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Part 1 of PTE Academic will take 77-93 minutes and will test your speaking and writing skills.
To test speaking skills, you will be assessed on your ability to produce spoken English in an academic environment.
Your writing skills will be assessed by giving written responses in academic English using correct grammar, spelling, and structure.
First, you will be asked to give a personal introduction to give some information about yourself.
You will have 25 seconds to read the prompt and prepare your response. You will only have 30 seconds to record a response and can only record this once.
Don’t worry, your personal introduction is not scored but will be sent together with your score report to the institutions selected by you.
For the speaking and writing test, there are seven types of questions that you will be scored on. Below, we will break down each part of this section of the test.
The first question type to test your reading and speaking skills will be the Read Aloud assessment. In this test there are 6-7 questions.
You will be shown a text prompt that will be up to 60 words. You will have 30-40 seconds to prepare by reading the passage. You will also have a set time to read aloud, which will vary by item, depending on the length of the text.
To complete the question, speak clearly and straight away after you hear a tone. You must finish speaking before the progress bar on the screen reaches the end.
You can receive a maximum of 3 points for the content spoken, a maximum of 5 points for oral fluency, and a maximum of 5 points for pronunciation.
The second question type is Repeat Sentence, which will test listening and speaking skills.
You will listen to a recording between 3-9 seconds and are given 15 seconds to answer.
Once the microphone shows as recording, you will need to speak straight away and say all the words that the speaker uses, in the same order.
For this question, you can receive a maximum score of 3 for content, a maximum 5 for oral fluency, and a maximum of 5 points for pronunciation.
The third question type will test speaking skills by describing an image. There are 6-7 questions.
You will be shown an image and have 25 seconds to study the image and prepare your response. For this task, use the Erasable Noteboard Booklet to take short notes.
After a short tone is heard, start speaking straight away. You will have 40 seconds to answer and must finish speaking before the progress bar reaches the end.
In this question type, you can receive a maximum of 5 points for content, a maximum of 5 points for oral fluency, and a maximum of 5 points for pronunciation.
The fourth question type, Re-tell Lecture, will test your listening and speaking skills. There are 3-4 questions in this test.
You will be given a prompt of up to 90 seconds and will have 40 seconds to answer.
Audio will be played straight away and you may also see an image related to the audio. While you are listening use the Erasable Noteboard Booklet to take short notes.
Once the audio finishes you have 10 seconds to prepare. To complete the task, in detail, you will need to cover the situation, characters, aspects, actions, and developments given in the recording.
You can receive a maximum score of 5 points on content, a maximum of 5 points on your oral fluency, and a maximum of 5 points for pronunciation.
The fifth question type, Answer Short Question, will assess listening and speaking skills. There are 10-12 questions in this test.
Here, you will be given a prompt of 3-9 seconds and will have 10 seconds to answer the question.
You will be required to answer a short question with a clear, simple, single word or a few words. This will not test general knowledge, it will simply test your vocabulary.
You will receive 1 point per correct word. No points are given for no response or incorrect response.
In the first question type in the writing section, you will be required to Summarize Written Text, which will test reading and writing skills.
You will read a text of up to 300 words and have 10 minutes to write your summary. You will do 2-3 of these questions depending on the combination of tasks in the given test.
In this assessment, you must write just one sentence. Try using the Erasable Noteboard Booklet to take notes of the main points.
Make sure to include the main points of the text in a full, single sentence of no more than 75 words.
You can receive a maximum score of 2 points for content, maximum 1 point for the formal requirements, a maximum of 2 points for grammar and a maximum of 2 points for vocabulary.
The last question type of the Speaking and Writing Test will test writing skills.
In this question type, you will be provided with 2-3 sentences of text prompt and have 20 minutes to answer, by writing a 200-300 word argumentative essay on a given topic.
Time management is important for this task as you will need to plan, write and proofread your essay.
In this question, there are many parts where you can receive points. You can receive a maximum of 3 points for the content, maximum of 2 points for the formal requirements and maximum 2 points for development, structure and coherence.
You can also receive a maximum score of 2 points for grammar, maximum 2 points for general linguistic range, maximum 2 points for vocabulary range and a maximum of 2 points for no spelling errors.
There is a total of 15 points that you can pick up in this question type.
Read more about Part 2: Reading Test Introduction.
Plus, explore Smart Prep, which combines all our practice materials in one place, so it's easier for you to stay on track with your PTE preparation.
Smart Prep is a clear path to test day, guiding you through the official paid and free resources available for your test
It can be accessed whether you’ve booked a test or not – just create, or sign in to your myPTE account
Preparation materials include guided practice tests, introductory videos, video courses and test tips.
Ready to get started?
PTE Academic is completed on a computer, including the speaking part of the test.
So make sure you are prepared by familiarizing yourself with the equipment you will use during your test. Reading these test tips and you will be fully prepared.
There are many ways you can improve your chances of gaining points in Part 2: Reading during PTE Academic.
To improve your reading skills, practice increasing your reading speed and comprehension at the same time. In turn, you will improve your writing, grammar and vocabulary skills.
To do well in this part of the test, you need to be able to read quickly, using effective reading strategies, as there is a limited time to answer all questions.
Speed reading tasks will help improve your reading speed. Practice speed reading every day and:
Aim to be reading at least 220 words per minute
Reading short articles of around 300 words
Read often for short periods of time
You can also try this as a challenge with your friends to help keep motivated. Once you are happy with your comprehension and speed, focus on chunks (groups of words) rather than individual words.
When your reading skills reach a level you are happy with, you will feel more confident to answer the questions.
In the Multiple-Choice, Single Answer question type, some test takers make the mistake of scan reading and matching the words in the text to the words in the answer. Generally, the words in the text are not used in the correct answer, therefore it is important to learn how to use synonyms and paraphrasing as it will be used in the test.
Learn how to improve your grammar in our Reading: Core Skills part 1 article.
In this question type, you will need more time than in the Multiple-Choice, Choose Single Answer question type, as you need to intensively read the stem (the part before the options) as well as the options, then scan read the text on the screen until you find the part of the text that contains information that was in the stem.
Read the options very carefully and match the meaning of the option with the text. Do not match the words – this is something test takers may make errors with.
You should also make sure not to choose all the options since you lose one point for each incorrect choice. However, you cannot score below zero.
To do well in the Re-order Paragraphs questions, you will need to have a strong understanding of cohesive devices and how they work. You will also need to understand how articles work, as well as the logical and chronological order of information.
In this question type, skim-read the text to get the ideas of the topic of the text. From there, you should read all the sentences carefully.
For both Fill in the Blanks and Reading & Writing: Fill in the Blanks question types, you will need to understand a range of vocabulary, collocations, grammar, pronouns, and cohesive devices, as well as being able to identify when plural nouns are needed.
You will also need to be able to skim read to get an idea of the meaning of the text, then read intensively before and after each blank. If unsure, you should guess based on the context.
Make sure you do not leave any spaces blank. You do not need to correctly fill in all spaces to get points.
To go back and review the question types within the reading test, we suggest learning more about the reading questions.
Explore Smart Prep, which combines all our practice materials in one place, so it's easier for you to stay on track with your PTE preparation.
Smart Prep is a clear path to test day, guiding you through the official paid and free resources available for your test
It can be accessed whether you’ve booked a test or not – just create, or sign in to your myPTE account
Preparation materials include guided practice tests, introductory videos, video courses and test tips.
Ready to get started?
Do you have your heart set on studying in England, Scotland, Wales, or Northern Ireland? The UK is a wonderful place to live and learn, but you’ll most likely need to get a UK study visa before you start packing your bags.
This comprehensive guide covers who needs a UK student visa, the requirements for getting one, how to apply, how much it costs, and how long it takes.
If you’re an international student hoping to study in the UK, you’ll most likely need a student visa. The only exceptions are nationals of Switzerland and countries in the European Economic Area (EEA), who don’t need a visa to enter the UK. *
* Please note: The outcome of Brexit may alter this after 2020. Check the UK government’s website for up-to-date information about this.
There are several UK study visa requirements you’ll need to meet to successfully apply. These include:
You’ve been offered a place in a full-time course from an eligible university (i.e. the school must be a licensed Student route visa*Tier 4 sponsors)
You can understand English (both written and spoken)
You have enough funds to support yourself and any dependants, while also paying for the course.
These requirements apply to students from all over the world. This means the UK student visa requirements for Indian students and American students are exactly the same for Chinese students and Australian students (and so on).
