Writing skills are tested on the basis of the responses of the candidates to the questions. Correct vocabulary, grammar and spelling are also tested in the written section.

1. Summarize Written Text- To assess the reading and writing skills of the candidate, a text of up to 300 words is shown on the screen. The candidate is allotted 10 minutes to write a summary of the text in a single sentence ranging from 5 to 75 words. There are 2-3 questions of this type and the responses are assessed on the right content, word limit, sentence structure, grammar and vocabulary.

2. Essay- This question type is the longest type in terms of the response length and time limit. The candidates are required to write 1 or 2 essays of 200 to 300 words, each within the time limit of 20 minutes. These essay questions usually contain 2 aspects of a topic. The candidate needs to choose one aspect and build on it in the response essay. The essay is marked on content, sentence structure, word limit, grammar, general linguistic range, vocabulary, correct spellings and the development, structure and coherence of the flow of the essay. Since this question type contributes to the assessment of the most number of skills, it is very important to practise writing good essays to get a good score on the PTE test.

Speaking and Writing section together is allotted 77-93 minutes in total. As mentioned before, the speaking skills are tested on the candidate’s ability to speak English in an academic setting. However, Writing skills are tested on the basis of the responses of the candidates to the questions. Correct vocabulary, grammar and spelling are also tested in the written section. Since this section is a combination of speaking and writing skills, it is the longest section, which carries the maximum weightage of points. Practising for the question types of this section can help a candidate boost up the PTE results.

Since Speaking and Writing section together involve question types that test all the four communicative skills (Speaking, Writing, Reading and Listening), one needs to be absolutely sure about her/his ability of handling all these question types. It always helps to attempt a sample test and understand your comfort level in handling all these question types.

You may also take the help of an expert to clearly understand the points where you falter, and ways to improve your skills. Attempt Fountainhead Prep PTE Diagnostic Test today and apply for evaluation to get a 60-minute verbal feedback from our PTE expert!