Kirstyj

As I said it doesn’t matter if you have a British passport or not if you need extra points you have to take the English test, a British passport does not make any difference 

You only need to do the English test if you need extra points, it does not matter if you have a British passport or not 

7 minutes ago, Ken said:

That makes no sense Steve. PTE and Pearson Test (of English) are one and the same thing. There are five different tests you can take. The alternatives to PTE are IELTS, OET, TOEFL iBT and CAE.

7 minutes ago, Ken said:

That makes no sense Steve. PTE and Pearson Test (of English) are one and the same thing. There are five different tests you can take. The alternatives to PTE are IELTS, OET, TOEFL iBT and CAE.

And it must have cost you a fortune!! But PTE & Pearson are Deffo one of the same thing as ken says

Same here, you work hard so you can play hard, enjoy x

Hi I am just at work over looking the Indian Ocean at Cottesloe Beach, Perth, the sun is shining and life is great xx

4 hours ago, Beffers said:

So arrived Melbourne mid June via a 4 day layover in Singapore which was lush. Our Aussie dream started in 2006 when we got married in Barossa. Fast forward 11 years and we've arrived! 

Within three weeks, we had a car, house, Medicare, Centrelink set up, school place. Week four saw my daughter start school, week five was our week for starting work, husband full time permanent and me on a temp to perm whilst I suss them out! Also added bonus of working school hours only!

In a nutshell, it's great. It's been an eye opener, going to view rental properties was very up and down and the way they do things out here in that respect is very different but we have a home and that's that! We will buy a house next year!! 

We opened accounts with Westpac over a year ago and they opened a GBP account for us before we left the UK so transferring money is a breeze and without any kind of transaction fees! We also get a preferential exchange rate. They are partners with our UK bank Barclays and so it's all made just that bit easier. 

People were whinging at me about high cost of living but I haven't seen that. Wages are high (I'm in a bog standard project Admin job and if I was full time, my equivalent salary in GBP would be £45000!) , and many activities are free at weekends so we are spending less anyway. Yes if you want British branded this and that, you will pay higher but there are equally good alternatives within Australia so if you wanna pay extra, that's your choice! Quality of food here is amazing and the choice never ceases to amaze me.

I've met a few whinging poms since I've been here, who moan about lack of decent gravy and tea. I truly believe such individuals should've stayed in the UK ??

Yes you are far away from family. In our case tho, we were already living in a different country within UK from our folks anyway so it really isn't any big deal, and Skype is just as easy here.

Australia so far (8 weeks today I think) is awesome and hopefully it will continue to be so. It's definitely been the right decision for us!!! ??????????

Hey  those winging poms can still buy tetley or pg tips and bistro gravy, they will moan wherever they are, glad you are settling in well xx

Aww that's great, good luck for the future xx

2 hours ago, VERYSTORMY said:

You need to check your occupation is still eligible for a 189 after the changes yesterday. 

Yep valuer is still on the list

41 minutes ago, Melby said:

I Have the same feeling of leaving Australia.....  the UK or anywhere else must be better then here.

Not bagging Australia out, it's not all its cracked up to be. Yes we have some nice weather. Crime is high and wages are not the best for the average house price is like 900K and that is way out of the city. 

 

That's why we live in Perth, lovely all year weather, wages are good, average 4 bed with pool $500.000, just a 20 min drive from the city, low crime rate, we love it xx

My partner only needed  7 across the board, I asked him and he said PTE is easier but it all depends on the exam conditions, with PTE he could hear everything that everyone else was saying so that was very off putting and it is all done by computer, Ielts test is more like exam conditions (that you had at college), and you also speak to a human, overall he preferred the Ielts, hope this helps

Well said Maryrose, and we miss soccer to so we follow Perth Glory, you sit where you want all soccer fans together, have a few beers or wines while watching the match (no having to wait till half time), and as for footie Fremantle Dockers for us xx

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 both. His originally from Yorkshire, when I first meet him his accent was strong but it's a lot more tame then it used to be as his lived south east now for 10 years. We have just booked him on ielts to see if he can score better on the speaking face to face instead of PC test. It's frustrating as he scores so well in the other 3 elements on the PTE and it was his second attempt. Fingers crossed for December!

All the best my partner said it was much better as you are actually taking to a human being

How's his enunciation / where's he from in the UK?

 

I ask that, because many English accent sound like the speak is "swallowing their words", for the lack of a better term. Maybe IELTS might be a better option for him, as the speaking is face to face?

yes that's why I suggested the ielts to, my partner is Scottish and had no problem with the ielts but failed on speaking with the Pearson

Have you tried the ielts test ?

We moved to Perth February of this year on a 189 visa (my partner is an electrician) yes it's been difficult sometimes but wherever you moved would be, my other half is just about about to gain his wa grade a electricians licence and I have a fabby job as a hotel receptionist on the beach, it's better that we were hoping for xxxxx

Listening 9.0, writing 8.0, reading 8.0, speaking 8.0 and the 1st time he took the test he got 6.5 on listening and 9.0 on speaking so it's really hard to work out !!!!!

My partner is born and bread British and he said the test centre setting was not appropriate and so he went for his ielts test for the 3rd time and finally passed xx

Have spent most of today looking over things for the PTE-A test that I have on Wednesday, and I must say that it certainly seems a lot more straightforward for the native English speaker, compared to the IELTS Academic. I've only gone over the free sample materials, and watched the 'top tips' videos on youtube. We shall set

e come Wednesday, hoping the exam location isn't too noisy, that's my biggest worry, as I'm easily distracted!

Good luck

My partner did the Pte twice, ielts 4 times and finally passed !! Just hang in there but the Pte is quick to get an appointment quick to get the results, but it's not the same examination setting as my partner found with the Pte there were to many distractions, but I suppose it depends on the test centre hope this helps

Hi djes, when my partner 1st took his ielts test he failed by 1/2 mark, we appealed this cost us £70 and took 2 months and the remark was the same !! He took the pte and failed too but it was much quicker to take the test again than to wait for a remark, hope this helps

It took my partner 4 attempts

No they didn't but I believe the visa people don't like people chasing up their application I know it's hard but we have to wait x

We. Used an agent so they did everything for us, but as far as I know you upload everything once you have received your invite, hope this helps

Hi my partner took both tests as well, ielts 3 times and pte twice, he found the pte test more modern but as it was summer all the windows were open and you could her everything going on outside and you could also hear everything the person next to you said which was very off putting, but that was down to the examination centre not the test, he finally passed both tests but the ielts test seems more recognisable, as we were not told of the pte test until he had taken the ielts test twice, also with the ielts test you can score 9 on the reading and the next time you take it you can get 6.5 and vicea versa but al least with the pte test you get your results within 2-3 days , good luck with anyone taking the tests