PTE Question Practice - Speaking Section
Summary
The Speaking segment is one of the four principal communicative skill scores included in your PTE exam. This article will explain the different subtypes of questions, how your marks will be graded, and how you can make adjustments to gain the most possible marks. Tips will be given at the end.
For more comprehensive practice on questions in the Speaking Section and other PTE exam formats, visit PTE Labs and start preparing today.
Types of Questions
The Speaking Segment will consist of 5 different question subtypes.
They are:
- Read Aloud
- Repeat Sentences
- Describe Images
- Re-Tell Lecture
- Answer Short Questions
More details on each of these questions will be given below.
Read Aloud
This speaking task is designed to evaluate your reading proficiency, pronunciation accuracy, and fluency. Students are required to read the sentence given on the screen when the system indicates that it is recording. Any sort of word replacement, omission, or insertion will result in lower marks. Looking to master this question type? Practice on PTE Labs now!
Repeat Sentence
The task is designed to evaluate the student's ability to understand spoken English and will be required to repeat the exact sentence word for word when the system indicates that it is recording. Any sort of word replacement, omission, or insertion will result in lesser marks. Looking to master this question type? Practice on PTE Labs now!
Describe Image
This is designed to test the student's ability to speak and convey an idea, in this case, the contents of an image. The student will get 25 seconds to gather as much information as possible from the image, this may include the image title, separate entities, and their relationships. Looking to master this question type? Practice on PTE Labs now!
Re-Tell Lecture
Designed to test the student's memory, comprehension, grammar, pronunciation, and fluency. The student is required to repeat the lecture played to them. They will score maximum points when they manage to describe all characters, actions, relationships, and conclusions correctly. The student will get 40 seconds to convey their response. Looking to master this question type? Practice on PTE Labs now!
Answer Short Questions
This test will ask a student a question that will often require one or 2-word answers as a response. This test is scored on Content only. Looking to master this question type? Practice on PTE Labs now!
Scoring Criteria
The scores will be graded according to 4 of the following criteria. Not all subtypes will consider all criteria.
- Content: This is based on how appropriate the test taker's response is in relation to what was asked. Example: A response written on a topic that is different from what was required in the question, A response that requires certain keywords that should have been memorized.
- Oral Fluency: Evaluates flow of speech, if it is effortless, and is spoken at a natural rate. Hesitation, repetition, and false starts will get low scores.
- Pronunciation: Will evaluate if the response demonstrates the ability to produce sounds like native English speakers. The use of proper-sounding vowels and consonants and correct stresses of words and phrases are important for high scores.
Question type | Content | Pronunciation | Oral Fluency |
Read Aloud | |||
Repeat Sentence | |||
Describe Image | |||
Re-Tell Lecture | |||
Answer Short Questions |
Tips
- For Oral Fluency marks, any instances of hesitation, repetition, and false starts or fillers (like err, mmm) will lower scores.
- If the student attempts the Read Aloud or Repeat Sentence questions, they must make sure to respond with exactly what is spoken or written in that question, any deviations will affect your Content marks.
Sign up to PTE Labs Pro and try out PTE Mock Tests that closely simulate the real PTE exam experience. Simply navigate to PTE Labs and start your preparation journey today.
Related Articles
PTE Question Practice - Speaking Section - Read Aloud
Introduction Read Aloud is one of the five question types in the Speaking section of the PTE exam. The PTE Academic Exam is an English proficiency test for non-native speakers, used for studying, working, or immigrating to English-speaking countries. ...PTE Question Practice - Speaking Section - Repeat Sentence
Introduction Repeat Sentence is one of the five question types in the Speaking section of the PTE Academic Exam. The PTE Academic Exam is an English proficiency test for non-native speakers, used for studying, working, or immigrating to ...PTE Question Practice - Speaking Section - Describe Image
Introduction Describe Image is one of the five question types in the Speaking section of the PTE exam. The PTE Academic Exam is an English proficiency test for non-native speakers, used for studying, working, or immigrating to English-speaking ...PTE Question Practice - Speaking Section - Answer Short Question
Introduction Answer Short Questions is one of the five question types in the Speaking section of the PTE exam. The PTE Academic Exam is an English proficiency test for non-native speakers, used for studying, working, or immigrating to ...PTE Question Practice - Speaking Section - Re-Tell Lecture
Introduction Re-Tell Lecture is one of the five question types in the Speaking section of the PTE exam. The PTE Academic Exam is an English proficiency test for non-native speakers, used for studying, working, or immigrating to English-speaking ...