Today, we will explore the strategy to boost PTE takers’ confidence in dealing with Part 1: Write Essay, especially for the Opinion question type. For your reference, P1: Write Essay in the Pearson Test of English Academic has three different topics including Argument, Problem-Solution, and Opinion types.
We already shared strategies for the Argument and Problem-Solution types, let’s explore each as you wish.
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Argument type: Animals shouldn’t be used for medical research under any circumstances.” To what extent do you agree with this statement? Provide reasons and/or examples to support your ideas.
Problem-Solution type: Stress has emerged as a significant problem in numerous countries worldwide. Why does it happen and what we can do to solve this issue?
Opinion type: Tobacco, mainly in the form of cigarettes, is one of the most widely used drugs in the world. Over a billion adults legally smoke tobacco every day. The long-term health costs are high – for smokers themselves, and for the wider community in terms of health care costs and lost productivity. Do governments have a legitimate role to legislate to protect citizens from the harmful effects of their own decisions to smoke, or are such decisions up to the individual?
All questions on the PTE Practice Platform – TADE Hub are completely FREE, and you can access them all by creating a FREE account. In this article, we’ll use the Opinion-type question above as an example to provide you with a step-by-step guide on how to approach it effectively.
Fundamental information
Task: Write a 200-300 word essay about a given topic
Prompt length: 2-3 sentences
Timer: 20 minutes
Frequency: 1-2 questions
Skills assessed: Writing
A unique step-by-step strategy
Our strategy is developed to offer PTE takers feedback based on the same grading elements that Pearson uses to evaluate test-takers’ skills including Content, Form, Grammar (Spelling), Vocabulary, Coherence, and Linguistic Range.
Check details on how we offer instantly detailed feedback for all question types here.
Step 1. Read, Brainstorm and Take notes
Recommended timer:5 minutes 1.1. Step one: Read the question carefully
It’s not just Part 1: Write Essay—carefully reading and understanding the questions is essential for both Speaking and Writing tasks to ensure you provide a fully relevant response.
This is our Sample question – Question number 0007 on the PTE Practice Platform – TADE Hub.
Tobacco, mainly in the form of cigarettes is one of the most widely used legal drugs in the world. The long-term health costs are high for smokers themselves, and for the wider community in terms of health care costs and lost productivity. Do governments have a legitimate role in protecting citizens from the harmful effects of their own decisions to smoke, or are such decisions up to an individual?
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At this point, we recommend that PTE candidates spend around two (02) minutes carefully reading and understanding the question. Fully grasping the question is crucial as it enables you to brainstorm ideas and take notes for your response later. If you're able to read and understand the question in under a minute, that's great! However, if it takes longer, feel free to use the full two minutes, as the time for each step has been set appropriately. Don’t worry—just follow our advice, keep practicing, and you’ll see your improvement.
Once you’re prepared, take up to two minutes to thoroughly read and analyze the question. The sample question provided is not too difficult to follow, right? If you haven’t yet registered for your FREE account, we strongly recommend doing so! This will allow you to practice directly on the PTE Practice Platform and receive instant, detailed feedback based on the same scoring criteria Pearson uses to assess your performance.
The key point of this question asks us “What is your opinion about whether governments have the right to protect citizens from the harmful effects of smoking cigarettes or there are decisions for individuals to decide?”
If PTE candidates come across a challenging question (a long one like this one) that seems hard to grasp, they can note down any familiar words and only concentrate on the main question. The first two sentences in the sample question are simply information to help us understand the scenario, while the rest is the real matter we need to address. Hence, practicing to choose key problems to focus on wisely will help PTE takers save a lot of time in the next step.
1.2. Step two: Brainstorm and Take notes
In this step, you have three minutes to brainstorm ideas and take notes on the main points you want to include in your response. No matter the topic, every essay follows a standard structure: an Opening, a Body (with two supporting arguments), and an Ending.
Brainstorming and note-taking should happen at the same time. This means that PTE candidates need to write down notes while generating ideas. Brainstorming involves planning how to tackle the question while taking notes helps you record important phrases and ideas from your thoughts. This ensures you can use them effectively in your answer and avoids the risk of forgetting key details.
Here is how we apply our sample question in three different parts.
a. Opening: In this question category, Opinion type, we have clear information provided in the question itself. In our sample question, it is “Tobacco, mainly in the form of cigarettes is one of the most widely used legal drugs in the world. The long-term health costs are high for smokers themselves, and for the wider community in terms of health care costs and lost productivity.”
We will always use that piece of information to brainstorm ideas to write the Opening. Because this question category asks for your perspective, so it’s better to add your personal related story into your answer. Remember, it’s BETTER to have, NOT compulsory. Nevertheless, we have to have a connection between the Opening and the Body by connecting the last sentence in your Opening to the main question in the next paragraph (Body part). So here are the key points and ideas after brainstorming.
Paraphrase information, a must: tobacco in the form of cigarettes is the most widely used on earth but the costs are high for both smokers and the community in the long term.
Add personal related stories, better to have: a neighbor who was addicted to tobacco faced lung cancer.
Connect with the next paragraphthrough the main question, a must: both the government and individual are responsible for their health.
b. Body: Let’s assume that we write a perfect Opening including introducing the situation and connecting to the Body. So in this part, we simply need to answer the main question thoroughly.
Main question: Do governments have a legitimate role in protecting citizens from the harmful effects of their own decisions to smoke, or are such decisions up to an individual?
In the Opening, we already shared that it’s the responsibility of both the government and the individual. Thus, we need to provide at least two reasons why we believe so.
Our ideas are:
Government’s responsibilities: protecting the citizens is its accountability and the country will thrive if the citizens are healthy and productive.
Individual’s responsibilities: it’s citizen’s health and productivity and citizens have the right to do whatever they want as long as it’s legal even harming their health.
They are just our initial ideas but are truly essential in helping us generate detailed content faster and easier when we write. Therefore, it’s always better to take notes on these ideas on paper if you take the Pearson Test of English in the test center or on the online note-taking feature if you take the test at home.
c. Ending: In this section, we simply restate our opinion, similar to what we do in the introduction. Consider paraphrasing the opening part, as it is both simple and highly effective. Additionally, it’s important to note how to begin the conclusion, and here are some possible approaches:
To make the long story short
All in all
In conclusion
To recapitulate
To encapsulate
That’s all we need at this stage. We already have ideas to write our answers. Let’s jump right into the next step and show off our writing skills.
Step 2. Lay out your structure
Recommended timer: 12 minutes
2.1. Paraphrase information provided – Opening
Building on the previous step, we now have a basic outline for the introduction. The next step is to connect all the key points smoothly to form a cohesive and well-structured Opening response.
To start your writing, there is a bunch of ways to do so.
As far as I’m concerned…
In the age of…
Speaking of…
Regrading…
In term of…
When it comes to…
In my humble position…
From my point of view…
From my experience…
Before reviewing our sample answers, take a moment to write your own response first. Start by choosing one of the suggested approaches to begin your writing.
If you already get it done, let’s check our samples. We have the advanced and basic answers for your study.
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It depends on your English level to write similar to either the Basic or the Advanced openings. Regardless of both ways, we need to include three parts in your opening.
The red words: We have suggested several ways to begin your writing. It’s simple—PTE candidates just need to choose the approach that best suits the given question. This allows test takers to save time when deciding how to start their response.
The orange words: In the Basic version, we only paraphrased information provided in the question. In the Advanced version, we also added our personal story to the paraphrased content to make the consequences of smoking cigarettes clearer and more severer.
The blue words: Depending on the question and our perspectives to it, we deliver it differently every time. The key is to understand the main question thoroughly and share your very basic answer to the question at the end of your Opening to connect with the Body.
Time management and number of words: If you read our strategies for the Argument and Problem-Solution types, we have different numbers of words when we face different category types. In this case, we wrote at least 54 words in the Basic version. However, it’s okay if your Opening has fewer words as long as you paraphrase the information provided and have a connection to the Body.
2.2. Answer the main question – Body
This is the most important part as we need to answer the main question and prove our points. Luckily enough, we already had ideas to answer it from the previous brainstorming step.
Government’s responsibilities: protecting the citizens is its accountability and the country will thrive if the citizens are healthy and productive.
Individual’s responsibilities: it’s citizen’s health and productivity and citizens have the right to do whatever they want as long as it’s legal even harming their health.
Please remember to share your main points and then two arguments to support them.
1st Main Point: Government’s responsibilities
1st Argument: protecting the citizens is its accountability
2nd Argument: the country will thrive if the citizens are healthy and productive.
On the one hand, governments have a clear responsibility to protect citizens from harmful behaviors, (1.1) including smoking. To me, governments need to ensure public health and safety because that is its fundamental duty, as healthy citizens contribute to a nation's progress. Furthermore, when people are productive and less burdened by smoking-related illnesses, the economy benefits, and healthcare costs are reduced. (1.2) By implementing regulations, like higher taxes on cigarettes and smoking bans in public spaces, governments can encourage healthier choices, ultimately fostering a thriving and robust society.
2nd Main Point: Individual’s responsibilities
1st Argument: it’s citizen’s health and productivity
2nd Argument: citizens have the right to do whatever they want as long as it’s legal even harming their health
On the other hand, I strongly reckon that individuals should take responsibility for their own health and lifestyle choices. (2.1) Each person has the autonomy to decide what they do, as long as it remains within legal boundaries, even ifit risks their well-being. Additionally, we all know that smoking is a personal decision, (2.2) and while it may harm people’s health and productivity, citizens retain the right to make choices that align with their preferences. However, balancing freedom with awareness is key to ensuring both personal and societal well-being.
Explanation of all highlighted colour words
Blue words: Linking words (transition words) that we used to start the paragraphs or connect sentences with sentences to make an organised writing.
Red words: they are our key ideas from the brainstorming step.
Orange words: they are what we expanded our points to make them stronger.
Can you write these two paragraphs in about eight minutes? (Why eight minutes? We’ll explain soon.) If you can, that’s excellent! If not, don’t worry—we’ll help you learn how to craft similar paragraphs. With regular, well-organized daily practice, we’re confident your writing skills will improve noticeably over time.
Here is your secret: We do it by expanding our answers and using linking words to connect bullet points with bullet points and sentences with sentences.
a. Expanding your answers
There are three ways to expand answers: Elaborate answers, Share opinions, and Give examples.
Elaborate answers: Elaborate means we give more details to key ideas from the brainstorming step as long as detailed information is related to the answer (or the key ideas that we are proving). In our sample answers, the key explanations (1.2) and (2.2) are clear examples of elaborating answers.
Share opinion: We have the key explanations (1.1) and (1.2) as they are the writer’s perspective. The writer stated crystal clear about what he thinks of the responsibility of governments and individuals in protecting people’s health from smoking.
Give examples: We do not have this part in our sample answers, please refer to the strategies of Argument or Problem-Solution types.
Admittedly, applying the tips mentioned above can be challenging. Consistent practice is essential, alongside improving your General English skills daily. However, to simplify the process, PTE candidates can combine two tips in a single paragraph. For example, in response to the second minor question, we combined sharing an opinion with providing a strong example to support our argument.
b. Using linking words
Some students call linking words transition words. Regardless of what you call them, their function stays the same: to ensure a logically structured response by smoothly connecting ideas, sentences, and paragraphs.
The PTE Practice Platform provides access to sixteen categories of linking words, which you can explore anytime with a Premium account.
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If you notice, all the Blue words that we used in our sample answers can be found in these lists. To illustrate, the word “additionally” is used to introduce the second reason in the first minor question in the Addition category. If words are in the same category, we can use any of them for the same purpose.
Incorporating linking words effectively into Writing and Speaking responses can be quite challenging! It demands focused time and effort, especially by studying Sample Answers available on the PTE Practice Platform after submitting practice responses.
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The sample answer above serves as a valuable example for you to analyze thoroughly. By comparing it to your own response, you can discover new ideas, vocabulary, and techniques. When using the PTE Practice Platform, if a sample answer introduces many new concepts, try rewriting it at least once to incorporate these elements into your practice.
Time management and number of words: We have twelve (12) minutes in this step: Lay out your structure. We utilise the first two minutes for the Opening and the rest two minutes for the Ending, so we have around eight minutes left to deliver the Body. Of course, students can slightly adjust it to the question they are facing to have a more effective result. In the Body part, we have 178 words besides 54 words in the Opening (if we choose the Basic answer), so we have 232 words totally, which already exceeds the requirement of writing at least 200 words.
2.3. Deliver a conclusion – Ending
Even though we already wrote over 200 words at the end of the Body, we still need the Ending to wrap up our essay. Without it, we will definitely lose more scores than we could ever imagine. Therefore, please never miss this part in your answer.
In our Brainstorming part, we have some ways to start the Ending part, such as To make the long story short, All in all, To encapsulate, etc. Please pause your reading, go write the Ending by yourself and review our sample answer right below.
To encapsulate, I believe tackling the harms of smoking is a shared responsibility. Governments should protect public health, and individuals must make mindful decisions to foster a healthier society.
“To encapsulate”is a linking word, and there are plenty of similar expressions you can use to begin your conclusion. Students can explore these in the Summary section of the Linking Words page. The key is to reframe your perspective or paraphrase the Opening to reinforce your main idea.
Daily practice in general English is essential for skill improvement, as it lays the groundwork for achieving your target scores. While tips and strategies are useful, they are secondary. Be sure to explore the article, “Guide to Enhance Your Writing Skill,” and commit to consistent practice.
Time management and number of words: We have two minutes in this part to deliver our conclusion. The Ending is 29 words long, so we have 261 words in total.
Step 3. Double check your essay
Recommended timer: 3 minutes
Why is this step so important? It plays a key role in helping PTE candidates reduce grammar and spelling errors, while also refining phrases or words to produce a more structured and cohesive response. Remember the grading criteria for this question type, which include Grammar (Spelling) and Coherence? Any unchecked mistakes will lead to score deductions in these areas.
This method is not limited to Part 1: Write Essay; it also applies to other Writing question types, such as Part 1: Summarize Written Text and Part 3: Summarize Spoken Text. To improve your scores in these sections, reviewing your work thoroughly is crucial.
Since we’ve already provided detailed guidance on how to double-check your essay in the P1. Write Essay_Argument question type, we won’t repeat it here as the process remains exactly the same.
Things to avoid
Here are cases in which test-takers will be given zero:
The response is NOT in English;
Test-takers write a very short or very long essay;
Test-takers don’t use punctuation;
Test-takers use bullet points or very short sentences;
The response is written in capitals;
There is no written response.
PTE Practice Platform and instant feedback
If PTE takers practice any Part 1: Write Essay question on the PTE Practice Platform, they will receive the following feedback based on six grading elements: Content, Form, Grammar (Spelling), Vocabulary, Coherence, Linguistic Range. Or you can review this video sample feedback for a better understanding.
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Our aim is to support millions of students around the world by providing the most efficient PTE Practice Platform, offering immediate and comprehensive feedback on all question types. With a Premium account, PTE candidates can access the following advantages:
Thousands of practice questions similar to the real ones;
Instantly detailed feedback for all question types;
Same grading elements as Pearson;
At least 10 Mock tests with estimated scores;
Three supportive vocab lists;
And many other supporting self-study features.
Go visit the PTE Practice Platform, create your free account and start boosting your PTE Academic scores today.
