Know About the New Exam Pattern of the PTE Speaking Section

With more than one million test takers, PTE is one of the top English language exams in the world. Aspirants prepare hard to get high scores on the exam, as it can help them get admission to a top college in the world. However, preparing for the PTE speaking section is not easy for them, and changes in the exam pattern make the task much more challenging. Now, you might be thinking, why so? Well, read this article and know about the new PTE exam pattern and expert tips to prepare for the speaking section.

What's New in the PTE Exam Pattern?

In 2025, the Pearson PLC Group announced a major change in the speaking and writing section of the PTE exam. In this, they have added new question types- Summarise Group Discussion and Respond to a Situation. Well, let us understand these tasks in brief.

Summarise Group Discussion

Summarising the group discussion is challenging. In this test, aspirants listen to an audio conversation among three speakers. It will be around 1-3 minutes long. However, they have to use their active listening skills to listen to the recording carefully and summarise it in their own words. They get 2 minutes to answer the question.

Respond to a Situation

Responding to a situation is another new question type added to the speaking and writing section. In this task, test takers receive a 60-word prompt and an audio recording that describes a situation. However, they have 10 seconds to think and 40 seconds to decide what to do in the given situation.

These were two new questions added to the PTE exam pattern of the speaking & writing section. It increased the challenges test takers faced in preparing for the exam. However, proper guidance and regular practice can help the test takers to overcome this problem. So, they decided to get help from the best PTE trainers in the market. They help them in several ways to prepare for the exam. Well, let us move to the next part and understand how PTE trainers help to ace the exam.

How PTE Trainers Help to Ace the Speaking Section?

The scores of the PTE speaking section matter a lot in achieving a high overall score. Test takers know this. So, they make a smart move by getting help from the best trainers in the market. It is the best way to prepare for the exam. Trainers offer several services to help students achieve higher scores. Well, let us know some of them below.

Understanding the Exam Pattern

The speaking section is the longest part of the PTE exam. In this section, test takers face 7 different questions-

• Read Aloud
• Repeat Sentence
• Describe Image
• Retell Lecture
• Answer Short Question
• Summarise Group Discussion
• Respond to a Situation

The time to answer such questions is 54-67 minutes. Well, it is not easy for aspirants to understand each task and prepare for it. So, trainers conduct regular sessions and help aspirants become familiar with all the questions. As a result, they remain relaxed and prepare for every question in the exam pattern.

Guide to Scoring Criteria

Examiners look for four main skills while evaluating the scores of the PTE speaking section-

• Fluency & Coherence- It means the flow of answering the questions and whether the answers connect to the questions.
• Lexical Resource- These are the difficult words used while answering.
• Grammatical Range & Accuracy- It helps to evaluate whether the provided answer is grammatically correct or not.
• Pronunciation- The pronunciation of words in each sentence.

These points play a crucial role in the PTE speaking section. So, trainers assist students in understanding these points and mastering skills to improve their scores.

Take Regular Mock Test

A mock test paper is an exact copy of a real exam pattern. Trainers include previously asked questions to prepare them. Moreover, they take such tests on a regular basis. Thus, it helps the students to understand every task in the exam pattern and get familiar with questions.

Build Confidence

Many test takers feel underconfident after poor performance in mock test papers. In such situations, PTE trainers guide them to their mistakes. Moreover, provide them with the best assistance in improving their mistakes. Thus, it helps them to boost their confidence and ensure a good performance on the exam.

Summing Up

To sum up, PTE scores play a crucial role in test takers' lives. Top universities ask for them for admission purposes. So, aspirants work hard to get a high score. However, the speaking section is a major concern, and the update to the exam pattern makes it even more challenging. So, in this case, many aspirants visit gradding for their exam practice. This platform has an excellent team of trainers who offer regular doubt-clearing sessions. Moreover, they provide PTE speaking practice tests PDF for exam preparation. Thus, it helps aspirants understand the exam pattern, correct their mistakes, and prepare well to achieve high scores.

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