You can type in the PTE Describe Image template and you'll get hundreds of results that offer a guarantee of 79+ marks. Take the sentence frame, fill in some numbers, and speak it for 40 seconds, and you're done. Almost too simple, it's almost too simple for an increasing number of candidates in Australia, that is.
Templates aren't useless. Carefully used, the PTE exam templates provide structure for responses under tight time constraints that really help those who are nervous during exams to avoid "freezing. Candidates, however, who use templates without any creativity usually achieve less than their potential and many simply don't know how to improve until it becomes too late and they have paid for a second or third attempt.
What Templates Do and Don't Do
A template is one thing that helps you solve only one problem: it gives you the form of your answer! It's useful for activities such as Describe Image or Retell Lecture where students spend a lot of time trying to come up with a way to start the activity.
What a template cannot do is:
Enhance pronunciation and oral fluency, these are very important in the scoring!
Guide you in determining the main ideas of a lecture or graph.
Address grammar and vocabulary weaknesses that are revealed in all writing and speaking assignments
Modify when the prompt is not within the pattern you have memorized.
As PTE is an automated computer test, your template will be analyzed through the computer and hence the content and structure of the template along with your oral fluency will all be checked by the computer programmed to detect the content, so your template will not score any points if you analyze it without any content.
The Australian candidates fall into the Trap that is the Template.
Indeed, it is a fact that many PTE candidates across Australia are under severe pressure, visa deadlines, professional registration requirements, university admission cut-offs. This urgency makes the shortcuts based on templates very attractive. Why develop skills over 8 weeks when a video on YouTube claims to have a formula that will work next Tuesday?
The issue will be displayed on the score report. Class structure earns high marks, content earns low marks. Or they get good marks in Listening but it is dragged down in Writing. Book the test again, using the same templates and they get nearly the same score. It's the same old same old.
However, there is another risk factor. Fluency and pronunciation will receive lower marks from the examiner if you recite memorized sentences in a monotonous, rapid voice because this is the time you will be most exposed to these categories of the marking criteria despite the fact that templates were supposed to protect them.
In this way, what really affects your PTE score?
Good PTE preparation considers templates as a small piece of a big tool box. The ones who scored 65, 79 or above tend to do the following:
They learn the rules of the game first. Knowing that Read Aloud is assessed in terms of Reading and Speaking, or that Summarize Written Text is assessed on form, grammar and vocabulary at the same time shifts the way you spend your practice time.
They develop authentic fluency. You'll improve your speaking a lot more than any script by reading it every day, copying native audio, and recording yourself.
They practice in a real test environment. Bad timing, tiredness in the second half and small technical habits are problems that don't appear in the questions, but appear in full mock tests.
They receive suggestions on their weaknesses. Reading and Listening answers can be checked: They are right or wrong. But you can't hear your own pronunciation errors and you can't see the grammar errors you make in Writing.
Carefully use templates Simple structure for Describe Image works. It is not a set script, word for word for each task.
Where Structured Coaching Makes the Difference
This is the place where self-study doesn't often fill. You'll find PTE lessons and free PTE content all over the internet, but everywhere you'll get group lessons and pre-recorded videos but not anyone telling you that your “th” sounds are costing you your pronunciation marks in the exam, or that your Summarize Written Text responses keep going over the word limit.
This isn't the case with Online Class Nepal. There are no set batches, and each student has a dedicated mentor who can coach them one-on-one and the study plan is tailored to their current level, target score & schedule. With online PTE classes, this personalization is of immense importance as the areas in which each student struggles are very individual: two students with the same aggregate score might require totally different interventions.
Courses contain unlimited mock tests with live exams, mentors feedback on each test, live sessions with lifetime recordings, doubt support between classes via WhatsApp. The time slots are on Sunday to Friday from 7am to 8pm Nepal time, which provides those who are already in Australia with some early morning or late evening opportunities. After 6-10 weeks of consistent and focused one-to-one coaching, most students achieve the target of Band 7+ (IELTS) or 65+ (PTE). Before signing up, you can have a free Demo class.
Final Thoughts
Templates can soothe your nerves and help you to organize your ideas. It's okay to use them for that. They're only a support, however, not a base. Excellent PTE score is achieved when you are fluent in your speech, have accurate content, have practiced the test, and get honest feedback on your own mistakes. If you've already taken the PTE test once and didn't make the grade, then the problem most likely isn't the template you used. It's a better plan.