The PTE Academic exam is designed to assess your proficiency in English for academic purposes. It consists of a variety of question types that test your skills in reading, writing, speaking, and listening. Understanding each of these question types can significantly improve your preparation and boost your overall score. In this post, we'll take a closer look at the 20 question types that make up the PTE Academic exam and offer tips on how to tackle them.
Task: You will be asked to introduce yourself within 30 seconds. This question type is not scored but is recorded and sent to the institutions that receive your score report.
Tip: Use this as a warm-up to calm your nerves and give a clear, concise introduction of yourself.
Task: You will see a text on the screen and are required to read it aloud clearly and fluently.
Tip: Focus on maintaining a natural flow without rushing. Emphasize punctuation and stress key words.
Task: You will hear a sentence and need to repeat it exactly as spoken.
Tip: Train your short-term memory by practicing listening and repeating phrases. Be sure to capture the tone and rhythm of the speaker.
Task: An image (e.g., graph, chart, diagram) will appear on the screen, and you have 25 seconds to prepare your response. You then describe the image for 40 seconds.
Tip: Focus on the key features and describe trends rather than every detail. Practice with various types of images.
Task: You will listen to a lecture or watch a video and then need to retell the key points.
Tip: Take notes on the main ideas and supporting details during the lecture. Don't worry about repeating everything—focus on the gist.
Task: You will hear a question and provide a brief answer (usually one or two words).
Tip: Stay calm and answer as soon as you know the response. These are generally straightforward, general knowledge questions.
Task: After reading a passage, you will write a one-sentence summary that captures the main idea.
Tip: Practice summarizing texts into concise single sentences while ensuring your summary stays within the word limit (between 5 and 75 words).
Task: You will be given a prompt on a general topic and are required to write a 200-300 word essay.
Tip: Structure your essay with an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Aim for clarity, coherence, and logical arguments.
Task: After reading a passage, select the best answer to a question from the provided options.
Tip: Skim through the passage first to get a general idea, and then read the question carefully before re-reading relevant sections for detail.
Task: You will need to select all correct answers from the options based on the passage.
Tip: Be cautious when selecting multiple answers, as wrong choices result in negative marking. Select only those you are sure of.
Task: You will be given a set of sentences in random order and need to arrange them logically.
Tip: Look for sentences with clear topic introductions and clues that indicate how the sentences relate to each other.
Task: You’ll fill in the missing words in a passage from a drop-down menu of options.
Tip: Focus on grammar and vocabulary to ensure the sentence makes logical sense.
Task: Similar to the reading fill-in-the-blanks task, but the answers require more focus on contextual and grammatical accuracy.
Tip: Develop a solid understanding of collocations and sentence structure for this question type.
Task: You will listen to a recording and summarize the key points in 50-70 words.
Tip: Take notes as you listen and use your notes to write a well-organized summary of the recording’s main ideas.
Task: After listening to a recording, choose the correct answer to a question based on the audio.
Tip: Focus on the audio and eliminate obviously incorrect answers before making your selection.
Task: You will listen to a recording and choose all the correct answers.
Tip: Be careful of distractors and only choose the options that you are confident are correct to avoid negative marking.
Task: While listening to an audio recording, fill in the blanks of a transcript with missing words.
Tip: Pay close attention to the recording and try to predict the type of word (e.g., noun, verb) that fits the gap.
Task: After listening to a recording, select the summary that best captures the content of the audio.
Tip: Focus on the key points of the recording rather than minor details when choosing your answer.
Task: You will listen to a recording with a missing word at the end, and you need to select the correct word from the options provided.
Tip: Listen carefully to the entire recording and predict the missing word based on context clues.
Task: You will hear an audio recording while reading a transcript. Your task is to identify words in the transcript that differ from the spoken recording.
Tip: Focus on listening while quickly scanning the text for discrepancies.
Task: You will hear a sentence and need to type it exactly as spoken.
Tip: Improve your ability to recall spoken sentences by practicing with dictation exercises regularly.
Understanding the question types is the first step to preparing for PTE Academic. However, regular practice is key to mastering each task. Platforms like PTE Labs offer comprehensive practice tests and personalized feedback to help you hone your skills. Use PTE Labs to simulate the real exam environment, build your confidence, and improve your performance.
By familiarizing yourself with these 20 question types and practicing regularly, you’ll increase your chances of achieving your desired PTE score.