The PTE essay gives you a prompt, twenty minutes and a word count of 200 to 300. It is marked by an automated scoring engine, and knowing what that engine can see turns the task into an exercise you can practise to a reliable score.
Respect the word count exactly. Under 200 or over 300 is penalised directly. Learn what 250 words looks like in your own handwriting-free typing — roughly four solid paragraphs — so you never have to count.
Use a structure the engine can find.
- Introduction — paraphrase the prompt, state your position. Two or three sentences.
- Body one — first reason, explained, with one example.
- Body two — second reason, explained, with one example.
- Conclusion — restate the position and the two reasons in different words.
Four paragraphs, visibly separated. Formal linking words at the start of each body paragraph (*Firstly*, *In addition*, *However*, *Consequently*) are read as coherence, so use them plainly.
Vocabulary range is scored, so vary it. Do not repeat the prompt's key noun eight times — build two or three synonyms for it before you start writing. The same goes for the verbs: *shows*, *demonstrates*, *indicates*, *suggests*.
Grammar range is scored too. Include at least a couple of complex sentences — a *because* clause, a *while* clause, a relative clause. A whole essay of short simple sentences scores lower even when it is entirely correct.
Spelling counts and the engine is unforgiving. Choose one spelling standard and keep to it.
Timing. Three minutes to plan — position, two reasons, one example each, written as notes — fifteen to write, two to re-read. The re-read is for spelling and for the word count.
Do not be original. This is the one exam where a predictable, well-signposted essay is the right answer. Save the ideas for the university that admits you.
And its short cousin: summarise written text. One sentence, between 5 and 75 words, a single sentence with no full stop in the middle. It is scored on whether it captures the main idea and whether it really is one sentence. Practise joining with a semicolon or a relative clause.