Newbie here! I haven't read all the notes here but I just want to share my experience, give some advice, and give opinion why one should take PTE vs. IELTS, or IELTS then PTE 🙂
I took IELTS academic three effin times but my writing was always marked 6.5; all the others were good, ranging from 7.5-8.5.
Nawalan na ako ng pagasa pero may nagsabi sakin magtake daw ako ng PTE-A, and voila, 90 lahat!
Key takeaways:
1) Both are good measures of language test, however IELTS is more prone to be scored subjectively. PTE-A on the other hand is more objective, but may be prone to "robotic" scoring, i.e.you can use some patterns as some here referred to as 'templates'.
2) i think one's experience in IELTS will result to good scores in PTE. He just needs to be familarized on the type of questions.
3) PTE's test format is easier BUT since there's time pressure for every question, medyo nakakataranta and sometime nakaka-mind block
4) I DON'T KNOW why I got 90 sa speaking. Honestly nag stutter ako a lot (maybe because nakakastress nga isipin na may time limit) and for some of the questions, I wasn't able to finish speaking within the time limit. With this, I advise to take PTE kasi pag sa IELTS, below 7 na agad yun siguro. Haha!
5) It helped that I watch US series to learn conversational english and idioms. It helped din na I engage in meetings na english ang medium kahit pinoy kausap. It helped din na may british akong ka-trabaho to train my ears 🙂 i read things that interests me: GAME OF THRONES!!!
6) it just takes practice and patience to ace a language test. And make sure to choose the right exam for your needs - I just did! Haha!