The PTE writing section is often perceived as deceptively simple by many candidates. It is because the section only features two tasks: summarize written text and essay writing, making students feel they can easily score high. However, the real fact is that the writing section is challenging and pulls down the overall scores. Students face challenges not because of poor language skills or lack of understanding, but there are small errors that, together, reduce scores.
This writing piece will help you discover the most common small errors students make in the PTE writing section, with ways to fix them for smart preparation.
Table of Contents
The first and most common mistake students make is not sticking to the word count requirement. Each task in the PTE writing section has a prescribed word count: 50 to 70 words for summarizing written text and 200 to 300 words for essay writing. Candidates either write too many or too few words from the defined count, which eventually results in reduced scores.
The primary reasons that lead to this common error are that students lack practice under timed conditions, rush to finish on time, and get overconfident in their content quality, often outweighing the defined structure.
How to Fix It
Moving ahead, grammar mistakes are generally the trap that every candidate falls into. From subject-verb disagreement, sentence fragments, tense & word form issues and even punctuation and formatting errors, every error costs your valuable scores.
This generally happens because students mainly focus on building a rich vocabulary rather than mastering grammar. In addition, rushed writing without proofreading simply leads to a response full of grammatical errors.
How to Fix It
Managing time through the PTE writing section is undoubtedly one of the biggest challenges, as many candidates put too much time into the task, leaving not much time for the other tasks. Not managing time simply leads to rushing through the task with no time for proofreading.
The pressure of time generally increases errors and restricts candidates from putting something unique into the response.
How to Fix It
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Book Free PTE MasterclassWriting the essay within a defined word limit and allotted time is not just enough, as it is more than just the content. Writing a well-defined and structured essay is where students usually fail. Common issues include missing introductions or conclusions, weak topic sentences, random ideas with no logical flow, and a lack of transitions in paragraphs.
How to Fix It
One common myth that the majority of the PTE candidates believe is that using complex vocabulary will help them boost their scores. For this reason, many students use vocabulary that does not fit the context, making the content bulky. Using complex vocabulary is problematic because sentences often sound unnatural & robotic, and the chances of spelling errors are increased.
How to Fix It
In the PTE writing section, students place major emphasis on the essay writing task, but the summarizing written task is generally more demanding and requires students to follow a correct approach to ensure crafting a precise response.
Common errors that candidates often make are responding using multiple sentences instead of one, using lines that are the same as the passage, not following the word limit and missing the core theme of the passage. These errors pull down scores and negatively impact the overall writing scores.
How to Fix It
Given the time-limited nature of the test, students often skip proofreading their responses. Proofreading can simply help students correct minor errors and turn their good score into a great score. A few areas that can be corrected with proofreading are spelling mistakes, inserting missing articles, correcting wrong verb forms, and many smaller mistakes.
Proofreading the response allows candidates to fix avoidable mistakes, which eventually boosts writing clarity and overall score.
How to Fix It
All things considered, scoring high in the PTE writing section is not only about depending on proficient language skills, but it is more about employing an organised approach, strategy and regular practice. By focusing on the common mistakes mentioned above, you can actually boost clarity and precision in your writing task. With regular practice under timed conditions, you can actually master the writing section and achieve your desired scores.
Still facing challenges in preparation, connect with our experts or join PTE online coaching, and they will guide you with the correct approach.
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