PTE Practice Papers

Introduction to PTE Practice Papers

What is PTE?

PTE (Pearson Language Test) is the standardised exam for evaluating English skills among non-native English students.

The test duration is 2 hours and 15 minutes, and it determines a student's English speaking, listening, writing, and reading competencies. 

Furthermore, students who are 16-18 years old can take the PTE exam. However, they will require a parent's consent in a form available at the official exam portal.

Why Are PTE Practice Papers Important?

PTE practice papers are important as they enable students to understand the exam format and type of questions. These papers are designed like test papers to help students improve their problem-solving and time-management skills.

So, include them in your PTE preparation regime.

How Can Practice Papers Help Improve Your PTE Scores?

• You know what questions will appear with the time duration through PTE practice papers.
• You learn (with practice) how to answer them correctly within time.
• You analyse your strong scoring areas and sections needing more improvement.
• You improve your writing prompts with each practice attempt.
• Your problem-solving time and precision also improve over time.
• You feel confident and assured of your PTE preparation.

Eventually, practising with PTE sample papers will improve your skills and mock scores leading to the main exam. 

Download online PTE sample papers today and start practising.

Understanding the PTE Exam Format

Overview of the PTE Exam Structure

The PTE exam structure consists of 20 questions to validate a candidate's English skills in the following areas. 

• Speaking and Writing (54-67 minutes)
• Reading (29-30 minutes)
• Listening (30-43 minutes)

Moreover, questions will appear in fill-in blanks, re-organising stanzas, MCQ and essay writing. Each question will have a specific requirement. So, you must read the question attentively before answering. 

Practising with PTE sample papers helps you understand each section's exam structure and duration. 

PTE Exam Weightage/ Scoring Range

The PTE exam weightage/scoring range ranges from 10-90 on the GSE (Global Scale of English). 

These scores determine a candidate's speaking, listening, reading, and writing in English.

Score Analysis 

• 85-90 – Highest Level of English competence 
• 76-84 – Very high level of English competence 
• 59-75 – Good level of English competence
• 43-58 – Decent/Above average level of English competence 
• 30-42 – Average level of English competence 
• 10-29 – Low Level of English competence 

Types of Questions in Each Section

• Speaking and Writing – Reading loudly, repeating sentences, describing images, re-telling lectures, answering short questions, surmising written texts, and essay writing. 
• Listening – Summarising spoken text, multiple choice multiple answers/single answer, filling in blanks, highlighting correct summary, choosing missing words, identifying wrong terms, and writing from dictation. 
• Reading – Filling blanks, multiple choice multiple answers/single answer, re-organising stanzas, reading and writing

Go through the PTE official exam guide for more clarification. 

Moreover, you can trust AbroAdvice to provide PTE exam preparation tips and personal guidance anytime.

How to Use PTE Practice Papers Effectively?

Refer to the tips below –

• Use PTE sample papers to understand the latest 2023 PTE exam format, question types and time limit. 
• Incorporating practice papers into your study routine. Spend 3-4 hours each day. 
• Solve 2 papers each day under timed conditions.
• Set rational goals and monitor your progress and score tally with each attempt.  
• Improve your time management skills during practice and aim to get slightly faster each day.

More Tips to Ace Your PTE Exam

• Speak in English whenever you can.
• Work on your listening and speaking skills through online PTE mock tests.
• Listen to podcasts or other online recordings (both with and without headsets) to sharpen your listening skills. 
• Read English books to improve fluency, sentence construction, word usage, and vocabulary.
• View PTE online videos and tutorials online to polish your necessary skills.
• Review the official PTE handbook and scoring guide to determine your scoring areas. 

TALK TO US anytime for more PTE preparation tips and insights.

Reading Section Practice Papers

Overview of the Reading Section

The PTE reading section comprises 5 distinctive question types.

• Reading and writing (filling in blanks)
• Multiple Choice, Multiple Answer 
• Re-ordering stanzas 
• Fill in the gaps
• Multiple Choice, Single Answer

The section tests a candidate's reading proficiency (and writing) skills under timed conditions.

You must pick the correct terms from the presented options. So, be careful when answering. Here you can’t edit them later. 

Sample Reading Questions and Their Formats

• Reading and writing (filling in blanks) –Read the text with many gaps and fill those blanks with the correct options from the drop-down list. Text prompt can be up to 300 words.
• Multiple Choice Multiple Answer – Carefully read the text on the screen and select more than one response to answer the multiple choice question. Text prompt can be up to 300 words.
• Re-ordering stanzas –Many boxes will appear jumbled up on the screen. You must organise them in the correct order. The text prompt can be up to 150 words.
• Fill in the gaps –Read the shown text with many gaps and fill them up using the correct terms from the options. Text prompts can be up to 80 words. 
• Multiple Choice, Single Answer –Read the appearing text and pick one appropriate response to answer the multiple choice question. Text prompt can be up to 300 words.

Strategies for Improving Reading Comprehension Skills

• Improve your vocabulary.
• Read stanzas carefully and deduce what the question wants from you.
• Use contextual clues.
• Focus on the main idea and filter out the rest.
• Surmise what you read in your notebook. 
• Divide larger sections into smaller ones for better understanding.
• Avoid distractions. 
• Maintain a steady pace throughout. 

Listening Section Practice Papers

Overview of the Listening Section

The PTE listening section comprises 8 questions on various facets and subjects to evaluate your listening and writing skills. 

The total time limit for this section is 30-43 minutes. Each question will appear in an auto-play audio or video clip. 

However, you can hear the audio or watch the video clip once. You can take notes for your clarity and convenience during the test.

Sample Listening Questions and Their Formats

• Summarise Spoken Text – You must listen to a recording and write a 50-70 word summary. The prompt length is 60-90 seconds.
• Multiple Choice, Multiple Answers – You must hear a recording and answer a multiple choice question on the shared content by picking more than one option from the shared prompt. The prompt length is 40-90 seconds.
• Filling In Blanks – A pre-recorded transcript is exhibited on the screen with many gaps. Once you actively listen to the transcript, fill in the blanks with the correct missing terms. The prompt length is 30-60 seconds.
• Highlight the Correct Summary –After listening to the summary recording, you must pick the stanza that best explains the summary. The prompt length is 30-90 seconds.
• Multiple Choice, Single Answer – Listen to a recording and pick one correct answer from the presented prompt. The prompt length is 30-60 seconds.
• Selecting the missing word – You listen to a pre-set recording and pick the missing term from the shared options to complete the recording. The prompt length is 30-60 seconds, and your active listening skills are evaluated through this task. 
• Highlight Wrong/Incorrect Words –You listen to a recording exhibited on the screen and identify the incorrect term differing from what the recording hints. The prompt length is 20-70 seconds.
• Dictation Writing –You listen to a recorded sentence and type it down. The prompt length is 3-5 seconds.

Techniques for Enhancing Listening Skills and Note-Taking

• Paying attention to all recordings (as you can only hear them once)
• Practice short-hand/abbreviated note-taking for such listening prompts. Digital notes are another option to try. 
• Use a quality headset that allows you to listen to every word.
• Keep distractions at bay. Focus on the key details. 
• Take a few seconds after each answer. Divide and manage your time between listening to prompts and deciphering their answer.

Speaking Section Practice Papers

Overview of the Speaking Section

The speaking section is the 1st part of the largest PTE section (Writing +Speaking). 

It comprises the following tasks –

• Describing exhibited images 
• Repeating sentences 
• Reading loudly 
• Re-telling lectures 
• Answering short questions 

Personal Introduction is to help candidates get accustomed to the PTE test technology and preparing them for listening and speaking tasks. It is not mark-centric but only for familiarising purposes.

The other two tasks (Surmising Written Text and Essay) examine your reading and writing competencies under timed conditions. 

Sample Speaking Questions and Their Formats

• Reading 60 words of text appearing on the screen loudly. The skills accessed are your reading and speaking. 
• Repeating a recording 3-9 seconds long fluently in a sentence in 15 seconds! The skills evaluated are listening and speaking.
• Describing an image in detail that appears on the screen in 40 seconds! The skills examined are speaking /reciting information. 
• Re-telling a lecture in 40 seconds after watching or listening to it from the screen! The skills evaluated are listening and speaking.
• Answering short questions using a single or handful of words in 10 seconds! The skills evaluated are listening and speaking/communicating. 

Tips for Improving Pronunciation, Fluency, and Content Organisation

• Read lots of English books, novels, and short stories. 
• Refer to dictionaries to understand word meaning and their proper usage in spoken or written statements.
• Watch English movies with subtitles to get a grip or delivering fluent conversations with the right emphasis or tone. 
• Communicate in English with your friends, sibling, or even a private tutor (if you hire one).
• Practising essay writing (on any topic) using the standard format. 
• Learning to use punctuations, transition words, synonyms, and antonyms of specific terms, etc.
• Use English rhythm with chunking and correct sentence stressing when speaking or writing. 
• Don’t speaking too fast or use unnecessary English accents. Stick to your natural speaking tone. 

Our PTE specialists are on standby to answer all your questions and queries. So, talk to us if you need customised mentoring and PTE exam preparation tips. 

Writing Section Practice Papers

Overview of the Writing Section

The writing section is the 2nd part of the foremost PTE exam. It comprises 2 sections and takes you about 35 minutes to finish it. 

The section examines a candidate's writing (and speaking) competence in English. The entire exam is for 54-67 minutes and comprises 7 various types of questions. 

Sample Writing Questions and Their Formats

Working with PTE sample writing and speaking questions and taking mock tests is the best way to familiarise yourself with the section's requirements. 

The Featured Questions Will Appear In These Formats.

• Personal Introduction (55 seconds total – 25 seconds for prompt ad 30 seconds for recording).
• Answering short questions (20 seconds total – 3.9 seconds for prompts and 10 seconds for answering).
• Re-telling lectures (50 seconds total – 10 seconds for preparing and 40 seconds for answering).
• Summarising stanzas (10 minutes for answering a text prompt of 300 words).
• Reading loudly (30-40 seconds to prepare and read texts of 60 words).
• Repeating sentences – (3-9 seconds for prompt and 15 seconds for recording).
• Describing exhibited images – (25 seconds to examine the image and prepare your response).
• Written essay assessment (20 minutes to answer prompts of 2-3 statements).

Approaches for Generating Ideas and Structuring Written Responses

• Practice with PTE sample papers for generating ideas and structuring correct responses in the written and speaking sections. 
• Take mock test papers to get better in the written and speaking sections. 
• Read dictionaries and thesauri to refine your vocabulary and grammar proficiency.
• Use formal language in your written responses.
• For your written essay, follow the standard format of Introduction, body, and conclusion. 
• Grasp the presented topic and emphasise the key points in the essay.
• Write an essay that properly exhibits your viewpoint. 
• Incorporate transition phrases wherever needed. Avoid jargon, passive sentences, or quantifiers. 
• Present your opinion ('My/the verdict on the matter is') in the conclusion when surmising. 
• Keep some spare time for proofing the essay.

Keep practising your essay writing as much as feasible before the main day. Ask someone competent in English to help refine your writing, grammar, word use, and spelling. 

Also, practice with English grammar books to improve your grammar and sentence constructions. All these endeavours will prove helpful on your main PTE exam.

Time Management Strategies for PTE Practice Papers

Importance of Time Management during the Exam

Time management is extremely important for those taking their 1st PTE exam. It is integral to a student's success in the exam. 

One may practice with PTE sample papers and take online mock tests for countless hours.

But none of that will mean anything if they lack proper time management skills and can't answer the questions within the time limit. 

All their efforts would be in vain. That's why improving solving time and learning time management is crucial to acing the PTE exam.

• Proper time management can help students complete the paper on time and score excellently.
• Effective time management can help lessen stress and nervousness during the test.
• Furthermore, with good time management skills, candidates can revise their papers and change the reading and writing sections before submitting. 

Techniques for Managing Time Effectively In Each Section

• Practice with PTE sample papers under timed conditions.
• Set your time duration for solving questions from each section. When practising, keep 5-10 minutes at hand for revision and aim to complete all questions within your revised time limit. 
• Familiarise yourself with the test format and the type of questions that feature. 
• Practice with many sample test papers to improve confidence and solving accuracy within the set time.
• During practice, identify your main scoring areas and sections needing more improvement. Focus on improving scores from those troublesome sections and slowly increase the solving speed. 
• Don't spend more than 30 seconds on questions you don't have answers for. For the next practice, emphasise questions on similar coverage that proved difficult to answer on your previous attempt. It will help you answer those problematic questions correctly within the set time and improve your previous scores. 

Your aim during practice is to complete the test (as correctly as possible) 15-20 minutes before the specified duration.

Doing so during practice gives you time and scope to revise and edit answers from the reading and writing sections. Unfortunately, you can't revise answers in the listening section (as it happens in real-time).

Practising Under Timed Conditions for Better Performance

AbroAdvice experts recommend solving 2 PTE sample papers under timed conditions to help improve your time management and solving accuracy. 

The more papers you solve, the better your solving precision and time will become. We suggest routinely practising with PTE sample papers for 4-8 weeks (1-2 months) before the main exam.

Common Challenges in PTE and How to Overcome Them

Identifying Common Pitfalls in the PTE Exam

• Using informal language 
• Speaking too quickly 
• Writing complex sentences
• Using false accents during communication
• Improper usage of tenses
• Taking long pauses in between sentences or in responding to a question
• Improper time management
• Using filler sounds such as 'umm', 'aah', 'ahm', etc. 
• Ignoring negative marking and callously attempting unknown questions

Strategies for Tackling Difficult Questions and Managing Stress

• Diligently practise with PTE sample papers every day
• Schedule online mock tests frequently to test your skills at solving tough questions
• Always follow the question carefully before deciding the best answer
• Look for clues in the stem
• Filter out wrong options from the list
• Pay attention when you read the passage
• Maintain time management. Don't spend more than 20-30 seconds on a question you don't know.
• Don't get overwhelmed. 
• Work on your endurance and practice with sample papers during tough times. 
• Get proper sleep, timely rest, and maintain a healthy diet.
• Self-motivated yourself.

Contact AbroAdvice for more tips and insights on handling difficult PTE questions and keeping stress at bay. 

Tips for Building Confidence and Staying Focused During the Test

• Extensively practice with many PTE practice papers to boost your morale and precision before the exam day. 
• Prioritise proper pronunciation and speaking speed.
• Trust your practice and take each question at a time.
• Get a good night's sleep and reach the location early on.
• Properly read all instructions.
• Maintain focus. Don't think too much about what you've already answered. 
• Revise your answers any chance you get. That's important!

Remember, confidence comes from familiarising yourself with the current PTE test format and practising extensively with several sample papers. 

Inevitably you will replicate the same performance during the main exam.

We at AbroAdvice are a call away if you need more guidance and consultation. Reach us whenever you see fit.