can I retake the test if my score is too low?

    Yes, you may book another test date and retake the exam, provided you allow enough time before university deadlines.