P1: Describe Image that appears three to four times during a PTE Academic Test, which contributes largely to the Speaking skill and of course the Overall score. We know for certain that most students seek easy templates to apply to practice. Nevertheless, several templates cannot be applied to a wide range of image types, which includes the following:
Bar chart;
Pie chart;
Line chart;
Table;
Flow chart;
Map;
Mixed chart;
Picture/ Photograph (showing two stages of the subject).
Each Pearson Test of English has three to four P1. Describe Image questions, so students will face at least three different image types. As a result, learning a unique strategy is the best way to deal with any image type that we may face on our test day. Obviously, strategy can be applied to any type of image and we don’t need to worry if we run out of ideas because if we put enough effort into practicing, we will master the strategy to get the highest score possible.
Fundamental information
Task: Describe an image that appears on the screen;
Timer: 65 seconds (25 prep seconds and 40 seconds to speak);
Why is this your unique strategy? The reason is that the Academic team at TADE Hub developed this strategy based on the grading elements that your answers will be evaluated by Pearson. The grading elements are Content, Oral Fluency, and Pronunciation.
In case you are a video lover, this is our video version at your service. For now, if you are ready, let’s explore our step-by-step strategy.
We will be guiding PTE takers on how to answer any P1. Describe Image question step-by-step in addition to note-taking tips in that step to help all students utilise everything they have to aim for the highest score possible.
Step 1: Identify the main content
Identifying the main content is super easy, almost all images have the image title as follows, and PTE takers take it as the main content to start describing.
By identifying the main content, we are able to start describing the image by simply applying one of the following opening statements.
This picture depicts …
This photo portrays …
This is an image of …
This photograph is of …
This picture illustrates …
Yes, PTE takers take those opening statements as a template to start describing. For example, we have the following two questions, let’s apply those opening statements into practice.
P1. Describe Image, Question number 0001 on the PTE Practice Platform
This is an image of the percentage of people who smoke cigarettes by age from 18 to over 65 on a scale of 100%.
P1. Describe Image, Question number 0047 on the PTE Practice Platform
This picture portrays two footballs of different ages. The first one was in 1930, and the second one was in 2022.
We start our description by stating the main content of the image and briefly sharing fundamental information.
Note-taking tip: Take notes on the main content and some fundamental information for later speaking.
Step 2: Determine the key points and numbers
If we face Bar chart, Pie chart, Line chart, etc, there are obvious key numbers or important points that we need to take notes on for a smoother speech.
Students should not take notes on all numbers because we definitely don’t have enough time to describe them all. If lucky, we may be able to describe everything if we still have time left after describing all key points and numbers.
The key points and numbers are truly easy to determine, we most of the time concentrate on the highest value, the lowest value, and other values that have differences compared to the rest.
Let’s apply it to the following image types.
P1. Describe Image, Question number 0002 on the PTE Practice Platform
If you see this image type, what key points or numbers should you take notes on? Apparently, we need to take notes on the highest percentage – 34.2% that people used I.E (Internet Explorer) to browse on the Internet back in 2011. Besides, the lowest percentage is another key point as well – Android with only 1.9%.
Should we stop here? Definitely not, we need to talk about Chrome and Firefox because each search browser accounted for over 20%. And the rest, including Safari, Opera and Other accounted for nearly 20%.
P1. Describe Image, Question number 0037 on the PTE Practice Platform
How about this image type? Could you share with us what key points and numbers should you take notes here?
Again, we have numbers everywhere so we need to prioritise the highest and lowest numbers in important parts of the image. In this case, the Male Population in Block Jaynagar I is the highest, while in Block Jaynagar II is the lowest. Regarding the Female population, Block Canning has the highest number of 155,000 people, while Jaynagar II only has 64,000. Last but not least, we move to the Total Population to express similar things.
The most important key point is that, if students notice, the Total Population in Jaynagar II doesn’t even equal half of Jaynagar I, which makes it the largest gap among all Block names.
If students still have time, we can talk about other numbers to describe the image in more detail.
Note-taking tip: Only take notes on the key points and numbers, if we still have time at the end, we can talk about other things.
Step 3: Pinpoint the flow (or differences)
If we face Bar chart, Line chart, Flow chart or Map, describing the flow (how the number changes or where the map takes us) is inevitable.
For example, we have the following images.
P1. Describe Image, Question number 0001 on the PTE Practice Platform
In this image, we can see the flow of the amount of smoking by age is decreasing gradually from 18 to over 65.
P1. Describe Image, Question number 0003 on the PTE Practice Platform
How about this image, what should we say about the flow? This is a bit more difficult compared to the previous one because the Sales numbers and New Clients line are not steady, it goes up and goes down during a year period. However, it’s not hard to express verbally. We simply need to go step-by-step and change our sentences at the changing point.
To illustrate, we may speak like this about the image: Most of the time, the Sales numbers follow the New Clients line accordingly. They are at their lowest point in January and reach over 10% sales in May, and then they slightly drop the sales numbers until August. Nonetheless, from September to December, we witnessed a significant increase in sales up to nearly 25% in December even though the New Clients line dropped a bit from November to December.
P1. Describe Image, Question number 0017 on the PTE Practice Platform
If you face a map type like this, how should you describe the flow? We strongly recommend you try to brainstorm first to describe the Map type and check our particular strategy for describing Maps later.
We will be sharing the strategy for describing Maps only very soon. Stay tuned!
Note-taking tips: We will take notes on different parts of the flow, the key is to pay attention to the changing points (if any) like P1. Describe Image, Question number 0003 on the PTE Practice Platform. Regarding the Map type, we will be sharing a detailed guide later.
Step 4: Start speaking
PTE takers have 40 seconds to describe the image verbally after 25 seconds of preparation. We always recommend students consume the first 10 seconds in 40 speaking seconds if needed to prepare better. It’s okay if students ensure that they speak at least 30 seconds.
If you can, it’s better to spend a couple of seconds reviewing your notes once again before speaking to make sure that we don’t miss any crucial points.
There are three (03) essential elements that PTE takers HAVE TO pay attention to (yes, there are the grading elements of this question type – P1. Describe Image).
Content: They assess if your answer is relevant to the image or not. If you describe the image irrelevantly, no scores (zero scores) will be given to your answer. So make sure to give a relevant answer, which is your first priority. This grading method applies to other question types including P1. Re-tell Lecture, P1. Write Essay, P1. Summarize Written Text and P3. Summarize Spoken Text.
cre: Pearson
Oral Fluency: This one is about how smooth your speech is, whether you have a decent rhythm and suitable word stresses and phrasing or not. To get high scores in this element, the only way we can do this is to practice Speaking every day, get feedback and avoid similar mistakes in the future.
Pronunciation: Apparently, if we pronounce words incorrectly, we will be deducted scores in this element. Students can refer to this article: “Master British and American Pronunciation” for a detailed guide on how to upgrade your pronunciation.
PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT!
If you haven’t found anywhere to prepare for the test, let’s explore the PTE Practice Platform which was developed for self-study students to prepare for the Pearson Test of English effectively, effortlessly and affordably.
For example, about P1. Describe Image, we evaluate your practice answers based on the same grading elements that Pearson uses to assess your skills including Content, Oral Fluency, and Pronunciation as follows.
