PTE Read Aloud:
Rhythm, Stress and Pitch
Reading every word correctly is not enough. How you stress the words is what decides your score. Here are the rules I teach.
Stress the adjectives, not the nouns. Put a stressed word every three or four words, and never stress two words in a row. To stress a word, hold the vowel longer — do not raise your pitch. Keep your tone flat and declarative, do not pause at commas, and only pause to breathe.
Most students read Read Aloud correctly and still score badly. The words are right. The rhythm is wrong. That is what the scoring system hears.
Stress — 01Stress the Adjectives, Not the Nouns
Most students put the emphasis on the noun. Put it on the adjective instead.
a key PLAYER
an electric VEHICLE
pet OWNERS
a KEY player
an ELECTRIC vehicle
PET owners
The adjective carries the meaning. "Electric" is the information in "electric vehicle" — the fact that it is a vehicle is not.
Never stress articles, prepositions or conjunctions. Words like "a," "the," "of," "and" should stay flat. Keep a phrase like "a pair of" completely level and save your emphasis for the word that matters.
Rhythm — 02One Stressed Word Every Three or Four Words
English has a beat. If you stress nothing, you sound flat. If you stress everything, you sound like you are shouting.
Aim for one stressed word every three to four words. That spacing is what makes you sound like a native speaker rather than someone reading a list.
Technique — 03Lengthen the Vowel. Do Not Raise Your Pitch.
This is the part almost everyone gets wrong.
When students are told to stress a word, they make it louder and higher. That is what creates the sing-song delivery the scoring system struggles with.
Stress the word by holding the vowel sound a little longer instead. Keep your pitch where it is. The word still stands out, but your voice stays controlled.
Tone — 04Sound Declarative, Not Questioning
A lot of students finish sentences with a rising pitch. It makes every sentence sound like a question.
Keep your tone low, flat and steady. You are stating information, not asking about it. A controlled, lower pitch is also easier for the scoring system to read clearly.
If you are not sure whether you do this, record yourself and listen back. It is very obvious on a recording and almost impossible to hear while you are speaking.
Your microphone matters here too. See Test Your Microphone Before the Official PTE Mock Test.
Pausing — 05Do Not Pause at Every Comma
A comma is not an instruction to stop.
Only pause to breathe, and choose a logical place to do it. Speaking conversationally matters more than following the punctuation exactly. Pausing at every comma chops the sentence into pieces and breaks your rhythm.
Accuracy — 06Read Only What Is Written
Do not add words that are not there. Students often insert a small word like "the" without noticing, because it feels natural.
Read the text in front of you, exactly as it is written.
Words worth practising
These are words that came up repeatedly in class with the stress in the wrong place:
Timing — 07Use Your Leftover Preparation Time
You get around 10 seconds to prepare before you speak. If you do not need all of it for the passage in front of you, do not waste it.
Use the spare seconds to start planning your essay. It is free thinking time, and most people let it run out doing nothing.
For the essay plan itself, see PTE Essay Writing: The Sentence-by-Sentence Outline.
Frequently Asked Questions
Stress the adjectives rather than the nouns. Say "a KEY player," not "a key PLAYER." Never stress articles, prepositions or conjunctions.
Roughly one stressed word every three to four words. Never stress two words in a row, because it sounds like yelling.
Hold the vowel sound a little longer instead of raising your pitch or getting louder. The word still stands out and your voice stays controlled.
No. Only pause to breathe, at a logical point. Pausing at every comma breaks your rhythm and sounds unnatural.
Your pitch is rising at the end of sentences. Keep your tone low, flat and declarative. Record yourself to hear it, because it is very hard to notice while speaking.
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Every technique taught in our program is tested against the real PTE exam under the current scoring system.
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