PTE tips & strategies
Most PTE advice says “practise more”. This tells you where the marks actually are, and which rules will quietly zero a task you thought went fine.
The rules that cost people whole tasks
- Essay under 120 words → 0. Not a deduction. Zero. Same over 380.
- Summarize Written Text in two sentences → 0. One sentence, one full stop, 5–75 words.
- Content 0 → the whole task is 0. An off-topic essay scores nothing, however elegant.
- Memorised speaking templates → Content 0. Pearson detects them. They used to help; now they hurt.
Where the cheap marks are
- Write From Dictation. Highest-value Listening task, no negative marking, and pure practice moves it. If Listening is your weak score, start here.
- R/W Fill in the Blanks. Feeds two skill scores at once, and has no negative marking — never leave a blank empty.
- Spelling. A separate trait in Writing. Free marks, carelessly lost.
Where guessing hurts you
- Multiple Choice, Multiple Answers and Highlight Incorrect Words subtract a mark for each wrong pick. Selecting everything scores zero. Click only what you are confident about.