PTE Describe Image is one of those tasks in the PTE Speaking section that most students struggle with. In fact, if you’ve ever attempted it, you might have found yourself at a loss of words as well.

How can you prepare in just 25-seconds and that speak in structure for the next 40-seconds, which seems like an eternity when you are doing it?

 

In this blog post, I will teach you everything you need to ace the PTE Describe Image task.

Section 1

• • Overview of The PTE Describe Image Task

Section 2

• • Smart Strategy To Answer It Without Sweating

Section 3

• • Practice Exercise

 

Section 1: Overview of The PTE Describe Image Task

 

The first thing to note is that the PTE Describe Image task only contributes to the speaking score in your PTE exam.

This is different from, let’s say, Read Aloud task in PTE Speaking that contributes equally to both your speaking and reading scores.

In this task, you will be shown an image of any of these categories:

• Bar Chart
• Line Chart
• Pie Chart
• Process / Diagram
• Table
• Map
• Multiple Graphs

You will have 25-seconds to prepare your answer.

And then, you will have 40-seconds to record your answer in the microphone.

 

Let’s get into the Smart Strategy to answer it for 79+ score without breaking a sweat.

 

Section 2: Smart Strategy To Answer It Without Sweating

 

To make it easy for you to understand, let me break the task down into 2-parts.

These will be called:

1. Analysing Phase (25-seconds)
2. Answering Phase (40-seconds)

 

Analysing Phase

The first rule of answering this question is to NEVER write notes when you are analysing it.

25-seconds aren’t enough to take notes of your thoughts. You will only end up losing time.

Instead, make notes in your head.

Use these questions when observing the image to help you take mental notes:

1. What is the title of the image? This will be your introductory sentence when you start speaking.
2. What is the most observable trend? This is the one thing that catches your eye the moment you look at the image.
3. What are some of the other patterns, such as comparison, similarities, differences that you notice?
4. Lastly, what is your opinion of the image? This can be what the image is collectively showing or what the image can be summarised as.

 

Once you are able to answer all these 4 questions in your head in the first 25-seconds, you will breeze through your answer in the Answering Phase.

Even though the time for observation is supposedly finished, you will still keep looking at the image while recording your answer. The image will not disappear. So always keep your eyes on the image.

 

Answering Phase

In this phase, you will speak your observations from the image.

The trick is to answer it in exactly 5 sentences.

If you answer it in 4 or 6 sentences, that’s also fine. But for your practice, always think of answering in exactly 5 sentences.

And these will be:

 

Sentence 1: what does the image show?

You need to simply tell what is written at the top and/or at the bottom of the image.

 

Sentence 2: What is the most obvious observation?

This means you need to look for the most noticeable thing in the given image. It could be a huge drift in the graph, or the most common thing about a place, or something along those lines.

 

Sentence 3: Compare two things.

It could be a comparison between the highest and the lowest, maximum and minimum, most and least, nearest and farthest, and so on.

 

Sentence 4: Find a similarity or a difference, or something unusual within the trend being followed.

This gets a little difficult if you are not fluent. But it will become second nature with practice.

Whatever your analysis is, just be confident about it and speak at a normal pace without uttering “umm” or “err”, or repeating your sentence.

 

Sentence 5: Summarise the entire analysis or form an opinion of your own.

Sometimes you might not be able to fit the last sentence in 40-seconds, and that’s fine. But if you do see 5-seconds remaining on the clock, proceed with this sentence.

 

Let’s now look at a Practice Exercise and apply this Smart Strategy.

 

Section 3: Practice Exercise

 

Before you read any further, I want you to observe the image and write your answer down.

This is a speaking task, but for now, writing it down would give you an idea of your strengths and your weaknesses which will help you to work on your shortcomings in the further practice exercises of this category.

 

Let us now start breaking down the answer for the above image.

 

Firstly, the image is showing us a Pie Chart comparing various injury locations.

Sentence 1: This Pie Chart compares injuries by locations, converted into percentages.

 

Secondly, it is showing us that home is the location where most injuries take place.

Sentence 2: Overall, home is the location where more than 2/5th of all the injuries take place.

Here we converted percentage into a fraction and said that home is the location for 2/5th of all the injuries. However, if this doesn’t come naturally to you, you can simply say:

Overall, home is the location where most of the injuries take place.

 

For the third observation, we will compare the highest and the second highest percentages, and form a sentence accordingly.

Sentence 3: With 41.4% of all the injuries taking place at home, this category is more than double the second highest location, which is roads at 19.5%.

 

The next sentence will require good content and fluency, so we can break the entire pie chart down and mention every location in decreasing order of the percentages.

Sentence 4: The other two significant locations are leisure / sports and work, with 17.1% and 15.2% of injuries taking place there, respectively. After this, school / child care contributes about 5% of all the injuries, while 2% of the injuries take place at other locations.

 

We covered everything that is mentioned in the given image. Now it is time to conclude our entire statement. We can conclude by paraphrasing sentences 1 and 3 in a summarising manner.

Sentence 5: In conclusion, home is the location accounting for most injuries, followed by roads, leisure / sports, and work at 2nd, 3rd, and 4th positions respectively.

 

The above sentences, when said at one go should not exceed 35-40 seconds.

 

Let’s put all the sentences together:

This Pie Chart compares injuries by locations, converted into percentages. 

Overall, home is the location where most of the injuries take place.

With 41.4% of all the injuries taking place at home, this category is more than double the second highest location, which is roads at 19.5%.

The other two significant locations are leisure / sports and work, with 17.1% and 15.2% of injuries taking place there, respectively. After this, school / child care contributes about 5% of all the injuries, while 2% of the injuries take place at other locations. 

In conclusion, home is the location accounting for most injuries, followed by roads, leisure / sports, and work at 2nd, 3rd, and 4th positions respectively.

Read the above paragraph and record your time. For me, it took about 37 seconds at my natural pace.

 

In this blog post, I’ve explained what the PTE Describe Image task is and how you can effectively solve it to get 79+ in your PTE Speaking.

In my full course, Ultimate Guide to Acing PTE, of 67 video lessons of 12 hours, I go deep into the strategies, hacks, and techniques to help you learn all 4 sections of PTE in a smart way to get 79+ Score.

You can see all the details of the Ultimate Guide To Acing PTE below:

 

Summarise Written Text is the first task in the PTE Writing section.

In this blog post, I am going to teach you everything you need to write a 79+ response to Summarise Written Text in PTE Writing.

Section 1

• • Overview of The Summarise Written Text

Section 2

• • Strategy To Solve It Using 2-3-4-1 Rule

Section 3

• • Example of Solving A Real PTE Question

 

Section 1: Overview of The Summarise Written Text

 

Overview:

• You are given a text of about 300 words.
• Your task is to read and summarise it into a single sentence of a maximum of 75 words.
• The text could be on any topic. You don’t have to worry about that because you don’t have to be an expert at whatever the text you receive. All you need to know to do the task will be given in the text.
• Your time limit will be 10 minutes.

 

Scoring Criteria:

1. Content
2. Length/Form
3. Grammar
4. Vocabulary

To get the best score for Summarise Written Text in your PTE, you need to understand the above-mentioned categories thoroughly.

 

Let me break them down to you, simple and easy, one-by-one.

 

Content: 

You are supposed to squeeze the main idea of the text into a single sentence.

You do this by understanding the meaning of the text, and paraphrasing it in your own words.

You do not need to use complex vocabulary or grammar that you are not comfortable with. A simple and clear response will get you full marks.

Do not add on too many details, rather make it as direct as possible.

That being said, there is one very important thing that many people make a mistake in. When a topic is given, they tend to add additional information, which is not mentioned in the given text.

That is an unnecessary act and that would most certainly lead you to score a 0 for your content.

Do not include your ideas.

All you need to know to do this task is already mentioned in the text, so you do not have to give any additional information regarding the text, even if you are an expert at the topic given.

The PTE exam tests your language and not your knowledge in a particular field. So make sure that your professional expertise does not cost you your chance at acing this exam.

 

Length/Form: 

You are supposed to write a sentence using 5-75 words.

If you are given a word limit of 75 words, that does not mean you must use 75 words to form a sentence.

Usually, a sentence with 50-55 words will suffice.

So take no risk, make the sentence moderately long, but grammatically accurate – that is the key.

 

Grammar:

Try to write simple sentences if you are not comfortable in forming complex sentences, but make sure your grammar is on point.

Some quick things to keep in mind while writing:

• Use of capital letters at the beginning of the sentence.
• Use of proper conjunctions to make the sentence flow properly and easily.
• Capital letter for beginning the nouns.
• Use of comma wherever necessary.
• Full stop/period at the end of the sentence.

 

Vocabulary: 

Use complex words only if you are aware of the meanings.

Otherwise, do not try to make an impression by using complex words with this thought in mind that the examiner (in this case, computer) is going to get impressed.

Remember, you gain fewer marks using high vocabulary words, but lose more marks if that word is wrong. So only use words that you are absolutely sure of.

Also, make sure your spellings are correct.

They play a vital role in the scoring criteria. If you know a word and its meaning, but you are not sure about its spelling, find a synonym for it.

Take no risks with words.

 

Now that you know what are the 4 criteria used to score PTE Summarise Written Text, let’s dive deeper into the strategy of solving these questions.

 

Section 2: Strategy To Solve It Using 2-3-4-1 Rule

 

At a glance, 10 minutes might seem too long of a time to summarise a text into a sentence, but trust me it isn’t.

You will need these 10 minutes to properly work on your task.

Do not rush to write your sentence and click ‘next’.

This won’t buy you more time for your next task. This 10-minute time limit is solely for the Summarise Written Text task, so make full use of it.

Abraham Lincoln once said, “If I had 6 hours to cut down a tree, I’d spend the first 4 hours sharpening the axe.”

This statement shows you how important planning is.

So, in order to do complete this task effectively, follow the 2-3-4-1 Rule.

 

The 2-3-4-1 Rule:

• In the first 2 minutes, comfortably read and analyse the text. Form a mental structure of the entire text.
• Use the next 3 minutes to write down 2-4 main points you think would summarise the given text most accurately.
• In the next 4 minutes, combine those points to write a grammatically sound sentence that summarises the text.
• The last 1 minute is the most vital. In this 1 minute, re-read your sentence to find mistakes. The mistake may be grammatical or a misspelling. This last-minute can result in the extra mark that you might be leaving on the table otherwise.

 

Let’s dig deeper into The 2-3-4-1 Rule:

 

First 2 minutes: 

• Read the given text at least twice. But don’t read it in a rush. Instead, read with understanding.
• With the first read, you will have a rough idea about the topic.
• With the second read, you will pick the key phrases and ignore the details.

 

3 minutes:

• Once you have analysed the text, write down 2-4 key phrases from the text.
• Paraphrase them and write them down in your notebook or text area.
• Do not worry about combining them into one sentence yet. Instead, use this step to identify the key ideas of the text.

 

4 minutes: 

• Now is the time when you combine those main ideas to make a single sentence.
• String them together as best as you can into one sentence using proper grammar and linking words. Your task is to write a sentence that can be read in a flow and combines all the key ideas you identified in the previous step.
• Do not rush. You have 4 minutes, and that is enough time to do the job.

 

Last 1 minute: 

• The most important part of your task is rechecking.
• Many people, especially experts, go through their work once they are done writing, to make sure they haven’t made any mistake, and trust me when I say this, they always find some.
• Make sure your sentence has everything needed to sum up the given text.
• And recheck for your spellings and grammatical errors once more.

 

And finally, let’s apply the approach given above to a real example of a PTE Question.

 

Section 3: Example of Solving A Real PTE Question

 

Here is an actual text from the PTE exam for us to summarise.

Read the passage below and summarise it using one sentence. Type your response in the box at the bottom of the screen. You have 10 minutes to finish this task. Your response will be judged on the quality of your writing and on how well your response presents the key points in the passage.

The history of marketers seeking the advice of physicists is a short one, but an understanding of the theory of resonance may give communications experts the edge. Resonance theory explains the curious phenomenon of how very small pebbles dropped into a pond can create bigger waves than a large brick. The brick makes a decent splash but its ripples peter out quickly. A tiny pebble dropped into the same pond, followed by another, then another, then another, all timed carefully, will create ripples that build into small waves. As Dr. Carlo Contaldi, a physicist at Imperial College London, explains, a small amount of energy committed at just the right intervals – the ‘natural frequency’ – creates a cumulatively large effect. Media consultant Paul Bay believes that just as with pebbles in a pond, a carefully choreographed and meticulously timed stream of communication will have a more lasting effect than a sporadic big splash during prime time TV breaks.

So whether you’re trying to make waves in a laboratory or the media, the people in white coats would advise a little and often. A big budget is not a prerequisite of success.

 

I want you to first follow the pattern explained above to summarise this text on your own first before reading further.

After you’ve attempted, read on.

 

After reading it twice in the first 2 minutes and using the next 3 minutes, I have been able to extract these 3 key ideas out of the text:

1. Marketers can learn from the Theory of Resonance in physics – small pebbles thrown at regular intervals create a bigger and longer lasting impact on waves in a pond than one brick thrown at once.
2. Instead of prime time TV splash, marketers should design a constant stream of communication at the right intervals for a long-lasting effect.
3. A big budget doesn’t always result in big success.

 

Notice here that I did not dig deeper into the names of the scientists or the repetitive words.

I stuck to the subject and took out the points that gave the text its real essence and meaning in just a few words.

I will now use the next 4 minutes to combine these 3 key ideas into one sentence.

You can either add conjunctions to do so, if the sentences are easily mergeable, or you can connect them by using a semi-colon to combine two sentences.

 

This is how my single-sentence response for Summarise Written Text looks like:

The principle of Theory of Resonance, which says that small pebbles thrown into a pond at regular intervals create a bigger impact than one big splash of brick, can be applied to marketing as well; wherein, instead of marketing through one big prime time TV splash, if marketers design a constant stream of communication at right intervals, the can achieve the long lasting effect without spending big budgets at marketing.

 

This is what my 90-scorer 70-words final response looks like using the 2-3-4-1 Rule.

 

In this blog post, I’ve explained what the PTE Summarise Written Text task is and how you can effectively solve it to get 79+ in your PTE Writing.

 

In my full course, Ultimate Guide to Acing PTE, of 67 video lessons of 12 hours, I go deep into the strategies, hacks, and techniques to help you learn all 4 sections of PTE in a smart way to get 79+ Score.

You can see all the details of the Ultimate Guide To Acing PTE below:

 

PTE is a skill. Like any other skill, you can prepare for PTE in a smart way. It can be deconstructed and learned very quickly if you only focus on the critical elements.

In this post, I am going to share with you tips and strategies that will help you get 79+ in PTE Academic.

 

I know the feeling when you endlessly search on google “How to score 79+ in PTE” or “Prepare for PTE“, and all you end up finding are similar generic answers that are written to get traffic to the website instead of providing real smart strategies.

And I also understand how difficult the English language looks like when you are coming from a non-native English background – because even I never used to speak English until I was 20 years old.

The secret is: You don’t need to be good in English to score high in PTE.

 

There is a smarter way to prepare for PTE.

The same way I got 90/90 score in my PTE, and several of my readers of AustraliaYours got 79+ or even straight 90s in PTE.

 

 

By the way, this post is from the full online video course, Ultimate Guide To Acing PTE, in which I share in-depth tips and strategies to prepare for PTE. It is exclusively for AustraliaYours subscribers. 

You can access the course below:

Let’s now dive into what is the smart way to prepare for PTE for 79+ score.

There are 2 things you need to know to prepare for PTE the smart way.

1. All Tasks Are NOT Created Equal.
2. Smart Strategies To Solve Each Task When You Are A Non-Native English Speaker.

Let’s get into them one-by-one.

 

1) All Tasks Are NOT Created Equal

 

The table below shows you the relative importance of each task in your typical PTE exam.

As you can see in the last column of the table, I’ve highlighted them in 4 different colours:

Red – There are 4 tasks that are highlighted in red. These are the most important ones. If you are not good at these, you can’t get 79+. You will even struggle to stay above 65+.

Green – There are 4 tasks that are highlighted in green. I would say these are equally important to solidify your chances of securing 79+.

Yellow – Thirdly, you have 3 tasks that are highlighted in yellow. You can make mistakes in these. If you fumble in one or two of these, you can still score a borderline 79.

Grey – The rest of the tasks are highlighted in grey. These are the ones that you can afford to do as quickly as possible as they don’t carry much weightage. Even if you get these wrong, you can comfortably land a 79+.

Note: The actual score of each task might vary in each exam depending on how many tasks you get for each type, but the relative priority stays more or less the same. 

Another thing you notice in the table above is that most of the tasks contribute marks towards more than just one component.

For example, let’s take the first task: Read Aloud.

If you are fluent and have a good pronunciation when doing this task, but you miss out 1-2 words in the sentence, you will still score very high in your Speaking score.

However, you will be surprised to see that your Reading score will drop tremendously even if you end up doing all the 5 tasks in the Reading section perfectly.

This is true for most of the tasks. They contribute scores to more than one component.

In summary, the first part to prepare for PTE and managing time the smart way is to focus more on tasks that carry higher weightage.

 

2) Smart Strategies To Solve Each Task When You Are A Non-Native English Speaker

 

Whenever I have to learn anything new in life, I follow a Total Immersion Principle.

That is, for 3-6 months, I absorb myself into that craft and read up every material ever produced on that subject.

I did the same for PTE.

I blocked off 6-months in my year to go through every book, every online course, and every mock test I could find on PTE. By the end of it, I had solved as many as 5000+ tasks.

This process helped me to deconstruct complex tasks, spot repeating patterns, and formulate the most effective strategy of solving each type of task in the PTE exam.

 

Here, I am going to share 4 examples, one from each section (Speaking, Writing, Reading, and Listening), of solving PTE Tasks the smart way.

I share in-depth tips and strategies to prepare for each task of PTE with live demos of solving tasks in real-time in the full online video course, Ultimate Guide To Acing PTE. It is exclusively for AustraliaYours subscribers.

You can access the course below:

 

4 Examples To Prepare For PTE The Smart Way

 

Task 1: Describe Image in PTE Speaking

Overview

• This task contributes only towards Speaking score
• You will have 25 seconds to prepare and 40 seconds to record your answer
• You will get 3-4 of these questions
• The image in this task could be a bar chart, line chart, pie chart, diagram, table, map, or combination of any of the two

 

Example

Strategy

 

Step 1) Planning

You will first get 25 seconds to study the image. Do not make notes for this task. There is no time for it.

If you try making notes, you won’t be able to identify the key features in 25 seconds.

Instead, your job in the 25 seconds is to make mental notes of 3 major points.

Never more or less. Always just 3 major points.

And these 3 major points will be as follows:

• First major point is always the overall trend
• Second and third major points are either comparison and/or the maximum & minimum

 

Step 2) Structure of Your Response

Your response will always follow this structure:

• Introduction sentence: This graph represents [title] over [x-axis]
• First sentence: Overall trend shows…
• Second sentence: First key feature of this graph is…
• Third sentence: Second key feature of this graph is…
• Conclusion sentence: In conclusion, [repeat overall trend]

You will have 40 seconds to record your answer for this task.

Ideally, you will be spending 5 seconds to speak the Introduction sentence, 25 seconds to speak the main body and the last 5 seconds for the conclusion.

PTE algorithm is designed to pick up structure and keywords.

When you respond to any question in the above-given structure, it not only helps the algorithm to make sense of your answer but also helps you to answer comfortably by following a template.

 

Step 3) Your Response

Let’s put steps 1 and 2 together to look at a sample response for the diagram given above.

• Intro sentence:

This graph represents [retirements from maintained schools by reason in England] over [the period of 1998 to 2006]

• First sentence:

Overall trend shows that retirements have increased from about 6500 to 12500 in both the categories.

• Second sentence:

The increase in retirements in Premature category has been most significant as they represented about 30% of all retirements in 1998-99 period while they represent 50% in 2005-06 period.

• Third sentence:

Although retirements increased sharply from 2001 onwards, the rate seemed to have decreased from 2004 onwards.

• Conclusion sentence:

In conclusion, retirements are increasing in both Age and Premature categories.

 

And that is it!

In a very simple and structured manner, you have responded back with a perfect 90 answer for this Describe Image task.

This was just an overview of how you respond to the Describe Image task in a smart way. In the video course, you will learn in detail how to respond to every type of chart in the Describe Image section.

We will also go into detail of strategies for each type of task in the Speaking section with live demos of applying those strategies to real tasks to make sure you prepare for PTE to get 79+ in your Speaking Test.

 

Task 2: Summarise Written Text in PTE Writing

Overview

• This task contributes towards both Writing & Reading scores
• A text of up to 300 words will be given
• You will get 10 minutes to read it & summarize it in ONE sentence of a maximum of 75 words
• There will be 2-3 of these tasks in the test

 

Example

 

Strategy

 

Step 1) Planning

Your ONE sentence summary usually follows this order:

This happened, which led to this, and as a result this.

This means that you are looking for 3 sentences (3 key ideas) from the passage that can then be combined into the given format.

Remember, you are not summarizing the entire text and you don’t need to give specific details, such as a list of names or places.

You are supposed to write it in your own words, but borrowing keywords helps score higher as the algorithm picks those up.

 

Step 2) Using 10 Minutes Strategically

Your success in this task will depend on breaking down 10 minutes into these 4 parts:

• 2 minutes to comfortably read and thoroughly understand the passage
• 3 minutes to write 3 major points from the passage (don’t do a summary in the head)
• 4 minutes to combine those 3 points into ONE sentence
• 1 minute to recheck for grammar and spelling

 

For the above example, take 2 minutes to comfortably read the passage and ponder over it to understand it.

Next, take 3 minutes to write the 3 major points that you pick up from the passage.

Here are mine:

• Marketers can learn from Theory of Resonance in physics – small pebbles thrown at regular intervals create bigger impact than one big brick at once.
• Instead of prime time TV splash, marketers should design a constant stream of communication at right intervals for long lasting effect.
• Big budget does not always result in big success.

Now, we will spend 4 minutes to combine these into ONE sentence.

 

Step 3) Your Response

It will look something like this:

The principle of Theory of Resonance, which says that small pebbles thrown at regular intervals create bigger impact than one big splash of brick, can be applied to marketing as well; thus, instead of marketing through one big prime time TV splash, if marketers design a more cost-effective and constant stream of communication at right intervals, they can achieve long lasting effect without spending big budgets at marketing. [68 words]

 

What do you notice above? Do you see a secret trick being used to connect two sentences?

That secret trick is using a linking word with a semicolon.

You can always write a sentence, and then write “;” and start a new part of the sentence with “as a result”, “consequently”, “thus”, etc.

This way you can comfortably connect two sentences which you are otherwise finding difficult to connect.

 

This was just an overview and one secret trick of using the smart strategy to solve the Summarise Written Text task. We will spend a great deal of time with a lot of examples to go into an in-depth understanding of these tasks in the video course.

We will also go into detail of strategy for each type of task in the Writing section with live demos of applying those strategies to real tasks to make sure you prepare for PTE to get 79+ in your Writing Test.

 

Task 3: Re-Order Paragraphs in PTE Reading

Overview

• You will see a paragraph that is all jumbled up
• Your task is to put it back in the right order
• You will get 2-3 of these tasks

 

Example

Strategy

 

Step 1) Find The Independent Sentence

Your first task is to find the independent sentence that becomes the first sentence for your correct order. Once you have found the independent sentence, everything else starts falling in place.

But the question is how do you find the independent sentence?

By using these characteristics for the independent sentence:

• Might have a proper noun (e.g. the name of city, person, place, or anything)
• Should not start with the linking word, such as therefore, so, as a result, etc.
• Should not be referring back to anything through a pronoun, such as he, she, it, they, etc.

 

For the example above, by using Step 1, we can quickly identify that the first three sentences can’t be the independent sentences. This is because:

• All three sentences are starting with a linking word: Nevertheless, As a result, and But
• The fourth sentence has proper nouns, such as Delhi and September

So the first sentence of the correct order will be:

Normally in Delhi, September is a month of almost equatorial fertility, and the lands seem refreshed and newly washed.

 

Step 2) Making The Flow

The “flow” is a state where every next sentence will directly refer to something in the preceding sentence.

For example, two references to the time period won’t be separated by many sentences. They will usually be next to each other.

In our example, the first sentence has a reference to the time period: September.

So the next sentence can also have a reference to the time period.

Among the remaining three sentences left, only one of them has a reference to the time period.

But in the year of our arrival, after a parching summer, the monsoon rains had lasted for only three weeks.

 

I will leave you to find the flow for the next two sentences.

Do note however that using the reference word is just one trick. Most of the time, you can always just understand from the meaning of the sentence that it is a continuation of the previous one.

 

Step 3) Your Response

Finally, you can use a few more tricks to get to the right order:

• When you are confused about one or two sentences. Skip those and still form a logical sequence of other sentences. Then when you will look again at the missing sentences, you’d know where to place them.
• The last sentence, just like the first sentence, is easier to spot because it has a conclusion-tone of the story.
• When not 100% sure, try making any other order to see if that holds. You can always drag and drop them into boxes in random order. You will realise it is easier for your mind to see different orders to understand which one looks correct.
• Lastly, you get 1 point for each correctly aligned sentence, so for example, if it is a 5-sentence paragraph and you get 3 sentences in the right order and 2 sentences wrong, you will still get a +3 score for that task.

 

In our example, here is the final response:

 

You might find it slightly difficult to understand how we reached here by just reading this article. That is why, in the video course, I go into a lot of detail of using the strategy and I share live demos of doing these questions with explanations.

We will also go into detail of strategy for each type of task in the Reading section with live demos of applying those strategies to real tasks to make sure you prepare for PTE to get 79+ in your Reading Test.

 

Task 4: Summarise Spoken Text in PTE Listening

Overview

• You will listen to a lecture and write a summary of 50-70 words in your own words
• It is better to write close to 70 words to maximise content score as computer algorithm picks up keywords
• You will be given 10 minutes to complete each task and you should use all of those 10 minutes
• If you complete it earlier and press next, the remaining time will not be carried forward
• It is better to use that time to recheck… or even to take a breather
• You get 1-2 of these tasks in your test

 

Example

 

Strategy

 

Step 1) Smart Note-Taking

This task can’t be responded effectively without smart note-taking.

The dumb way to take notes is to try to write as much as you can from what you hear.

A lot of trainers will suggest you to use shorthand or abbreviations to fit in as much as you can.

But all these are wrong strategies.

In contrast, when you take notes the smart way, you will actually be writing much less and it will be more effective for your actual response.

 

Here is how the structure of Smart Note-Taking looks like:

Main Idea > Reason > Example/Support

 

All the lectures follow either two or three main ideas. Mostly only two.

What I will train you to do in the course is to hear for those main ideas and write them in your handbook using the Smart Note-Taking methodology.

For example, in the recording above, once you learn to take notes the smart way, your handbook will only have this:

Some states are more equal than others > most rich, industrial and influential are called G7 > US is most important among G7 since World War 2

It has designed institutions for powerful countries > such as IMF WTO WB > they help to exert global dominance, global influence over other countries

These notes above are concise and they follow a structure that will help you to easily write your response to this task.

 

Step 2) Structure For Your Response

The ideal way to manage the time in this task is as follows:

• 3 minutes to make notes and arrange them
• 5 minutes to write your answer
• 2 minutes to recheck

Once writing your answer, you will always follow this template that will make it easier for you to write:

• The Speaker was discussing [the topic]
• He/She mentioned [first main idea > explanation]
• He/She also talked about / suggested [second main idea > explanation]

 

Step 3) Your Response

When we put our Smart Notes into the structure given in Step 2, this is how a 90-score answer looks like for this question:

The speaker was discussing how rich and powerful countries influence state decisions of other countries. He mentioned that the most influential countries are known as G7, and even among them, since World War 2, United States has the most dominant role in designing the institutions to have global dominance. He suggested that G7 countries created institutions, such as IMF and World Bank, to have global control over other countries.

 

In the full video course, we will go into a lot of detail of learning Smart Note-Taking, which will help you in all the Listening tasks.

We will also understand in-depth the strategies for each task with live demos of applying those strategies to real tasks to make sure you prepare for PTE to get 79+ in your Listening Test.

 

In the complete online video course, I share with my students hacks, tips, strategies roadmaps, and examples of implementing techniques to prepare for PTE the smart way to score 79+ in all the 4 components.

I also give the question bank of real PTE questions because, in the PTE exam, the same question bank gets shuffled. This means the more you practice, the more predictable it becomes.

On top of that, I will show you live demos of solving 100+ real PTE questions using the strategies explained for each type of task.

It is exclusively for AustraliaYours subscribers.

You can access the course below: