As you may have read on my previous post, we have just received the grant letter for the permanent visa last April 29. It was an unexpected surprise and blessings for the family. I would say that this is the price of the lots of sacrifice in preparing every aspects of the applications. If you haven’t read yet, I have created a post on the high level process of our applications. You can read through my post entitled “How I started the migration process to Australia” if you want to know more about the journey.

On this post, I would like to focus on some important action list which I have used for my PTE Academic preparations. I have started preparing for the PTE examinations in February. My wife keeps on pushing me to review everyday but sometimes I have that same feeling that I will be able to make it not until I took the online assessment from Pearson in which I’ve failed. Since then I have make the commitment to patiently go to the materials one day at a time. I thought You Tube videos about PTE Academics  is enough but when I started searching for materials from the web, I have found interesting materials and realized to postpone my examinations until March 12 so I have the time to go through the materials before taking the exams. As I have seen how the actual examinations works, I have taken considerable actions to prepare for it. To share with you below are important tips which you might worth noting in your preparations.

Step 1. Gather the materials which you will be using for your studies. Personally, I have save a lot of links on my Favorites list on Internet Explorer for me to read. Below are some of the links, forums which I have read to get some tips for the exam. The PINOYAU forums have a lot of information about the test.

1.   Pearson PTE Academic website
2.   https://pteacademicreview.wordpress.com/
2.   http://pteacademictesttips.blogspot.sg/2010_07_01_archive.html
3.  http://www.expatforum.com/expats/australia-expat-forum-expats-living-australia/573034-  
       pte-academic-2.html 
4.  http://examenglish.com/PTE/PTE_Academic.htm 
5.  http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4
6.   http://www.manythings.org/fq/d1/

I have also downloaded You Tube videos related to PTE academic test and some IELTS videos which I have transferred on my phones so I can watch while traveling to work or on the way home. I did a lot of essay practice test, describe image videos, etc. On my essay writings, I have time my self and have to complete the writing within 20 minutes. I used to watch BBC news clip which is just like the actual examinations and the good thing in BBC news, it has a brief summary which is analogous to summarizing spoken text.

Step 2. Understand the topics for the PTE Examinations. To be honest, on my first attempt I did not completely understand the sequence of the exams. Gaining an overall view of what is the exam contents is very important and can save your efforts in studying. On PTE Academics test, candidates were tested on 4 key communications skills that includes Listening, Reading, Speaking and Writing.

 Step 3. Have consistent time for your studies. When I am doing my preparations, I have to start between 8:30 pm and finished until 11pm. Taking one day at a time until such time that I’m progressing on each topic. My only motivation during that time is my family, it’s better to do it now than to regret later. During the examinations, you have to really think fast and act fast while your hands clicking the mouse and typing your answers. It’s an online test and this would requires practice, practice and practice.

Step 4.  Buy your own headsets, writing pad and test pen.  With my previous experience taking the test, I have prepared the same exact scenarios or room conditions when taking the actual test. It helps to condition my mind and prepare me for the actual test. The test environment is divided into several tables with partitions and quite noisy so you have to prepared for the distractions as well. At first, you might feel shy a bit as other candidates will hear your answers on all parts of the test but as the test progresses, you really don’t care much whether other candidates will hear your answers. My focus during that time is to pass the test whatever it takes. If you are a bit slow on typing on keyboards, you need to do a lot of practice on typing on your keyboards.

Overall, what I can suggest is takes a lot of Practice! I did a lot of revisions on the test materials. Before the test, I really prayed just to give me the score I needed and true enough it was granted.