Personal Introduction
1.1 Personal Introduction: Non-scored task
What to expect
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.
Strategy
Be prepared with what you are going to say. This is the first part and delivering a good introduction can boost your confidence for the rest of the section.
Read Aloud
1.2 Read Aloud
What to expect
In this section, you are given a text on screen. In 40 seconds, you must read this text aloud as naturally and clearly as possible. You have 40 seconds to read aloud. You can expect around 7 texts for this section. Each text will usually be a single paragraph between 50-65 words.
Communication skills scored
Reading, speaking
Strategy
The official PTE sample test recording of answers were completed between 23-28 seconds. As a guideline, this is a good time-frame to keep in mind. Anything out of this range will usually mean you are speaking too fast or too slow.
Although this is a fairly straightforward section, special attention needs to be placed on pronunciation and oral fluency. You may say something and understand what you say, but it’s important that the software interprets what you say correctly as well.
Repeat Sentence
1.3 Repeat sentence
What to expect
In this section, you will be played an audio recording of a short sentence. You have to listen to the phrasing of a short sentence as it is and read aloud
You can expect around 12 items sets or sentences in this section. Each recording will be fairly short and between 4 to 10 seconds long. There can be between 8- 15 words in each sentence.
Communication skills scored
Listening, speaking
Strategy
You hear a short sentence ranging from 8-15 words. Don’t get overwhelmed by this. Focus on understanding the sentence instead of remembering word by word. A strategy that can be used is to break the sentences given into meaningful phrases. This way you have a better chance of reproducing it. You are scored on the correct word sequences that you can correctly speak for this item type.
Describe Image
1.4 Describe Image
What to expect
You are given an image such as a graph, map, chart, table, flowchart or picture. You have 25 seconds to observe it and need to then describe the image in about 30-40 seconds.
There will be around 7 different images displayed in this section including but not limited to line charts, pie chart, bar charts, image with facts, multiple tables, flowcharts, process diagrams, etc.
Communication skills scored
Speaking Only
Strategy
Keep it simple here. Your description should have 3 mains parts.
- Start with an introduction (Pick content from image heading and axis titles)
- Followed by the main body (This should include the key information that the image is trying to display)
- End with a conclusion (This can be a personal interpretation or opinion of the image)
The goal for you here is to get to a point where you can speak for 35 seconds, without long pauses and hesitations. Needless to say proper grammatical structure is important as well.
Important Tips: Don’t pause for more than 3 seconds or the system thinks you have finished recording and will move to the next section.
Don’t be too concerned of the content in your speech. As long as you are speaking something on the lines of what is given in the image you should be fine. Speak at a steady pace and avoid rushing through.
Re-Tell Lecture
1.5 Re-tell lecture
What to expect
In this section, you will hear a lecture. After listening to the lecture, in 10 seconds you need to speak into the microphone and retell the lecture in your own words. You will have 40 seconds to give your response
There will be around 2 items sets or lectures in this section. Each lecture will be between 1 to 1 and a half minute long. The lecture can be on a wide range of topics. It can also include an interview or conversational style lecture with two individuals speaking.
Communication skills scored
Listening, speaking
Strategy
The goal for you here is the same as in describe image, speak for 35 seconds, without long pauses and hesitations in grammatically correct English.
You only have 40 seconds to speak and make sure that you include all the main points of the lecture. If you repeat ideas, correct yourself or hesitate, you will use up valuable time and lose score points. So keep talking and ignore any mistakes that you make.
This section involves listening and note taking skills as well.
Correct smooth English, delivered at a natural rate, is above content over here as well. You get fewer points if your content is correct and English is bad.
Answer Short Question
1.6 Answer short question
What to expect
You will hear a question and need to give a simple and short answer. Often just one or a few words are enough.
There will be around 11 items sets or questions played in this section. The questions are general knowledge types and related to probably what you would have encountered in school or daily life.
Communication skills scored
Speaking only
Strategy
There is no use in speaking extra. Marks are awarded for a short, accurate answer. There are no extra marks for additional words so keep it short. Make sure you pronounce the answer as clear as you can as well.
After the question is asked the recording status box will change to recording. Start your answer as soon as you see this. If you wait for more than 3 seconds, recording will stop and the item status will change to ‘completed’, which means that you have lost your chance to give your answer.
If it’s a question with options give like the following example, copy the pronunciation of the answer from the speaker in the audio prompt.