PTE Practice Test: Speaking and Writing
The PTE Speaking and Writing section is the longest part of the test, lasting between 54 and 67 minutes.
This section has seven different question types, including Personal Introduction, Read Aloud, Repeat Sentence, Describe Image, and Re-tell Lecture. It aims to assess your speaking and writing skills using English that you might hear in an academic environment.
The Speaking section evaluates your communication skills in English by assessing your pronunciation, fluency, and grammar. It includes reading aloud, describing an image, and answering short questions.
On the other hand, the Writing section assesses your writing skills by testing your ability to express your ideas in written form clearly. It includes tasks such as summarising written text, writing an essay, and answering short questions. The writing tasks evaluate your grammar, vocabulary, and overall writing skills.
The test covers topics like personal experiences, current affairs, social issues, academic topics, and work-related topics.
Sample Paper: Writing Section
Question Type: Summarise Written Text
Summarise written text Read the passage below and summarise it using one sentence.
Type your response in the box at the bottom of the screen. You have 10 minutes to finish this task. Your response will be judged on the quality of your writing and on how well your response presents the key points in the passage.
1. Mammals can be one of the hardest-hit groups by habitat loss, and a lot of research has been carried out to find the best ways to conserve mammal diversity. Much of this research has focussed on very large-scale changes in land use and the impacts this will have on overall mammal diversity. However, many important decisions about land use are made at much more local scales, for example at the level of individual landowners. Now, in a detailed study led by Imperial College London that looked at mammal diversity across different small-scale landscapes in Borneo, researchers have identified previously logged forests as an overlooked source of refuge for mammals. These 'selectively logged' forests, where only certain tree species are removed, are often considered to be degraded and are frequently cleared to make way for plantations. The new results, published in the journal Ecological Applications, suggest they should be better protected. The team recorded mammals using trap-and-release techniques and motion-sensing cameras over three years, creating an unprecedented 20,000 records of species in three land-use types: old-growth forest, logged forest and oil palm plantation. This is one of the most intensive studies of rainforest mammal diversity ever undertaken. To their surprise, they found that mammal diversity for large mammals, like the clouded leopard and civets, was similar for both old-growth forests and logged forests. For small mammals, such as squirrels and rodents, the diversity was actually higher in logged forests.
2. Fish are being killed and prevented from reaching maturity by the litter of plastic particles finding their way into the world's oceans, new research has proved. Some young fish have been found to prefer tiny particles of plastic to their natural food sources, effectively starving them before they can reproduce. The growing problem of microplastics - tiny particles of polymer-type materials from modern industry - has been thought for several years to be a peril for fish, but the study published on Thursday is the first to prove the damage in trials. Microplastics are near-indestructible in natural environments. They enter the oceans through litter, when waste such as plastic bags, packaging and other convenience materials are discarded. Vast amounts of these end up in the sea, through inadequate waste disposal systems and sewage outfall. Another growing source is microbeads, tiny particles of hard plastics that are used in cosmetics, for instance as an abrasive in modern skin cleaners. These easily enter waterways as they are washed off as they are used, flushed down drains and forgotten, but can last for decades in our oceans. The impact of these materials has been hard to measure, despite being a growing source of concern. Small particles of plastics have been found in seabirds, fish and whales, which swallow the materials but cannot digest them, leading to a build-up in their digestive tracts. For the first time, scientists have demonstrated that fish exposed to such materials during their development show stunted growth and increased mortality rates, as well as changed behaviour that could endanger their survival.
3. Getting to know fellow academics, especially more senior ones, can be very daunting. Lecturers and researchers are used to spending a lot of time in isolation, working independently. The thought of going public and ‘selling yourself' does not seem enticing. However, it is easier than you think to begin to develop your own career-enhancing networks. Your PhD supervisor and examiners or, if you are already in post, your mentor, are a great place to start. They will have been chosen to guide you because they are more experienced and in most cases, they will work close to your field of interest. Ask their advice for ways of building up your own network of contacts. Also, it is easier to approach someone unknown to you if you can mention the name of a mutual acquaintance. If you are a postgraduate who is serious about a career in academia or a more senior scholar wanting to develop one, you will surely be attending conferences on a fairly regular basis. There is no right or wrong number of these, some scholars stick to one or two a year, and others seem to attend one a month! Conferences are the main way that academics network with each other, so do not miss out on these opportunities. If you are presenting a paper it gives others a chance to see what you are working on, and the informal sections of the programme (such as food and drink breaks) encourage mingling and further discussion.
4. According to researchers, the invisibility cloak illusion stems from the belief that we are much more socially observant than the people around us. This means that, while we watch and wonder about other people as much as possible, we often think that people around us are less aware. This illusion occurs because, while we are fully aware of our own impressions and speculations about other people, we have no idea about what those other people are thinking unless they choose to share with us, something that rarely happens except in exceptional circumstances. To better understand what is happening, it is important to consider the groundbreaking research by Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman on cognitive biases. When people make judgments about other people in social situations, they often depend on specific biases such as the availability heuristic, i.e., that we attach more significance to thoughts that come to mind easily. This is why we consider thoughts about other people as being more important than thoughts about inanimate objects. And so, as we look around us, we tend to focus our thoughts on the people we see and what they happen to be doing. Which is why people-watching can be so addictive. What adds to the sense that we are relatively invisible to others is that people tend to be as discreet as possible about their people-watching. Just because other people aren't sharing their observations with us, it's easy to pretend that they are not as observant as we are. Of course, people may share their people-watching observations with anyone they happen to be with but, for the most part, that only applies to something remarkable enough to comment on. For most of us, what we are seeing tends to be extremely private and not to be shared with others.
5. Asda has become the first food retailer in the country to measure how much customers can save by cutting back on food waste, thanks to a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) with the University of Leeds. The idea behind the KTP was for the University, using Asda’s customer insight data, to apply its research to identify, investigate and implement ways of helping customers to reduce their food waste. This was one of the first times that a major retailer had tried to deliver large-scale sustainability changes, with the two-year project seen as a way for Asda to position itself as true innovator in this area. The campaign focused on providing customers with advice on everything from food storage and labelling to creative recipes for leftovers. Meanwhile, in-store events encouraged customers to make changes in their own they will make changes to how they deal with food waste in their own homes, leading to an average saving of 57 pounds per customer, as well as a reduction in waste. A key aspect of a KTP is that the University employs an associate to work in the firm and help deliver the desired outcomes of the KTP. As a part of the collaboration with Asda, Laura Babbs was given the task of driving forward the sustainability changes in the retailer. As a result of the success of her work, Laura eventually became a permanent member of the team at Asda.
Question Type: Write Essay
You will have 20 minutes to plan, write and revise an essay about the topic below.
Your response will be judged on how well you develop a position, organise your ideas, present supporting details, and control the elements of standard written English.
You should write 200-300 words.
1. Mass media, including the Internet, television, and newspapers, influences our society and shapes our opinions and characters. What is your opinion?
2. Some people think the law changes our behaviour. Discuss.
3. Big companies' marketing strategy should focus on offers and discounts and how this can impact their reputation.
4. Travelling to study is often considered overrated; many brilliant scholars study locally. Is travel really necessary for higher achievement?
5. In underdeveloped countries, tourism has disadvantages and can be said the opposite as well. Discuss your opinions and give examples.
Sample Paper: Speaking Section
Question Type: Re-tell Lecture
In the speaking section, at a time, there will only be 10 answers stored. On addition of the 11th answer, the first answer gets deleted automatically.
You will hear a lecture. After listening to the lecture, in 6 seconds, please speak into the microphone and retell what you have just heard from the lecture in your own words. You will have 40 seconds to give your response.
Transcript: Tropical diseases encompass all infectious diseases such as malaria, lymphatic Filariasis, African Trypanosomiasis, leishmaniosis, onchocerciasis, dengue, and chikungunya occur solely in the tropics and thrive in hot, humid conditions. These diseases affect approximately 1 billion people from tropical and subtropical areas covering developing and least developed countries of Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa, South Asia and South-East Asia. Due to global warming and the increase in temperature, many infectious diseases have resurfaced with a vengeance, making it difficult for health authorities worldwide. Crumbling health infrastructure reduced investment in public health and a new variant of drug resistance to infectious disease has wreaked havoc in developing countries.
PTE Practice Test: Reading
Preparing for the PTE Academic test can be daunting, especially regarding the Reading section.
The Reading section is 29-30 minutes long and contains five different questions, including the 'Reading and Writing: Fill in the blanks' item type that assesses writing skills.
The Reading section of the PTE Academic test includes a variety of topics such as science, technology, history, social sciences, and current affairs. The passages may be taken from academic journals, newspapers, or fictional books.
However, with enough PTE reading practice and preparation, you can ace the Reading section of the PTE Academic test.
There are various types of questions that you might come across during the test, such as:
- Reading & Writing: Fill in the Blanks
- Multiple Choice, Multiple Answer
- Re-order Paragraphs
- Fill in the Blanks
- Multiple Choice, Single Answer
Sample Paper: Reading Section
Question Type: Fill in the Blanks
Below is a text with blanks. Click on each blank, a list of choices will appear. Select the appropriate answer choice for each blank
A standardised test is any test that is __________and scored in a consistent manner to ensure legal defensibility. Standardised tests are often used in education, professional certification, psychology, the military, and many other fields. A non-standardised test is usually flexible in scope and format variable in difficulty and significance. Since these tests are usually __________by individual instructors, the format and difficulty of these tests may not be widely adopted or used by other instructors or institutions. A non-standardised test may be used to determine the __________level of students, to motivate students to study, and to provide feedback to students. In some instances, a teacher may develop non-standardised tests that resemble standardised tests in scope, format, and difficulty for the purpose of preparing their students for an upcoming standardised test. Finally, the frequency and setting by which non-standardised tests are administered are highly variable and are usually constrained by the duration of the class period. A class instructor may for example, administer a test on a weekly basis or just twice a semester. Depending on the policy of the instructor or institution, the duration of each test itself may last from only five minutes to an entire class period. In contrast to non-standardised tests, standardised tests are widely used, fixed in terms of scope, difficulty and format, and are usually significant in __________. Standardised tests are usually held on fixed dates as determined by the test developer, educational institution, or governing body, which may or may not be administered by the instructor, held within the classroom, or __________ by the classroom period. Although there is little variability between different copies of the same type of standardised test, there is variability between different types of standardised tests.
PTE Practice Test: Listening
The Listening section of the PTE Academic test is crucial because it evaluates the test-taker's ability to understand spoken English in academic and everyday situations.
This section is 30-43 minutes long and consists of eight question types based on audio or video clips.
The Listening section of the PTE Academic test covers various topics such as academic lectures, social and natural phenomena, interviews, group discussions, and more.
The audio or video clips are based on real-life situations and can include conversations, news reports, podcasts, and other types of recordings. The topics may include science, technology, education, history, art, culture, health, sports, etc.
The audio or video clips begin to play automatically, and you can take notes while listening to them.
There are various types of questions that you might come across during the test, such as:
- Summarise Spoken Text
- Multiple Choice, Multiple Answers
- Fill in the Blanks
- Highlight Correct Summary
- Multiple Choice, Single Answer
- Select Missing Word
- Highlight Incorrect Words
- Write from Dictation
