As it is completely based on listening skills, the PTE Listening section is tricky to handle unless you concentrate on the prompts and clues. Your task is to collect and understand information from a recording and answer the questions in the tasks.
This can be succeeded only through good practice and productive preparation strategies.
Know the Question types:
It is very essential to know the question types if you want to plan the preparation strategies (because you should be aware of the requirement to plan for it). Next, you should make a strategy to crack each question type that assures success. Furthermore, practice decides everything (intensity of your practice gives awareness and confidence too).
Here is the list of the PTE Listening question types.
- Summarize text
- Multiple choice questions (choose one answer, choose multiple answers)
- Fill in the blanks
- Highlight correct summary
- Highlight incorrect words
- Missing word
- Dictation
Each question type assesses different aspects of your listening skills. Following are the proven strategies to ace in the PTE Listening section.
Summarizing Text:
In simple terms, you should listen to a recording for about 60-90 seconds and write a brief summary in the text box below it.
Remember, you have a word limit (ranging from 50 to 70 words). A good strategy to answer this question in a successful manner is to be attentive to the recording. You can close your eyes for better attention.
It is to know, they will provide you with paper to note down key concepts. For a good score, it is important to focus on the nouns (such as names, places), dates and repeated words. Besides, the best technique to crack it is to visualize what you hear in the recording.
Multiple Choice Questions (choose one answer & multiple answers):
It is very crucial to read the questions before the record starts. Grasp the central idea of the audio clip. Never keep space for blind guesses.
Most of the time while answering the MCQs, all answers look similar and you will not be able to recognize the answer soon. It might lead to confusion or at least waste precious time. In such a situation, use elimination methods.
Disprove all incorrect answers and the one leftover is the correct answer. Always listen to the audio till the end because you might find the answer at the end.
Fill in the Blanks:
The tricky part in filling the blanks is that if the required word is plural, and if you answer it in a singular form, it is a mistake. So, you should be very careful while listening to whether the words’ forms, with an article or without it etc.
Also, you should use the given notepad to avoid skipping important information.
Highlight Correct Summary:
This question type resembles MCQs and you have to understand the theme of the recording thoroughly to answer this. You should get the information what the speaker in the audio clip conveys. If the options seem similar, use the elimination method so that you can narrow the options.
Missing Words:
To solve this question type, you need to anticipate the possible answers. But, to anticipate perfectly, you need to improve your knowledge as well as your prediction skills.
While selecting missing words, the first half of the audio will give you a brief idea about the topic being discussed and in a three-fourth way, you should be able to predict the ending.
Highlight Incorrect Words:
While highlighting and selecting words, watch and be careful while clicking. Double-clicking will usually deselect the word. Observe what you are doing and select the word by clicking only once.
Before submitting your answers, recheck them. Because this part of the PTE examination has negative marking. Therefore, be alert!
Writing from Dictation:
There are 2 options for you. Both are preferred as per the dependency. If you are good at typing with good speed and ability to manage with dictation, you can choose to type the dictated matter. And if you don’t feel confident enough with your typing speed, you can choose to write and then transfer the matter.
But the best thing to do is to practice typing to save time. While writing from dictation, be sure and recheck your spellings, punctuations and singular/plural forms.