Boost Your PTE Score with the Power of Collocations

Mastering collocations is a game-changer when it comes to improving your Pearson Test of English (PTE) scores. Collocations are natural word combinations that native speakers use effortlessly, such as “assume the role of” or “become involved.” Incorporating these into your language use can significantly enhance your fluency and accuracy. Here’s why the PTE Academic Collocation List (ACL) is crucial and how you can leverage it to achieve higher scores.

What is the PTE Academic Collocation List?

The PTE Academic Collocation List is an essential resource developed by Pearson, a leading educational company. It includes 2,469 common collocations frequently used in academic English. These collocations are derived from the Pearson International Corpus of Academic English (PICAE), which comprises over 25 million words of academic texts.

Why Is It Important for the PTE Exam?

1. Enhance Fluency and Coherence: Using natural word combinations helps you sound more fluent and coherent in both speaking and writing tasks. This fluency is a key aspect that examiners look for.

2. Expand Lexical Resource: Demonstrating a wide range of vocabulary through collocations shows your ability to use English effectively. It helps you avoid repetitive language and improves the overall quality of your responses.

3. Improve Grammatical Accuracy: Correctly using collocations reflects your understanding of proper word forms and structures, enhancing your grammatical range and accuracy.

4. Increase Content Quality: Clear and precise expression of ideas is made easier with the right collocations, improving the quality of your content and helping you score better.
   

How to Utilize the Collocation List Effectively

1. Study the List: Download the ACL from the Pearson PTE website and familiarize yourself with the collocations. Focus on how they are used in different contexts.
   

2. Practice Regularly: Integrate collocations into your speaking and writing practice. Use them in sentences and get feedback to refine your usage.

3. Review and Test Yourself: Regularly review the collocations and test your understanding. Use flashcards, quizzes, and spaced repetition software like Anki or Quizlet to reinforce your knowledge.

4. Learn in Context: Instead of memorizing collocations in isolation, study them within sentences or paragraphs. This approach helps you understand their practical application and improves retention.

5. Apply in Real Scenarios: Practice using collocations in various academic contexts. Write essays, summaries, or reports incorporating these expressions to become more comfortable with them.
   

Common PTE Academic Collocations

Here are a few examples from the ACL:

• Annual: annual conference, annual meeting, annual report
• Appropriate: appropriate action, appropriate behavior, appropriate conditions
• Become: become apparent, become available, become aware
• High: high concentration, high correlation, high expectations
• Deep: deep understanding, deeper level
  
• Deem: deem necessary, deem appropriate
  
• Ethical: ethical consideration, ethical dilemma

These examples illustrate how collocations can be used across different contexts and word combinations.

Tips for Memorising

• Group by Word Class: Organize collocations into categories like adjective + noun, verb + adverb, etc., to recognize patterns and structures.
• Use Flashcards: Tools like Anki or Quizlet can help you regularly review and test collocations.
• Engage with Content: Incorporate collocations into your practice exercises. Use online PTE mock tests like the ones on PTE Labs  to practice using them.

Conclusion