In PTE Academic, your writing skills will be tested during Part 1 of the test (Speaking & Writing).
To assess speaking, your skills will be tested by asking you to repeat sentences, respond to questions and summarise passages.
Speaking section 1 contains the Personal introduction. Speaking section 2 contains a number of item types where you first listen to an audio, then respond into the microphone.
TIP : You must finish before the progress bar reaches the right hand side. If you remain silent for longer than 3 seconds, the recording will stop. You will not be able to re-record.
Item | Task | Skills assessed | Prompt length | Time to answer |
---|---|---|---|---|
Read aloud | A text appears on screen. Read the text aloud. | reading and speaking | text up to 60 words | 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 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 |
Speaking : Personal introduction
This is an opportunity to give your selected institutions some information about yourself. This item is not scored.
The recording status box displays a countdown until the microphone opens. You have 25 seconds to prepare. After the tone, start speaking immediately. Do not start speaking before the microphone opens because your voice will not be recorded.
You should speak clearly. There is no need to rush.
You have 30 seconds to record your response. Finish speaking before the progress bar reaches the end. The word “Recording” changes to “Completed’’.
You are only able to record your answer once.
Your response will be sent together with your score report to the institutions selected by you.
For this item type you need to read a written text aloud. The recording status box displays a countdown until the microphone opens. You have 30-40 seconds to prepare, depending on the length of the passage. You hear a short tone. After the tone, start speaking immediately. Do not start speaking before the microphone opens because your voice will not be recorded. You should speak clearly. There is no need to rush. Finish speaking before the progress bar reaches the end. The word “Recording” changes to “Completed”. You are only able to record your response once.
For this item type you need to repeat the sentence you hear. The audio begins to plays automatically. When the audio finishes, the microphone opens and the recording status box shows “Recording”. Speak into the microphone immediately (there is no short tone) and repeat exactly what you heard. You should speak clearly. There is no need to rush. Finish speaking before the progress bar reaches the end. The word “Recording” changes to “Completed”. You are not able to replay the audio. You are only able to record your response once.
For this item type you need to describe an image. The recording status box displays a countdown until the microphone opens. You have 25 secondsto study the image and prepare your response. You hear a short tone. After the tone, start speaking immediately. Do not start speaking before the microphone opens because your voice will not be recorded. You should speak clearly. There is no need to rush. Finish speaking before the progress bar reaches the end. The word “Recording” changes to “Completed’’. You are only able to record your response once.
For this item type you need to re-tell what you heard.
The audio begins to play automatically. You may also see an image related to the audio. After the audio finishes, you have 10 seconds to prepare. The recording status box displays a countdown until the microphone opens. You hear a short tone. After the tone, start speaking immediately. Do not start speaking before the microphone opens because your voice will not be recorded. You should speak clearly. There is no need to rush. Finish speaking before the progress bar reaches the end. The word “Recording” changes to “Completed’’. You are only able to record your response once. Note: While the audio is playing, you can take notes on the erasable noteboard provided