PTE ACADEMIC

warquezho · October 2015

@MisterKehn,

Now dito po ako sa SG, kayo po saan? Sana nga totoo, sa speaking feel ko kaya ko naman, nahiya lang ako lakasan kasi baka marinig ng mga housemates ko eh hahaha. Mahilig naman ako mag basa pero parang kakaiba yung reading nitong academic, malalalim yung words lalo sa last 2 parts ng reading, at yung re-order paragraphs.

MisterKehn · October 2015

@MisterKehn,

Now dito po ako sa SG, kayo po saan? Sana nga totoo, sa speaking feel ko kaya ko naman, nahiya lang ako lakasan kasi baka marinig ng mga housemates ko eh hahaha. Mahilig naman ako mag basa pero parang kakaiba yung reading nitong academic, malalalim yung words lalo sa last 2 parts ng reading, at yung re-order paragraphs.

@warquezho - SG din ako.. reading din ang weakness ko.. naka 3 takes ako ng PTE, yung pangatlong take ko lang naging okay.. try mo search yung CAT parajumbled- practice sa re-order paragraphs..

filipinacpa · October 2015

Hi all! Sorry ngayon lang ulit nakalog in.. Good to see many people have been blessed with PTE

warquezho · October 2015

@filipina,
Musta application? Approved naba? Tips naman sa reading, arrange paragraphs at yung last two parts ng reading.

@MisterKehn
Musta pala environment sa exam center? Maingay ba?

MisterKehn · October 2015

@filipina,
Musta application? Approved naba? Tips naman sa reading, arrange paragraphs at yung last two parts ng reading.

@MisterKehn
Musta pala environment sa exam center? Maingay ba?

@warquezho- oo .. pero wag mo nalang pansinin.. maganda pag yung mailagay ka sa dulo na maliit na room.. para dka masyadong maistorbo.. Good luck kaya mo yan...

jrs · October 2015

yung written exam ba sa PTE-A, handwritten or typing lang?

amb3r795 · October 2015

yung written exam ba sa PTE-A, handwritten or typing lang?

typing po. computer base po lahat. thanks

coffeepamore · October 2015

@warquezho ,

Test A: L/R/S/W-79/64/62/80 i took this before reviewing anything.
Test B. 90/69/797 - i took this 2 days before the exam

For writing, mahalaga ung tamang pag capitalize ng letters, spelling, and grammar.naka capital lang dpt pag proper noun.

Suggest ko basahn niyo rn un scoring guide nasa pearson website para alam niyo panu kau gagradean,

reorder sentence basta complete un sentence and it ca stand on its own, plus walang pronoun. part 1 na agad

NicoDC · October 2015

Guys technique ko sa reorder paragraph/sentence lahat may connections. Kunwari sa 1st parangraph namention ung Law, expect sa next paragraph na tungkol sa law ung susunod,tapos iconnect mo lng ng iconnect, kasi ung mga paragraph lagi may subject yan macoconnect mo sa susunod, tapos once na connect mo na lahat. Madali mo na malalaman ung 1st paragraph. Favorite ko part na toh kasi parang puzzle. Itreat nyo lang sya na parang puzzle. Magegets nyo din ako pagnagexam na kayo.

jrs · October 2015

@amb3r795 thank for confimation

kymme · October 2015

ok lang ba gamitin ang apple earphones then connect sa laptop? or kelangan ung mei png connect na headset and mic dun s laptop? ksi d bg wowork ung apple earphones ko e

aikee888 · October 2015

Guys, i just got my results today. I took the exam yesterday.

I am happy to say, perfect 90 ako sa lahat.

super di ko inexpect na makakaperfect ako. Maraming salamat sa forum na ito, mga 2 months din akong nagbabasa dito sa forum ng mga tips.

its my time to give back. I'll share my experience and tips sa next post.

Julian · October 2015

@aikee888 Congrats... where do you take the exam? Please share tips and experience.

omeng22 · October 2015

@aikee888 pashare po ng tips! planning to take the exam sa December

warquezho · October 2015

@aikie
Waaaa kakainggit naman kayo, puros 90!!! Sana ako rin. Nag mock ka ba? Ilan score mo sa mock? Ano mas mahirap:

1. Macmillan
2. Mock
3. Exam

@MisterKhen,
Pwede ba mag pa request na dun ako malagay sa room sa dulo? HEHEHE

aikee888 · October 2015

@Julian dito sa ako sa Belgium nag take ng exam.

anyway, a little bit of history.

I took the IELTS twice before taking PTE. First time that I took IELTS (Jan 2014, Philippines), my aim was not really to get a score of 7.0, I only need at that time an average score of 6.5 since that is the requirement for my master's program here in Belgium. But I still wanted to get an average of 7.0 since I know that I will be using it eventually for migration purposes. For my first take, i got L/R/W/S 7.5/9/6.5/7.5 , as expected I only got 6.5 for writing. I blamed it on my handwriting haha! I have the worst handwriting in the world, pang doktor! After year, I decided to take again IELTS to finally start my migration process. Took my second IELTS exam here in Belgium already (May 2015) but as usual, still got 6.5 for writing.
I got depressed and thought that all my Australia dreams are gone, but then I stumbled upon this page and saw how people are recommending PTE instead of IELTS. I took the time to read the experiences of people and got really motivated to try again.

To start, I downloaded the McMillan reviewer posted here in the forum and read through all the pages here in the forum for tips and tricks. I also bought the gold pack for the sample scored test. It took me around 5 weeks to review for the actual exam.

I did my first mock exam after 1 week of review. Results are:

Listening: 69
Reading: 77
Speaking: 68
Writing: 80

Enabling skills:
Grammar: 83
Oral Fluency: 81
Pronunciation: 50
Spelling: 69
Vocabulary: 79
Written Discourse: 90

Satisfied with my scores since I only need 65 for all skills. I was shocked however to get the highest mark for writing since I believe this is my weakness. I was also shocked that my lowest score is for speaking. I am pretty much confident when it comes to speaking. Initially, I thought that it might be due to the fact that I am only using iphone earphones as my headset and mic, but looking closely at the enabling skills, I only got 50 for pronunciation. I had to be objective and reconsider the way I speak. I recorded my speaking voice to see if there is anything wrong with how I speak. I asked my GF also for opinion on how I speak and also compared it with the sample responses from PTE offline and McMillan. In the end, I concluded that my manner of speaking was too soft. I tend to eat up my words when I speak (isipin nyo parang pabebe ako magsalita hahaha!) So I had to focus with my speaking skill instead. Initially, my review plan is to focus on one skill per day, but after getting the results of the first mock test, I focused more on speaking. Everyday, I practiced the read aloud section of McMillan. Kahit paulit ulit, basa lang ako ng basa. I read aloud the text and pronounced each word clearly. I speaked slowly and emphasized important words and punctuation. I needed to get use to the proper pace of speaking. Dun ko narealize na medyo barok pala ako. I noticed na i mispronounce some words, may mga letters na di ako naproronounce ng maayos and to think all the while akala ko ang galing galing ko magsalita ng english haha.

Anyway, 1 week before the exam, I took the mock test again. This time i got better results.

Listening: 90
Reading: 79
Speaking: 84
Writing: 90

Enabling skills:
Grammar: 82
Oral Fluency: 87
Pronunciation: 68
Spelling: 90
Vocabulary: 90
Written Discourse: 75

Very much happy with the results since I am now more confident that I can get above 79 for all sections. Analyzed the result again and this time pronunciation is now better from 50 to 68. Oral fluency scores were also higher, from 82 to 87. I agree with the others here that continuous flow of words is more important than content. and of course, I spoke more clearly. Written discourse was lower from 90 to 75 however. I think this is a result of using short basic sentences in the essay part. For listening, first mock test was only 69 which I think was because I did poorly in the summarize spoken text. I did not follow the instructions to use 50-70 words. Fixed this up and got 90 in the second mock test.

After the second mock test, shifted my focus to reading. I really want to get 79 for all sections now. I noticed that for both mock tests, I was able to finish the reading section in almost half the time required. I changed my reading habits and reviewed each of my answers carefully. Unlike IELTS, you can review your answers for all questions during the exam, for PTE, once you press next, you will not be able to go back and change your answers. So you really have to be sure with your answers when you press next. I found the -re-order paragraphs to be really hard. Even if paulit ulit ko sinasagutan yung McMillan, namamali pa rin ako sa re-order paragraphs pero practice lang ng practice. Basahin yung rin yung tips sa McMillan.

Day before the exam, i used the PTE offline tests lang and familiarized myself with the exam sequence.

actual tips next post. super haba na pala. may word limit pala dito haha

aikee888 · October 2015

eto na talaga, tips:

Speaking:
-speak clearly! ibuka ang bibig ng maayos. ayusing ang P at F, SH at TH, B at V. Hindi kelangan maarte, kelangan malinaw, at naiintindihan. Tandaan, computer ang mag score sa iyong pananalita so dapat malinaw.
-humingi ng tulong sa ibang tao. Magtanong kung maayos at malinaw ba ang iyong pananalita.
_okay lang mabagal, basta hindi super bagal na parang putol putol na. wag din parang robot magsalita. May rise and fall dapat sa intonation.
-for describe image, focus on oral fluency. magsalita lang ng tuloy tuloy. iwasang ang mga fillers like, ah, uhm, uh. Tama ang previous tips, di ganun kaimportante ang content. start with the type of graph, kahit hindi mo na sya i-reword, feel ko ok lang. then followed by the highest value, then lowest value, then trend. Pag may oras pa, gawa ka ng conclusion like "it is interesting to note that this value is the highest bla bla bla". Pwede rin "it is surprising that bla bla bla" or " this data is very useful bla bla bla". Gumawa ng speech template tulad ng payo ng iba.
-for repeat sentence, focus focus focus! take note of the time here. mas okay mag practice using pte offline than mcmillan dito. Kasi may timer talaga sa pte offline unlike mcmillan. May 1-2 seconds kasi before ka dapat mag salita sa repeat sentence. Naging challenge kasi sa akin ito. Nagsasalita kasi ako agad agad after matapos magsalita yung speaker. So kung McMillan lang gamit nyo, mag salita after1-2 seconds after matapos ng speaker.
-overall, kelangan ng focus talaga. during the actual exam, you have the chance to test your headset and mic. I think for all test centers whether sa Pilipinas or sa ibang bansa, high quality naman yung headset and mic na gamit nila. You can take your time testing your mic kahit siguro 10 minutes ka pa abutin hehe.
-lastly, wag magpa distract sa mga katabi. totoong magkakarinigan talaga kyo. sobrang dali ko madistract. Try nyo magpractice ng may ibang mga nagsasalita. isipin nyo, may mga 6-7 na tao na sabay sabay magsasalita. makikipagsabayan ka sa kanila. Nung nag test pa lang kami ng mic, akala ko ok lang boses ng mga katabi ko. pero nung actual exam na, biglang nagsilakasan ang mga boses. nadistract ako ng konti buti na lang nakapag focus pa rin ako. kung tatanungin nyo ko, pwede nyo gawin is paunahain nyo yung mga katabi nyo. Antayin nyo sila magsalita, kasi once actual na, malalakas na boses ng mga yan. so pag alam nyo na yung actual ingay nung room, alam mo na kung pano mag focus at lakasan ang boses nyo rin.

Writing:
-dito i think kung nakaka 6.5 ka sa ielts, di ka magkakaproblema sa writing. makakakuha ka ng 65 and above sa PTE. Importante dito to follow the instructions, follow yung word count. use only ONE sentence, use conjunctions to make your sentence complex. Use a lot of synonyms.
-summarize text, use around 50-70 words para complex talaga. Analyze yung paragraphs, and try to make a super short summary of the paragraphs. then use conjunctions to combine these summaries. enough ang 10 minutes to do this.
-ayusin ang spelling. i think it helps sa overall score sa writing.
-essay, gayahing ang IELTS style tulad ng sabi ng mga tao. Personally, i don't think i change the way I write. medyo same pa rin yung structure ng ginawa ko sa PTE at IELTS kaya handwriting ko talaga siguro problema sa IELTS haha. For review materials, manood ng videos sa youtube about writing. may mga tips sila on how to write the intro body and conclusion. 3 paragraphs lang ang essay ko. intro, body and conclusion. for intro, first sentence is to reword the question or statement. second sentence is to state whether i agree or disagree with the statement. 2 sentences lang intro. for body. dito ko nilista lahat ng reasons ko why i agree or not with the statement. conclusion, almost same sa intro, reword ng statement including summary on why i agree or disagree, mga 2 sentences ulit.
-gumamit pala ng complex sentences similar to summarize text. part ito ng written discourse ata which fill form part of your overall score sa writing.
-finally, follow the word limit. use around 250-300 words.

Reading:
-familiarize yourself with collocations. yan yung mga expressions. may list ang PTE ng collocations. google nyo PTE academic collocation word list. Mga 2000 expressions yan. di nyo naman kelangan imemorize pero at least be familiar sa mga terms na laging ginagamit.
-practice lang talaga ng practice, mas madali sa actual exam compared sa McMillan kaya good material ang McMillan to use as practice. basahin ang guide from McMillan for reorder paragraph.

Listening:
-focus lang talaga dito, ayusin ang spelling.

wooh, sana walang ako nakalimutan. let me know kung may mga tanong pa kayo. i will try to answer as much as i can.

pasensya na kung super haba haha

aikee888 · October 2015

@warquezho i think McMillan ang pinakamahirap but very minimal lang ang difference. Mas okay kung masanay ka sa hirap ng McMillan. Pero feel ko malaking tulong talaga yung mock test ng PTE. iba talaga yung feeling ng actual timed exam at sa computer. sa McMillan kasi sariling record ka ng boses mo, sariling sulat sa sagot sa reading, sariling type sa writing.

Julian · October 2015

@aikee888 Thank you so much, you inspired me to take my chance in PTE again. Kung may Niners ang IELTS, ano sa PTE Academic??? Ninetiners ha ha

aikee888 · October 2015

@Julian You're welcome. Personally, feel ko mas mahirap ang PTE compared sa IELTS. but mas madali makakuha ng mataas na score sa PTE. and wala pa ako kakilala na naka perfect 9 sa lahat ng sections sa IELTS, at parang imposible sya, lalo na speaking at writing. Sa PTE, sobrang dami na nakakuha ng perfect 90 na score dito pa lang sa pinoyau.

and i know personally na may mga mali ako sa repeat sentence, answer short question pero 90 pa rin nakuha ko.

Good luck sa lahat ng magtatake. Kaya nyo yan!

eischied_21 · October 2015

Does it matter kaya kun same lahat yun sinasabi mo sa describe image since may template/script ka na then pinapalitan mo na lang yun title, higher/lower value, trend?

eischied_21 · October 2015

@aikee888 sabi mo may mga mali ka sa repeat sentence, how did you manage if hindi mo nakuha lahat ng words or last few words sa sentence?

Liolaeus · October 2015

Baka over 90 talaga ang score pag perfect, naka cap lang sa 90.

aikee888 · October 2015

@eischied_21 i don't think its possible naman na exact yung mga sasabihin mo per image. every image is iba iba naman. So in general, "the bar graph shows, pie chart shows, line graph shows, etc". Meron pa pala ako nakuha na dalawang image sabay. Isang bar graph at isang map, yung bar graph lang ang nadescribe ko, yung map hindi na kasi kulang sa 40 seconds and naputol pa sa dulo yung sinasabi ko. marami pala sa mga graph, comparison ng mga products/items. like iba iba colors for bar graphs and line graphs, so isa sa sasabihin nyo yung comparison let's say ng sale ng coke vs pepsi.

magpractice lang sa mcmillan ng describe image. kahit kabisado nyo na yung mga graphs, i'm sure mag iiba iba pa rin yung words na magagamit mo. i think around 5-7 sentences lang masasabi mo within 40 seconds. di kelangan magmadali. same with other speaking sections, clarity and continuous flow of words. dati nagmamadali ako dito, tuloy tuloy salita di mo tuloy maisip kung ano sasabihin mo next, kaya bagalan para makapag isip ng maayos.

for repeat sentence, mga 2 items siguro yung mali ko. either omitted words, or na jumble ko yung words. i think ok lang yun, hindi ata 1 or 0 ang points ng repeat sentence. pa-confirm na lang din sa website, parang sa pagkakaalam ko, may points pa rin as long as malapit sa original sentence, na ok lang mag miss ng mga isang word. but syempre, presence of mind talaga. nadistract lang talaga ako sa mga katabi ko.

sa speaking talaga ako pinaka kinabahan. after nung exam, medyo confident ako sa ibang sections except speaking. alam ko di ganun kaayos mga sinabi ko sa describe image at retell lecture.

payo ko talaga isa to record your voice when doing the describe image at retell lecture. kung pano kyo magsalita sa read aloud, ganun din dapat sa describe image at retell lecture. minsan kasi mas mabilis tayo mag salita sa describe image comapred sa read aloud.

good luck!

aikee888 · October 2015

@Liolaeus di ko talaga alam pano scoring ng PTE. ang hirap paniwalaan ang perfect 90.

MisterKehn · October 2015

@aikie
Waaaa kakainggit naman kayo, puros 90!!! Sana ako rin. Nag mock ka ba? Ilan score mo sa mock? Ano mas mahirap:

1. Macmillan
2. Mock
3. Exam

@MisterKhen,
Pwede ba mag pa request na dun ako malagay sa room sa dulo? HEHEHE

@warquezho- try mong ikaw mauna na pumasok....tapos pag pinapasok ka na..sabihin mo kung pede sa left na room..kung okay lang naman.. Depende din kasi sa nagbabantay.. try lang.. good luck..

warquezho · October 2015

@aikee888
Thanks sa tips. Kakainis lang yung macmilan na reorder paragraph, sa buong test 1 to 4 wala ako na saktuhan. Need kopa ng ibang practice at tips dito hehe.

@Misterkehn,
So nasa left room pala yung ok na pwesto? Solo kaba dun? Subukan ko yan at agahan ko ang punta hehehe

MisterKehn · October 2015

@aikee888
Thanks sa tips. Kakainis lang yung macmilan na reorder paragraph, sa buong test 1 to 4 wala ako na saktuhan. Need kopa ng ibang practice at tips dito hehe.

@Misterkehn,
So nasa left room pala yung ok na pwesto? Solo kaba dun? Subukan ko yan at agahan ko ang punta hehehe

@warquezho - solo room na maliit yung sa left.. pero d ako napunta doon.. yup agahan mo nalang..

warquezho · October 2015

@MisterKehn,
Sige, aagahan ko para ma request na dun ako hehe.

Na try ko pala yung cat para jumble, grabe, parang mas mahirap pa siya sa Macmillan na jumble paragraphs? Sa simula nakakapuntos pa eh hehe