Jim Posted August 25, 2016 Share Posted August 25, 2016 I, here, am like some of those who are attempting to obtain more points to immigrate to Australia. In order to do that, achieving proficiency level in English skills has become my top priority for last year, so I have taken IELTS General Training (IELTS GT) test twice, and my latest score that was released last December was below. Listening: 7.5 Reading: 8 Writing: 6 Speaking: 6.5 As a result, it fails to meet the requirement of proficiency English level, four 7s. Later, after I was recommended the PTE-Academic (PTE-A), I have prepared for the test with those available materials and books, and even have attended a course. After two attempts of PTE-A (Yes, also two trials), I have got score of 50+ overall (Listening: 50+, Reading:50+, Speaking:40:, Writing:60+). I am a graduate of a master degree in a university in Australia, and have lived in Australia for six years. I have been taking time, money and efforts to prepare for the test. It doesn't make sense that my English is as awful as a score of 50+ in PTE, which is equivalent to only band 6 in IELTS. I am here asking for help, as I am devastated. Seemingly, the PTE-A doesn't give me any advantages since it evaluates my English through a machine. On the other hand, IELTS has been long questioned about its objectivity on the speaking and writing sections. So, should I give PTE-A another shot, or should I shift back to IELTS GT? Please give me any advices, thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abey1 Posted August 29, 2016 Share Posted August 29, 2016 The advice I can give you is in IELTS. you scored low in speaking n writing. In writing you need to focus on paragraph writing and need to write exactly to the point. If you do so it's very easy to score in that. Speaking you need to again speak to the point with confidence. And with correct grammar. With this I scored 7.5 for both in my 2nd attempt. All the best! !!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bungo Posted August 29, 2016 Share Posted August 29, 2016 Well it seems like IELTS is suiting you a bit better so I would probably revert back to that. Some subjectivity would come into many examination assessment processes but you have to trust that there are guidelines in place. As you are living in Australia already, I think the best thing for you to do is just practice practice practice. I find the speaking score of only 6.5 a bit low considering you have been living in Australia for six years, do you mix with many native speakers and make an effort to speak English as much as possible? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DukeNinja Posted August 29, 2016 Share Posted August 29, 2016 Hi Jim, Sorry to hear that the language testing hasn't worked out as you'd planned. One of my concerns was part 2 of the writing section. I found this guy on YouTube, and decided it was worth a shot to invest in his teaching session. I found a discount code somewhere and bought it for around £15, and it was worth every single penny. Evidently there is a structure that you need to follow in this section, and you get scored accordingly. I was stressing big time about it, since I only had 2 weeks to prepare for it. Check out his free videos on YouTube. I think he's called Matt Rainsbury, or the IELTS Teacher. I got my results on Friday and I scored 9/9/8/8. Let me know if you think I can help in any other way. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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