PTE Academic – Everything you need to know for a 79 plus score!
January 2, 2025
PTE Read Aloud | FREE PTE Tutorials
January 2, 2025
Let me ask you something!
Which section usually gives most trouble to PTE test takers?
Yes! You are right! It is the speaking section.
But don’t worry, we will help you get a solid understanding of this section and some suggestions for definitive improvement!
PTE speaking section is of about 45 minutes duration. In these 45 minutes you will face questions of 5 different types.
You can refer to the detailed articles for these question types. We have listed them at the end. In this article we will focus instead on what factors influence your score in your speaking section and what you can do to improve overall.
This is a test of your speaking ability in academic situations i.e. if you were studying in a college or doing a presentation or a group discussion, the kind of English skills you will need…that is tested in this section.
This is not a test of your informal or casual English speaking ability!
With that in mind the key areas here are: Fluency and Pronunciation!
Unfortunately fluency and pronunciation are not so easy to improve. The way we speak develops right from the childhood and is influenced by the environment we grow in.
Luckily for the purpose of PTE exam there are things we can do. Let’s look at these tips and tricks for improving the PTE speaking score.
Mimic native speakers
Do this daily exercise – turn on some English movie or any video on YouTube etc. and try to speak after the actors in the video.
This is an alternate strategy to improve your pronunciation and fluency when you don’t have months to work on those. We human beings are always influenced by others. Gradually you will notice that the mannerisms and accent of those native speakers will rub on you too.
Do this daily – because after all this is about forming a habit and influencing your mind!
Faster is better than slower
Though this can vary from person to person in most cases when someone speaks faster in English, we think the person has a good command of English language! Well, this is true for the exam as well.
If you are struggling with pace, don’t sound very fluent or find yourself hesitating every now and then, try speaking faster! Ignore the small mistakes that you might make.
Ask your tutor to suggest you the right pace at which you should speak!
(Note: Our expert tutors have put together a full series of PTE Tutorials and PTE Tips and Tricks articles.Make sure to read all!)
Learn basic pronunciation
Do you know that most people lose pronunciation marks due to a few basic sounds that they mispronounce again and again!
Yeah! Pronunciation is not a problem that has to be tackled word by word. It is about getting a few basic sounds right.
For ex:
Better, Faster, Happier, Cleaner
They all end with -er
So, if you can’t pronounce “er” correctly you will mispronounce every word that ends with “er”.
If you have a tutor or you are a student of PTE Mock Tests then you can ask your expert coach to identify these sounds that you need to improve. In fact when our coaches do the score reports they will make these suggestions themselves.
Once you know these are the sounds that fail you, you can work on getting them right! There are number of free resources on YouTube that can help you with it.
Speak in English everyday
Well! You are taking the PTE Exam so that you can migrate to Australia or another similar English speaking country. Why not imagine you are already there and try to act like that every day…at least for some time!
Tell your family at home to try to talk to you in English. Set time with a friend to have an English language conversation every day.
Record yourself in your phone’s voice recorder reading out an English text every day.
There are many ways to give yourself some practice if you are serious.
After all this is about influencing your mind! The more you speak, the more confident and less hesitant you will come across in the exam.
Ignore small mistakes
When you are trying to improve something, you will always make mistakes! Whether it is learning to drive or learning to speak better in English.
Our simple advice – ignore these small mistakes, don’t take them to heart!
Just because you are unable to pronounce some words correctly doesn’t mean your overall English is poor. It only means some areas need improvement.
You don’t need to be an expert in English. That is not your goal. Your goal is just to score sufficient marks to meet your target for the visa.
Take this confidence with you into the exam as well. Out of all sections your confidence influences your speaking the most!
These are a few high level suggestions which will improve your responses to all question types in the PTE speaking section.
Also read our articles on the specific question types in PTE speaking section to know what to do in each of those.
