What do you do when you’ve been prepping tirelessly for the PTE Academic, sit down to take a practice test…and then have to face all the questions you missed? Since banging your head against a wall is not very effective, other strategies must be employed. This article lists ways to grapple with missed questions on the PTE Academic.

Common Reactions to Mistakes

Getting questions wrong on a PTEA practice test can be anywhere from mildly disappointing to absolutely infuriating. Discovering that you have answered a question incorrectly can trigger any or all of the following reactions:

Reaction 1: Focusing on what you did well and ignoring what you did wrong (not helpful).
Reaction 2: Disregarding questions you got wrong because they were just “careless mistakes” (not helpful).
Reaction 3: Focusing on the fact that you got things wrong and ignoring review in favor of self-loathing (not helpful).
Reviewing the questions you missed, however, is an extremely important part of test prep. “Reviewing is the mode in which you switch over from merely practice to actually teaching yourself.”
To score higher, it’s not only the number of questions you practice that matters, but how much you learn from each question i. e. your diagnostic takeaway from each of the questions (answered correctly or incorrectly).

Strategy: Categorize Questions which you think are wrong

It is not only important that you review missed questions, but that you also review them effectively. A helpful way to do this is by going through the questions you messed up on and sorting them into categories.
Many times, questions can be sorted into these general categories: Skipped (guessed randomly on), Guessed (through elimination), and (thought you) Knew. Seeing how many questions you skipped, how many you guessed, and how many you were certain were correct can help to focus your studying.
For instance, if the majority of the questions you missed were ones you skipped answering, it’s possible that you could be eliminating more answers before guessing on more questions. Alternatively, you might be accidentally skipping over some questions because you’re rushing and end up zipping right past them (in the reading section).
Once you’ve sorted the questions you missed into these general categories, make sure to review all of the questions you guessed on, including the ones you answered correctly. Compare these questions with the questions you guessed incorrectly on. Was it just blind luck or a combination of the process of elimination? Or is there a difference between the way you approached the guessed questions you got correctly and incorrectly?

Strategy: Understand the Reason for Missing Each Question

Sort the questions by the fundamental reason you missed them. Don’t just think, “Well, I got that one wrong.” That’s not useful in figuring out where you’re really making mistakes.
I find that nearly all mistakes fall into four categories:
Time Issue: You were pressed for time.
Question Comprehension Issue: The question was too complicated, you weren’t exactly sure what it was asking, or you were tricked by the question.
Procedural/Content Issue: You didn’t know how to find the answer to the question, or didn’t know the area in the text/audio the question covered.
Careless Error: A.k.a. careless mistakes, a.k.a. stupid mistakes, a.k.a. the most frustrating mistakes of all.