Time is of the essence in everyday life but it’s even more important during tests and examination. Proper time management is vital to increase the chance of scoring high and succeeding during the PTE Academics. It is imperative for the test taker to practice efficiency and move swiftly through the section with minimum mistakes. Testing differs according to different sections namely reading, writing, listening and speaking.

The test taker needs to understand how different section is timed to work fast and accurately. For instance, questions that require image description take 40sec while reading and listening sections have no set timer and require the test taker to manage time on their own.  

Here are some tips to help student ace the PTE Academics:

Practice Mock test

“Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” Seneca.

Take advantage of the flexibility of a PTE voucher – schedule your exam at a time and place that suits you.

This is self-explanatory. To score high in the PTE academics hard work and dedication are required. Reading different material, listening to podcasts and practising pte mock tests may take the test taker one step closer to perform well. Preparation increases confidence and lowers anxiety; this is necessary as it helps the student keep calm and think clearly during the test.

Time management in the speaking section

Speaking section and the allocated time is divided as thus:

• Read out loud.

Preparation is allocated 30-40 seconds

Read out loud is allocated 30-40 seconds

• Repeat sentences

This part is assessed by listening to the sentence and repeating it.  The sentence takes 3-5 seconds and the test taker needs to repeat it in the same amount of time. NB!! Pausing for longer than 3 seconds leads to getting no score.

• Describe image

Preparation is allocated 25 seconds

• Read out loud is allocated 40 seconds

For this part, the test taker is advised to speak for 30-35 seconds. This is due to the fact that if the test taker speaks for 40 seconds, he/she runs the risk of having the last sentence cut in half by the timer. If this happens the grammar score decreases.

• Retell the Lecture

Listening is allocated 90 seconds

Preparation time approximately 10 seconds

Retelling the lecture is allocated 40 seconds

• Answer short questions

Listening is allocated 3-5 seconds

Answer the question is allocated 15 seconds.

For this, the student is advised to avoid stammering but to speak fluently within 3 seconds to avoid being cut by the timer.

PTE Writing

The tasks in this section are timed individually but the task taker has to be aware of that time is not carried over to other tasks.

This task requires summarising the written text and writing an essay. The allocated time is 10 and 20minutes consecutively. 

The student is advised to use all the time since time isn’t carried over

PTE Reading

Reading is allocated 32-41 minutes and the test taker is required to answer 15-20 questions.

The maximum time the student need to take on each question is 3min for filling the blanks and multiple choice question. The students shouldn’t spend more that 2min in other questions.

Listening

It is divided into 8 question types and and the first question type ie Summarise Spoken Text is allocated 10 minutes each. The audio plays once and if the student misses parts of the audio there is no second chance to listen to the audio again.

• For this task, the test taker is advised to spend “Enough” time on the first task which is Summarise Spoken text.  The remaining time is not carried over and hence a student is advised to utilise all the available time. 

• The test taker is also advised to have good listening skills, concentration ability and be good in taking notes as this helps to match answers with the correct question in the section such as select missing word.