PTE Reading Tips & Tricks to Improve Score in 2025

Your English isn’t great but you know you have to pass the PTE exam in a short amount of time. How can you do that? How can you increase your score in the PTE Reading Section? The best way to achieve outstanding results in limited time is to know strategies and tips. 

Students must know how to skim/scan a passage, analyze texts, have good vocabulary, etc. to score up to 90 in the PTE Reading section. Whether a beginner or an advanced learner, these skills are crucial. So, to help you improve your score, here are some expert tips and tricks.

PTE Reading Test Module

Let’s first understand the PTE Exam Pattern 2025 for reading so that you know what exactly are the tasks and how to answer them. The PTE reading section evaluates your reading comprehension skills. It is divided into five parts, and you’ve got around 29-30 minutes to handle them.

8 Tips & Tricks You Must Know

Since PTE is an integrated skills assessment test, in one of the questions, test takers are also assessed for their writing skills along with their reading skills. Each task tests your ability to grasp main ideas, logical flow, and detailed information. Unless you are an avid reader, your skills may fall short of helping you score your highest. So, if you want to master the PTE Reading Section, read this blog till the end.

1. Understand the Question

The first important tip in PTE Reading is to understand the question. Each PTE Reading question type requires a different approach.

For Example:

• Summary questions require identifying the passage’s core meaning.
• Multiple-choice questions test your ability to locate supporting details.
• Re-order paragraphs assess logical sequencing.

If you read a question twice and locate keywords, you can easily understand what the question is asking. By understanding the question’s intent, you can approach answers strategically rather than guessing. Learn the format of each question type and the skills each question is testing.

2. Practice Scanning and Skimming

PTE Academic is a time-bound test. Hence, it is essential to master the art of reading quickly. Scanning and skimming is a great method to help you get the general idea of the passage and find specific information quickly.

For Example:

• Skim: Read the first and last sentences of paragraphs to grasp the main idea. 60% of the answers can be found in the first or last two lines of the passage. 
• Scan: Look for keywords related to the question, such as dates, names, and numbers. This is useful for questions that require fact-based answers.

Practicing these skills will help you not only in saving time but also locate key details quickly. As you begin your PTE preparation journey, try to keep increasing your reading speed by setting a goal of reading a certain number of words within a certain span of time. It will improve your speed and accuracy, making the test more manageable.

3. Utilise the Elimination Method

Multiple choice questions can be tricky and challenging, as you might get confused between the options. In this case, instead of immediately searching for the appropriate answer, try eliminating wrong choices first. It will narrow down your possibilities. After that, you will be left with only the correct option.

Quick Tips:

• Be cautious of distractors, as they often contain similar wording but a different meaning.
• If two choices seem similar, analyze which one aligns best with the passage’s main idea.
• Watch out for extreme words like always, never, or only, as they often indicate incorrect answers.
• Discard the answers that contradict the passage.

4. Analyse the Text

You must go beyond just reading words—you need to analyse the text deeply. Identify the main idea, supporting details, and transition words to understand relationships between sentences.

Key Strategies:

• Understand cause-effect relationships to answer logically.
• Every passage has a central theme. Ask yourself, What is the author trying to convey?
• Look for supporting details like examples, statistics, or explanations that usually reinforce the main point.
• Words like however, therefore, in contrast signal relationships between ideas.

5. Highlight the Keywords

Pay attention to “clue” words like names, locations, facts and figures, and note them down. These are keywords you need to highlight and use them while answering. You can save time as keywords will help you locate relevant information quickly.

• Focus on nouns and numbers (dates, names, places, and statistics) as they often hold crucial details.
• Look for signal words like cause, effect, result, contrast indicate relationships between ideas.
• Identify repeated or emphasized terms. If a word or phrase appears multiple times, it’s likely important.
• Spot and underline keywords while reading and stop beating around the bush.

6. Expand Your Vocabulary

Along with speed reading, you should also be aware of what you are reading. And a rich vocabulary serves the purpose. It helps you understand complex passages, grasp contextual meanings, and eliminate wrong answer choices quickly. So, make a personalized dictionary to learn new words.

To improve:

• Use flashcards: Apps like Anki and Quizlet make learning new words fun and effective.
• Read daily: Engage with newspapers, academic articles, and books to expose yourself to diverse words.
• Learn word families: Understanding inform, informative, information helps decode meanings faster.
• Practice synonyms and antonyms: This sharpens your ability to identify paraphrased answers in the test.
• Prepare a dictionary: Note unfamiliar and new words on a separate paper with their meanings for future reference.

7. Improve Your Grammar Abilities

Speaking of reading thoughtfully, you have to focus on improving your grammar too because it is the foundation of any language. They help you understand sentence structures, identify relationships between ideas, tenses so that you can answer Fill in the Blanks questions correctly. Hence, one of the best PTE reading grammar tips is focusing on tenses and the different parts of speech, like nouns, verbs, pronouns, adjectives and adverbs.

To enhance your grammar:

• Master verb tenses: Recognizing past, present, and future tenses helps in understanding meaning shifts.
• Learn sentence connectors: Words like however, therefore, in contrast presents the logical flow.
• Understand subject-verb agreement: Incorrect agreement can mislead your comprehension.
• Practice identifying clauses: Knowing main vs. subordinate clauses makes complex sentences easier to interpret. Practice with sentence transformation exercises.

8. Proofread Before Submitting

Before hitting submit, always take a moment to double-check your answers. It will reduce 60% of common errors such as spelling and grammatical errors, choosing wrong answers, misreading the question etc. A quick proofread can make a huge difference.

When proofreading:

• Check for grammar and spelling mistakes that may alter the meaning.
• Verify that your answers align with the question type—especially in multiple-choice and fill-in-the-blanks.
• Look for missing keywords or skipped questions in your responses.

Conclusion

To score really good in the PTE Reading module, one requires a combination of smart strategies, strong vocabulary, and consistent practice. Avoiding common PTE mistakes and implementing these proven tips and tricks mentioned above, you can achieve your desired PTE Score for Canada 2025. Stay committed, practice regularly, and trust the process. All the best!

Frequently Asked Questions

1. How Can I Improve My PTE Reading?

Ans: Improving your PTE Reading skills requires a combination of strategic techniques and regular practice. Start by enhancing your vocabulary—a strong word bank helps in understanding complex texts quickly. Practice skimming and scanning to locate key details efficiently. 

Develop active reading habits, such as summarizing passages in your own words. Focus on grammatical structures, as they play a vital role in comprehension. Additionally, analyze mistakes from mock tests and refine your approach accordingly. Consistent practice with official PTE materials and time management strategies will significantly improve your reading accuracy and speed.

2. How to Get 90 in Reading PTE?

Ans: Scoring a perfect 90 in PTE Reading requires mastery of reading techniques, flawless comprehension, and efficient time management. Focus on advanced vocabulary building and understanding context clues to decode difficult words effortlessly. Master skimming and scanning to locate critical information without re-reading entire passages. 

For Re-order Paragraphs, recognize logical connections between sentences. Use the elimination method for multiple-choice questions to discard incorrect options quickly. Regularly practice with high-difficulty PTE mock tests to simulate exam conditions. Finally, stay calm and confident, ensuring accuracy over speed to achieve a perfect score.