PTE Academic exam tests your academic level in English in four sections: speaking, listening, reading, and writing. This test is intended for students who what to study abroad and also for those who want to apply for a migration visa in Australia or New Zealand. It is also recognized by the U.S. state Boards for Nursing work visa. The speaking and writing sections of this exam are done together.

Tips for improving listening skills

To improve listening skills you must set a daily target to listen to authentic English every day. The more you listen, the better your score will be. Here are some tips:
• Don't choose something too difficult to listen to that you will not understand. Start at your comfortable level and slowly move towards the more difficult ones. • Listen repeatedly to fully understand the content, and remember the vocabulary and pronunciation. • You can use an online Tone Generator tool to slow down the recordings keeping the original pitch of the speaker. • You should listen to different speakers having various accents. Try listening to speakers from the US, Canada, Australia, Britain, and New Zealand. You must also listen to speakers from non-English countries like India and China. • Listen to popular podcasts like 'Luke's English', 'Better at English', 'Culips Chatterbox', and others. • Maintain a listening diary to take notes on the recordings. You will come across difficult words and can find the meaning later on. Use symbols and abbreviations to take notes quickly. Your notes should be able to tell you about the main topic of discussion, the type of accent the speaker is using, unknown vocabulary, etc. • Before starting the listening section, look at the questions first to know what to expect after listening to the audio clips. If you read the questions first, you can anticipate what you have to listen to. Try to avoid distractions when answering the questions.

Tips for improving speaking

In this section, you will need to demonstrate your capability to speak fluent English. Here are the types of questions you will encounter:
• Give a personal introduction. • A text will appear on the screen which you have to read aloud. • After listening to the recording of a sentence, you will have to repeat it. • Describe an image that appears on the screen in detail. • Listen to a lecture and re-tell. • Answer short questions. • Summarize Spoken Text • Essay
You need to develop your confidence before the PTE speaking exam. Here are some tips for you.
• Listen actively: Listen to conversations of different types. Write down repeated words, keywords, or difficult words. You can practice listening to podcasts or radio. • In the 'summarize spoken text' section you will listen to the recording only once. So, note down the important keywords that can guide you when summarizing the text. You must speak with a constant flow. Emphasize the keywords and elaborate on them. • You should practice speaking at the right pace; not too fast or not too slow. • In the personal introduction section, you get the opportunity to tell about yourself. Take 25 seconds to prepare what you are about to say. • When introducing yourself tell your name and background (personal, academic, and professional). You should take only 30 seconds to talk about yourself. • Speak in a formal tone with proper pronunciation. • Avoid lengthy sentences. • Speak in a tone that shows that you are confident. • Make sure that the microphone is working properly so that your speech is recorded in the best condition. • In the 'read aloud' part of the test if you make a mistake, don't stop; continue speaking. • Practice tongue twisters to improve your speaking. • To answer the 'repeat section' question try to focus on the keywords. If you can't remember the whole sentence at least talk about the keywords. Try to understand the meaning of the sentence. • Watch pronunciation videos on YouTube to get fluent in speaking. • You must remember that your speaking score depends a lot on correct punctuation and oral fluency. • Avoid irrelevant words. • Pause at points according to punctuation when you are asked to read a text aloud. • In the 'describe image' section, you will get 25 seconds to analyze an image. Right after the image is taken away from the screen, start speaking. Talk about the title of the image first and then describe the various aspects of the image. • Get a partner to practice speaking. You should try every type of question in the speaking section. You need to buy some books to prepare for the listening and speaking tests. You can see videos on the speaking test to learn how to speak to answer each of the test questions. In the listening section, grasping the accent of the speaker can be difficult. You can watch movies to get familiar with the various accents. Listen to audio clips that you will find on many PTE preparation websites. Alternatively, you can join a course too to practice and improve your English skills.

Once you score well in the listening and speaking sections of the test, you can expect an overall good score. It's not easy to score high in these sections, but with lots of practice, you can achieve your desired marks.