Guide

Focus on following modules to get good score.

Speaking
3 Seconds Rule: for speaking questions, the recording stops automatically if you are silent for 3 seconds.

Read Aloud
Test takers will see a textual passage before they are given 40 seconds for preparation and another 40 seconds for
reading the passage aloud, and their responses will be recorded only once. This question type usually consists of 6 or
7 questions.

• Read Passage, especially difficult words

• Speak normally
o No accent
o Don’t speak loudly
o Don’t mumble
• Don’t correct yourself
• Stop on comma and full stops

Repeat Sentence
It is a key contributor to BOTH speaking and listening scores.

Method 258:
Method 258 is the best way to balance the content requirement and being fluent at the same time. It is actually
three different methods of repeating.

Method 2:
If you cannot understand most of the content when the sentence is too difficult, repeat 2-4 words, mainly content
words. And make sure you say naturally and fluently.

End a sentence with “is important”

Method 5:
If you can only understand or remember half of the content when the sentence is too long, pay attention to half of
the sentence only while listening (first half / second half / first few words + last few words). And repeat half of the
sentence clearly and fluently.

Method 8:
If you can understand most of the content, skip the words you don't remember clearly, and repeat 80% of the
sentence clearly and fluently.

There are 3 steps in answering RS:

• Step 1: Listen to the sentence carefully. Quickly decide which method (2/5/8) you should adopt.
• Step 2: After the audio ends, use 1-2 seconds to recall and organize your answer in mind.
• Step 3: Tell your answer clearly and fluently. No more add-ons / hesitation
Describe Image
• Preparation time: 25 seconds
• Answer time: 40 seconds
• Number of questions in the exam: 3 – 4
• mention at least 8 keywords or phrases indicating relationships and conclusions. Try to select keywords or
phrases from different parts of the graph.

Use Template

Retell Lecture
• Audio length: normally 60-90 seconds
• Preparation time: 10 seconds
• Answer time: 40 seconds
• Number of questions in the exam: 1 – 2

Step 1:
• Listen carefully and take notes.
• When taking notes, write down as many content words or phrases as you can. And your notes need to be
easy to read.

Step 2:
• Use the 10 seconds preparation time to select notes to read later.
• Skip unrecognisable notes (poor handwriting / unrecognisable short forms)
• Skip words that are hard to pronounce

Step 3:
• Answer with RL template
• Try to mention at least 8 keywords or phrases.
• Grammar doesn’t matter when you are answering.

Answer Short Question

Test takers will be asked with a question about common sense, and are supposed to answer just one word or a very
simple phrase. This question type usually consists of 5 to 6 questions.

Writing

Summarize Written Text

• Task: read a passage and summarize it into one sentence.
• Passage length: normally within 300 words
• Answer word limit: 5 - 75
• Number of questions in the exam: 1 – 2

Exam Tips
There are two steps in answering:

• Find key sentences in the passage

• Connect key sentences into a grammatically correct sentence with APEUni’s SWT template

Follow the following 3 Rules to look for key sentences:

• Find out about the topic of the passage. Any sentence that is not closely related to the topic is not a key
sentence.
• Do not choose examples or elaborative sentences.
 • Choose conclusion sentences. Choose topic sentences that are elaborated on. Do not choose sentences with
repeated information.

Write Essay
• Answer word limit: 200 - 300
• Maximum answer time: 20 minutes (individually timed)
• Number of questions in the exam: 1 – 2

There are three steps in answering:

• Think of your arguments (2 - 3 minutes)

• Write the essay with APEUni’s Essay template (13 - 15 minutes)
• Proofread your essay (2 - 3 minutes)

Make sure to answer all questions in the prompt. For example, if the question requires you to give the advantages
and disadvantages of a given topic, you must mention both sides in your essay.

To avoid making mistakes in vocabulary, you should use only expressions or collocations that you are familiar with.
Always leave at least 2 to 3 minutes to check your answer before submitting, because you will be heavily penalized if
you make any spelling or grammar mistakes.

Reading
Time Span - The reading section is group timed, which is between 29 to 30 minutes.

Since FIBRW is the most important question type in PTE reading, you are suggested to spend no more than 2 minutes
in each FIBRW question. However, if you spend too much time in each question, you may not have enough time to
finish the rest of the reading section. Thus, time management is very important.

Fill in Blank (R & W)

In the passage, there will normally be 4 to 5 blanks. For each blank, there are 4 to 5 options, included in a drop-down
box. Your task is to select the most appropriate option for each blank.

Tips
Normally, the information needed to answer the blanks lies in the part of the passage before the blank, at most one
more sentence after the blank. So there is no need to read through the whole passage at the very beginning.

Reading Multiple Choices Multiple Answers

Test takers will see a textual passage of 200 to 300 words, together with a question and 5 to 7 choices, and are
required to answer the question by choosing the correct choice according to the passage. This question type
usually consists of 1 or 2 questions.

Multiple choices and a single answer account for a very small proportion in the overall score, so they just deserve
relatively a low priority in preparing PTE tests. The utmost importance is the time management, making sure to
complete a question of this type within 1 or 2 minutes, because any excess use of time here will probably put a strain
on the necessary time for those ensuing time-consuming, important questions (FIB).

In questions of multiple answer, test takers achieve 1 point for 1 correct choice, lose 1 point for 1 incorrect choice,
and get 0 point for no choice. So, unless very sure, do not make more than one choice in answering each question of
this type.

Re-order Paragraphs
Test takers will see a textual passage consisting of shuffled paragraphs, and this question type usually consists 2 or 3
questions.
RO is a question type of low-cost performance, with many points and a disproportionately high degree of difficulty. If
very sure to make a correct response, a test taker can spend at most 2 minutes for each question. For those who are
unsure, there is no need to spend more than 1.5 minutes for each question, and a rough response will be enough,
leaving more time to following FIB questions.

Take the approach of pronoun/ logic/ chronological order

Fill in Blank (R)

Test takers will see 4 or 5 textual passages, 80 or so words with 3 to 5 blanks and 6 to 8 choices listed below. Test
takers are required to use grammar clues, choose correct words and drag them into correct blanks.

Listening

Summarize Spoken Text

Test takers will hear a lecture / dialogue（60s - 90s）and then they should write a summary of what they have
heard. The word limit for the summary is 50 to 70 words. In exam, there are 1 to 2 SST questions.

Tips
During listening, you should note down 5 - 6 key points, including topic phrase / sentence and 4 - 5 main points.
Normally 1 main point in every 2 - 3 sentences. Then convert your notes into answers.

If too difficult to determine the key points, note down as many sentences as possible (at least 5) that you can
understand.

If you don’t have much to write, and find it difficult to write more than 50 words. You can write your answer using
the APEUni SST template.

Finishing answering with less than 10 minutes would not bring you additional time to next question. Therefore, there
is no need to rush, and always leave at least 2 – 3 minutes to proofread your answer before submitting.

Listening Multiple Choices Multiple Answers

For each wrongly selected option there will be 1 point deducted unless this deduction will make the score of this task
below 0.

Fill in Blank (R & W)

In real tests, intervals between two blanks are usually very small, so shorten your typing and keep up with the audio.
Thus there is no need to type the word completely once your hear it, because you can take your time to finish it after
the audio ends.

79 points: Try to limit errors within 1 for each task.

Note: Press the key of Tab to quickly jump to next blank.

Highlight Incorrect Words

Test takers will usually hear a audio clip of 15 to 50 seconds, and see a textual passage, before required to highlight
the wrongly pronounced words according to the audio clip.

Daily practice 10 HIW tasks on Apeuni website( with 1.2* speed, then gradually upgraded to 1.5* speed); keep
practicing one task until a full mark at a time can be achieved before go to next task.

Write From Dictation

You will hear a sentence spoken only once. You must type exactly what the speaker said. The recordings are between
10 and 11 words long.
Tips
You need to listen carefully and understand the meaning of WFD sentences, not just memorize each individual word,
because memory without understanding is not reliable.

You need to use grammar knowledge to help you determine the correct word forms.