Sorry for this long post. I just would like to share God's goodness in my life through my English exam journey.
I took IELTS last Nov. 14, 2017 and I crashed my writing subtest (LRSW 7.5/7.5/7/6.5) it then dampened my spirit and took me a couple of months to move on.
Then I came to know PTE and focused on writing, since it was my lowest score in IELTS. For the exam, I first familiarized myself with the structure thru E2language and memorized templates and methods from it as well. Since my only goal is to have 65 in each subtest and the overall score, so boosted with confidence, I took my 1st PTE exam last July 18th and got the score the following day and was surprised with the devastating score that I got
(LRSW 64/65/62/66.)
I prayed harder, asked God's discernment and booked another exam. I trusted God's way of pruning me so I kept trusting Him instead of questioning why. Told myself to stay more focused and have a goal each day for my review, not setting aside my devotional time.
When I prepared for IELTS, my reading materials were Reader's Digest, National Geographic and articles about anything under the sun in order for me to have a general knowledge since it is what IELTS demands. But with my PTE review, I resorted to Spiritually-inclined books which gave me a deeper spiritual sense so it gave me a double purpose; prepared me for my exam while learning more about God's way, will and purpose for my life. God said not to be contented with just enough, so I prayed for a superior score so it would help me later on with my PR.
So I took the exam last August 7, after 8.5 "business days" of waiting, 2 weeks of praying even deeper and trusting in God's promises, I have already received my score an hour ago and it was worth the wait, (LRSW 81/89/90/81) TO GOD BE ALL THE GLORY, HONOR AND HIGHEST PRAISE!
To give back, firstly, I would like to thank the inspiring stories from this forum, to those who struggled as well, you were my inspiration to move on and not give up. To the people who shared their winning templates @batman and @Heprex thank you! To @Supersaiyan who kept me calm when I doubted my writing "mishap", thank you and to my partner in waiting (for the score), @veronicalcole thank you for passing the "baton" and for the prayers =)
Secondly, to those who are still struggling with their score or will take the epic PTE exam, here are my tips;
Pray and trust God for everything, the struggles are just God's way in pruning us. Pray for your desired score specifically, claim for a superior score for every subtest.
Memorize your templates by heart, I combined templates from the people I mentioned earlier and practiced it each day. Try to recite it each time even if you are taking a bath or just doing the dishes.
My practice materials were from E2language(free resource) and ptestudy.com (their materials are superb!) PTE tutorials if ptestudy is down.
For the speaking, watch PTE magic from MONI in youtube, it's what I did and it worked.
For the reading MCA multiple answer, I chose 1 option which I know is the right answer.
For the writing, Connecting Words are essential =)
Practice, practice, practice!
If you would ask if I took any scored mock test, my answer is NO, just some free mocktests without score =)
Finally, sharing my blessings to everyone, may you all receive your desired score! God bless everyone, keep trusting God, He is in control! =)