Master the PTE Academic Reading section with proven strategies: build a daily reading habit using high-quality academic sources, boost your vocabulary with synonyms, collocations, and homonyms, and assess your level with the three-word rule. Develop critical thinking, time management, and familiarity with text structures to confidently tackle reading tasks and achieve your target score.
Reading is less intimidating compared to speaking or writing for English learners. However, PTE Academic, Reading Section is quiet challenging. The things which are to be taken care are language proficiency, critical thinking, time management, academic vocabulary, text structure and technical words.
If the student who is expected to appear for the test soon is finding himself struggling with reading paragraphs while practicing for PTE, then there is a need to recognize the weak areas and work upon them. Rushing into the test unprepared, specifically when reading is the weakest skill, may give a disappointing score. The best would be booking exam when fully prepared with all the four skills.
1. Build a Habit of Reading for Interest
One of the best ways to improve reading skills is to develop a habit of reading the articles based on different subjects such as medical, history and literature. Choose high-quality and academic information on the website of BBC, weforum, Telegraph and National Geographic. These not only familiarize the students with the topics which are covered in PTE exam but also expose them to academic vocabulary and even some realistic examples.
Have a weekly schedule in which complete the following given tasks:
2. Improve Your Vocabulary
Enhance your vocabulary as reading becomes significantly easier. The knowledge of more words will make the test taker more confident and he will try to answer all questions. Focus is especially required on:
Synonyms: Try to get the synonyms of difficult words and understand their usage. Make a routine of practicing 5-6 words daily along with the synonyms from the tools like https://www.dictionary.com/ or https://dictionary.cambridge.org/. The questions in PTE are often paraphrased using synonyms.
Collocations: Collocation means pair of TWO words that commonly go together, such as “academic assessment”, “academic qualification, “brief chat”, or “key points”. The collocations are combination of Noun+verb, Adjective+Noun. Noun+Noun, Verb+Preposition, Adverb+Adjective and Verb+Adverb. Learn at least 25-30 pairs each week and review them regularly.
Homonyms and Heteronyms: There are some words which sound the same in pronunciation such as “tale” vs “tail”, “miner” vs “minor”, “male” vs “mail”. The choice of the word will depend on the paragraph’s requirement.
3. Identify Your Reading Level
Knowing your current level of reading ability assists in planning your studies. Use the "three-word rule": If there are more than three unfamiliar words in the first paragraph of a brief article, you might need to modify the difficulty level for your practice materials. Jot down unfamiliar words, learn their definitions, and re-read using this knowledge for clearer comprehension.
Practice questions judiciously—only to find weak spots. After realizing your gaps, work on skill-building questions rather than continuous test simulations.
