To avoid rendering your essay almost irrelevant and costing you points, you need to understand the test’s topic unequivocally.
In PTE Write Essay, you score 3 points for content, which implies for you to identify and address all the subjects covered by the main question.
If you go off topic, you will lose not only these 3 but also some others here and there across the 6 other skills evaluated.
Let’s take an example :
You will have 20 minutes to write an essay between 200 and 300 words about the topic below. Your answer will be judged on how well you organize as well as support your ideas and control the elements of standard written English.
Some people believe that the sole aim of higher education is to make people ready for employment. To what extent do you agree or disagree? Discuss.
Subject of May 2018, according to https://pteacademicexam.com/pte-academic-essay-writing-questions-and-topics-with-answers-latest-essay-list/
One common mistake, but very penalizing, is to misunderstand the essay’s topic or to read it the wrong way.
You need to spend 2–3 minutes noticing the 4 main elements of this statement to make sure you understood it correctly.
Rules (spend 10 sec).
The rules usually stay the same for this exercise. But you can check them, just in case:
- Time limit: 20 minutes
- Word count: 200 to 300
What task do you have to accomplish other than writing an essay ? (spend 10 sec)
The answer to this usually lays in the last sentence:
To what extent do you agree or disagree? Discuss.
I reviewed several essay questions, and most of them require to apply the same process. Here is my approach :
- You need to state your opinion about the primary topic as early as the end of your introduction.
- You then support this idea in your first paragraph thanks to an explanation, or maybe 2. One or two example(s) based on your knowledge or your experience should follow. I strongly recommend not to give more than 2 reasons and 2 illustrations. Otherwise, you may not respect the limits of time or word counts. Also, remember that just one of each works well if you phrase it and exploit it the best way possible.
- You acknowledge the opposite view at the beginning of a second part. You then use this opening statement of paragraph 2 as a base to discard this opposing opinion (and defend yours at the same time). An appropriate formula, in this case, is often:
Yet, these people remain unaware of or
blind to the issue of.
- You conclude by, first, stating the main topic in your own terms, and by finishing with your view and an opening statement, which obviously argue in favour of your opinion.
Understanding the instruction
Remember to attentively read the last part of the topic to debate the way you are asked to.
The most common “Discuss both sides and give your opinion” implies for you to establish arguments for and against the central idea while taking a side. In that case you can blindly follow the schema we provided you above.
The nuance you usually need to notice works with “to what extent”:
To what extent do you agree or disagree?
To what extent do you think the statements are realistic? Support your opinion with examples.
You still express your opinion, but also the inherent limits of the topic, even though you end up supporting your view all along.
You can remain close to our schema. But adapt a bit the second paragraph, with a sentence such as :
If in some specific cases, ... , I remain convinced they are overall essential for ...
Identify the main topic (spend 15 sec).
Essay writing usually evolves around 8 themes:
- Health
- Sport
- Youth
- Education
- Environment
- Travel
- Technology
- Transports
Now that you know it, you can focus your training readings. In our example,
Some people believe that the sole aim of higher education is to make people ready for employment,
Education represents your primary subject.
The subject could appear vast at first, but they managed to focus it.
You need to go a bit further by considering that you are asked about the purpose of higher education, relating specifically to employment.
The possible points of view (spend 20 sec)
You do not guess the different perspectives to defend and oppose. They are proposed in the question, and you pick one to advocate.
In our case, the two potential views are:
- Higher education prepares people only for their future job.
- Universities go further than moulding people solely to work.
It would appear easy with this kind of subject to be tempted to focus on other opinions, such as a higher education builds solid foundations for the society of tomorrow, or the opposite with the idea that people do not need tertiary studies to find the job they want.
They are interesting subjects to debate, but completely wrong because off topic.
Also, always remember you only dispose of 20 minutes, try not to think beside the point. Remain straightforward.
Key points to cover (spend 40–50 sec)
“Some people believe that the sole aim of higher education is to make people ready for employment. To what extent do you agree or disagree? Discuss”
You pick up the keywords:
- Aim
- Higher education
- Employment
- To what extent
- Discuss
Now you make them correlate:
Qualifications of universities graduates Limits of higher education Job opportunities associated with tertiary studies
Finally, I advise keeping about 20 seconds to make sure you covered every angle of the subject.
In 2–3 minutes, it becomes almost impossible for your essay to be off topic if you stick to your plan while writing.
