Don’t do these 5 things in PTE Academic

You have prepared well, practiced hard and studied each and every type of PTE Question in detail! But even then a few silly mistakes can cost you precious points. In this video you will learn the 5 things which you must not do in your PTE Academic exam. These tips will help you get the most out of your study efforts.

Reading the exam instructions

Instructions for most of the questions types in the PTE exam are standard, except for PTE Select missing word questions. So, never waste time on reading these standard instructions. Instead quickly jump into reading the question and preparing yourself for the response. This requires that you practice diligently before the exam, so much so that you no longer need to read the instructions to get started.

Not sticking to the format

PTE Academic doesn’t have any points for creativity.  The PTE software expects your response to satisfy it on a number of specified parameters. That is what you should aim for. If an essay is well written otherwise but doesn’t have a clear introduction or conclusion, you will lose marks. Always try to understand the structure of a high scoring response and make sure your response matches that structure.

Finishing questions early

In the writing tasks – Write Essay, Summarize Text and Summarize Spoken text, you are allocated time on a per question basis. The 20 minutes are solely for one essay. Even if you finish it early you will not be able to use that time elsewhere. So why not use it on the question. Use any leftover time for a review of your responses.

Spending too much time on one question

Opposite of the previous point, spending too much time on any one question is also detrimental. For reading and listening section you only have an overall time limit. There is no per question time limit. So it is entirely up to you how much time you chose to spend on one question. Do your practice and calculate this before you go for the exam. If a question is too hard for you and you feel you are spending too much time on it, just move to the next question.

Not reviewing the written responses

Another big mistake which you should avoid is not doing a thorough review of your written responses. In our experience, any written response can be improved significantly by a review in the end. You can always find a few better words to put in, or to add a point that you had missed earlier, or simply correct the spellings or grammar. Therefore, make sure you divide your allocated time properly and always leave some time for a review at the end. Doing a review is actually a matter of practice. So start doing it from the time you start your PTE practice.

Be mindful of these 5 points as you prepare yourself for PTE Academic. Don’t lose marks because of these easily avoidable mistakes.