You will need to know how to write an impactful essay on your PTE exam and you will need to do it in 20 minutes or less. This can be difficult for some, but if you practice before you get to exam day you will feel far more confident about your writing skills. You just need to know how to break it down.
The Introduction
In the introduction of your essay you will explain the point of the essay. This is where you give a brief statement about what you’re going to talk about, but you don’t want to get too in depth. You can start by explaining the issue and summarizing your opinion.
Paragraph 1
The first paragraph should be the strongest point that you have about your topic. This should be the most important part or the part that will support your view or opinion the best. You can choose to argue for or against something, but paragraph one needs to do it better than the other paragraphs.
Paragraph 2
The second paragraph should be your second strongest point about your topic. This will give a good method of support for your view, but it’s not as good as the one you made in the first paragraph. You will gradually give points that are less and less important.
Paragraph 3
If you have a third paragraph it will be the weakest of your arguments in support of your point. That doesn’t mean that it should be completely weak, but it will not be as strong as the first two that you made. You are not required to have three body paragraphs.
Conclusion
Wrap up everything that you’ve said throughout the essay. This is the paragraph where you will create a summary of the information you gave and why you stand behind your opinion or the main point of your essay. You need to be able to summarize the content in different words.
General Tips for Your Essay
- Include an introduction and conclusion
- Use different words to summarize the essay in the conclusion
- Include at least 2 body paragraphs
- Start with your strongest argument and work outward
- Use different vocabulary throughout your essay
- Connect your paragraphs to each other with transition words
- Use proper grammar and vocabulary throughout the essay
- Budget your time so you have enough time to write
- Plan what you are going to write before you start
You need your essay to make a point to the person who is reading it. That means you need to understand your point before you start writing. Look at the information you have to work with and create a strong stance. You don’t need to agree with the stance that you take. You just need to be able to back it up in your essay.
Instead of choosing your opinion based on how you feel, choose your opinion for the essay based on what will be the easiest to write. That may mean taking a stance completely opposite of what you would actually support, but it could make your essay stronger.
Practice, Practice, Practice
Writing essays is not easy for anyone, even a native English speaker. Practice writing these essays on a variety of different topics so you will be prepared for anything.
You should always stick to the number of words required. Do not let yourself write essays that are too long or too short or you may have trouble with the word count when it’s time for the actual exam.
Know how to spell any words that you plan to use. You should know several different words that you can use to get the same meaning so that you don’t have to use words you can’t spell or that you aren’t positive how to use correctly. You want to show your vocabulary and your word knowledge in your essay but it’s better to use more basic vocabulary and spell it properly and use it properly than to use a word you don’t know how to spell.
If you’re ready to start studying for the PTE essay you should take a look at some of the practice questions and tests that we have available to help you along.
Here is a sample essay for your reference. Make sure to write your own essay based on the strategies we have discussed here. Click here
