In PTE Listening summarise spoken text practice exercise 1, you will hear a short recording. Write a summary for a fellow student who was not present at the lecture. You should write 50-70 words. You have 10 minutes to finish this task. Your response will be judged on the quality of your writing and on how well your response presents the key points presented in the interview.
Steps for completing PTE Listening Summarise spoken text practice exercise 1
1. Play the recording (you can make notes)
2. Write a summary of what you hear
3. Compare your summary to the model answer given below
4. Read the transcript of the recording (note that you will not see a transcript of the summary in the official PTE test).
You can make notes / write your summary here:
Transcript of the recording:
We’re here today to talk about possible ways of impressing an interviewer or panel when searching for that highly desirable career opportunity.
Getting to the interview stage after what could have been months of persistent application sending, can feel both rewarding and daunting. Interview scenarios are, if you think about it, quite unrealistic as in our usual lives it is not appropriate to talk at length about our own personal achievements, strengths and capabilities. However, during an interview, you will have up to an hour, most often a shorter period of time, to impress.
Appearance counts for a lot, especially on first impression, so it is important to dress appropriately and professionally for the interview. Another important consideration, of even greater significance, is the way in which you present yourself through speech. Simon Holworth of Recruitment International says that he believes a candidate’s verbal communication skills are one the main reasons they may be offered a position or rejected for a job.
Model answer:
When invited for an interview, job applicants can feel both pleased and nervous. Candidates need to act differently than they may typically do in their usual lives. For example, many people would not usually talk about all of their achievements, strengths and skills. Time to impress at an interview is short so it is important to dress appropriately, and even more essential to communicate well to secure the job.
Why is this is a good summary?
This summary would receive good marks for content because it meets the following requirements:
- It summarizes the main points and refers briefly to the essential supporting points.
- It focuses on the purpose or topic of the recording accurately and does not misrepresent any information.
- It meets the length requirement of between 50 and 70 words (69 words).
- It demonstrates correct grammatical usage.
- It uses concise sentences that clearly communicate the intended meaning.
- It demonstrates correct and appropriate word choice and usage.
- The vocabulary used is relevant to the lecture and is appropriate to an academic environment.
- The summary uses use words from the lecture appropriately and uses synonyms effectively to show variety in language use.
- Spelling is correct.
- Shorter phrases have been linked to create longer, more complex sentences.