PTE Reading Tips And Strategies For First-Time Examinees
The PTE Academic is built to test your reading, writing, and speaking proficiency in English. Hence, it is crucial that your preparation consists of strategies that help you build knowledge and skills to excel in all patterns of this examination.
Regardless of whether you are a native English speaker or not, unless you are a voracious reader with immense knowledge about the intricacy of the language, your skills may fall short of helping you score your highest. PTE Academic entails testing your efficiency in the language. Your PTE preparation must include a significant amount of time dedicated to enhancing your reading skills.
Before we get into how to improve your PTE reading skills, let’s look at the paper pattern of this section of the test to better strategize your preparation.
Exam Pattern
The content of PTE reading tests revolves around subjects like humanitarian studies, natural sciences, social sciences, and general knowledge. To score high in not just your PTE reading section but all the other sections too, you must focus on these subjects while preparing for the test.
This part of the test is 29–30 minutes long and contains five different question types.
PTE Reading Overview:
Here in the table are the details about the PTE Reading:
| Question Type | Task | No. of questions |
Length | Scoring | Skills assessed |
| Reading and Writing: Fill in the blanks | You will be given a paragraph with spaces to fill. Alongside you will have a drop-down button and options to choose from. Pick the correct answers to complete the entire paragraph. | 5-6 | Text up to 300 words | Partial credit scoring | Reading and Writing |
| Multiple-choice, choose multiple answers | There is more than one response. Choose all the answers that you think are correct. | 1-2 |
Text up to 300 words | Partial Credit Scoring | Reading |
Reorder paragraphs |
On the left-hand side, you will have multiple text boxes. Drag and drop them to the right side in the appropriate order. | 2 - 3 |
Text up to 150 words |
Partial Credit Scoring |
Reading |
| Reading: Fill in the blanks | The passage that appears on the screen will have several gaps. Pick the right words from the given options to fill in the gaps. You will have more options than gaps. | 4 - 5 | Text up to 80 words | Partial Credit Scoring | Reading |
| Multiple choice, single answer | There are many options given, but there’s only one correct answer. | 1-2 | Text up to 300 words | No score for wrong or no response | Reading |
PTE Academic Reading preparation strategies
1. Read what you like
One of the prime PTE reading tips is to engage in as much reading as possible. You can read books, blogs, theories, reviews, notes, news, studies, stories, anything that is related to the subjects of the test. You can pick any genre that interests you.
2. Try to speed read
PTE Academic is a time-bound test. Hence, it is essential that you master the art of reading quickly. As you begin your PTE preparation journey, try to keep increasing your reading speed by setting a goal of reading a certain number of words within a certain span of time.
3. Prepare your own dictionary
Along with speed reading, you also need to ensure that you are cognizant of what you are reading. If you come across new words, you must look them up, understand their meaning, and even note them down for personal reference.
4. Improve your grammar
Speaking of reading thoughtfully, you have to focus on improving your grammar too. Pearson’s PTE study materials will help you cover everything from the basics to advanced in terms of grammar. First, you can start with understanding English grammar. Reading excessively will help you come across the application of grammar in sentences. As you go on reading, you will become more familiar with it.
PTE Exam Preparation Strategy
1. Skimming and scanning
Skimming and scanning will help you save time while you focus on the important aspects of the text presented to you. This rapid reading method will give you an overview of the question, and you will only absorb the information that matters to you the most.
2. Read the question twice
Even though this test is time-bound, if you use the PTE reading strategies well, you will have enough time to read the question more than once. This will help you pick up on information that you may not have gathered in the first place.
3. Highlight the keywords
Using your memory, highlight the keywords in the paragraph that you think will help you pick your responses. You will not only save time but also avoid running around the bush if you identify the keywords.
4. Elimination technique
In the case of multiple-choice questions, if you are unsure of the right answer, use this elimination technique to rule out the possible wrong answers. Once you have eliminated those, you will be left with nothing but the correct option.
5. Practice Tests
Excessive and impulsive reading alone will get you nowhere. But when you combine it with the practice tests, you will develop and enhance your reading skills. Pearson’s PTE practice tests will help you develop your reading skills. You can use their study materials to learn and their online tests to evaluate your skills.
These guidelines will help you define your PTE preparation strategies. To stay on the right path and not get distracted by an overwhelming number of learning patterns or resources, you can use these tips and strategies to score your best in PTE Academic.