Despite focusing excessively on the to-do list, many of you tend to ignore the forbidden things when it comes to the speaking module in PTE. The general thumb rule for all speaking questions is to be orally fluent and pronouncing words in a clear and concise manner. But is that all? Here is a list of 5 things to avoid in PTE to improve your speaking to score a perfect 90 in PTE speaking.
To get the ball rolling, let’s have a quick look at the exam structure. You need to keep in mind that Part One is marked on your Speaking, Reading, and Listening skills.
The question types in Part One include:
The question types in Part One include:
- Read Aloud
- Repeat Sentence
- Describe Image
- Re-tell lecture
- Answer short questions
CRUCIAL THINGS TO AVOID IN PTE, TO ENHANCE YOUR SPEAKING

In Part 1 the main questions that contribute to the speaking part of your exam include read aloud, repeat sentence, describe image, re-tell lecture and answer short questions. These questions come with individual allocated time for each question (between 25-40 seconds).
There are 5 crucial aspects that you need to evade while delivering your responses. Remember and abide the following strictly!
And make sure you do not attempt the following:
- Speak Too Fast
- Make Self Corrections
- Make Unjustified Insertions or Omissions
- Mumble or Swallow Words, as You Speak
- Use Filler Words like as Erm, Urr, Like, You Know, Etc.
Let’s quickly scheme through the aforementioned key points and common PTE speaking problems:
- A common mistake that many students are nonchalant about is the pace of delivering their responses. It gets more troublesome when candidates try to speak too fast and in that process compromise on the clarity of certain words, thus jeopardizing their chances of voice recognition by the computer; and ultimately performing poor.
- On many occasions when students happen to stumble upon any point they have this habit of repeating the same info as a means of correcting themselves. However, this does not help at all and instead imposes a formidable obstruction between the individual and the desired score. The explanation for this lies in the mismatch in the word count between the candidate’s response and original passage.
- Make sure that you never compromise with the content by inserting redundant words to your response and likewise do not skip or omit any word or information from the tasks that you perform. Accuracy is the key!
- Ensure at all times that you perform the speaking tasks in a smooth manner. Don’t rush things and be clearly audible so that you do not mumble or swallow words while you are speaking.
- Do not use filler words such as ‘ah’, ‘um’, or ‘like’ like you do in normal conversations, while you perform any speaking task. PTE assesses your speaking scores with respect to the content that you are supposed to cover and there is no room for filler words to get away with.
How To Improve Speaking in PTE?
Let’s talk about some general attributes that you can do so that you can quickly improve your speaking skills with our PTE speaking tips. To know more about what to do during your speaking section keep an eye out on our Facebook Page.
- Focus on oral fluency by speaking with a nice flow at a natural pace, make sure you are not speaking too fast or too slow.
- Avoid pauses and unnatural hesitation, making sure you are not dragging words and saying ‘uh’ or ‘um’ too many times. It is important to not pause mid-sentence if you have made mistakes, maintain flow and continue to speak naturally.
- Make sure you are not repeating the same words too many times like ‘because’, ‘for example’ and ‘like’.
- Try to speak in your regular accent rather than a forced accent that you won’t be able to maintain throughout the exam.
- Record yourself regularly and review your oral fluency yourself and try to improve. – this will help you assess your regular speaking patterns. With the recent technology advancements, you are able to record your voice on your phone or computer. You should make use of this.
Want to get a perfect 90 score in PTE and learn how to improve pronunciation and oral fluency in PTE? Enroll in our online PTE course to get personal one on one training with expert guidance. Schedule a call with us today!