With the increasing use of AI in everyday life, no field is left behind now. Pearson, provider of several diagnostic and high stakes tests has come up with the Pearson Test of English, also called the PTE.
The test consists of 20 tasks that mimic your everyday English tasks and one of the most interesting tasks in PTE Academic is read aloud. You can read more about it on Sure Way English’s Read Aloud PTE exam guide. Sure Way English is a leading online provider of preparatory courses and coaching for the PTE Exam. You can also go through this in-depth video to get more information about it.
This task requires you to read aloud a text that is shown to you on the screen in front. You are supposed to read it loudly and clearly and it is then captured by the microphone. Down it goes for processing by the sophisticated AI algorithm developed by Pearson. You will be surprised at how accurately this software can detect your English level.
It will judge you and score you on various parameters as set by the PTE Academic. These parameters are – fluency, pronunciation, accent, vocabulary and lot more. The computer can very accurately predict of you are a native speaker of English or if you have only been studying it for a few years. The AI software is so advanced that it can even pick up the mistakes which a human examiner might not. Each and every syllable is picked up, processed and graded by the software.
So, are we nearing a day when we will be assessed by computers for almost everything? It is quite likely. The same technology that is used in PTE Academic can be used in almost any other field where the computer needs to compare a response with a set of sample responses and grade it.
However, this is not without its share of controversy. People who score low are quick to point figures at the computer program. Older established exams like IELTS that depend on human examiners fear they will lose the control of English testing market and therefore are quick to point out faults in the software.
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But if there is one thing with know about technology and change then it is this – Things always move forward and change is the only constant. Hardly any technology is perfect in its initial years but most useful ideas mature into sophisticated technologies and platforms in due course of time. So, while PTE Academic might have its initial hiccups, it is only a matter of time before the teething problems are sorted out and testing on computers becomes the standard thing to do.
In the meantime if you go for the PTE Academic, remember this advice from Alice Smith, the student coordinator at Sure Way English. Alice advises her students to approach the exam with the kind of precision that computers are used to. While things are subjective and have a wide margin of error in humans, when it comes to computers, as long as you give the right inputs, you will get the right outputs. Alice therefore recommends that students should focus more on the things which computer can evaluate such as the speed at which you speak, the stress you put in particular syllables when you speak and so on. Knowing exactly what is evaluated and what is important is another big advantage of these computerized exams.
All the best for your next computer taken exam! In a few years, it won’t be a special occasion but just an a very standard practice!
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