Who 1 on 1 PTE coaching is for

Private sessions are the right choice when a group course would spend most of its time on things you have already passed. Three situations in particular:

• One section will not move. Your Reading and Listening are fine, your Speaking sits at 65 and will not budge. This is the clearest signal of all, because the fix is usually one or two specific habits that nobody has ever pointed out to you.
• Your test date is close. Inside two weeks there is no time for a full course. Private sessions go straight to whatever is costing you the most points.
• You have already done a course and plateaued. If you have sat PTE more than twice at roughly the same score, more group teaching will not change the result. Something specific is wrong and it needs diagnosing.

How the sessions work

Every session runs live on Zoom with a real teacher. Nothing is pre-recorded. You share your screen, you attempt real exam tasks, and the teacher hears exactly what the scoring algorithm would hear.

Sessions are one hour and are sold in packages of 3, 5 or 7. Most students take 3 or 5. A single session is rarely enough to change a score, which is why we do not push them.

Every session is recorded and sent to you afterwards, so you can go back over the corrections rather than trying to remember them.

What happens in your first session

The first session is diagnostic. Before anything is taught, the teacher needs to hear your Speaking and read your Writing under real conditions, because self assessment is almost always wrong. Students routinely arrive convinced their problem is vocabulary when it is actually fluency, or convinced their Writing is fine when it is losing points on structure.

By the end of the first hour you will know which section is genuinely holding you back, what specifically is costing the points, and roughly how many more sessions it will take.

Why individual attention matters more in PTE than in other exams

PTE Speaking is marked by an algorithm on Oral Fluency and Pronunciation. It is not marked on effort or on whether an examiner liked you. It measures specific properties of how you speak.

You cannot hear your own pronunciation errors. That is precisely why they persist. In a class of twenty, in a three hour session, the arithmetic gives you around three minutes of individual speaking time. In a private session you get sixty. That difference is the entire reason 1 on 1 exists.

Different first languages, different problems

The errors that cost you points are largely predictable from your first language, and generic advice helps nobody.

• Spanish and Portuguese speakers commonly lose points on vowel length, on consonant clusters, and on adding an extra vowel before words beginning with s
• Italian and other Romance language speakers often lose points on word stress placement, which the algorithm penalises heavily
• Mandarin and Cantonese speakers commonly lose points on final consonants and on hesitation between words
• Hindi, Punjabi and other South Asian language speakers often lose points on rhythm and intonation rather than on individual sounds

None of these are hard to fix once identified. All of them are invisible in a large class.

Combining 1 on 1 with a group course

If you need a large improvement, the efficient order is the Express Course first to fix strategy across all four sections, then two or three private sessions on whatever is still weak. Done in that order it costs less than buying private hours to teach you things a group course would have covered anyway.

Common questions

How many sessions will I need? If you are within 5 to 10 points of your target, usually 3. If the gap is 15 points or more, usually 5 to 7, and often better combined with a group course.

Can I choose my teacher? Tell us what you are struggling with and we will match you to the teacher who handles that section best.

What if I cannot make a session? Scheduling is arranged around your availability, including evenings and weekends. Sessions are moved rather than lost.

Do I need to buy anything else? No. Slides, cheat sheets and practice material are included.

Not sure whether 1 on 1 or a group course fits you? Read our guide to choosing the right PTE course or tutor.