With the rapid spread of the Covid 19 throughout the world and indeed in Australia, all jobs and businesses had to follow COVID safe advice and ask their customers to wear masks and follow social distancing rules. PTE centers were not an exception, and all tests during the pandemic were either cancelled or rescheduled or conducted under social distancing measures or wearing face masks.

Entering stage 3 and later on 4 meant that there were some new rules to be followed. One of these rules was mandatory wearing of face masks. It has now been almost 3 weeks that Victorians aged 12 or more need to wear a face masks outside their homes or they have to cop a hefty fine. Following the same directive, PTE test centers required candidates to wear a face mask at all time during their PTE academic test.

Can wearing a mask affect my PTE speaking score?

It really depends on the type of face mask you wear at the time of your PTE exam. If it is one with a filter, it will definitely affect your voice clarity and, consequently, lower score in pronunciation.

Since the Victorian government did not specify a particular type or brand of mask to be worn by its citizens, we advise that the test takers go with the thinnest and cheapest type of face mask. In fact, you can even cover your mouth with a scarf or handkerchief and it would mean you have followed the Victorian directive on mandatory face masks.

The following photos show which face masks to wear and which ones to avoid in your PTE test.

Need more information?

For learning the tricks of how to ace the PTE academic test, and for doing a free scored PTE mock test and practicing real PTE materials on our PTE practice platform, visit our website at www.thepte.com, where you can also book a free online PTE coaching with one of our Melbourne-based expert PTE trainers via the zoom app.