5 tips for improving your PTE Write from Dictation score
In this article, I’m going to talk about one of the most important questions you get in PTE, and that is Write from Dictation. Write from Dictation is one of the most important questions for PTE academic listening as well as writing. So what do you actually need to do in Write from Dictation in PTE and what are the important things to keep in mind?
Let’s discuss some tips for write from dictation and learn some skills as well.
What is Write from Dictation in PTE and how is it scored?
Pearson uses a computer-based algorithm to assess your performance in the test. In write from dictation, you listen to a complete sentence and write it as it is. You get one point for one correct word. The score you get from these questions goes to Writing as well as Listening.
How many write from dictation questions are asked in PTE?
You can get 2-4 write from dictation questions in your test. The sentences can be anywhere from 8-16 words long. The speed of the recording can be from average to really fast. Also, the speakers may speak with different accents. In order to score well on the test, you should pay attention to all these factors.
Should you take notes while listening to the recording?
In the PTE Write From Dictation section, the candidate has to type up the answer on their computer. However, you are also given a notepad. You can use this notepad to write the sentence you hear. While writing on the notepad, do not worry much about writing everything or writing correctly. Try to write as many important words as you can. Then before transferring your answer to the computer, read the sentence you have written a couple of times and make changes as necessary.
What costs a full or a partial deduction of score in this task type?
You get one point for each word that you write correctly. Here correctly means you should spell the word correctly and write them in the correct grammatical form as well. For example, if the speaker says books and you write a book, you will not get any point for that word.
Also, remember that you only lose points for the words that you write incorrectly or you skip. If out of 10 words, you write 8 words correctly, you will get 8 points.
How do I practice “Write from Dictation” in PTE?
The best way to practice “Write from Dictation” is by practising them in an exam-like environment. For this, you can sign up for a free plan at romanpte.com and start your practice. In dictation, questions from the actual test can repeat. Therefore, you should do all the practice questions on our website and do PTE mock tests as well.
Are there any tips for write from dictation that can increase your score?
If you want to build good skill in this question type, you should try to learn the following things while practising:
- Common English words and their spelling
- Common English phrases and collocations
- Basic grammar rules while writing a sentence
- Basic rules of spelling
5 Tips to increase your score in Write from Dictation
As you can see, write from dictation is an important question in PTE. With the right strategies and materials, you can definitely get an excellent score from this question type in your test. So, let’s talk about 5 tips that can increase your score in Write from Dictation in PTE
Tip 1: Start your sentence with a capital letter End your sentence with a full stop
The first important thing in dictation is to make sure that your sentences start with a capital letter, something that many people forget. And another thing is, if you can’t remember the first word, then the second word should not have started the capital letter. Because remember, in the computer database, the only word which has a capital letter, unless there are other words, is the first word.
Remember, in addition to the first word of a sentence, there are also other words that should start with a capital letter. There other important rules about capitalization such as
- The names of the days of the week, nationalities and languages, and months of the year all have initial capitals.
- Proper nouns are nouns that are not common to all persons in a group. John, London, and Mi are all proper nouns. The names of people, places, and organizations are all examples of proper nouns. Proper nouns, such as people’s names (e.g., John), places (e.g., London), and organizations (e.g., Microsoft) also have initial capitals.
And don’t forget the full stop at the end of the sentence. You should put a full stop at the end of your sentence even if you do not remember all the words in the sentence you heard.
Tip 2: Allocate at least one minute for each question
You might get up to four questions in your test and always make sure that you have one minute for each question. If you don’t have one minute for each question, then at the end of the test you will be in a rush and you are more likely to make mistakes after writing the sentence. Don’t panic if you don’t think that your answers are perfect; it is better to be done than try to skip the question or miss other questions.
Tip 3: Check the spelling of all the words
You should also have enough time to look at what you have written, make sure that everything is making sense and you have correctly spelled all the words and you have not made any typing errors. While checking the spelling, pay attention to the words which are commonly misspelled by people. This includes three types of words:
- Words from foreign languages
- Words that are long and difficult to spell
- Words that are pronounced and spelled differently
Tip 4: Make sure that all of your words are in the correct grammatical form
It is important to make sure that all of your words are in the correct grammatical form when you are writing your sentence. Remember, if you have any words that need capitalization, use the Shift key and then type that word. If any verb has to be in the past form then write them in the past form. If any noun has to be in the plural, then write in the plural. You will not get any points for the word which you write incorrectly.
Tip 5: Make sure your sentence makes a logical sense
Sometimes what happens is we hear one word, we write it, but when we read the sentence, we feel like the word in the context is not making sense. It usually happens because of the homophones, which are the words that have the same pronunciation but have different spelling and meaning. In order to get rid of these problems, you need enough time to read your sentence and make necessary changes.
Conclusion
As you can see, Write from Dictation is an important question in PTE. In order to get a better score on this question, you have to understand this task type, its assessment criteria and then apply the correct type of tips and tricks. With the right method, materials, and practice, you will get the score you are looking for in PTE.
