As you know PTE Academic is an exam conducted on and scored by computers and software. It works just like you would be using any other computer software. The input goes in and output comes out. So, it stands to reason that the quality of input is important!
This becomes even more crucial in the speaking section. The scoring in speaking section is done entirely on the basis of the response recorded by you. If the recording is not perfect, the scoring software might not be able to score it accurately, or might understand it in a different way and therefore award a poor score.
The quality of spoken response depends upon three things – how loud and clearly you speak, the quality of microphone, and the position of microphone.
Out of these three, all test takers try to speak loudly and clearly, and the quality of microphone is not in our hands anyways, though it is standard across all Pearson PTE Test centres. The last thing – position of microphone, is something which can have an impact but often test takers are not clear about it.
In a nutshell, the microphone should be placed in a way that your response is recorded clearly. If it is too far your voice might appear faint, but if it is too close to your mouth, some of your breathing, and sounds made by your tongue may also be recorded. We want to avoid this!
Therefore, the perfect position of the microphone is not too close to the lips. It should be placed about 2 fingers from your mouth. Make sure it is not under the nose or touching your lips. It should be at the level of your chin.
Once you have positioned the mic appropriately avoid touching it or changing the position repeatedly during the exam.
This is one of those things which is simple enough to take care of but if ignored can have a drastic impact on your score. So, make sure you understand it and practice it before the exam.