The PTE (Pearson Test for English) is a test conducted by Pearson PLC Group to check a candidate’s English level. Students from countries whose native language is not English and who want to go abroad for higher studies take this exam.
There are four modules in the PTE test.
- Listening
- Reading
- Writing
- Speaking
Reading is the most difficult module in the PTE exam. In the upcoming paragraphs, we will discuss some PTE reading tips and strategies that will help you to clear your PTE reading on the first attempt.
Before reading the tips for PTE reading, you need to understand what PTE reading is. After that, understanding the PTE exam pattern will help you prepare for the PTE reading. Also, if you want to know which colleges accept PTE in Canada.
At the end of the post, you will find the best books and online courses for preparing for PTE.
PTE reading
The second section of the PTE exam is reading. The duration of the PTE reading test is approximately 30 to 40 minutes. There are around 5 different types of questions in this module of the PTE exam.
The texts given in this section are from real work. For example, the passages in this section are from academic topics like social science, science, literature, humanities, and so on.
Let us look at the PTE reading exam pattern to understand PTE reading tips.
PTE Exam Structure
| Type of questions | Task | number of questions | Length | Skills assessed | Scoring |
| Fill in the blanks: writing and reading | There will be blanks in the paragraph. Pick the correct given answer and complete the passage. | 5-6 | Text up to 300 words | Reading and writing | Partial Credit Scoring |
| MCQs: choose multiple answers | Choose all the answers that you think are correct out of the given options. | 1-2 | Text up to 300 words | Reading | Partial Credit Scoring |
| Paragraph reordering | Rearrange the given text boxes in the appropriate order by dragging and dropping the boxes on the right side of the screen. | 2-3 | Text up to 150 words | Reading | Partial Credit Scoring |
| Fill in the blanks: Reading | Fill in the gap in the passage from the given options. There will be more options than those gaps. | 4-5 | Text up to 80 words | Reading | Partial Credit Scoring |
| MCQs: choose a single answer | Choose one answer from many options. | 1-2 | Text up to 300 words | Reading | No score for wrong or no response. |
PTE reading tips and strategies
Every student wants to clear their PTE exam on their first attempt. So, to do this, every student must follow some tips that will help them to achieve their desired score.
In the next paragraph, you will see some important PTE reading tips that will help you score 80 or more in the reading section.
Let’s move to the question-wise PTE Reading Tips without wasting any more time.
MCQs: choose a single answer
- First, you need to understand the main message of the passage, which is what the writer wants to say. After that, find the focus keyword of the passage. It will help you understand the paragraph and find the correct answer to your blank.
- Eliminate the frequency words (for example, never, many, all, often, only, something, always, etc ). After eliminating these words, it is possible, 60 to 70 percent of the time, that you will find your answer.
- There is no negative marketing for any wrong answers to this type of question. So always try to attempt all the questions of this type, whether you know the answer or not.
- To narrow your search, you can use the elimination method. By eliminating them, you can narrow down the given options.
- Before reading the paragraph, always read the question. It will help to find which kind of question’s answer you have to search for in the paragraph. For example, to find whether it is a single-answer or multiple-answer question.
- 6 out of 10 answers to the given question can be found in the first two or the last two lines of the paragraph. So, look carefully for the answer at the beginning and end of the passage.
- There will be no order for the answers to the questions in the passage, so it will be helpful for you if you remember what you read.
- You should have knowledge of paraphrasing any sentence. Because it sometimes happens that you will find paraphrased questions, which means conveying the same message using different words.
- Lastly, it is a practice that makes you perfect at anything. So, practice this type of question as much as you can.
These are some important PTE reading tips for MCQs: choose a single answer.
MCQs: choose multiple answers
- The most important PTE Reading Tips for these kinds of questions is that you don’t use guesses for these questions because these types of questions have negative markings.
- If you are not sure about any kind of question, then don’t answer that question. It is better to leave it blank instead of answering it incorrectly.
Reordering sentences
- Search for which sentence is showing the heading or focus on the main idea of the content.
- The sentences which have pronouns such as, he, she, it, her, him, them, those, etc., will never be the first sentence.
- Search for any contradictory sentences. Contradictory sentences mostly start from contradictory phrases like however, although, but, etc. Your work is to find the sentence before that contradictory sentence. With this strategy, you can easily arrange the sentences in the right order.
Fill in the blanks
- There is no negative marking in this section, so it is advised that you should answer all the questions even if you are not sure about the answer.
- By looking at the parts of speech in the sentences before and after the blank, you can find the missing word.
- Sometimes, there is a synonym for the missing word in the passage, so you need to have knowledge of synonyms.
PTE Exam Preparation Strategy For Reading
After knowing the PTE reading tips, you should also know some PTE exam preparation strategies for reading.
- Read the question twice
- Skimming and scanning
- Elimination technique
- Highlight the keywords
- Practice Tests
Read the question twice
You must read the question twice before attempting. This will help you understand what the examiner wants to ask you. Sometimes students do not understand the question properly and start answering it without understanding. By doing this, you may answer the question out of coherence, which may become the reason for deducting your score.
Skimming and scanning
This is one of the helpful PTE reading tips from the exam point of view. You must do skimming and scanning instead of reading the full content. This will help you to manage your time, as in this process, you will only look for the keyword in the passage instead of reading it word by word. For skimming, you can start searching for the keyword from right to left instead of left to right. By doing this, you can only focus on the keyword you are looking for, and in no time, you can complete the passage.
Elimination technique
You should be aware of the elimination technique. In MCQs (multiple choice questions), if you are not sure which is the right answer, then you can eliminate the possible wrong answers and can mark the left answer as the right answer.
Highlight the keywords
Read the questions first before reading the passage completely, and mark the keywords in the questions. By doing this, you can easily look for the answers in the passage using the keywords you have highlighted. This will save your valuable time. These PTE reading tips are directly from the experts of the coursementor team, and by following these tips, you can surely improve your PTE reading.
Practice Tests
When you practice something continuously, then you will master that thing in very no time. That same thing applies to PTE reading too. When you practice PTE reading on a daily basis, try every type of question that has come in the exam. You can practice the PTE reading with the help of PTE reading practice tests, with the help of these tests, you can easily develop your PTE reading skills.
Important books for preparing for PTE reading
The following books will help you prepare for PTE reading.
- PTE Practice Test Plus with Answer Key
- Aspire C1 Practice Tests with Answer Key
- Books 1 and 2 of the Expert PTE Academic Coursebook.
- 2020-2022 PTE Academic Official Vocabulary
- By Pearson PTE Academic The Official Guide to PTE Academic
Some of the best online courses for PTE preparation
The best online courses to prepare for IELTS.
- Preparing for PTE Academic by Futurelearn
- PTE Reading Academic test by udemy
- Pearson-associate courses by Pearsonpte
- Online PTE Academic Test Preparation by e2language
- Preparing for PTE Academic by classcentral
If you don’t want to join any institute for PTE, here are the top 5 online courses you can take to prepare for your PTE exam.
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Book Now and Save 10%!Final words (PTE Reading Tips)
In this post, we have discussed the PTE reading tips and strategies to help you achieve a good score in the PTE exam. Along with tips, there are also some top books and online courses that will help you to improve your PTE score, especially in reading.
We hope you have enjoyed reading this post about the tips for preparing for PTE reading. For more interesting posts like this, keep visiting our website regularly.
FAQs (PTE Reading Tips)
How can a student improve PTE reading?
By following the given tips, a student can easily improve his or her reading.
1. He or she should practice speed reading.
2. Aim to read more than 200 words per minute.
3. Read often for a short period of time.
How to get a 79 score in PTE reading?
To achieve a score of 79 or above, focus on high-scoring tasks. For example, read aloud, fill in the blanks, and retell the lecture or dictation.
