Avoid these mistakes in the PTE speaking section

If you are one of those who are taking the PTE exam, then you must be aware of some common mistakes made by other test-takers in the speaking section of the exam. Knowing about these common mistakes will help you avoid them when you are taking the PTE.

Not placing the mic in the correct position

One of the basic mistakes made by the aspirants is the wrong positioning of the mic. Your responses will not be clear as a result and you might end up losing marks in the PTE speaking segment.

Speaking too fast

It is likely that if you are a native speaker, you become overconfident while you are attempting tasks in the speaking section. Or, if the answer is not known to you, you become nervous. In both these situations, you could be speaking faster than what is accepted as a normal pace. And it is important to note that the PTE speaking exam is not a competition where your speed of speaking is being tested.

Speaking too fast will impact your ranking for oral fluency. It is therefore recommended that you should talk at a normal speed when recording your responses, neither too fast nor too slow.

Not using Academic English in the PTE speaking Section

Whether you are a native speaker or not, you are bound to use informal or non-literary terms in your day-to-day conversations. For example, in place of ‘going to’ and ‘have to’, you might use ‘gonna’ and ‘gotta’ which is wrong.

However, in the PTE exam, you are expected to use academic English, so ensure that you strictly use academic English in the exam. Using this type of English with a variety of words will help you to display your knowledge of the language.

 Avoid breaks in your speech

Nervousness and lack of confidence can influence the way you speak. There are chances that you start worrying about what the next fragment is when speaking a sentence and stop in between.

This will lower your score for Oral Fluency. This is something that could happen if you miss a crucial point, or you fail to relate your point to the next thing you’re going to say. Don’t pause in between, complete your sentence, whatever the situation is. If you have forgotten any point, you can include it later in a complete sentence. You can increase your oral fluency score by using complete sentences.

Do not use fillers when speaking

If you have not determined the structure of your response, you will make a mistake of using fillers such as ‘aah’ or ‘umm’ in your sentence.  When you do not remember, you become anxious, and inevitably, as you are used to in daily conversations, you will use these fillers.

This can easily be avoided because you get enough time to decide what you have to talk about before you try to respond, so schedule it accordingly.

These are the common mistakes you should try to avoid in the PTE speaking section.

As a bonus, here are some tips to follow for a good score in the speaking section:

• Practice as much as possible
• Make a recording of your speech and do an evaluation of your oral fluency and speaking speed.
• Practice on discovering the context and the focus points in a question to avoid using fillers.

To get expert help, enroll in a comprehensive online PTE coaching service to prepare in the right way and get the desired score in your PTE exam.