Before you start reading this blog, take note that no tool is useful when you don't actually practise or make use of it. Thus, promise yourself that you will practice and take maximum benefit of any tips or strategies that you come across in this blog.

Let us jump right to the listening section of PTE. It is of 45- 57 minutes and has highest variety of questions compared to any other sections, total eight types of questions. It is also an easy and scoring section if you prepare or it in a right manner and of course put working efforts into it. Mind well, we are not going to talk here about the tips for individual questions. We are going to help you amalgamate the habit of practising listening English in your daily life and thus, improving it.

In the PTE Test, for question types of Fill in the blanks, highlight incorrect summary, Multiple-choice, choose single answer, select missing word and write from dictation, you are given either 1 or 0. For question types of Multiple-choice, choose multiple answers, and Highlight incorrect words, you get 1 for correct answer and -1 for incorrect answer. For Summarize Spoken text, you are scored on the various enabling skills.

Now, what does PTE ListeningSection actually demand out of a test taker. In essence, it is aimed at understanding if the test taker is comfortable in grasping the language and is able to respond after listening. Thus, by doing listening practice via a daily routine, you can seriously increase your scores. In fact, you will enjoy listening section a lot.

Listening needs concentration on part of a listener and concentration comes with patience. The more patiently you try to listen and focus, the more you understand what is being spoken. Have you ever tried closing your eyes and listening to various sounds? You will see that you are then able to identify a rhythm. Same is with words. When words are spoken together, there is a rhythm. Most importantly, the basic grammar rules will help you here. English Language is structured. So, it is easier to comprehend if one knows the grammar. What happened if your grammar is not that strong? Is PTE Listening all about grammar skills? No! It tests a mix of skills.

The question here arises is- are there any other ways apart from the practice materials in which one can prepare for the listening section? The answer is a resounding yes! There are effective ways that you can integrate in your daily life and at the same time it will help you in improving listening skills. Let us unfold them here one after the other.

• Start with TED Talks or BBC Documentaries. There are talks of varied length and on vastly different topics. You can try listening to your interest area and then moving on to the topics that are more academic and related to global issues. The speakers are from different countries and hence, have different accents. This way you will be habituated to listen to variety of intonations and pronunciations.

• Listen to English Music by artists of different backgrounds. Try to listen to different genre of music. It is not only helpful in becoming aware of English but in soothing your mind.

• Watch Movies and TV Shows in English. Especially the ones that are of genre comedy or action. Our brains are wired to react quickly to happy or aggressive sensations.

• Try to learn new words every day and then listen to their usage in different sentences

• Audio Novels are another effective medium. There are many applications available where you can download the Novel and then listen to it.

• Watching News in English is also effective as our brain is in an alert situation.

• Meditation or any concentration technique: Yes, you read that right. Meditation helps you to relax and increase your concentration power by limiting distractions. . While you are in the Exam hall, not getting distracted will let you catch the right answer while listening to the audio.

Remember that your level of English might be different than other person. The tools that work best for one might take time to work for another. Thus, you must always strive to keep practising each tool and use the one that you find comfortable and beneficial.  Further, you can always log in to your PTE Tutorials account and start practising the questions of the listening section.