PTE ACADEMIC

liyah22 · August 2016

Finally, graduate na ako sa PTE! It has been a long journey. God is good all the time.

L-90 R-87 S-90 W-90

Continue praying lang, in His time, He will give it to you.

xiaolico · August 2016

@liyah22 congrats. Impressive scores. Ilan takes Ka? You're good:). Give advice to those who need 79

IslanderndCity · August 2016

@liyah22 congrats! Experience-based tips will be highly appreciated. Cheers!

Charmgeil0325 · August 2016

@xiaolico yes, its my first take.. I used kenny, mcmillan and ptetest.com. But i remember when i took the exam i used to hold the mic because im afraid that my voice is too low. You think it can affect also?

xiaolico · August 2016

@Charmgeil0325 you held it sa back part? Were you able to finish the 40secs given? You did test the mic naman. Am not sure if it could have affected it. Don't worry, it's your first take, it's pretty normal to have some difficulties on your first take. At least you know now what to expect on your 2nd take. Don't give up. A lot took two takes or even more. Kaya mo Yan

Charmgeil0325 · August 2016

@xiaolico thank you! Hopefully i can make it on my 2nd take.

kendz_shelou · August 2016

dosmilquince said:
Selling my unused Scored Practice test Version 2 - 1K only. Account valid until Dec 2016. PM me if interested. Thanks!

I'm interested. How can I pay?

liyah22 · August 2016

thanks @xiaolico , @IslanderndCity

I think from all the 4 components, Speaking is the most challenging one. My scores in this area went down from 73 to 21(which I think was a result of technical problem as my enabling scores for oral fluency and pronunciation were both 0, that couldn’t be true unless I didn’t talk at all during the test right?).

Anyways, allow me to share with you some tips. Kung ano binago ko during my last test.

SPEAKING

Mostly, I changed the overall tone of my delivery on READ ALOUD section. Nilagyan ko ng confidence yung tone and conviction, or TIKAS. This has improved my pronunciation a lot. In order to maintain this, my hands would move as if I’m banging something to emphasize every word. Hahaha. Parang medyo galit. From my previous exams, my tone was more of like pang customer-service, malumanay. Although most speech software would understand what I’m saying, I guess, iba ang algorithms ng PTE.

Also, I made sure na loud and clear ang voice ko during mic test. Pinapalitan ko pa headset ko kasi hindi ako happy sa background noise. The perfect position for me was putting the microphone above my nose, almost eye level. First time ko marinig yung difference ng clear voice dun, it’s like HD kunbaga.

A colleague of mine once said, short answer questions don’t give points. Syempre hindi ako naniwala kasi PTE would not put it there for nothing. She claimed she skipped them altogether during her test and still got 90. But during my test, I encountered questions na hindi ko alam ang sagot. Out of 10, baka 4 lang nasagot ko. So what she stated must be true. Pero ginawa ko kahit hindi ko alam sagot, sumagot ako kahit ano, at pinaniwalan ko na tama yung sagot ko. I delivered it with confidence. Hindi patanong ang tono. Another person claimed, what PTE is looking for is kung tama yung word stress and pronunciation, which I think makes sense.

For describe image, I memorized some templates, but during the exam, na mental block ako, nakalimutan ko lahat

, so what I did was read whatever’s on screen. Hindi ko din sinabi kung line graph or bar graph. Lagi lang, this graph shows…. this table shows… Inulit ko lang kung ano type of image ang nasa instruction. The images I got were difficult ones kaya I think dito ako namental block. Then again, it only proved that content doesn’t matter in PTE. My take on this is, PTE doesn’t know what is on your screen. Parang bulag lang, it can only hear. Narinig ko din dati na all recording goes through the same system. PTE is not designed to grade each and every recording, it only checks for oral fluency and pronunciation. Again, makes sense considering how many test takers we have all over the world.

Retell lecture, dito ako sobra nahihirapan, kahit gaano pa pag ‘take note’ gawin ko. Hindi ko rin kasi maintindihan sulat ko after. Hehe. So what I usually do, parang describe image na lang. Kung meron image, I talk about it. Kapag minalas at wala, I talk about the lecturer, yung tone ng voice, my belief on the topic.

Overall, if I were to rate my exam from 0-10, I would say 6/10. I had some pauses, false starts pati na stuttering. But I believed in the power of God, I relied on Him not only with my own strengths. So dasal dasal ng madami, trust your Faith and don’t be too hard on yourself. Goodluck!

shye428 · August 2016

@liyah22 thank you po!!!... yeepee!!

mrfifi88 · August 2016

@liyah22 son of a tofu, those scores are high!! Congratulations!! =D> thanks for the tips! Hold my head and breathe on my profile pic please, i am taking Pte next week

michel_75 · August 2016

@liyah22 thank you for your story, i feel like want to take the exam next week already waaahaahahahahhhh. Kindly share also your experience on the other types such as Reading, Writing and Listening pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!.

liyah22 · August 2016

thanks @shye428 , @mrfifi88, natawa ako sa 'son of a tofu' mo! wahahaha (i did what you requested) Kaya mo yan!

shye428 · August 2016

ms @liyah22 i know this would sound like a broken record, but please share some tips about reading part.. i'm terrible at multiple choice questions.

mrkanncpa · August 2016

@liyah22 Super taas ng scores! Yeeey congratulations again! >:D<

liyah22 · August 2016

@michel_75 go! kelan ka nagbook ng exam?

@shye428, i think this would answer your question.

and please, wag na ms., ang lakas makatanda, haha

liyah22 said:
@Asha no worries

@vylette honestly, I still haven't found the answer on that. But what I do is compare the options to the passage and eliminate the wrong answer to the best of my understanding so I only have the 'possible' correct answer left I agree, it is tricky since most of the options presented are partly correct which could be confusing. Anyways, most of the points in reading are from the fill-in the blank section.

rami · August 2016

@liyah22 Congrats! Almost perfect score! Sana lahat ng mag take makakuha nito... lupit!

shye428 · August 2016

thank you kumareng @liyah22 haha. ayaw mo ng miss eh.

xiaolico · August 2016

@mrfifi88 goodluck. what scores do you need? 55, 65 or 79?

louietheresa · August 2016

Congratulations to those who passed...lets go....and keep on reviewing and praying for those who are going to take the exams...God bless.

liyah22 · August 2016

@michel_75 feeling ko nabanggit na rin ng mga previous members ang mga tips on those areas kaya dina ako nag comment. But anyways...

Some additional tips pala sa SPEAKING, try to read an article aloud everyday, this would exercise those mouth muscles na hindi sanay sa mga other sounds like those ending in ths e.g maths, depths, or cts e.g depicts, sts e.g scientists, analysts. Because enunciating the last letter is very important. So if it ends with ed, you have to make sure that the last sound of the word is heard. Record yourself and see if you're producing the sound. More tips below:

1. Do the straight and drop intonation
2. The word before a full stop & a comma will have a dropping intonation
3. The word after a comma or a full stop will have a rising intonation.
**What I did, sinasabay ko balikat ko pag need ng pababa na intonation (before a comma or a full stop), para matandaan ko na kailangan mababa yung intonation.

For READING part, this takes practice and understanding. In fill in the blanks(where most points are awarded), knowledge in word collocation, prepositions and grammar is important. They usually use synonyms here, so make sure you read the sentence or words before and after the blank to identify the missing word. Later on, masasanay din kayo.

In writing, I used a template from IELTS Ryan, 'how to come up with essay ideas under pressure'. It has always worked for me, kahit minsan kung ano ano na sinusulat ko dun, that's why I think writing is the easiest part of the test. Here's the link

@michel_75 , ask away kung may particular question ka sa listening. Kasi mukhang nasabi na sa previous posts ng iba. Or baka hindi ko mapinpoint yung mga unusual na ginawa ko.

mrfifi88 · August 2016

@liyah22 @xiaolico i just need 65, thanks for all your support guys, i think i can get a 100 score now (more than 90) 8->

mrfifi88 · August 2016

There is one question that has an outmost importance and would DEFINITELY affect the result of my exam. Can someone please enlighten me on this matter? Can i bring food inside the examination room? Or eat during the 10mins break? TYSM god bless and more power

xiaolico · August 2016

@mrfifi88 you can do it. 100. I think you can bring in food and leave it sa locker. I believe you can eat during the break. I didn't take a break kasi. Nag cr break Lang Ako

liyah22 · August 2016

@mrfifi88 Unfortunately, inside the examination room, nope. Even water is not allowed. Kahit candy, basta any kind of food di pwede. During the break, you can only drink water from what is provided by the centre. Dito, sa lahat ng test centre, you are not allowed to access your locker until you finished your exam. I'm not sure about other locations though.

liyah22 · August 2016

@rami thank you, easier said than done, pero totoo, kaya nyo rin kung nakaya ko.

vylette · August 2016

@liyah22 congratulations graduate ka na!

sana ako rin. Will be taking the test next week magrereview ako for the reading part sana makagraduate narin ako! habol sa august 31 invitation

by the way its the first time i have heard about the synonyms sa fill in the blanks. care to elaborate more? if this one gets most of the points then i will be focusing on this more.

xiaolico · August 2016

@liyah22 You took it sa Philippines? Sa trident tower? Prang I remember them telling me, i can access my locker during the break. Pero I cant go out. Again Im not sure

liyah22 · August 2016

hindi @xiaolico , pero with the 4 testing centres here, yan lahat rules nila so I assume ganun din sa ibang country, SOP kunbaga. Kasi there was a time na pang 1230 ako na exam, then may isang taker na tapos na from 9am sched, nasita sya kasi binuksan ang locker, napagalitan talaga, pero in the end napahiya din naman yung staff dun kasi daw akala nya on break at in-access ang locker. Again, I'm not sure ha. This is only based on my experience.

liyah22 · August 2016

@vylette for example:

"...parties are held to bid farewell to the problems and ______" (options here are: concerns, expel, temples) The correct answer would be 'concerns' although it is already obvious but since they're talking about problems, the word 'concerns' fit with the sentence. So parang synonym diba. Minsan may instances parang yung meaning nung word naman ang nasa sentence. Parang identification. E.g "________ attending his play 'Julius Caesar'....", the word 'audiences' would fit since they are talking about "attending his play".

Parang ang gulo ko mag explain. I hope it's clear.hehe

Go girl! Pasok na yan next time!