PTE Writing - Types of Questions

The PTE Writing section is part of the first segment of the PTE exam. That being said, the Pearson Test of English is an integrated skills test, which means more than one communicative skill can be tested in a particular question. Therefore, there are several question types that assess a candidate’s writing ability throughout the exam. Writing capabilities are an essential part of an individual’s language skills and are vital to a person, whether they are involved in academics or even certain professions. Thus, the PTE Writing section gives substantial importance to evaluating a candidate’s writing skills in order to ascertain whether they are proficient in the English language.

Writing skills are tough to grasp for beginners and if an individual does not practice writing on a daily basis, they are bound to give a substandard performance in the PTE Writing section. In the PTE exam, every aspect of writing is assessed through various questions keeping in mind the requirements of students when it comes to writing capabilities.

About PTE

There are several alternatives available for English language proficiency tests for visa application and the immigration process and most of them are globally accepted. The Pearson Test of English or PTE is one such English language proficiency test accepted by the governments of various countries like Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and others. It ascertains an individual’s competency in the English language by extensively evaluating their core communication skills in English.

The test is designed in a way that helps test takers understand the degree of their expertise compared to the Global Scale of English and realize their shortcomings, if any, according to international standards of English and not just British standards or American standards. Thus, when an individual successfully obtains a satisfactory score in the PTE exam, they are considered to be knowledgeable enough to communicate and interact effectively in the English language in regular life.

PTE Writing

The PTE exam has 3 parts, namely, Speaking and Writing together, Reading and Listening. Candidates should remember that the duration of the Speaking and Writing section has been reduced to 54-67 minutes since November 16, 2021. There is more than one question type in the PTE exam that assesses an individual’s writing skills in the English language. These questions are mostly included in the first section but are also present in the latter part of the test.

PTE Writing Question Types

As mentioned above, the PTE Writing section is part of the first segment of the PTE examination, which includes questions that focus on assessing speaking and writing skills along with other communication skills. Out of the seven question types in the Speaking and Writing section of the PTE exam, only two question types test the candidate’s writing abilities. There is another question type named ‘Reading and Writing: Fill in the Blanks’ that evaluates the writing skills of test-takers to a considerable extent, but this question type is part of the Reading section of the PTE exam. In this article, there is a detailed overview of the different types of questions in PTE Writing.

Summarize Written Text

In this section, test takers are given a text extract on a particular topic and candidates are required to write a summary of the given passage in one sentence. It is important to note that the summary of the text should not exceed the limit of 75 words and should include all the important details of the passage. There are usually 1-2 questions in this category.

Example:

Write Essay

A fairly straightforward question type, candidates are given a topic on which they should write an essay. The word limit that they have to follow is 200-300 words. The essay topics are typically argumentative in nature and test takers have to pick a side of the argument when writing the essay. There are usually 1-2 questions in this category.

Example:

Reading and Writing: Fill in the Blanks

Since the PTE Academic exam is an integrated skills test, the writing skills are also tested in the first question type of the test’s Reading section. In this category, candidates are given a passage with some missing words and they are required to fill in the gaps with the most suitable option from the given set of alternatives. There are 5-6 questions included in this question type.

It is always consequential for a potential candidate to understand the exam they are preparing for in order to recognize their needs and the areas they should prioritize more than others. On that note, hopefully, this article on the Writing part of the PTE exam will help students understand the PTE exam and prepare accordingly.

Example:

PTE Writing Tips

It is always better to know certain strategies to improve PTE Writing performance and improve the overall score, as many aspirants find this section to be difficult to tackle. Here are some important tips that candidates should know when answering the PTE Writing tasks.

1. Build up your vocabulary when preparing for the PTE exam. Considerable weightage is given to vocabulary in the evaluation of writing answers in PTE.
2. Try to write your answer for ‘Summarize Written Text’ in the third person. Avoid using personal pronouns.
3. Carefully read the questions and analyse the task before beginning your answer. This practice is particularly useful for the Write Essay task.
4. Always follow a definite structure when writing the answer for the ‘Write Essay’ task. Candidates are marked on how organized their answers are and the progression of ideas in the essay.
5. Strictly follow the word limit for the writing tasks. If a particular answer exceeds the given word limit, candidates will be penalized for the same.