IELTS v.s Pearson Test of English Academic (PTE Academic) | My personal findings

Congrats Anshuman,

I have attempted twice 1st was unsuccessful and in 2nd I was able to get 69 so at-least some relief. But this time will be appearing in JAN and need 79 in any case. Can you throw some light on your preparations on other areas as well.

Thanks !!!

Chandan.

Hi all,

 

Reading through the thread, I thought I will share my experience as well. I am in India and gave the PTE last week. I was pleasantly surprised to score 90 in all sections in my first attempt!

 

Why surprised? I was sure my mic would have picked up noise from the adjacent test takers - the seats were too close! But seeing the scores, my guess is that may be the software is intelligently designed and only picks up 'relevant' sounds - as all the test-takers were answering different questions (at least while speaking). The main problem was concentration, given the noise.

 

My tip for describe image: structure the first sentence like this and NEVER fumble: "The line-chart/pie-chart/bar-graph illustrates [chart title] from the period/through the period/for [x-axis]". Then point one or two extremes in the graph: "The sales were highest in 2006 and lowest in 2009", and conclude, if possible with a trend analysis: "Overall, there is a downward trend in sales in the last five years".

 

I am an MBA and my job is to look at charts and sound smart :cute:

Hello Chandan,

Just to be sure, I purchased the PTE practice tests and sample questions (Gold package I think). That was the only preparation I had. Although I am not a native speaker, my work requires me to interact with global clients regularly, so understanding various accents (listening) and speaking is not a problem.

Writing essay: Divide the essay into 4 paragraphs of 2-3 sentences each: 1. Introduction 2. Your opinion 3. Fact-based statements to back up your position or personal experiences 4. Conclusion. Use of decent vocabulary and punctuations is key. All they want is to ensure you can frame proper English sentences and communicate your point across.

Speaking: Just speak the way you usually do. Not too loud, no fake accents. Of course, no 3-second gaps!

Listening: Listen VERY carefully, probably close your eyes and listen if need be (and if you're not taking notes). I was having issues concentrating with so much noise around (outside noise).

Reading: No real tips here :\ Just try to understand the passages and not try to match the options word for word.

All the best!

Congrats Anshuman,

 

I have attempted twice 1st was unsuccessful and in 2nd I was able to get 69 so at-least some relief. But this time will be appearing in JAN and need 79 in any case. Can you throw some light on your preparations on other areas as well.

 

Thanks !!!

 

Chandan.

 

Writing essay: Divide the essay into 4 paragraphs of 2-3 sentences each: 1. Introduction 2. Your opinion 3. Fact-based statements to back up your position or personal experiences 4. Conclusion. Use of decent vocabulary and punctuations is key. All they want is to ensure you can frame proper English sentences and communicate your point across.

 

!

Hi anshuman2707

Thanks for sharing your tips!

So for para 3 of the essay, does it suffice to only give 1 supporting reason/statement to back my opinion and then just elaborate on it? Or should I try to cram more reasons into the 2-3 lines to make my case stronger?

@supercow and others, thank you for your wonderful posts. I wish to seek the help of those who had taken PTE-A and met their 79 cutoffs - could you please send me the PTE practice/study materials you used? I know there are a lot out there, which is why I am hoping to tap on your experience for which you think were most helpful, thanks! You can PM or email me directly, would be keen to hear your experiences too.

My situation is the same as supercow. I need the Superior English points as I did not work in the same field as my academic qualifications. I took IELTS last year, scored L8 R8.5 W7 S8, and was very demoralized. I had assumed achieving Superior English would not be an issue with English being almost a first language for me. But with the subjective scoring of the IELTS Writing, it seems almost impossible to achieve the needed perfect score. I thought PTE-A would be even harder being machine scored, but after recommendation by others and reading this thread, I feel more hopeful now. Hope that all the kind people can relate to my story and help me out, thanks!

Hello Eudaemon,

There is not fixed rule as such. If you are short on content, let the essay be limited to 3 paragraphs only. In all my essays, I only gave one supporting statement, and it worked for me! Remember, they are not judging how you back your opinion - they are judging how you can stay relevant to the topic of the essay.

Also, the word limit is 200-300 (or 250-300) words. I was always in the middle of this range. All the best!

Hi anshuman2707

 

Thanks for sharing your tips!

So for para 3 of the essay, does it suffice to only give 1 supporting reason/statement to back my opinion and then just elaborate on it? Or should I try to cram more reasons into the 2-3 lines to make my case stronger?

For people struggling to get the 79+ or 8+ in PTE or IELTS, I don't know if it is a possibility to do CAE. I have struggled with the exams myself for quite some while, I did PTE 5 times and IELTS 2 times (and almost always just missed out) before I decided to do CAE, which I passed on the first try (200+ in every part). I found the exam a lot more relaxed compared to the others.

- listening: they play every recording twice and the topics are a lot easier than PTE

- speaking: 15 min with another candidate and 2 examiners

- writing: 1 essay + a choice out of a letter/a review/... and you have 1.5h to do so!

- reading: more general topics and again 1.5h (although it also contains 'use of English' which I was quite scared of but they don't care about that score for the visa anyways)

The exam does take a bit longer but it is a lot more relaxed because you have more time to finish each part + you get a 20 min break between parts which is quite nice!

I wish I had tried this exam from the beginning because I could've been a lot farther in my visa process but that's just life I'm just happy I passed and I've got my invite to apply!

Hello Eudaemon,

 

There is not fixed rule as such. If you are short on content, let the essay be limited to 3 paragraphs only. In all my essays, I only gave one supporting statement, and it worked for me! Remember, they are not judging how you back your opinion - they are judging how you can stay relevant to the topic of the essay.

 

Also, the word limit is 200-300 (or 250-300) words. I was always in the middle of this range. All the best!

Thanks for the reply anshuman2707! Would appreciate if you or anyone else has any other useful tips to score 79+ for the PTE-A writing segment to share? As this is the part which worries me the most since the grading could be quite subjective (even for machine scoring).

I'd like to thank @Kirstyj and @supercow for suggesting the other half try ielts after failing badly on the speaking on Pte. He got his result today on ielts and scored 9, 8, 8.5, 8.5 so thank you for your suggestion super happy he did much better on the ielts.

I'd like to thank @Kirstyj and @supercow for suggesting the other half try ielts after failing badly on the speaking on Pte. He got his result today on ielts and scored 9, 8, 8.5, 8.5 so thank you for your suggestion super happy he did much better on the ielts.

Awesome! Happy for you!

I'd like to thank @Kirstyj and @supercow for suggesting the other half try ielts after failing badly on the speaking on Pte. He got his result today on ielts and scored 9, 8, 8.5, 8.5 so thank you for your suggestion super happy he did much better on the ielts.

That's fantastic news, exciting times ahead x

Thank you all for this thread!!

I would not have tried PTE without you.

I 'failed' IELTS with an 8.5 average, with a sad 7.5 in writing.

I tried the PTE academic yesterday and got my results today:

90 average; with 90 in writing, listening and reading and 89 in speaking!

I am so happy this is over. I strongly recommend the PTE, unless you struggle with timing and are not very fast in answering. Then the IELTS might be the better choice.

Have a good day!

I'd like to thank @Kirstyj and @supercow for suggesting the other half try ielts after failing badly on the speaking on Pte. He got his result today on ielts and scored 9, 8, 8.5, 8.5 so thank you for your suggestion super happy he did much better on the ielts.

Great!

Happy it all worked out

Thank you all for this thread!!

 

I would not have tried PTE without you.

I 'failed' IELTS with an 8.5 average, with a sad 7.5 in writing.

 

I tried the PTE academic yesterday and got my results today:

90 average; with 90 in writing, listening and reading and 89 in speaking!

 

I am so happy this is over. I strongly recommend the PTE, unless you struggle with timing and are not very fast in answering. Then the IELTS might be the better choice.

 

Have a good day!

Yeeew, stoked to hear and happy my initial misery could help

Hey guys,

wondering if any you guys did any pte mock tests before hand and if so are they harder than the real test.

I'm currently studying for my pte test and have taken two mock tests but the results haven't been great.

First one: L59 R62 S71 W51.

Second one: L68 R73 S82 W65.

Some improvement on the second. Only need 65 across the board.

Any input would be greatly appreciated

Thanks

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Hey guys,

 

wondering if any you guys did any pte mock tests before hand and if so are they harder than the real test.

I'm currently studying for my pte test and have taken two mock tests but the results haven't been great.

 

 

 

First one: L59 R62 S71 W51.

Second one: L68 R73 S82 W65.

 

Some improvement on the second. Only need 65 across the board.

 

Any input would be greatly appreciated

 

Thanks

 

 

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

have you had any luck since

have you had any luck since

Got my results this morning. I can't believe it. I'm so happy. Iv got my 10 points so I can now apply for 189. Unreal ????

Have you taken yours yet?

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Got my results this morning. I can't believe it. I'm so happy. Iv got my 10 points so I can now apply for 189. Unreal 

 

Have you taken yours yet?

 

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congratulations thats great news.

i was asking the question on behalf of my son who needs the 20 points from ielts.

he has not taken the test yet, any tips.

we have a parent contributury vias going through at the moment, so the plan is we all will be over in the sunshine coast with our other son and grandkids.

I did the pte computer based test but I did study somewhat for the Ielts. I found the ieltsadvantage.com website very useful. I paid for the correction service for the essays so I understood were I was going wrong. There are many articles on the website going into great detail about the Ielts. I would recommend having a look through that and see.

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I did the pte computer based test but I did study somewhat for the Ielts. I found the ieltsadvantage.com website very useful. I paid for the correction service for the essays so I understood were I was going wrong. There are many articles on the website going into great detail about the Ielts. I would recommend having a look through that and see.

 

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cheers for that

cheers for that

one more question.

have you taken your practical exam yet or is that next.

one more question.

have you taken your practical exam yet or is that next.

I took the actual test on Monday got results yesterday so just in process of applying for 189.

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I took the actual test on Monday got results yesterday so just in process of applying for 189.

 

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did you find the practical easty or hard, is there any tips on this one you could pass on, cheers

did you find the practical easty or hard, is there any tips on this one you could pass on, cheers

For the pte I studied for two weeks. I took two mock exams which I found harder than the real test. Check youtube e2 language.com videos, I found them very helpful.

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For the pte I studied for two weeks. I took two mock exams which I found harder than the real test. Check youtube e2 language.com videos, I found them very helpful.

 

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sorry i dont mean the ielts test, when i said practical exam i meant the actual plumbing exam where you have to show off your plumbing skills in london or blackburn.

Thank you to all for the great advice on this thread! Finally got the superior English score and submitted my EOI. Couldn't have done it with out you all :wub: Good luck to anyone starting it. If you need advice- shout out!

Thank you to all for the great advice on this thread! Finally got the superior English score and submitted my EOI. Couldn't have done it with out you all :wub: Good luck to anyone starting it. If you need advice- shout out!

brilliant news

my son is just about to take the band 8, he needs 20 points for a 189 visa.

did you do thre ielts or the pte.

any advise will greatly appreciated.