There is light

Hi, just reaching out for some advice on PTE. With the visa points change to 65 now, I must score 79 or more in each area of speaking, reading, writing and listening. To be honest, given I am native English speaking my very first attempt I did not prepare for the test. Since then, I am paying for online tutoring, have done so many practice tests online, literally spend hours reviewing You Tube videos on PTE techniques, how they score etc. These are my results after 5 attempts (not including my very first attempt):
Listening: 82, 74, 77, 80, 77
Reading: 76, 81, 76, 88, 70
Speaking: 90, 90, 90, 85, 62
Writing: 78, 61, 74, 77, 82

Each time I believe I am absolutely prepared, have been applying the same techniques during each test and on the 4th attempt I almost made it. I cannot understand why my scores vary in all the areas over the 5 attempts - wonder how this is possible? As an example, surely my speaking scores should be more consistent.

While I am trying to keep my hopes high, I am also getting really frustrated and disheartened about the whole PTE process as I cannot apply for a visa until I get the superior PTE results. I cannot help but think the system might be rigged somewhere (thought I read some material on the internet that they can only pass a certain number of people on certain days throughout the year).

I want to put my doubts away and ask if anyone is experiencing anything similar to their PTE results. I as mentioned, I have full fluency and comprehension from UK schooling so cannot understand why I cannot get over the line with PTE. Please suggest anything else that I can do to help achieve the 79 pass score, thanks.

J___Mcewan

Have you sat the IELTS? I found that the easier of the 2, however, still failed to achieve the 20 points, just fell short on the listening aspect on my first try

mark3467

It's not an easy test. I ended up doing all 3 (Cambridge, IELTS, PTE).

If you are good at writing essays and prefer a computer, i'd encourage you to try the Cambridge exam. The speaking test is done by a human so you shouldn't have any trouble there, although it is a full day .

If your essay writing is not great (like mine ;-)), then PTE is the best to go for as the written score is not solely derived from your essay. One hint though, the headsets on PTE can be affected by heavy breathing if the mic is in the wrong position and this can affect the Speaking, Reading and Listening scores. I would recommend raising the mic up away from your nose and mouth slightly so it is almost as high as your eyes, it reduces the interference and was the difference between me getting scores in the 60s vs 90.

Hope this helps

There is light

Sorry I haven't responded to my original post. I should have added that a while back, in fact since my original post, within a matter of days I passed PTE with Superior level! Since then, I have been able to lodge EOI but have moved no further forward. So it has been one year since my PTE test result and EOI still in the system.

Fsb

What do you do for a career?

I managed to get superior first time via PTE (90, 81, 83,90) after doing it first time, and booking it just a week before.

However, I work in public relations and communications and have written/conducting media interviews for years.