PTE Question Practice - Listening Section

PTE Question Practice - Listening Section

Summary

The Listening Section constitutes one of the four principal scores for communicative abilities assessed in your PTE exam. Its sub-types and scoring criteria will be described in the article below. Tips on this module will be included at the end.  

For more comprehensive practice on questions in the Listening Section and other PTE exam formats, visit PTE Labs and start preparing today.

Types of Questions

The Listening section consists of different question subtypes.
They include;
  1. Summarise Spoken Text
  2. Multiple choice, Multiple Answers
  3. Fill in the Blanks
  4. Highlight Correct Summary
  5.  Multiple Choice, Single Answer
  6. Select Missing Word
  7. Highlight Incorrect Words
  8. Write from Dictation 
More details on each subtype will be given below.

Summarise Spoken Text 

In this question, students will be played a recording and be required to write a text summarising it. It must be short and students will have a time limit of 10 minutes to construct it.  Looking to master this question type? Practice on PTE Labs now!

Multiple choice, Multiple Answers 

This question requires the student to carefully listen to the audio and then answer the question below. One point is awarded for each correct answer and one point is subtracted for each incorrect answer. Looking to master this question type? Practice on PTE Labs now!

Fill in the Blanks

This task involves a recording and a corresponding paragraph transcription with several blanks. Students are required to listen to the recording and complete the paragraph by filling in the missing words. Looking to master this question type? Practice on PTE Labs now!

Highlight Correct Summary

In this question, an audio is played and the student is presented with a few options.  They are required to select the correct answer based on the contents of the audio. Looking to master this question type? Practice on PTE Labs now!

Multiple Choice, Single Answer

The student is required to listen to an audio clip and select the correct answer to a question from the options provided below it. Looking to master this question type? Practice on PTE Labs now!

Select Missing Word

For this question, a recording will be played for the student and a word or group of words will be replaced with a beep. The student will have a set of options and will have to pick which one was replaced by the beep. Looking to master this question type? Practice on PTE Labs now!

Highlight Incorrect Words

This task involves a recording and a corresponding paragraph transcription with several mistakes. Students are required to listen to the recording and highlight which of the words aren't in line with the audio. Looking to master this question type? Practice on PTE Labs now!

Write from Dictation

For this question, a recording will be played for the student. They will then be required to type the exact contents of the audio in the text box provided below.  Looking to master this question type? Practice on PTE Labs now!

Scoring Criteria

  1. Content: This evaluates if all key points of the audio have been addressed while accurately conveying the substance of the topic.
  2. Form: This evaluates if your response meets the required word count.
  3. Grammar: This checks for grammatical errors in your sentence
  4. Vocabulary: Assesses if your response uses relevant words which are applied correctly in a sentence.
The above scoring criteria applies only to the Summarise Spoken Text section.
The following scoring criteria applies to the remaining sub-types.
  1. Correct/Incorrect: Evaluates if the response is right or not, 0 marks given if incorrect.
  2. Partial credit (for each word spelt correctly): A point is only given if each word is spelt correctly.
  3. Partial credit(for each correct response): A point is given for each correct response and a point is deducted for each incorrect response. 

Question Sub-type
        Correct/Incorrect
Partial credit (for each word spelled correctly)
Partial credit(for each correct response)
Multiple Choice, Multiple Answers



Fill in the blanks



Highlight Correct Summary
                  


Multiple Choice, Single Answer



Select Missing Word



Highlight Incorrect Words



Write from Dictation




Tips

  1. Always make sure to use correct spelling when answering as this will affect your marks.
  2. Take your exams in a quiet place and have your audio volume at an appropriate level. This is so you hear each word clearly.
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