Having a smooth intonation significantly contributes to your overall PTE speaking result. Your pitch is a crucial part of determining the naturalness of your speech.

So, is your voice pitch destroying your PTE score?

LUME will walk you through the significance of pitch in your speech. Keep reading to know the answer!

Key Takeaways

• A pitch represents the lowness or highness of your voice. It can convey your tone, mood, and emotions.
• Your voice pitch should meet certain criteria so that the computer can recognize and score your responses.
• Knowing the ideal pitch range and tailoring your speech to the PTE scoring system are the keys to higher scores.
• Avoid some common pitch mistakes to improve your PTE speaking result.

Related:

• Try LUME’s FREE PTE self-study platform here
• The important changes in the PTE Academic test format you need to know
• How to prepare for your next PTE test at home

What Is a Pitch?

A pitch refers to the highness and lowness of your voice. Many mistake it for the volume of their voice. However, a high pitch doesn’t necessarily mean a loud voice. 

Your pitch somewhat indicates the tone of your voice or your mood. For example, you might use a high pitch when expressing excitement, surprise, or asking questions. On the other hand, when you want to convey deep emotions or seriousness, you tend to lower your voice pitch.

Understanding the pitch technique can help you boost your score in speaking exams, especially in PTE.

Why Does a Pitch Matter in Your PTE Speaking?

As we all know, PTE is a computer-based test. Its AI scoring system is developed from real test-takers’ data. Therefore, there is a set of criteria to help the computer recognize and score your speech.

Only when your voice pitch meets these criteria can the computer understand your answer. On the other hand, if your pitch stays out of the ideal range, the scoring system might consider your response incorrect or lacking. And this negatively affects your score.

So, even when you provide a fluent and comprehensive response, you won’t receive a high point if the pitch doesn’t fall into the computer’s listening range.

4 PTE Pitch Trick Techniques for Top Scores

Use a Voice Pitch Analyzer For PTE

Determining your pitch is the first step to help you understand more about your natural intonation. This allows you to evaluate whether you’ve used the right tone while speaking, especially when expressing emotions or seriousness.

If you have no idea about your voice pitch, LUME Test recommends you download Voice Tools (here is the iOS version, and here is the Android version) to analyze your pitch. After setting up the app, enable the app to access your phone’s microphone.

Then, navigate to the pitch section, where there are several sentences that you need to read aloud. The app will give you 10 seconds to record your voice on your phone. Remember to use your natural voice for the most accurate evaluation.

The red line appearing on the parameter range indicates your voice pitch. Try to record more sentences to define your pitch range more precisely.

Speak In the Ideal Pitch Range

Men and women have different pitch ranges. If you’ve used Voice Tools, you might notice this difference. The pink line represents the pitch range for females from 200 to 300 Hz. Meanwhile, the blue line indicates males’ pitch, ranging from 100 to 150 Hz.

However, you can’t apply these ranges to the PTE test because the computer can’t process your speech the same way your ears do. Therefore, you must aim for the ideal range that the computer can recognize and understand.

The correct pitch for female test-takers should be from 220 to 240 Hz. On the other hand, male candidates should maintain their pitch between 130 and 150 Hz. So, if the Voice Tools app tells you that your pitch is 280 Hz on average, it’s best to lower your tone while speaking.

Get Professional Training

Our voice pitch is distinct, so maintaining a consistent pitch range is quite challenging. This might discourage students and test-takers. However, remember that mastering the art of pitch takes a lot of time and effort.

It’s best to record yourself and ask for constructive feedback from your teachers or tutors. Enrolling in some speaking courses is also a great way to improve your pitch. Professional trainers can point out what you need to improve and assist you every step of the way.

Tailoring Your Speaking Style to the PTE Algorithm

The PTE scoring system focuses on the clarity of your speech. So, try to speak as clearly as possible to help the computer understand your answer. Pay attention to your pronunciation and minor sounds, like ending sounds.

Use your pitch wisely to convey your mood and emotions. For example, raise your voice a bit when asking questions or expressing your excitement. However, don’t use a pitch that is too high and goes beyond the ideal pitch range.

Another piece of advice is to not pause too frequently or too long. Long pauses indicate poor fluency and a lack of ideas. For some parts, if you pause over 3 seconds, the computer might stop recording. It’s because it assumes that you’ve finished your answer.

Common Pitch Mistakes That Lower PTE Speaking Scores

Here are some pitch mistakes you should steer clear of:

• Lacking pitch variations: A monotone speech won’t receive a high score. Use varying pitch to emphasize the phrases or keywords and make your answer more impactful.
• Shifting pitches too much: Too many variations in your voice pitch can do more harm than good. This makes your answer difficult to understand, especially for computers.
• Raising your tone at the end of declarative sentences: Non-native speakers or beginners usually make this mistake. However, using a high pitch at the end of a sentence makes it sound like a question. This can be misleading for the computer.

Conclusion

To know if your voice pitch is destroying your PTE score, you should know your pitch first. Then, it’s recommended to tailor your speech to the ideal range. This allows the AI scoring system to process and score your response accurately. Try practicing regularly to keep a consistent pitch range!

(Read our Vietnamese version here)