PTE has become one of the most taken English language proficiency tests by international students entering Australia for higher education. Like other tests, the Pearson Test of English also gauges the candidates’ enabling and communicative skills through reading, writing, listening and speaking. The test has various sections and sub-sections that the students try to attempt using the tips & tricks that they learn in PTE coaching. The Covid-19 pandemic has made most of the PTE tutorials switch to PTE coaching and PTE practice online. Although PTE is similar to most of the other English language proficiency tests, the candidates have a high likelihood of scoring better if they learn to use different tips and tricks for this exam.
We are going to discuss the PTE Reading and Writing Fill in the Blanks Section today. This sub-section under the Reading section requires the candidates to fill in the right words in the given blanks. The candidates are given a few words from which they are required to choose the right word for the blank. Like all other tasks in the test, this particular sub-section or say “task” also requires the candidates to be attentive as the options provided are extremely confusing and tricky most of the time. This task contributes towards the marks in the writing section of the test and assesses the students’ comprehensive skills. The section involves the usage of students’ grammar and vocabulary. The students are assessed on their ability to choose the correct answer that fits rightly as per the meaning of the text.
About the Section
The candidates are presented with a paragraph of 100 to 300 words on general topics with a few blanks between different lines. In general, there are 4 blanks in the paragraph. Each blank has a drop-down box containing suggestive answers. Herein, the candidates are required to choose the correct answer from the given options. The answer should go best with the context and should add meaning to the sentence and the paragraph as a whole.
The Scoring Pattern
This section consists of around 5 to 6 questions that contribute towards the scores in writing and reading sections. Since there is no negative marking in this task, the candidates do not lose any marks for wrong answers. They are credited with a mark for every correct answer.
The practice of reading thoroughly can help the students score well in this section greatly. The students who are good with reading tend to score better in this section as compared to the other ones, for their understanding of context is better and their vocabulary is better. The PTE practice tests can help a great deal too!
Having a good vocabulary can come in extremely handy for scoring great in this task. We suggest the students to build their vocabulary on an ongoing basis – this not only helps them score perfectly in this task but also helps them later in life. Students with knowledge of context, comprehension and vocabulary can easily score full marks in this task.
The candidate is expected and advised to spend only 2 minutes on a single question. As there is no negative marking, we suggest students to answer only if they are confident about it; else, we suggest passing the question altogether.
We have shortlisted the three major things that a student needs to master this task. These are, namely:
Best Approach
Although there are different approaches to go through this task successfully, the very first thing that we suggest our students do is read the entire paragraph as a whole. This helps them understand the theme of the text as a whole and they can frame a situation in their mind. The first round of reading should be thorough enough to understand the subject completely. Secondly, the student should go ahead to fill in the blanks by reading one sentence with the blank so that he/she can understand it better.
The students are advised to avoid jumping to any conclusions and make the best use of their vocabulary, grammar and sense of collocations. One of the easier and better approaches is to guess an answer in the mind and check if any of the given options matches the guess. Mostly, a student with good vocabulary ends up guessing either the synonym or exact word.
Another approach is to narrow down the options, ticking away the wrong ones one by one, thereby choosing the option that seems to be the most appropriate among the available options.
Mock tests can help the students hone their skills for this task.
For the students who are looking for PTE coaching and wish to master every section and task of the test, Connect PTE is one of the best options for affordable and quality PTE coaching.
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