hi there my name's Natasha and in this video I'm going to give you one simple strategy for each of the four sections of the PT exam to reach that top score let's get into it now this first strategy is for writing use comparative and superlative adjectives you might be asking what are comparative and superlative adjectives these are adjectives that are used when we want to compare items we use them to describe the differences between things comparative adjectives compare two people places or things to show how they are different these adjectives usually use eer at the end for example we can say John is tall to describe John or to compare John to someone else we can say John is taller than Peter instead of adding eer we also use more we do this when the adjective has two or more syllables like expensive for example we would say coffee is more expensive than t for superlative adjectives we use these to compare more than two people places or things we use superlative adjectives to show the highest level of comparison or how that person place or thing is different to all the others with superlative adjectives we use the ending ES T for example we can say John is the tallest in his family or we use most for adjectives with two or more syllables for example we can say coffee is the most expensive drink here so perhaps you're thinking I can see why using comparative and superlative adjectives is a useful grammar skill to have but you're probably also wondering how this will instantly improve your writing skills well writing tasks often ask you to compare things you could be comparing objects or concepts evaluating ideas discussing differences in options or justifying an opinion in the pte exam comparative and superlative adjectives are going to be helpful in the right essay question that's because many of the essay question types ask you to compare things you might be giving your opinion on something justifying your ideas agreeing or disagreeing with a statement or arguing for or against an idea all of these essay types require comparison using comparative and superlative adjectives is going to help you score well in content by showing that you adequately address The Prompt which often requires you to make comparisons it will contribute to your grammar score because it shows grammatical control it also helps you get a good score for General linguistic range by showing you can use a wide range of language to differentiate between things and finally your vocabulary range because it demonstrates a broad lexical repertoire or range not only do comparative and superlative adjectives help you to describe both sides of a topic or situation more importantly they help you express yourself precisely clearly and appropriately so how can you work on this skill once you know the rules comparative and superlative adjectives can be mastered pretty easily but it's important to make sure you give yourself enough time to practice you can do this by signing up for free at E2 test prep.com our writing tasks give you the opportunity to practice using comparative and superlative adjectives you can even submit your writing for feedback from expert expert teachers sign up today the next strategy is for the reading section learn cations what is a collocation and why is it important well simply put a collocation is two or more words that usually go together like take a photo not make a photo or high salary not big salary knowing cations helps with predicting what comes next in a reading passage but how does knowing collocations help in the reading section well quite a few different kinds of questions rely on you knowing collocations in order to work out the correct answer take a look at this reading fill-in-the blanks task here the second blank is a great example of needing to know a collocation to be able to find the answer in this case it says something comedy so we need an adjective to go before the noun comedy from the drop-down list you can see black boring and tragic they all seem possible but which is correct well boring comedy and tragic comedy aren't words that go together they don't ccate in this case the answer is black black comedy is a common collocation it means something that is funny but also quite dark without knowing this cocation it would be hard to know what black comedy means since comedy doesn't have a literal color the third blank also needs you to know the correct cocation it says plot something plot changes seems possible and Mak sense but it's not a collocation so it's incorrect do you know what the correct collocation is that's right it's plot twists that's the right wording to talk about sudden changes in the storyline so knowing these cations can really help you to answer this type of question in the test you probably already know some collocations in English but building your knowledge of collocations is going to really help improve your reading skills language isn't just about knowing individual words knowing word combinations is what's going to raise you from a mid-level user to an advanced one but how can you build your collocations knowledge this one's a little tricky because you're going to have to study them directly by reading listening and watching a variety of material and paying attention to cations you come across you can also check dictionaries and other online sources for example in many online dictionaries when you look up a word like skill for example not only do you get the definition but there's often also a list of the most common collocations usually organized by type like this and as as always you can sign up to one of our E2 courses which will help you to improve your cocation skills we've designed our practice materials to introduce you to Unique collocations that you might see on test day okay moving on now to our simple listening strategy it is listen to weird and unfamiliar topics wait what why am I telling you to listen to weird stuff I know I know sounds kind of crazy but bear with me I bet at the moment you have certain topics you like to listen to in English to try and improve your listening skills maybe you always listen to a soccer podcast or you like to listen to English love songs or watch episodes of your favorite TV show and that will help your English but the problem is if you only listen to the same type of thing it won't improve the range of your vocabulary but what sort of topics will there be in the pte exam well some example topics include things like chemical reactions international business expansion Innovation policies oil consumption and medical research findings so like I said pretty weird but by listening to more weird and unfamiliar topics you'll be exposed to lots of new and interesting vocabulary and that will mean when you listen you're able to understand so much more so where can you go to to listen to a variety of topics in English and learn a wide range of vocabulary well TED Talks are always interesting you can listen to talks on a huge range of topics from holding your breath to what the floaty things are in your vision podcasts are also a great way to increase your English vocabulary and our podcast everyday English with E2 is a great place to start everyday English with E2 is available on a variety of podcast platforms so check it out a link is available in the description below okay lucky last speaking and our simple strategy is develop your connected speech skills so let me guess you've probably been studying and speaking English for quite a while you've mastered all those different verbs and tenses and you've worked on expanding your vocabulary and all in all you know how to say what you want to say but without connected speech you won't be able to say it very well so here are a few examples of some of the ways we connect speech linking that's when a consonant sound at the end of one word gets linked to the first sound of the next word for example going out not going out deleting this is when the last sound of a word disappears and it often happens with t and D sounds for example we must go not we must go adding this is when an extra sound is added in between two words for example two or three changing this happens when sounds blend together making a totally new sound for example the words don't you sound like don't you combining this happens when a first word ends with the same consonant sound that the next word begins with when that happens we often put the sound together and make the sound longer for example I want to but why is connected speech so important well if you pronounce all sounds and words correctly but you say each word individually you'll definitely sound quite strange like a computer trying to talk C to achieve a high pronunciation score on your speaking test you must have connected speech natural Rhythm pace and stress so as you aim for high score having skills in Connected speech will really help you get there basically there are two ways you can work on developing your skills in this area listen to others and speak more yourself with listening try to listen to a range of accents American Australian British and so on if you're watching anything in English for example put the subtitles on so you can listen to and read what's being said at the same time you could also do this by listening to an Audi book while reading it and many podcasts also post transcripts too as I mentioned before be sure to check out the everyday English with E2 podcast so how can you practice connected speech when you listen try to copy what you hear listen to some speech from a native speaker like from a TV show YouTube podcast or any recording then mimic what you hear record yourself and see how close your speech sounds to what you heard in fact recording yourself speaking and listening back to yourself is a great practice tool on its own that way you can make any changes you need to improve further and that's it you now know the one key thing you can do to instantly improve your listening Reading Writing and speaking skills for writing it's use compar comparative and superlative adjectives for reading it's learn collocations for listening it's listen to weird and unfamiliar topics and for speaking it's develop your connected speech you are now one step closer to test day success remember you can practice all the strategies we talked about today at E2 test prep.com thanks for watching and good luck on your studies