PTE Writing Test: Tips and Techniques-Part 2

Write an Essay

What is the task?

You will be given a topic or a question. You have to write an essay of about 200-300 words within a time limit of 20 minutes. There will be 1-2 such tasks. The purpose of the task is to test your ability to develop a position and support it with reasons/arguments/evidence/examples as well as the quality of your writing.

Tips and Techniques

a. Read the topic/question. Identify what type it is. Accordingly, you will have to develop your essay. These are the possible types of essays: 

• Descriptive – you will have to describe something like an object or a personal experience.
• Explanatory – you will have explain something about a phenomenon, such as causes/consequences, advantages/disadvantage etc.
• Argumentative – you will have to agree or disagree with the given statement, and give reasons for your position.

b. Time limit: the key to managing this task is good time management. Use the first 3-5 minutes to develop your ideas, and the remaining time to write the essay.

c. Write down your ideas in rough while you are still developing them. This way, you will be able to keep track of all the ideas you wish to include.

d. A good essay is always structured. Each paragraph must explain a particular idea. The paragraphs should be written in a way that their ideas are logically connected to each other.

e. This is an example of a structure you can use:

• Introduce the topic in the first paragraph. If it is an argumentative essay, state your position here as well. Briefly introduce what you will be talking about in the essay.
• In your notes, number your ideas according to an order. There should be a logical reason why you have selected this order. e.g. you might write all the advantages first, followed by the disadvantages with reference to the topic. 
• At the beginning of each paragraph, briefly introduce the idea that you will discuss and how it is related to the previous paragraph. You can make use of phrases such as “in addition to”, “in contrast” etc.
• The last paragraph must be a conclusion, in which you very briefly summarize all the ideas, and use them to confirm the main topic/argument of the essay. You can use words/phrases such as “in conclusion”, “thus”, “it is evident that” etc.

f. There are a few common fields/categories from which you are likely to get topics. A list is included in the general tips and techniques – based on this list, try to read newspapers, magazines, blogs etc, in order to gain information as well as learn the specific words and phrases that are used in those contexts.

g. Be mindful of grammar – it is one of the most important elements of good quality writing, Refer to the general tips and techniques for help.

Practice under professional guidance is one of the best ways to absorb these skills – and ace the test! Get in touch with Hurray Academy for more – email us at: info@hurrayedutech.com or call us on: 8971357938.