PTE Speaking tips & tricks Part 1 -Read Aloud

Would you believe me if I say that Speaking is the easiest of all bands in PTE?

In fact it was the first section where I hit the target of 90. (Things took a different turn in the real exam. More about it later..). It might be the section you’re most afraid of.

Let me teach you some tips and tricks in Speaking section in General plus all you need to know about Read Aloud task in this articles. Once you know the tips and tricks for all the tasks and with a little practice, you’d definitely agree to my first statement 😊

General Tips

Initially before you begin, get an overall idea about PTE, watch some YT videos or checkout the PTE official site and understand the test format and question types.

If you have read my My PTE journey -part 2 (refer the colored table), you already know that all modules are interconnected. Hence, your performance in other modules affect Speaking score and performance in Speaking section affect other sections as well. This is true for all sections.

• Hit next as soon as you’re done, in the speaking section.
• Don’t worry too much about grammar, just maintain fluency. If you made a mistake, just move on don’t try to correct it.
• Adjust your mic so that’s it’s above your nose or near your chin. This is because if you keep the mic in the breathing path, lo of noise will get recorded when you exhale, making your answers unclear.
• Test your voice and speakers and complain if there’s any issue, during the configuration phase of the test.
• Wait till everyone else start the exam. This way your ear will get used to all the background noises. Well, this is what I got wrong. I was waiting but then the invigilator insist that I start, so did I. Soon after I started the candidate next to me started screaming in the top of his voice.

I couldn’t hear anything in the test, I got distracted and of-course I couldn’t perform to my fullest potential I mean not even 50%. I missed a lot of RS because I couldn’t hear and I lost fluency due to lack of focus. Still I managed to get 85. Unfortunately, this affected my Listening score as well(82). So is my next advice.

• Once you’re confident with your speaking test, practice all the tasks with some noise, like ask your friend to speak in English in the background.
• Always wait till others have started speaking and get your ears adapted to the background noise.

Speaking section last for 77–93 minutes (including 20m essay and summarized spoken text) and has 7 tasks:

• Personal Introduction (PI)
• Read Aloud (RA)
• Repeat Sentence (RS)
• Describe Image (DI)
• Re-tell lecture (RL)
• Answer Short Questions (ASQ)

PI

First of all this is not scored. Just practice a a simple intro that includes the following:

1. Name and age
2. Current city and country
3. Profession or University you’re planning to apply.
4. The reason why you’re taking PTE.

E.g. I’m taking PTE exam to pursue my higher studies in Australia. Don’t directly mention that it’s for migration purpose instead say something like ‘I’m taking the PTE exam to explore new career options.’

RA

Here you’re given a small paragraph of 2–3 sentences (about 60 words) and you have 30–40 seconds to prepare. Time to answer and prepare varies with the length of the text. You will hear a short beep and start speaking soon after the beep.

• Read the text aloud during preparation. So that you will gain the confidence and hear the words yourself.
• Read aloud the words you didn’t grasp in the first attempt.
• Do not stay silent for more than 3 seconds, as the recording will stop.
• Wait till the Recording start. If you answer too early, your answer will not be recorded. Dah..
• Do not replace, insert or omit words.
• Read it as it is. ‘Don’t’ not ‘Do not’ and ‘I’m’ is not ‘I am’ and vice versa.
• Content carry only 3 marks but pronunciation and fluency is important since they both carry 5 each.
• Hence do NOT try to correct mistakes. Even if you miss a word, just maintain fluency.
• Open your mouth and pronounce the words properly, don’t combine words by reading too fast to maintain speed/fluency.
• Try your best to pronounce the difficult words.
• Make sure you pronounce the ‘s’ in plural words clearly.
• Stay consistent with the volume.
• Speak fast (but clearly) and try to complete in about 15 seconds. You’re speaking fast means you’re reading fast, which in turn will increase your Reading score as well. Many people, even if the perform their Reading tasks well, still score less because they didn’t improve. Click here to see other testimonials.
• Maintain your speed
• It’s great if you can show intonation (variation in spoken pitch) in speech. This doesn’t mean increasing and decreasing your volume. It’s about emphasizing important words and phrases which adds emotions to speech. Best way to practice this is listening to English News. I have been doing News reading and announcing at school, hence this wasn’t very new to me 😊 But with a little practice anyone can improve this skill.

That’s all folks!

I will be writing more blogs on PTE Tips and Tricks. Subscribe my blog — girlwithdreams.website so that you won’t miss new posts.

Comment down below and let me know for which task you want to learn the tips and tricks.

Dream Big!