Overview

First of all, as soon as the audio begins you should listen attentively for the key points. Your focus should not be to merely catch some words, but to understand the theme of the audio.

Take some notes as you listen. This will help you to remember the main points. However, there is no need to write down whole sentences, you should note down only the key points or facts from the audio.

In your mind, form connections between the words as you listen. Try to draw up a picture or a scene corresponding to what you hear. This is the best way to listen to and understand a spoken text.

Once the audio ends, you have 10 minutes to frame your response. First, spend 1-2 minutes reviewing your notes and organize your ideas based on your understanding of the audio. This exercise will give you some solid key points to start with.

Next, look at all the points that you have and separate the essential ones from the not so important ones. In other words, unnecessary examples, additional details, etc. are not needed in a summary.

Finally, you have all the key points ready to be consolidated. Start putting them together in a summary. Unlike Summarize Written Text, you can write more than one sentence here, but you should still stick to the word limit of 50 to 70 words. It is totally fine to write 2 – 3 sentences in this task, make sure to check that the sentences are linked to each other properly.

Last but not the least, proofread your content to rectify grammar, spelling and punctuation errors (if there is any) and then submit your response confidently!

1. How are you scored in PTE Summarise Spoken Text?

Content:

2 Provides a good summary of the text. All relevant aspects are mentioned.
1 Provides a fair summary of the text, but one or two aspects are missing.
0 Omits or misrepresents the main aspects.

Form:

2 Contains 50-70 words
1 Contains 40-49 words or 71-100 words.
0 Contains less than 40 words or more than 100 words. Summary is written in capital letters, contains no punctuation or consists only of bullet points or very short sentences.

Grammar:

2 Correct grammatical structures.
1 Contains minimal grammatical errors.
0 Defective grammatical structures.

Vocabulary:

2 Appropriate choice of words.
1 Some lexical errors.
0 Defective word choice.

Spelling:

2 Correct spelling.
1 One spelling error.
0 More than one spelling error.

An important point to note regarding the scoring is that you get 2 points for content as long as you summarise the main point and few essential supporting points. The rest of the scoring is for form (2), grammar (2), vocabulary (2) and spelling (2). The reason I mention this is to stress the importance of writing in correct form and make sure what you write is spelling and grammar mistake free.

2. Take notes smartly

First of all, as soon as the audio begins you should listen attentively for the key points. Your focus should include, but not be limited to a number of phrases or words, but to understand the theme of the audio. In other words, understanding only a brief of the audio is not enough, if you miss out on key points and main idea of the audio, you will lose marks in content.

Take some notes as you listen as it will help you to remember the main points. Don’t write down whole sentences or try to note down everything, but the key points only! Moreover, note taking should not be at the expense of understanding the audio. Your primary focus is always on understanding. The more you practice, more easily you will be able to distinguish important points from other information. And key points (not details or irrelevant sub point) are what should go into your notes.

You can develop your own note taking shortcuts and strategies, for example, incorporate symbols and abbreviations into your notes is one of the most efficient strategy.

3. Don’t start writing immediately

Once the audio ends, you have 10 minutes to frame your response. Quickly recall from the spoken text while it is in your memory and consolidate ideas with your notes taken. You need good notes to draw on and group your ideas together.

Next, look at all the points that you have and separate the essential from the not so important. Unnecessary examples, additional details, etc. can be disregarded.

In other words, you do not include all the information from the lecture in your summary. Identify the main points, and pay attention to the words and phrases that have been stressed or repeated frequently. Your summary should include all major points of the lecture.

Unlike Summarize written text, you can write more than one sentence here, but you should still stick to the word limit of 50 to 70 words. we recommend our subscribers to write between 65-70 words to make sure all main points all fully covered.

4. Taking original words from audio

Stating the speaker’s opinion by using his or her original words (unless it is too verbal) in your summary will help you score better.

For example, in Summarise Spoken Text Topic Kids in Museum, the speakers said “I was thrown out of museum along with my children because my kid’s reaction to a statue”. Apparently in this case “throw out of” is too verbal to be put into your summary, you need to rephrase it as “the speaker’s family was expelled/evicted” instead of “the speaker’s family was thrown/kicked out”

5. Simple sentences vs complex sentences?

The way how you draft SST contribute to writing score so you need to write complex compound sentences instead of simple sentences.

The great thing about myPTE is that when you become a member, you will be provided with a structure to use in summarize spoken text response. Our band 9 template is complex compound structure so what you need to do is simply fill content (phrases or simple sentences) into the framework, which will help you achieve full score in grammar.

6. Don’t include unnecessary information

You should be very clear about what the most important points are and only include those in your summary. Including unnecessary information will eat up your word quota and also complicate the sentence structures. So you should ignore examples, minor details, repetition of the same point – these shouldn’t go into your summary.

7. Remember to check grammar, spelling and punctuation

Please leave yourself 1-2 minutes after you have written your summary to check your sentences for things like subject/verb agreement, tenses and word order.

Use grammatical structures that you can use confidently, and words that you are sure you have spelled correctly. Finally, check your punctuation: check full stops and commas, and make sure you have begun each sentence with a capital letter:

So, the keys are:

• Prepare SST section with Real Exam Question Bank before taking the exam.
• Listen well.
• Take great notes of the topic and main ideas.
• Write down what you can remember hearing after the recording has stopped.
• Review the draft making corrections.
• Submit!