Your Ultimate Guide to Preparing for PTE

How to Prepare for the PTE Academic Test

Want a good PTE score? It's not easy to get the score you need, especially if you don't prepare well. Even if you know English well, the PTE exam can be tough. But don't worry, we have a tutorial on how to prepare for PTE Academic exam. It includes helpful links, advice, and strategies that can help you ace the PTE exam. Check it out below.

Determine the PTE Academic score you require.

The PTE Academic test is different from other tests because it assigns you a score based on your answers, instead of a pass or fail grade. Different organizations like immigration departments, universities, or employers require different scores for entry. Some common scores are 50, 65, or 79. 

It is important to know what score you need because it will determine how much time and effort you should put into preparing for the exam. A good place to start is by determining if you need a score of 79 or higher, or just 65. Keep in mind that how much work you need to do also depends on your current level of English proficiency when you begin preparing for the PTE exam..

PTE Academic test structure.

The obvious first step to prepare for PTE is to research and comprehend the test's format or structure. There are three primary parts to the PTE Academic exam:

20 different question types make up the PTE exam structure, which measures your understanding of the following :

• Writing & Speaking (77 – 93 minutes)
• Reading (32 – 40 minutes) ‍
• Listening (45 – 57 minutes) 

You can access each section's official PTE website by clicking on the aforementioned links. You'll discover useful details there, including:

• The nature of each section's assignments or inquiries
• Videos with task examples and directions
• For each subsection, some pointers
• information on how your responses are rated

Take your time and complete every task in every section. The videos are particularly helpful because they show how the questions and response fields appear on the PTE Academic test itself.

Visit the resources to prepare for PTE Academic.

Here are all the resources you need to get ready, but you'll probably need to learn more before you're ready to take the test:

Information sources about the test format

• A helpful study planner that offers personalised content based on the amount of study time you have available is included in the free official PTE Academic Practice App.
• Understand how each activity is assessed and how to compare your results to those of other English language tests with the help of the score guide.
• A free short course called "Introduction to PTE Academic" offers video instructions on how to approach each test type.

Learning and practise tools

PTE Academic offers a variety of official, reputable, high-quality, digital resources that are packaged together to help you save time and money and successfully get ready for your test when you're ready to go into full learning and practise:

• The Official Guide to PTE Academic, which is available as an ebook or a textbook, offers assistance from experts along with a variety of additional digital practise and study tools.
• PTE Academic Question Bank is a user-friendly digital tool with 300 questions, model responses, and advice sections organised by assignment kinds.
• PTE Academic English Booster is a digital app with 100 hours of content that was built specifically for students who are taking their first PTE. It features a variety of self-study exercises and practise problems.

Utilize these resources as you get closer to the test.

Finally, regardless of time or financial constraints, we advise all students to take a scored practise test. The Practice Tests With Scores (normally on the same day).

• Scored Practice Tests measure your performance by accurately simulating the test's scheduling and format, aligning with the test's scoring algorithm, and offering a Score Report at the conclusion.
• The Test Taker Handbook contains crucial details on what you should know before the test, such as requirements and what to expect on test day.

View the PTE Academic preparation methods of others.

To prepare for PTE exam, you can find useful tips and advice from people who have taken the PTE Academic exam before. You can find these opinions online on platforms like YouTube, Medium, and Quora. 

However, it's important to be cautious when taking advice from others and consider if it is relevant and useful for your exam preparation. Only incorporate the most helpful pieces of advice into your study plan.

Ensure that PTE preparation is enjoyable.

Some people find studying to be a tedious task. This happens for a variety of reasons. The subject is challenging, you may lack motivation or zeal, or you may be sidetracked by other intriguing or enjoyable activities (looking at you, Netflix).

Fun is the operative word here. Making anything enjoyable is always an option when something is challenging. Give it your own unique spin. Be imaginative. You'll think of something.

Here's how to enhance your proficiency in the English language without making it a chore:

Reading practice

Reading in English is always an excellent practise, whether you prefer novels or blog postings. It doesn't matter what the topic is; reading about your favourite subjects, whether they be sports, fashion, travel, or the newest iPhone, is the simplest method to make this enjoyable.

Of course, you should step beyond of your comfort zone and engage with more formal articles and academic resources in order to prepare for PTE Academic. Find out how they feel, whether you can see the author's point of view, and what difficulties you are dealing with. then begin your work on that. Reading resources created by native English speakers is an excellent suggestion. They frequently have a different tone and structure from non-native speakers.

Writing practice

There's nothing to worry about, even though writing assignments, especially argumentative or opinion essays can be frustrating for some students.

The fact that writing assignments aren't merely for writing's sake is something that many schools and institutions neglect to mention. People can better organise their thoughts by writing. It even has beneficial therapeutic effects since it brings order out of the mental turmoil.

Writing as frequently as you can is the only way to improve. Start with an introduction or a paragraph. But getting started is crucial. After that, continue and reach a conclusion. See whether you feel happy after reading it. Change things as needed, and then congratulate yourself on a job well done. Now repeat that!

Listening practice

Unfortunately, to prepare for PTE exam, it is recommended that you stop watching movies and TV shows with subtitles until you have successfully passed the PTE Academic. Instead, use English subtitles if the language is difficult for you.

Also, you can use video or streaming services like YouTube to listen to different English accents. At first, it may be difficult to understand, but with practice your ears will get used to it. This will help you in improving your listening and speaking skills.

Speaking practice

The PTE Academic test is done through a computer, so you don't have to worry about speaking with a person. During the speaking section, you'll use a headset and microphone to record your answers. To prepare for this part of the exam, make sure to focus and not get distracted by other test-takers. One way to practice is by speaking with a friend, even if they don't speak English as their first language. Try to have all voice and video calls in English only, and even make it a game where you can place a bet on speaking only in English. You can also record yourself speaking and listen to it, using headphones with a built-in microphone. Make sure your speech sounds natural and not robotic. Emphasize important words if necessary, but don't overdo it. The most important thing is to sound genuine and be concise..

Preparing for the PTE? While you’re at it also check out our blog to prepare for IELTS

Avoid these mistakes when preparing for the PTE Exam

I've concentrated on what to do, excellent practises, useful resources, and similar things throughout this essay. We'll now look at some things you shouldn't do while you get ready for the PTE Academic.

Don't assume you are an expert in everything.

People with an exaggerated sense of their English proficiency frequently make this error. I don't mean to discourage you, but keep your head down and realise that you are not an expert in everything. Remember that your performance on this English test could be harmed by the information you don't know or disregard.

Try not to memorise the word lists or vocabulary.

Each word must be used by you in your own phrases once you have encountered and understood it in various contexts. Your vocabulary can be expanded in this way. This method of learning new words and phrases guarantees that you'll remember them even after taking the PTE Academic.

You shouldn't believe that mastering one or two abilities would make up for the others.

We all have our strong points and limitations, but if you want to ace the PTE Academic, you'll need to step up your game and master all of your skills—especially those in which you lack the most confidence. The greatest method to guarantee that you are well-prepared is to do this.

Don't wait until the last minute to study for the exam.

It is important to start preparing for the PTE Academic test well in advance, not just a few days before the test. Even if you are proficient in English, you should familiarize yourself with all the test components and practice to improve your time management skills. If you need to improve your language abilities to get the score you want, make sure to give yourself enough time before the test to do so. This time will depend on factors such as application deadlines and your current language proficiency.

Are you one of our fellow assignment procrastinating Engineers? Check out our blog on tips to prepare for GMAT & GRE

Ready to begin getting ready for the PTE Academic?

We sincerely hope that you found these suggestions and tactics useful. You must choose the PTE Academic preparation strategy that is best for you because there are many different ways to become ready.

All the best!