Need to improve your Speaking score on PTE Academic? Make sure you follow this guide, along with our Top Tips, to ace the Repeat Sentence task and get the perfect score.
What is it?
Repeat Sentence is a short answer task in the Speaking section (Part 1) of PTE Academic. This task tests your Speaking and Listening skills and grades you on Oral Fluency, Pronunciation and Content. For more information on PTE Academic Scoring, check out the score guide.
In short: you listen to a sentence and, once it has finished, you repeat it back into the microphone.
About the task
Listen to a sentence 3-9 seconds long
Repeat the sentence exactly as you hear it
You have 15 seconds to speak
You will do 10-12 Repeat Sentence tasks
7 Top Tips
Don’t speak too soon! Make sure you watch the audio recording box and don’t start speaking until it says “Recording”. If you speak too soon, the microphone will not be active and it will cut-off the beginning of your answer!
Say as much as you can. The scoring for Content depends on how much you say (see table below). So, even if you are not sure what is said, say as much as you remember! Even if you think it doesn’t make sense, it doesn’t matter. The computer is waiting to hear certain words, and if you say at least 50% of them in the correct order, you will score 75% for each task! http://pearsonpte.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Tutorial.pdf
Don’t copy the accent – use your own. PTE Academic accepts all kinds of accents so long as they sound native. So the important part is that what you’re saying is clear. You can have an American, British, Australian, or even a Scottish accent, so long as the words you say sound like some native speaker of English.
Copy stress and intonation. These are the important things to imitate the way the speaker speaks. That is, stress the same words and use the same intonation.
Say the sentence only once. You have 15 seconds to record your answer. This can be a long time. But don’t get nervous and repeat the sentence again – just say it once!
After you have finished, be silent so the recording will finish. After 3 seconds of silence, the microphone will automatically switch off. One it says “Complete” you can move on to the next task.
Never say nothing! If you really have no idea what to say, or you got distracted and missed the audio, make something up! There is no negative marking for this task so you won’t lose points.
Now for some practice…
The best place to practice is in a PTE coaching course at English Key with our qualified and professional English Teachers. Not only are they native speakers and can help you perfect your speaking, they are specifically trained in PTE Academic and can help you get your desired score. So get in touch with one of our lovely staff today – come into our Melbourne or Sydney centres, or contact us online.
And make sure check out our blog post on Repeat Sentence Practice for online practice right now! And if you are already a student in a PTE preparation course at English Key, attend a computer session and take a mock test using our PTE Academic software.