Source: http://www.expatforum.

com/expats/australia-expat-forum-expats-living-australia/809290-
pte-academic-preparation-materials.html
There are 3 parts
Part 1: Speaking and Writing
(Approximately 77-93 minutes)
Section 1: Personal introduction
In this section, you are given a prompt and are asked to introduce yourself orally. You speak about
yourself for up to 30 seconds. This is not assessed but is sent to institutions along with your score
report.

Section 2: Read aloud

In this section, you are given a text (up to 60 words) and are asked to read the text aloud. You do
six to seven of these items, depending on the combination of items in your test.

Section 2: Repeat sentence

In this section, you hear a sentence. You are asked to repeat the sentence exactly as you heard it.
You
do ten to twelve of these items, depending on the combination of items in your test.

Section 2: Describe image

In this section, you are given an image (picture, graph, table, etc.). You are asked to describe in
detail what the image is showing. You do six to seven of these items, depending on the
combination of items in your test.

Section 2: Re-tell lecture

In this section, you hear a lecture. You are asked to retell the lecture in your own words. You do
three to four of these items, depending on the combination of items in your test.

Section 2: Answer short question

In this section, you are asked a question, the answer to which is a word or short phrase. You
do ten to twelve of these items, depending on the combination of items in your test.

Sections 3-4: Summarize written text

In these sections, you read a text (up to 300 words). You are then asked to summarize the text
in one sentence. You are given ten minutes to write each summary sentence.

Section 5: Summarize written text 1 Write essay

This section is either a Summarize written text task or a Write essay task (see Section 6),
depending on the combination of items in your test.

Section 6: Write essay

In this section, you are given a prompt to read. You are then asked to write an essay (200-300
words). You are given twenty minutes to write your essay.

Here are my comprehensive write-up on PTE-A exams and individual sections in each module
based on my experience.

Speaking:

Read aloud:

Use the given 30-40 seconds to read through the text and identify the difficult words were you
might struggle. Pay attention to flow of the sentences such as full stop, commas. Try to read the
sentence like a news reader with some intonation and purpose. Quite straight forward. We get
around 7-8 questions in this section.
Repeat Sentence:

Initially, when I was preparing for PTE-A exams this section seemed overwhelming. However, in
the actual exams expect something like 8-10 words. Not very difficult. Just concentrate on the
sentence and try to repeat as many words in-order as possible without any major pauses. We get
around 8-10 questions in this section.

Describe image:

This section was daunting for me as there were two much information to comprehend in a short
span of time (35-40 sec) before you start speaking. Try to speak about most of the information
from the image in an organized manner than sharing (all/most of) the information in an
unorganized manner. We get maps, graphs (run-chart; bar graphs; pie-chart; trend graphs etc).
We get around 6-8 questions in this section.

Re-tell Lecture:

Yet another demanding section. Luckily we get around 2-3 questions in this section. The image
gives a bit of idea about the narration. Try to note the key points and don’t waste time on
examples too much. Understand the theme of the lecture and try to start with that. Something like
Topic sentence, references or examples if any and conclusion in 40 secs.

Answer a short questions in one ore few words:

There are close to 10 questions. Few questions are straight forward. Like if time period before
noon is called ante meridian, what is the time after noon called. But, there are few questions
where you might need to go through a given picture which might vary from process flow diagram
or a chart or whatever… to answer the short question. Just try to see and understand the give
picture on the toe and answer. You should be OK.

Essay:

The difficulty is on-par with IELTS for essay writing but here in PTE-A we are going to type in a
system than writing using a pencil. So, erasing, correcting and re-ordering of the text will be much
easier. Trust me, it saves lot of time. That’s the reason we are able to write around 250+ words in
PTE-A even though the given time is just 20mins. Most of the times the essays are something like
give your opinion and do you agree or disagree. Try to follow Ryan (IELTS-Argumentative essays)
writing videos from youtube. That will be of great help.

Summarize text:

The trick is to write in ONE sentence. Try using transition words. Strategy would be to
understand what the given para is trying to convey. Be objective, don’t dwell over finer example.
Try to use as many own words as possible. A sample would be – “Agriculture has fallen into a
debt; loans; high cost for seeds and manual labor, resulting more barrowing and loans
and further example stating bad shape of farming and farmers relative to debt;
barrowing etc etc” – Agriculture is caught-up in a vicious cycle; that should suffice. We get
around 2-3 questions in this section.

For the tips, just relax and focus on the questions/tasks. I messed up few of the questions
especially in the Speaking (I think Re-Tell Lecture). But I shook it up and concentrated on the next
ones.

Read and read about PTE-A. Practice and practice. I suggest that you invest on the Online Scored
Practice Test A or B. It's all worth it. At least with this, you get the feel of the actual exam. It will
give you scores similar to the real ones. These will give you feedbacks on the skills that you need
to work on.
I got 90 in my written discourse and I used this format.

intro content:
topic
+side
-side
thesis

1st paragraph content:

rewrite + side from the intro, in a new sentence
example1 of + side and supporting details
example2 of + side and supporting details
Conclude + side

2 paragraph content:
rewrite - side from the intro, in a new sentence
example 1 of - side and supporting details
example 2 of - side and supporting details
conclude - side

Conclusion content:
Summarize + and - side in one sentence
Your stand/recommendation and future outlook.

Describe Image:

Intro:
This (pie/line/bar) chart/graph (shows/displays/manifests/depicts/illustrates)
information/data/analysis about _______ over the stipulated period of (period).
OR
There are two graphs projected on screen, which in combination, shows the
(correlation/relationship/analysis) of information/data about _____ over the stipulated
period of (period).

Pie chart:
There are ___ sectors to this chart. The largest sector is ___ at (value). The lowest sector is
___ at (value). It is (surprising/interesting) to note that ___ came in (last/second) at (value)
given that (blah, blah).

Line graph, with two variables:

The graph representing ___ showed a (gradual/dramatic/steep/etc) fluctuation/volatility
throughout the stipulated period, with its highest point at (value) in (period) and its lowest
point at (value) in (period). Meanwhile, the graph representing the ___ displays a rather
(gradual/dramatic/steep/etc) fluctuation/volatility in comparison, with its highest point at
(value) in (period) and its lowest point at (value) in (period).

Bar graph:
The highest figure is ___ at (value) in (period). This is significantly/notably/surprisingly
(higher/greater) than ___ at (value) in (period), making it the lowest figure. It is
(surprising/interesting) to note that ___ came in (last/second) at (value) given that (blah,
blah).

Fillers - if you still have time:

Therefore, this (pie/line/bar) chart/graph is accurate and concise and can be used as
reference for future studies following the same objective.

Try to conclude if time permits, as this gives more points DAW. But in may case, hindi ko na
nagawa. I also didn't use any "ah, uhm, er, let me see" or any other gap fillers. I took my
time enunciating each word and this gave me time to think of what to say next.

As for retell lecture, no formal template as I relied heavily on the lecture itself. Habang
nagte-take notes, synonyms na agad yung sinusulat ko para sa sasabihin ko but I made sure
na I still used keywords.

Read aloud and repeat sentence: observe your phrasing. Get into the meaning and purpose
of the sentence para madeliver mo accordingly. Like, instruction ba sya? So make your tone
imperative. Informative ba? E di parang reporter lang ang delivery. Sabi nila mag-notes sa
repeat sentence but it just didn't work for me. I closed my eyes and listened intently instead.
I imagined na may nagiinstruct o kumakausap sakin so I was able to grasp the meaning and
eventually repeated most of the words. Siguro nagkamali ako sa collocations and
transitive/linking verbs lang pero yung major words I got them all, I think.

Overall: Avoid any accent and tone na hindi natural sayo. Ito yung error ko the first time.
Medyo conyo kasi ako in real life so I tend to mumble and my tone is always high-pitch, you
know the usual maarte kolehiyala. Haha. In my 2nd attempt inalis ko lahat ng arte and I
spoke like I'm reading to kids, clear and no frills.
 o start, I can share some general tips muna:

- Be confident. Malaking bagay talaga ito. If you're confident, everything will follow.
- Practice, practice, practice. Malaking bagay talaga ito. I only had 1 week to prepare for the exam pero I made
sure to make the most of my "study time". Kung tingin niyo meron kayong area na medyo hindi mataas ang
level ng confidence niyo, then spend more time to get better at it. Practice will build your confidence.
- Gaya ng sinabi ng ibang posters dito, if you made a mistake on one item, just let it go and move on to the next
one. Don't let it affect your momentum.
- I also allotted considerable amount of time practicing for the "Read Aloud" test. Naisip ko kasi, it is the first
part of the exam so if you start with a bang, malaki ang maitutulong nito for the rest of the test. I think nilagay
siya sa unang part for the purpose of building your confidence in answering the rest of the items. Kung maririnig
niyo yung sample audio recordings dun sa free offline test ng Pearson, di hamak naman na mas magaling tayong
mag basang mga Pilipino Yun pa lang malaking confidence booster na. I also feel na malaki points ang
makukuha ng computer dito in relation to your fluency.
- Ok yung testing venue sa Makati. You get your own small room at wala kang kasama. Malaking bagay ito lalo
na if you get easily conscious if somebody else's around the area with you.
- Make sure to test your mic! Tama yung sinabi ng isang poster dito. Sometimes, may sound na maaaring maka
apekto sa pag-intindi ng computer sa speech mo. Take your time to test the mic. You practice as long as you like
until you are satisfied with the loudness of the voice recorded by the computer. Wala namang time limit yun.
You can record your voice as many times as you want until you get that level of loudness you want.
- Make sure to show up early at the testing venue. My test is scheduled at 9:00 AM. I arrived at 8:00 AM. I was
able to take the test half an hour earlier than my scheduled appointment. I mean you can take this opportunity to
ensure that everything is in order such as the microphone, the keyboard etc.
- Take time to familiarize yourself with the flow of the exam. Ako what I did was to go over the tutorial videos
in youtube as much as I can. This is the link to the youtube channel.

Malaking bagay ito so you don't have to read the instructions as detailed as you need to. Pero make sure to read
pa rin kasi baka mamaya, Multiple Choice Single Answer ang test pero Multiple Choice Multiple Answer ang
gawin mo.
-Be careful with your spelling lalo na sa task na kailangan natin mag type ng texts. Minsan kasi akala mo tama
yung spelling ng words mo at nag mamadali ka.
261314 (Software Tester)
27 May 2015 - Submitted requirements for ACS Skills Assessment
05 June 2015 - Received Result of Assessment - Positive (Thank You Lord!)
15 June 2015 - PTE Academic exam
16 June 2015 - Passed PTE Academic exam :) - Thank you Lord!
17 June 2015 - Applied for Victoria State Nomination
 18 June 2015 - Application received by the Victorian Gov. Obtained Reference.
02 July 2015 - Application refused by the Victorian Government
07 July 2015 - Applied for South Australian Nomination under 489 visa scheme
20 July 2015 - State Sponsorship Approved/Received Invite to Apply for Visa (Thank You Lord!)
03 Aug 2015 - Lodged Visa Application :)
22 Sep 2015 - Requested to have Medicals done
29 Sep 2015 - Had Medicals done at NHSI
06 Oct 2015 - Medical results forwarded to DIBP
07 Oct 2015 - Medical results finalised. All cleared. Thank you Lord!
09 Oct 2015 - Visa Grant. Thank you Lord!!!!!!!!! and thank you to all who helped me with this application.

Expand Signature
0LOL 0Awesome 0Informative 0Artistic Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

 FrenchMilk Total Reaction Points: 12Member

June 2015 edited June 2015 Posts: 160

Speaking Tips

READ ALOUD
- Very important. I believe it sets the momentum of the exam. This will help you gain your confidence to tackle
the rest of the exam.
- Clear and at a normal pace. Huwag masyado mabagal huwag din masyado mabilis.
- Dapat not too loud din baka kasi hindi na ma-recognize ng computer ang voice mo.
- Make the most out of the preparation time given to you. Check mo kung saan dapat may short pause like yung
may mga comma. Lalo na yung sentences na may mga sunod sunod na comma kasi nag bibigay ng example.
- Pag ang sentence ay patanong be sure na ang pagbigkas niyo ay patanong. So ito yung intonation.

DESCRIBE AN IMAGE TASK:

I find this youtube video useful

Some words and phrases useful in describing a graph.

- steady growth
- steady increase
- rise
- fall
- using the word "about" in relation to percentage
- when describing a period use "from year 1 to year 2" and "between year 1 and year 2"
- reached its peak
- lowest point
- climbed to
- for example, instead of saying 48%, you can say just below 50%, or if it is 51% you can say just above 50%
- instead of saying 50% of the population, you can say half of the population

RE-TELL LECTURE:

- Make sure to take down notes. Remember important words or phrases from the lecture. Tingin ko pag na
recognize ng computer yung mga keywords and phrases, mataas ang makukuha mong score. You don't have to
take note of whole sentences. Just keywords and phrases.
- Fluency is the key. Avoid ums and pauses. Salita lang ng salita. Don't worry too much about the grammar.
Feeling ko kasi, if you start worrying about your grammar, it definitely will affect your fluency.
- Sa experience ko, may isang recording dun sa test na talagang I struggled making out what the speaker is
saying. Buti na lang for that item, they provided a graphical illustration about the lecture. Dun na lang ako nag
base ng sasabihin ko sa speech ko. Don't panic. May time naman talaga to prepare before the speech. I really did
struggle to take notes pero ayun buti may image.

REPEAT SENTENCE

- Concentration and focus lang talaga. Don't take notes. Ang bilis ng transition. For all you know it, nag switch
na sa Recording yung computer. Basta pag may hindi ka nabanggit na word, let it go. Move on to the next item.
- Practice, practice and practice lang talaga. Kahit same audio recording, practice lang.
ANSWER SHORT QUESTION

- Concentration and focus lang din. Not all the time you will be asked with a straight forward question. May
items din na ganito ang ang types ng question:
Bibigyan ka ng several choices and pipiliin mo kung ano yung tamang sagot
Sometimes the choices are in the form of a picture. Halimbawa may question dun tatanungin sayo, what is the
third item on the left.