PTE Proficient plan, week 1: Smooth speech in Read Aloud and Repeat Sentence

This week's sessions

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1. Day 1 · ⭐ Mixed · about 35 minTake the quick checkDo all four parts of the quick check, then type your latest official PTE scores on your plan home if you have them. Note which skill is furthest from its target.
2. Day 2 · 🗣️ Speaking · about 25 minRead Aloud and Repeat Sentence practiceRead this week's lesson, then do the speaking set below. Mark the chunks before you read, and keep going through any slip.
3. Day 3 · 🗣️ Speaking · about 20 minRead Aloud: chunk and stressPractise three Read Aloud texts. Before each one, decide where the pauses go and which long words need stress.
4. Day 4 · 🗣️ Speaking · about 20 minRepeat Sentence: meaning chunksDo ten Repeat Sentence items. For each one, try to hold three or four meaning chunks instead of single words.
5. Day 5 · 🗣️ Speaking · about 25 minRecord and count restartsRecord five Read Aloud and five Repeat Sentence answers. Listen back and count restarts and long pauses, then record the worst two again.

This week's lesson: smooth speech in Read Aloud and Repeat Sentence

Speaking 76 is the highest Proficient minimum, and for most people scoring in the 50s it's the biggest gap. The good news is that the change needed is mostly about how you speak, not what you know. Most speaking tasks are scored on content, oral fluency and pronunciation, and fluency is the one people underestimate.

What fluent speech sounds like

Fluent doesn't mean fast. It means smooth and even: a natural pace, short pauses in sensible places, and no restarts. Compare:

Not fluent: "Many uni... universities now, um, record their... their lectures and make them, um, available..." Fluent: "Many universities now record their lectures / and make them available online / within a few hours."

The second speaker isn't perfect, but every phrase flows. A small slip that you keep going through costs far less than stopping to correct it.

Rule 1: never go back

If you misread a word, carry on. Going back to fix it breaks the rhythm, and the rhythm is what fluency is about. Practise this on purpose: when you make a mistake while recording, keep talking.

Rule 2: speak in chunks

Group words into meaning chunks of three to six words, with a tiny pause between them. Pause at commas and full stops, and before words like and, but, which and because.

Gardeners can support them / by planting local flowers, / avoiding chemical sprays / and leaving small areas of bare soil.

In Read Aloud, use the 35 seconds of preparation to mark the chunks in your head, and quietly practise any long word.

Rule 3: make the important words clear

Pronunciation isn't about having a native accent. It's about sounds and word stress that most listeners understand easily. Three things make the biggest difference:

• Word stress: uniVERsity, eQUIPment, laBORatory (or LABoratory), deVELopment. Check any long word you're unsure of in a dictionary that plays the sound.
• Word endings: say the -s in lectures and the -ed in recorded. Dropped endings make you harder to understand.
• Stress on content words: nouns, main verbs and adjectives carry the meaning, so give them a little more weight than the, of and to.

Repeat Sentence: listen for meaning, not single words

At this level, sentences are often 12 to 15 words long, which is too many to remember word by word. Remember chunks of meaning instead:

Students who would like feedback / on their draft / should email their tutor / by Wednesday.

Four chunks are much easier to hold than fifteen words. Start speaking as soon as the recording ends, copy the speaker's rhythm, and if you lose a word, say the rest smoothly instead of stopping.

Don't let silence end your answer

Start speaking straight away, and keep going until you've finished. A long silence can end the recording, and then you lose the rest of your answer.

This week

Take the quick check, then practise both tasks with the recorder every day. Listen back and count two things only: restarts and long pauses. Your goal this week is to bring both close to zero.

Practice for this week

Read Aloud and Repeat Sentence practice

Weekly check: Mock test 1 speaking tasks

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