Pearson: Speaking section

[CTtoAus]

Hi all,

 

I need some advice.

 

I am writing my Pearson Academic test on Thursday and require 79 for all sections.  I worked through some of the material posted on this site and purchased the Gold Preparation package.  I just finished my second mock exam and while I scored well in the Reading, Writing, and Listening sections, I achieved an embarrassing mark of 46 for Speaking on both attempts.  Looking at the breakdown, this is due to scoring only 26 and 28 for Oral Fluency and Pronunciation.

 

While my first language is Afrikaans, I studied at an English university, my husband is English and I only speak English at work. I am really shocked that I scored so poorly, while I felt that I did reasonably well in the Speaking section.

 

I'm wondering if anyone else has experienced this with PTE and how it turned out for you?  Any advice on how I can improve my Speaking score?

 

[ChrisH]

The first time I did Pearson I scored 55 in the speaking section with all the other scores being high.  The second time I scored above 79 in all sections.

 

What I found was that my microphone was badly positioned.  I saw this in one of the youtube videos, on the microphone calibration step just before the test starts, spend some time on that step and read a couple of the sentences on screen (not just testing 1 2 3).  Listen to it and re-adjust the microphone to ensure there are no breathy noises, popping on your p's and t's or things like that.  This might address the pronunciation side of things.

 

Remember this is a computer marking, things like going back a couple of words if you think you made a mistake will hammer you fluency score.  Never ever go back, just continue talking, don't worry about sounding stupid a physical person won't be listening to it.

 

Imagine whilst doing the test that its Siri marking, would she have understood what you just said.  

[Tntaglia]

I can also strongly recommend going through all the youtube videos for the speaking sections. It made a massive difference for me in how I approached the speaking bits. Accent is not a problem, pronunciation is - it should be easy for a native English speaker to understand you. So don't try to change your accent, just make sure you say the words clearly and slowly.

[planningahead]

LIke Chris said, the main things is adjusting the microphone. By adjusting, I mean move the mouth piece as far away from your mouth as possible and do a test. You will notice that the mic becomes much less sensitive to your breathing, gulping, sighing, etc. Adjust and test... Don't just test saying "test 1 2 3". Speak actual sentences and listen back.... Do this and you will be fine. I scored below 79 for speaking when I was doing the practice test but then I got 90 in all four categories when I wrote the actual test. I'm also Afrikaans, attended an English uni, speak English at work, partner is English, etc...

[GKatherine]

I did REALLY badly in the speaking section for both practice rounds.... and got all round 90s in the actual exam.  YEAH!!  I second the Youtube videos.  That made a big difference.  Other things I did (not sure which contributed, but the combination worked):

- whilst prepping, I would record myself on my phone to listen back but also time myself.

- I used Google voice search and practiced pronunciation until she actually picked up correctly what I said 

- when stuck in traffic, I spoke to myself in English and would describe the billboards etc. to myself, as if it was a graph.

- in the test, what the others said about the mic, but I also used my hands VERY vividly when talking; I read somewhere that this helps with the fluency and placing emphasis on the correct words.

- I also mentally prepared a 'template' for the the difficult sections.  So, there was no uhming and ahing when faced with a graph or listening to a lecture.  That way, at least the 'template' section went smoothly and bettered the flow and pronunciation points.  Don't know if that made sense.

 

Good luck!

[CTtoAus]

Thanks so much for the advice, everyone.  I thought that moving from a 46 to 79 would be impossible but you have given me some hope.

Hold thumbs for tomorrow!

[G2OZ]

Hello CTtoAus

 

 

One of the main characteristics about the test is the format of delivery. It is largely about know how to accomplish each task with a specific strategy. I just got my score results today and got 90 for speaking. Here is some advice

- Adjust your mic, as Chris has said

- Check out E2Language on youtube for strategies on describe image etc.

- Repeat sentence counts for a large portion of your speaking mark so, when listening to the radio or TV, try repeat a sentence as you heard it. "Don't worry, the family will look at your strangely at first".

- On the retell lectures, it's not too much about content but rather about fluency and pronunciation so try not to fumble too much

- Lastly, keep your describe image and retell lecture to 36 Seconds.

 

Hope you crack it.

[G2OZ]

Oh, sorry also. When you have to repeat the sentence, close your eyes to listen, do not look at the screen. There is about a 1 second delay after the spoken sentence has ended when the recorder starts, you do not need to watch the screen all the time but rather close your eyes and focus on the speaker. Try to ignore the accents and since you are Afrikaans, make sure your mind does not try to translate it on the flay cause this will cause issues.

[MichKen]

It's about pronunciation and fluency above all else, try speak as naturally as possible.  The advice about adjusting the microphone is very good advice, use some poetry with many P, B, S words in them, so you can listen for plosives.  Try not to overthink it.  If Pearson doesn't work for you, it's okay, then you go try IELTS.  Seems different people prefer different tests.  I personally prefer IELTS and found it a more straightforward test, especially on the speaking - you sit opposite a human and have a conversation- it's a lot more natural.

 

Wish you everything of the best for your test!

[CTtoAus]

Hi all,

Just to let you know that I got my results for the Pearson Test.  They were as follows: Writing 90, Reading 90, Listening 88, Speaking.....65.  So I failed

At least it is better than the 46 I scored in the practise tests.

 

The microphone was attached to the headphone, so not much one could do about adjusting it.  So I have to assume that the issue is indeed my actual pronunciation and oral fluency (my grammar and vocabulary scores were high).

 

But honestly, I am at a bit of a loss.  I followed all the tips above, used the methods in the E2Language videos and did loads of practise examples.  I really don't know what more I can do to ensure that I won't just get the same marks the second time around.

 

So I think I have two options and I would really appreciate advice:

Option 1: Get a tutor to listen to my mock Speaking test to help me identify what I am doing wrong and then rewrite PTE.  In this case, has anyone gone this route and have a company or person that you can recommend?  I was very impressed by E2Language, but the R3k price tag for their entry-level package with feedback is quite steep.  I wouldn't mind paying it if I knew it was worthwhile, though?

 

Option 2: Give IELTS a shot. My husband did IELTS and said that he found that much easier than the tasks that I was practising for Pearson.  But from reading this forum, it sounds like most people do better in the PTE?  I would hate to switch to IELTS and pass the Speaking section and then fail, for example, Writing! Has anyone here had issues with the Speaking section in Pearson and then managed to pass IELTS at the first attempt? 

 

Thanks in advance!

 

 

 

[MvR89]

@CTtoAus My speaking was 88 and writing 65, I wrote again after studying through E2Language and my writing went to 90 and my speaking dropped dramatically down to 62. I figured out that the more I try to speak like the tips on E2Language, the lower my marks were under speaking (especially oral fluency). (The computer picks up that you struggling and drops your Oral Fluency marks - which counts a lot towards the speaking part.

 

So I used all the tips EXCEPT the speaking tips from E2Lang, and passed with flying colors. I just spoke normally and read at a nice fast pace (like I naturally do, WITHOUT their phrasing tips, and did really well). The more you try to concentrate on phrasing, the lower your oral fluency. Concentrate on pronunciation, read a little bit faster than medium pace, and your oral fluency should shoot up and you should crack the speaking part!!

[HopefulJo]

This was my experience, but for most other people it is the other way around as you say. I had the same issue with the Pearson and ended up doing the IELTS. I also scored enough for everything except the Speaking which was always below 65 (4 times). You can also get online tutors at Verbling to help you and assess your speaking. I used a lady called Lindy that know the IELTS very well and she also told me my speaking was really fine and was flabbergasted at my low PTE score. I think my voice and the computer software was just not compatible. What I liked about the IELTS was the speaking to an actual person part and I scored 8.5 on my first IELTS attempt. This lady's website also helped a lot in my IELTS preparation http://ieltsliz.com/. she has great writing and other tips as well.

 

[G2OZ]

On your score report, what did you score on the enabling sections for speaking? Also, were you able to repeat the sentences? In my opinion, you are so close to a pass and you already know the test format, rather stick with PTE and try and give it another go. You will just need to identify where you dropped marks and work on those.

[ChrisH]

Sorry to hear about the test results, just on this point:

 

On 02/12/2016 at 10:51 PM, CTtoAus said:

The microphone was attached to the headphone, so not much one could do about adjusting it.

 

It is attached, but you can still adjust it up/down and further/closer to your face.  If you didn't adjust it at all I'd put money on losing most of your speaking points because of it.

[G2OZ]

@CTtoAus - Did you come right with this?

[CazK]

Hi there, so my husband flew to Jhb and wrote the Pearson test on 30 Dec. He got over 79 for all sections except speaking (77), so we are rather disappointed as that was a lot of money down the drain. He did so well with the gold pack practise exams, in fact, speaking was his highest mark. One thing he did notice was that the mic didn't switch off after 3 seconds of him remaining silent. Is this normal?

He made sure it was positioned properly and did the mic test beforehand as suggested on this forum. Could really loud background noise cause this? Another guy there was speaking so loudly he was drowning out everyone else. My husband soon switched to clicking 'next', once he was done. From what we have read elsewhere, it doesn't seem worth asking for a rescore, as this is just done by the computer again and not by a human.  

[MichKen]

Hi @CazK

Correct, it's not really going to change the score, even if they find an issue like background noise caused the score to be lower than it should be. I have had 4 tests reviewed the process is as follows - they put the test through a SEM check that will say if the score is accurate and if not accurate they will then send it for a review; if found to be an issue they will offer a retest or refund.  No score changes.

However getting them to do all this will cost about half your test fee. Retaking the test may be better or try a different test (I recommend IELTS, which you can do in CT).

Take heart and don't let this discourage you, I have heard of people doing these tests as many as fourteen times...  It seems many or most have to do them a couple of times before getting the score they want.  Keep going!!! 77 is not a bad score it's very close and you will likely get it next time!