Before you start: find your baseline
Take one part of a MocksPTE mock test in your weakest area, or try two questions of every type on the practice page. The aim is not a score. It is to find out which formats confuse you and where you lose time. Write down three things to improve.
If your test date is fixed, count backwards. If you have less than four weeks, compress weeks two and three and keep the final week of mock tests.
Week 1: learn every format
Work through all 22 question types this week, about four or five a day. For each one, read the short guide on its practice page, answer three questions, and review every result.
Start each day with the same short warm-up: five Repeat Sentence items and five Write from Dictation items. They take ten minutes and train listening memory, clear speech and spelling at the same time.
By the end of the week you should know the timings and interface of every task without thinking about them.
Week 2: speaking and writing
Part 1 is the longest part of the test, so it gets a full week.
- Speaking daily: three Read Aloud items and two Describe Image items, with playback. Listen for long pauses and dropped word endings.
- Longer speaking, alternate days: one Retell Lecture and one of the new tasks, Summarize Group Discussion or Respond to a Situation.
- Writing, alternate days: one timed essay or two Summarize Written Text items. Compare each with the sample answer and rewrite one paragraph.
Week 3: reading and listening
- Reading daily: two sets of each fill in the blanks task and one Reorder Paragraphs item. After each, add new word partnerships (collocations) to a list and review it.
- Listening daily: one Summarize Spoken Text item, two Highlight Incorrect Words items and your dictation warm-up.
- Twice this week: the multiple choice questions in both parts. Practice selecting only the options you can support, since wrong choices cost points in the multiple answer versions.
Keep the speaking warm-up going. Skills you stop practicing fade quickly.
Week 4: mock tests and review
Take a full mock test on day one, day four and day six of this week, in a quiet room at the time of day your real test is booked. On the days between, practice the three question types where your mock results were lowest; the results page lists them for you.
On the day before the test, keep it light: a short warm-up and a check of your ID, route and test center instructions.
A sample one-hour day
| Minutes | Activity |
|---|---|
| 0 to 10 | Warm-up: 5 Repeat Sentence and 5 Write from Dictation |
| 10 to 35 | The week's focus tasks |
| 35 to 50 | Review answers, listen to recordings, rewrite one weak answer |
| 50 to 60 | Vocabulary: collocations and spelling from today's mistakes |
Track what you do on the progress page, which remembers your practice in this browser and suggests what to work on next.