What are The Ways to Improve Your PTE Speaking Score
In today’s day and age, English proficiency holds significance in all walks of life. PTE is an exam that tests your competency in English and its certification makes you eligible for over 3000+ universities, and colleges.
PTE Academic is focused on the speaking, writing, and listening abilities of candidates in the English language. You will be required to read, write, listen, and speak throughout different parts of your test. To understand it better, here is the PTE test format and its 3 topics:
- Speaking and writing
- Reading
- Listening
The topics are self-explanatory and give a fair idea of the tasks you need to perform. Their question types are very similar and consist of summaries, multiple choice questions, fill in the blanks, etc. They are all focused on testing your vocabulary and language skills.
It is often seen that even if candidates are able to achieve writing and reading proficiency, speaking can come with it’s own set of difficulties. Rushing thoughts can make it difficult to find the right words or to decide what to speak.
Your qualification of PTE speaking depends on your ability of quick thinking and wrapping your thoughts precisely in words. But if you are someone who is generally nervous about speaking then there’s a possibility that you might find it difficult to reach for words or even tend to talk at a faster pace, which is a drawback in PTE speaking test.
But there are ways to improve your PTE speaking score. One of them is to thoroughly understand the speaking test pattern. One of the topics is the personal introduction. This part is not under evaluation, but the response is shared with the institutions that you apply to. Apart from the personal introduction, there are 7 types of questions that you have to appear.
- Read Aloud
- Repeat Sentence
- Describe Image
- Re-tell Lecture
- Answer Short Question
- Summarize Written Text
- Essay
All these above topics involve you listening carefully and speaking precisely. Here are some PTE speaking tips that you can use to practice for this section of the test.
- Speak at a gradual speed and in a medium tone While appearing for the exam, you could have a feeling that you have to rush your answers because of limited time. As soon as the beep goes off, your heart might start racing, and knowingly or unknowingly, you will speak as fast as you can, to sum up your answer within the designated time. But, this will do you no good.
For PTE speaking practice, you have to learn to talk at a gradual speed. You will have only 30 seconds to answer, but it is enough. The answers will be small, and you can easily cover them over a span of a few seconds. When you speak, be conscious of your speed as well as your tone. Make sure that it is not low, as that might not be recorded clearly. Make sure to be loud and clear but not bawl. You can practice the same using PTE speaking preparation resources available on the website. - Enunciate well Enunciation is very important for the PTE speaking test. But, strike the right balance between enunciating rightly and not using plosive sounds. Your words should be as clear as possible. And for that, you also need to be precise with your pronunciations.
To learn how to pronounce words correctly, you can begin by noting down some common or popular words that you do not know the correct pronunciation of. We all have a list, don't we? Besides that, reading books, news, articles, listening to audiobooks, podcasts, and watching visual content like movies, documentaries can introduce you to new words as well as their pronunciation. - Don’t use colloquial language Slangs are for social media and social life. The PTE exam demands formal and advanced vocabulary. There is a high chance that while speaking your answers, you might slip into your casual language as it is habitual. However, with practice and conscious efforts in your daily routine, you can avoid this.
You can avoid using informal language by taking PTE speaking mock tests. That is one method that can help you improve your speaking skills and prepare you to answer efficiently in a limited time. - Avoid filler words Often, in between responses, you may require more time to think, be unable to find the appropriate words, or wish to say more. In any case, avoid overusing filler words such as so, like, and, etc. If you say anything wrong and want to rectify it, start a new sentence.
If you want to add something, use appropriate conjunctions. You can use coordinating conjunctions like and, but. You can also use subordinating conjunctions like although, because, in order to. For establishing a point or alternative use paired conjunctions like not only…but also. Also use transitional words like however, therefore to conclude your points.
Now that you are aware of your possible mistakes, you can start working on amending them. These little tips will not only help you score well, but they will prepare you well for your academic and professional verbal skills.