PTE Exam Pattern 2021 - Check PTE Section-wise Exam Pattern, Important Dates, Syllabus, Eligibility and More

Item

Task

Skills assessed

Prompt length

Time to answer

Personal Introduction

The introduction is an opportunity for the students to give their selected institutions some information about themselves

Speaking

25 seconds to prepare to respond

30 seconds to record

Read Aloud

A text appears on the screen. Read the text aloud.

Reading and Speaking

Text up to 60 words

30-40 seconds to prepare

varies by item, depending on the length of text

Repeat sentence

After listening to a recording of a sentence, repeat the sentence

Listening and Speaking

3-9 seconds

15 seconds

Describe Image

An image appears on the screen. Describe the image in detail.

Speaking

N/A

40 seconds

Re-tell Lecture

After listening to or watching a lecture, re-tell the lecture in your own words.

Listening and Speaking

up to 90 seconds

40 seconds

Answer short question

After listening to a question, answer with a single word or a few words.

Listening and Speaking

3-9 seconds

10 seconds

Summarize written text

After reading a text, write a one-sentence summary of the passage.

Reading and Writing

text up to 300 words

10 minutes

Write essay

Write a 200– 300-word essay on a given topic.

Writing

2-3 sentences

20 minutes

Item

Task

Skills assessed

Prompt length

Multiple-Choice, choose Single Answer

After reading a text, answer a multiple-choice question on the content or tone of the text by selecting one response

Reading

text up to 110 words

Multiple-Choice, choose Multiple Answers

After reading a text, answer a multiple-choice question on the content or tone of the text by selecting more than one response

Reading

text up to 300 words

Re-order Paragraphs

Several text boxes appear on the screen in a random order. Put the text boxes in the correct order

Reading

text up to 150 words

Reading: Fill in the blanks

A text appears on screen with several gaps. Drag words from the box below to fill the gaps

Reading

text up to 80 words

Reading and Writing: Fill in the blanks

A text appears on screen with several gaps. For this item type, candidates need to select the most appropriate words from a drop-down list to restore the text.

Reading and Writing

text up to 80 words

Item

Task

Skills assessed

Prompt length

Summarize spoken text

After listening to a recording, write a 50-70 word summary

Listening and Writing

60-90 seconds

Multiple Choice, choose multiple answers

After listening to a recording, answer a multiple-choice question on the content or tone of the recording by selecting more than one response

Listening

40-90 seconds

Fill in the blanks

A transcript of a recording appears on screen with several gaps. After listening to the recording, type the missing word in each gap

Listening and Writing

30-60 seconds

Highlight correct summary

After listening to a recording, select the paragraph that best summarizes the recording

Listening and Reading

30-90 seconds

Multiple Choice, choose single answer

After listening to a recording, answer a multiple-choice question on the content or tone of the recording by selecting one response

Listening

30-60 seconds

Select missing word

After listening to a recording, select the missing word that completes the recording from a list of options

Listening

20-70 seconds

Highlight incorrect words

The transcript of a recording appears o the screen. While listening to the recording, identify the words in the transcript that differ from what is said

Listening and Reading

15-50 seconds

Write from dictation

After listening to a recording of a sentence, type the sentence

Listening and Writing

3-5 seconds