Fabian Rodriguez- PTE Victim, now recovered 1

17th of April, 2017

Useful tips for your PTE exam

Pte – The Positives

Firstly, I understood from the beginning that I was in front of a computer. That’s
something that I’ve been doing for the last 20 years, so there was no reason to
feel threaten or intimidated by this exam.

Secondly, the waiting time to start the exam is nothing compared to IELTS. For
PTE, you arrive to the venue, someone checks your identity, scan your hands
and takes the picture. Then you put your belonging in a unique locker, you are
allowed to go to the toilet if required and wait for no more than 10 minutes to be
taken to the computer room with other candidates. Also, unlike IELTS, the exam
starts on time!!!

For IELTS, the anxiety and nerves increase since the moment that you are asked
to put your things next to other people’s belonging in a “secure” room. Then you
check in to the examination room and sit quietly for the next 20 or 40 minutes
until they decide when it’s a good time to start. That’s not right!!! I found that
always increased my anxiety.

Finally, during the exam, I had no one standing in front of me or checking my

passport every 10 minutes. For IELTS academic module, I was interrupted
several times for no reason, that made me lose focus and I did not perform well.

PTE was for me!

For specific preparation for the exam I used “The Official guide to PTE Academic
Test of English Academic Pack” which someone lent me.

Find your strengths

I analysed every section according to my strengths. I considered specific aspects

such as timing and number of items per section. I quickly understood that some
items give more points than others. Additionally, the material helped me prepare
not only for the type of questions but for the answers required.
Fabian Rodriguez- PTE Victim, now recovered 2
17th of April, 2017

TEST 1

PTE Academic

Rodriguez Losada, Wilmar

Test Taker Score Report
Wilmar Fabian Rodriguez Losada
Test Taker ID: PTE000436272

Date of Birth: 06 January 1980

Country of Residence: Australia
Country of Citizenship: Colombia
Gender: Male

313484309
Email Address: w.f.rodrigl@gmail.com

Registration ID: 313484309

Validation Code:
Test Date: 31 March 2017
Test Centre Country: Australia
Test Centre ID: 67712
First-Time Test Taker: Yes

Report Issue Date: 31 March 2017

Scores Valid Until: 31 March 2019

Overall Score: 65
The Overall Score for the PTE Academic is based on the test taker's performance on all items in the test. The scores for
Communicative Skills and Enabling Skills are based on the test taker's performance on only those items that pertain to these
skills specifically. As many items contribute to more than one Communicative or Enabling Skill, the Overall Score cannot be
computed directly from the Communicative Skill scores or from the Enabling Skill scores. The graph below indicates this test
taker's Communicative Skills and Enabling Skills relative to his or her Overall Score.

When comparing the Overall Score and the scores for Communicative Skills and Enabling Skills, please be aware that there is
some imprecision in all measurement, depending on a variety of factors. For more information on interpreting PTE Academic
scores, please refer to Interpreting the PTE Academic Score Report which is available at
www.pearsonpte.com/pteacademic/scores.

Skills Profile

Communicative Skills Communicative Skills Overall Score

Listening 68 Listening

Reading 64 Reading

Speaking 54 Speaking

Writing 70 Writing

Enabling Skills Enabling Skills

Grammar 83 Grammar

Oral Fluency 38 Oral Fluency

Pronunciation 48 Pronunciation

Spelling 45 Spelling

Vocabulary 89 Vocabulary

Written Discourse 90 Written Discourse

10 14 18 22 26 30 34 38 42 46 50 54 58 62 66 70 74 78 82 86 90
Score Scale

NOTE TO INSTITUTIONS: This score report is not valid unless authenticated on the PTE Academic Score
Report Website: www.pearsonvue.com/ptescores.

ALWAYS LEARNING PEARSON

Fabian Rodriguez- PTE Victim, now recovered 3
17th of April, 2017

TEST 2

PTE Academic

Rodriguez Losada, Wilmar

Test Taker Score Report
Wilmar Fabian Rodriguez Losada
Test Taker ID: PTE000436272

Date of Birth: 06 January 1980

Country of Residence: Australia
Country of Citizenship: Colombia
Gender: Male

314595220
Email Address: w.f.rodrigl@gmail.com

Registration ID: 314595220

Validation Code:
Test Date: 10 April 2017
Test Centre Country: Australia
Test Centre ID: 67712
First-Time Test Taker: No

Report Issue Date: 11 April 2017

Scores Valid Until: 10 April 2019

Overall Score: 74
The Overall Score for the PTE Academic is based on the test taker's performance on all items in the test. The scores for
Communicative Skills and Enabling Skills are based on the test taker's performance on only those items that pertain to these
skills specifically. As many items contribute to more than one Communicative or Enabling Skill, the Overall Score cannot be
computed directly from the Communicative Skill scores or from the Enabling Skill scores. The graph below indicates this test
taker's Communicative Skills and Enabling Skills relative to his or her Overall Score.

When comparing the Overall Score and the scores for Communicative Skills and Enabling Skills, please be aware that there is
some imprecision in all measurement, depending on a variety of factors. For more information on interpreting PTE Academic
scores, please refer to Interpreting the PTE Academic Score Report which is available at
www.pearsonpte.com/pteacademic/scores.

Skills Profile

Communicative Skills Communicative Skills Overall Score

Listening 72 Listening

Reading 77 Reading

Speaking 73 Speaking

Writing 72 Writing

Enabling Skills Enabling Skills

Grammar 90 Grammar

Oral Fluency 84 Oral Fluency

Pronunciation 69 Pronunciation

Spelling 52 Spelling

Vocabulary 80 Vocabulary

Written Discourse 80 Written Discourse

10 14 18 22 26 30 34 38 42 46 50 54 58 62 66 70 74 78 82 86 90
Score Scale

NOTE TO INSTITUTIONS: This score report is not valid unless authenticated on the PTE Academic Score
Report Website: www.pearsonvue.com/ptescores.

ALWAYS LEARNING PEARSON

Fabian Rodriguez- PTE Victim, now recovered 4
17th of April, 2017

TEST FORMAT:
PART 2: READING (32 – 41 minutes)
Between 15 to 17 items
• Fill in the blanks I made a few silly mistakes during the reading component of
• Multiple choice my first PTE attempt.
questions
single • I trusted that I was good at reading, therefore I did not
answer practice as I should have.
• Re-order • I did not manage time properly, this resulted in
paragraphs
answering the last four “fill in the blank” items in less
• Fill in the blanks
• Multiple choice
than 3 minutes. Big mistake because I lost about 15
questions points, and it was evident in the final results for that
multiple test.
• Also I did not check the type of word required in these
spaces. It is highly important to identify that from the
sentence structure to use the corresponding noun,
verb, adjective or adverb.

After my first exam result, I decided to focus on these

specific items during the exam given that I only needed a
minimum of “65” points in all the skills (reading, writing,
listening and speaking).

During my practice exercises with the official Pearson

material installed on my computer (which contained three
mock tests), I did the first reading component without time
limit. When I finished (after 1 hour), I compared the answers
with my responses and realized that I was getting most of
the right answers from “fill in the blanks” and the “re-
ordering paragraph” items.

For the two tests I did, the item order was different.
In my first test this was the order in which the questions
appeared:
• Multiple choice questions, single answer
• Multiple choice questions multiple answers
• Re-order paragraphs
• Fill in the blanks

My big mistake was to spend the same time with all the items. I
thought that I could spend 2 minutes in each item and have
enough time to complete all 17 items. But it was not the right
decision. When I reached the “fill in the blank” questions, I
realized that I was in trouble. I did not have enough time to
analyse the paragraphs and chose the most appropriate word for
the space. As a result, my overall reading score was not the best
for my first attempt.

Fill in the blanks (6 or 7 items):

Every item contained between 5 and 6 blanks. So, I made
sure that I had enough time to check the options that were
grammatically correct for the space given and then I used my
Fabian Rodriguez- PTE Victim, now recovered 5
17th of April, 2017

knowledge about phrasal verbs and idiomatic expressions to

choose the right one (check out BBC English and British
Council if you need help with these).
When I had no idea what to do, I simply selected the option
that provided more meaning to that sentence within the
context.
After filling all the blanks, I read the paragraph quickly to
check if it was coherent and cohesive (IELTS writing
experience was useful).

Reorder the paragraphs (2 or 3 items):

I firstly identified the segment or paragraph that appeared to
be the introduction. Then I looked for linking words within
paragraphs, dates, names, action verbs…anything that could
give me clues about the sequence of events.

If I still did not have a clue, I simply organized the paragraph

according to the order that provided a more natural flow of
events within the reading. I knew that for every correct pair I
was going to receive one point. Remember that this type of
question only gives 2 or 3 points depending on the number of
paragraphs. So do not overthink and waste valuable time.

Multiple choice, multiple answers (2 – 3 items):

The answers are not going to be given as we expect it. You
really need to be a proficient reader to identify key synonyms
or key sentences. PTE uses a lot of distracting statements in
the multiple choice set of questions. Think scientifically and
methodically to discard the options that are a true statement
and do not leave space for other options. For example, look
at these two sentences:

• There is a 60% chance of rain for today at 2:00pm

• Today is going to rain at 2:00pm

The second sentence is invalid because it’s a very narrow

statement that does not consider other variables. If you apply
the same concept in PTE exam, and look at the questions
first, then focus your attention to the reading passage, you’ll
only have three options or two that need to be verified.

If you can only find one answer, do not worry too much and
click next. Because time is valuable and you need to spend
more energy on items that contain the bulk of the points. On
top of that, in these types of questions you’ll lose a point for
every wrong answer.

Multiple choice, single answer (2-3 items)

These types of questions only give a single point per answer.
So, try to spend less time and apply the same technique that
you used for the multiple choice multiple answer items:
Fabian Rodriguez- PTE Victim, now recovered 6
17th of April, 2017

• Skim and scan the reading passage for sentences with

similar meaning
• Look for names, dates, places, etc.
• The first sentence of each paragraph will probably
contain the main idea. So focus your attention to the
paragraph that relates the most to your answer.
• Do not spend more than 1 minute per question if
possible. If you feel that you have spent too much time
(more than 1.3 minutes), chose the option that you
believe is the most appropriate and move on.

Practice at home, do a lot of reading exercises. IELTS / CAE

reading passages and multiple choice questions will help you
to master this skill. You will also realize that PTE reading
passages are easier and you can cope better with the time
management strategies. It is always good to practice with
content that is harder than PTE subtests as your confidence
grows.

Another important aspect to take into consideration is that

reading does not need to be stressful during the exam. The
type of questions are more manageable and easier to
respond to. You can obtain a great reading score if you
practice at home and try to do this subtest under time & test
conditions.

I used to get really overwhelmed with the amount of

information that I had in front of me. Then I realized that I
only needed to apply simple reading techniques and focus my
attention to key sentences to find the answers.

Remember to take one item at the time, distribute the time

frames accordingly to the number of points that the item
gives you and continue without hesitation.

For my second exam this was the order of the items:

• Fill in the blanks
• Re-order paragraphs
• Multiple choice questions multiple answers
• Multiple choice questions, single answer

I think I spent approximately 3 minutes in each “fill in the

blanks items given” because I wanted to secure as many points
as possible here and have the luxury of making some mistakes
with the other items. Finally I managed to increase my reading
score from 64 to 77. I am sure that if I did the exam again, I
could improve that score again.

So if I managed to do it, so you can. Keep practicing and

building your confidence around this skill.
Fabian Rodriguez- PTE Victim, now recovered 7
17th of April, 2017

Please take your 10 mins break!!!

Getting out of the room to drink water while walking to the toilet helped me to
stretch my legs and relax my mind. Personally I found it helpful. It’s
something that cannot be done in IELTS because it affects your exam time.
Also, I was hit by a car on my bicycle (watch out for cyclists guys, please!) 3
weeks before the exam so sitting for a long time is a killer at the moment.
PART 3: LISTENING (45 – 57 minutes)
• Summarize Listening is not the hardest part of the test but it is not the
spoken text
easiest either. Listening for specific information can be tricky
• Multiple
choice questions if you are not used to the normal speaking rate or varied
• Fill the blanks accents of English native speakers.
• Highlight the I started to build up my listening skills throughout podcasts.
correct summary As I have a strong interest in science and technology, I
• Multiple choice
questions
downloaded a heap of BBC podcast onto my mobile phone. I
• Select missing spent hours listening to English speakers talking about the
word latest research outcomes, so improving my listening skills
• Highlight incorrect became a enjoyable process. Now I’m really addicted to my
words
favourite podcasts:
• Write from
dictation 1. 50 things that made the Modern Economy
2. The Academic Minute
3. A History in the World in 100 Objects
4. Science in Action

My two favourites are the first two.

“The Academic Minute” was a great resource to practice

summarize spoken test items.
In this podcast the speaker always talks about interesting
topics in three minutes. I normally listened to it carefully
during the entire duration of the recording and while trying to
remember key facts to report them back to my wife or to my
dog (he learnt a lot!) when she was not around. For other
opportunities I normally took notes and tried to remember as
much information as possible to write a summary which later
I compared to the original recording to identify if I covered
the main ideas.

This exercise helped me to extend my English vocabulary and

knowledge. It also assisted me in both reading and writing,
because I learnt new idiomatic expressions and extended my
general knowledge too which was useful for writing thesis
statements, supporting arguments, real life facts, etc.
I also came to realise that I can communicate easily about
interesting topics which I somehow lost confidence in after
poor performance in IELTS.

Multiple choice questions:

For this section, I found that it was useful to read the options
quickly before the beginning of the recording. During the
recording, pay careful attention to the first two sentences to
identify the topic or what the speaker is trying to say. This is
tricky if you are not used to listening to someone talking
Fabian Rodriguez- PTE Victim, now recovered 8
17th of April, 2017

relatively fast. This is another reason why listening to

podcasts is important, you can isolate main ideas from a
lecture because of your ability to eliminate filler sentences
and focus on main important topics. I recommend this
because English flows less directly than other languages.
People can spend ages going around the topic rather than
hitting it immediately.

Highlight the correct summary:

Note taking is very important here. You can write key words
during the duration of the recording and then look at the
options to identify the one that contains those ideas. If your
memory is good, you could simply follow the recording and
look at the options simultaneously to identify which options
contain the main ideas.

Listen carefully to the entire recording, most of the time the

sentence given contains the same words or sentences
mentioned on the recording but they will appear on a
negative form. That’s a strategy to trick you and make you
fail.

Selecting the missing word

In this subtest, you can select the missing word at the end of
the recording by following the cues given in the lecture and
by quickly reading the given options to eliminate options that
the speaker mentions across the entire passage.

Another way to do this is by identifying the context where the

recording happened. For instance, if a friend is talking to
someone on a train platform and they are talking about time
tables and rain routes… by the end of the recording, the main
speaker would say something like: sorry I have to go now,
otherwise I’ll miss my next-------. In this case the best option
is “train” because of all the previous build up and the context
where the dialogue occurred.

Fill in the blanks:

In this part, your typing skills will be highly regarded!
Following a spoken text, record the missing word and type it
while you keep listening might be overwhelming. But if you
get in the habit of multitasking and type a word directly on
the space given, you’ll realize that it’s not bad after all.

For that reason I recommended the “Typing Master Pro-

Windows (free version)” because you can improve your
typing speed in a week if you do at least 30 mins per day. If
you decide to write the missing word on your erasable book,
you can lose track of the sequence and miss out on valuable
points. This program really improved my typing speed and
Fabian Rodriguez- PTE Victim, now recovered 9
17th of April, 2017

confidence, which allowed me to write 300 words under 15

minutes without any problem.
This section gives the bulk of the listening points and your
overall score can be affected if you disregard it.
Before submitting your answers, check that you have spelt
the word correctly, do not worry about spelling while you are
listening and typing simultaneously. Checking every written
word for spelling mistakes will give you the points that you
need.

Highlight incorrect words:

I think this is one of my favourite parts of the PTE exam. It’s
here when I know that I can enjoy the listening tasks
because I only need to identify a minimum of 4 words that
are incorrect within the recording. Focus and do not get
distracted, click on the right words if possible. Remember
that you can gain a lot of points here as well as losing them.

For example, if you hear “convenient” and it’s written

“inconvenient” you need to click on the word immediately.
Follow the sequence of the reading with the mouse arrow is
the key to succeed in this tasks.

Write from dictation:

Here you need to write down the spoken sentence which is
about 8 words of length. It sounds tricky, but if you can only
remember 4 or 5, try to write them down in a grammatically
correct sentence. Do not forget to start with a capital letter
and finish it with a full stop. Also consider if the speaker’s
intonation: he/she had a short pause, was it a question or
exclamation? Was the pause long or short… those clues will
give you a clear idea about the corresponding punctuation
marks required.

I bought the head set that PTE Australia is currently using.

This gave me a better interaction with audio and microphone
while doing the speaking and listening practice exercises.
The headset name is:
Plantronics audio 655 DSP it can be purchased in Officeworks
or ATD Technology (In Melbourne)
This is the link for the shop:
http://www.plantronics.com/au/where-to-
buy/listings.jsp?psproductGroup=AU%2C.Audio%20655%20
DSP&prodId=audio-655-dsp&part=80935-21&region=AU

While using the official PTE headset I had the opportunity to

play with the microphone position and volume settings that
worked the best for me. It also made me aware of the sound
distortions or excessive breathing that may impact on the
quality of the recording.
Fabian Rodriguez- PTE Victim, now recovered 10
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PART 1: SPEAKING & WRITING (77 – 93 minutes)

• Personal Speaking
Introduction
• Read aloud
• Repeat sentence Firstly, after doing IELTS three times since November 2016, I
• Describe image had enough of strategies and anyone’s recommendations or
• Re-tell lecture tips to excel in English exams.
• Answer short
question
So, I did not listen to my wife’s recommendations (She is a
• Summarize written
text speech pathologist) regarding the PTE speaking part. I
thought I could obtain a good score because in IELTS I
Essay (20 mins) always obtained a score above 7.5 for speaking and I
believed that PTE speaking was going to be easy according to
the gossip on PTE. Soon my score of 56 (obtained on my first
test on the 31st of March, 2017) proved to me that I was
wrong!

I did not want to recognize that I serious impacts on

pronunciation and fluency scores for the exam. Mostly
because I am a proficient English speaker. I’ve studied
English for years even specialised at Post – Grad level in
Translation and Interpreting with a literature focus. English
has always been my thing, what I am good at!

I believed that I had everything to obtain the PTE score

required for my professional accreditation (65 in all the four
skills) on the basis of evidence in my daily and scholastic life
that proved my proficiency. After 2 Master’s degrees in
Australia, surely I had enough! But I failed. I failed IELTS
non-stop from the 12th of December 2016 through to early
2017 as well as PTE Academic up until the 10th of April. Yes,
failure hurts, especially when it hits you hard at all levels
(Personal, professional and financial).

I had to spend AU$330 each for 5 English exams (3 x IELTS

and 2 x PTE = AU$1650) plus materials (online IELTS training
course and books). If I only listened to my wife from the very
beginning, It would had saved me a lot of pain ☺ !!!

After obtaining the results for the first PTE exam, I realized
that I needed urgent help. I did not want to taste failure
again!

In summary, my wife Sarah Lobegeiger de Rodriguez is a

Speech Pathologist who works with individuals who have
difficulties with voice production, fluency, and communication
issues. My fluency and pronunciation scores increased
dramatically because of her advice. I wish I could summarize
them here, but it would take me another 30 pages to cover
them and still you will have troubles to get the main points
because of the feedback required to know if you are doing it
right or wrong.
Fabian Rodriguez- PTE Victim, now recovered 11
17th of April, 2017

I highly recommend you to look at her website and determine

if she can assist you according to your individual needs.

These are her details:

https://thevoicescience.com/
Her tips have been made into an online course after I passed
because her clinic books out and she wanted to provide a
fast-track solution to clients that is more accessible.
You can read more about the specific training here:
https://thevoicescience.com/product/pteacademicspeaking/

Personal Introduction:
I memorized it. I knew what to say. This does not need to be
complex or scary, after all if anyone is the expert in personal
introduction, it’s you! You are the expert at talking about
yourself. This part of the exam was my opportunity to shine
and say what I wanted to say. Remember, the introduction is
about you and it’s important because the computer software
needs to calibrate to your voice!

Fluency and pronunciation for the speaking

component:
www.thevoicescience.com assisted me with specific strategies
that helped me to avoid common mistakes before and during
the exam. Also provided me with clear drills and exercises to
improve my fluency and pronunciation in a short period of
time.

Their advice was really useful for all the spoken components
of the test.

Re-tell the lecture:

I listened carefully to key words during the recording and
tried to use include them in my response. I imagined that I
was reporting it back to a university friend. This helped me to
maintain focus in what I wanted to say.

Answer short questions:

When I did not understand the question, I simply answered
with one or two words from the options given.

Writing

My writing score did not change too much for both exams, in
fact I received lower marks for vocabulary and written
discourse for the first exam. However, my marks for spelling
increased in the second attempt. I think it is mainly because I
practiced writing skills under time conditions, using sample
questions from IELTS and PTE. I also spell checked more in
the second exam.
Fabian Rodriguez- PTE Victim, now recovered 12
17th of April, 2017

If you are a confident writer of English, it does not hurt to do

one essay per day under time conditions. Ask someone to
time it for you and stop you when your time is over, or
simply use your mobile phone timer application. Following
this step, sit and check what you did wrong and what needs
improvement.

Self-evaluation is a great strategy as long as you are truthful

and critical about your writing skills. Remember that
improvement and success come together when you are able
to identify your mistakes and transform them into strengths.

From the moment I decided to take PTE, I knew that I was

required to type fast while maintaining good grammatical
structures and perfect spelling. To identify common spelling
mistakes resulting from problematic words or high frequency
words, I installed “Grammarly” on my laptop and desktop.

Thanks to “Grammarly” I finally realized that I was making a

lot of typo errors that were impacting my results under exam
conditions. These were mainly because of the typing speed or
because of my efforts to produce a cohesive and coherent
essay and responding the question appropriately.

Home practice does not need to be painful or

extensive.
Instead, think that this practice will provide you with more
ideas that can save you preparation time during the exam
and focus more on other key aspects that will boost your final
score such as vocabulary, grammar and spelling
Before the first exam I stablished a study routine for every
subtest. For instance, I was studying two hours of reading
and writing during the morning, and 2 hours of listening and
speaking in the afternoon.

When I received the first exam score, I realized that I only

needed to focus more on speaking and reading. So I modified
my study routine, I limited it to 1.5 hours of reading during
the morning and 1.5 hours of speaking in the afternoon. I
tried to do at least one mock test daily (30 – 40 mins) and
spend the rest of the time analysing my mistakes as well as
learning new idiomatic expressions.

Once again, the home preparation saved me valuable

preparation time on the exam because I already have clear
ideas for different topics such as social problems. Politics,
psychology, science, etc. Additionally, I had a clear mental
map about the essay:

• Introduction
• Two body paragraphs with supporting ideas and
examples
Fabian Rodriguez- PTE Victim, now recovered 13
17th of April, 2017

• Conclusion

The last 3 or 5 minutes left, need to be spent on checking

spelling and grammar. Do not stress too much about the
content. And do not use complicated words that you haven’t
mastered yet or do not remember how to spell. If you go
over the word count limit, then erase those filler words that
do not add value to your essay.

Remember that you need to play safe and secure valuable

points with a range of grammatical structures and excellent
vocabulary.

Summarize written text:

Use the all the time given for every item. If you have 10
minutes to summarize the paragraph, leave the last 3
minutes to check spelling, grammar and punctuation. This
part really matters for the grammar score.

Essay:
I wrote a short introduction where I paraphrased the
statement provided while using synonyms, two main
paragraphs with specific statements and a short conclusion.
Do not spend too much time thinking about the content.
What matters the most is the grammatical structures that
you use, the vocabulary and punctuation. If you want to use
specific technical words, make sure that they are typed
correctly. Also use the correct lower or upper case after the
punctuation marks that you use. Do not over-elaborate long
sentences. And try to use a good variety of structures.

20 minutes are enough to show up that you know English and

can provide an argument on specific topics.

I was asked:
• Has technology influenced our lives positively or
negatively? Argue with specific examples.

• What are the advantages and disadvantages of

teaching sports and arts at school level?

The side that you take does not really matters, as long as you
provide a clear essay without grammar and spelling
mistakes… everything else is fine. There are no right or
wrong answers.

My writing score in the second exam was slightly lower for

vocabulary and writing discourse because this was one aspect
of the test that I didn’t need to worry about. I felt very
confident that I was not going to obtain a score lower that 70
for writing.