PTE listening: tips, practice and how it is scored
The PTE Academic listening part runs 31–39 minutes and has eight question types. You hear each recording once, and you may take notes. Some types are marked right or wrong, some give partial credit, and two take marks off for wrong options. Take notes fast, choose only what you are sure of, and practise each type separately.
This page gives you Pearson's own rules for the listening part, its advice for each of the eight question types, our tips tied to those rules, a one-week and a four-week study plan, and original drills with keys. It is not advice on any visa, and Pearson's pages decide the rules.
How the listening part works
The facts that shape your tactics.
"The questions are based on audio or video clips, which begin to play automatically. You hear each audio or video clip once. You are allowed to take notes."
| Question | What Pearson says |
|---|---|
| How long is it? | Part 3: Listening Duration 31–39 minutes Question types 8 question types |
| What do I write notes on? | Use your erasable noteboard booklet to write down what you think you hear: |
Pearson's test-day page describes the seat in slightly different words.
"Test Center Administrator will guide you to your test seat in a partitioned booth, which will have a computer, keyboard, audio headset, chair, and notepad and pencil."
Our reading: you get a writing surface, and the exact name may vary. Ask the test centre administrator on the day, before the test starts.
Several Listening types also count towards another skill. That is worth knowing, because a mistake in one of them can touch two scores. The table below is built from Pearson's format page.
| Question type | Prompt length | Skills assessed | Pearson's wording on the task or scoring |
|---|---|---|---|
| Summarize Spoken Text | 60–90 seconds | Listening and writing | After listening to a recording, write a 50–70 word summary. |
| Multiple Choice, Multiple Answer | 80-120 seconds | Listening | You will need to select more than one option. |
| Fill in the Blanks (Type In) | 30–60 seconds | Listening (the scoring note adds writing) | Each correct word spelled correctly scores one point. |
| Highlight Correct Summary | 30-90 seconds | Listening and reading | Your response is scored as either correct or incorrect. |
| Multiple Choice, Single Answer | 30–60 seconds | Listening | Your response is scored as either correct or incorrect. |
| Select Missing Word | 20–70 seconds | Listening | Your response is scored as either correct or incorrect. |
| Highlight Incorrect Words | 15–50 seconds | Listening and reading | For any wrong options chosen, one point is deducted, while correct options are given one point. |
| Write from Dictation | 3–5 seconds | Listening and writing | Content is scored by counting the number of correct words in your response. |
Where you can lose marks
Four rules that change how you answer.
Negative marking in two types
In Multiple Choice, Multiple Answer, a wrong tick costs you. Pearson's Reading page says it plainly, and says the same rule applies to the listening version.
"You will score marks for any correct options but you will lose score points for any incorrect options."
"This applies to Multiple Choice, Multiple Answers item types for reading and listening."
In Highlight Incorrect Words, each wrong word you click costs a point.
"This is the third of three question types where you can lose points if you choose any incorrect options."
"For any wrong options chosen, one point is deducted, while correct options are given one point."
Spelling matters in two types
In Fill in the Blanks (Type In) the word must be right and spelled right. In Write from Dictation, Pearson counts correct words.
"Content is scored by counting the number of correct words in your response."
Summarize Spoken Text has hard limits
This type has the strictest rules: a summary of 50 to 70 words gets full credit for Form, one under 50 or over 70 words loses marks, and one under 40 or over 100 words, or one that is off the topic, scores nothing at all.
"You will receive full credit if your response is between 50 and 70 words."
"If your summary contains fewer than 40 words or more than 100 words, you will not receive any score points for your summary on any of the five factors."
"If your summary misinterprets the topic or the purpose of the lecture, you will not receive any score points for your summary on any of the five factors."
"All of the following traits are AI-scored: Content, Form, Grammar, Vocabulary, and Spelling."
Right-or-wrong types
Highlight Correct Summary, Multiple Choice Single Answer and Select Missing Word are marked correct or incorrect.
"Your response is scored as either correct or incorrect. No credit is given for no response or an incorrect response."
Our reading: where wrong answers are not penalised, a guess costs you nothing, so never leave one blank. Where they are penalised, only tick what you are sure of.
Pearson's tips, type by type
Quoted from its format page.
| Question type | Pearson's tip |
|---|---|
| Summarize Spoken Text | Make sure you summarize the main point and include the supporting points. So leave yourself one or two minutes after you have written your summary to check your sentences for things like subject/verb agreement, tenses and word order. |
| Multiple Choice, Multiple Answer | Take notes of the main points and supporting details. Select for meaning, not just to match the words you hear. |
| Fill in the Blanks (Type In) | Skim the text before the recording begins. Use your erasable noteboard booklet to write down what you think you hear: |
| Highlight Correct Summary | Don’t read the options before or while you are listening to the recording as there is too much to read, and this will distract you. |
| Multiple Choice, Single Answer | Focus on the kind of information you need. In the five seconds before the recording begins, quickly read the question and answer options to make sure you understand the topic. |
| Select Missing Word | The next recording does not begin playing until you click ‘Next’. So you have a little time to think about your answer. |
| Highlight Incorrect Words | Don’t try to make notes as you listen. Move the cursor along the screen as the words are spoken, and click on any words that sound different from the words on the screen: |
| Write from Dictation | Type as many correct words as you can remember into the response box in the correct order. You will score points for every correct word that you write in the response box. |
"Several options may use words from the recording but may not match the meaning of what you have heard."
"Taking notes is likely to be more helpful than trying to select options while you listen, because you may not hear the information in exactly the same order as the options."
"the last word or group of words in the recording has been replaced by a beep sound."
Our tips, tied to those rules
Ten habits that follow from the facts above.
- You hear each recording once, so capture first and judge later. Write in short forms: first letters, arrows, symbols and figures.
- Pearson says the next item in some types does not start until you click Next, so you have a little thinking time at the end. Use it to check your notes before you answer.
- In Multiple Choice, Multiple Answer, tick only what you are sure of. A wrong tick costs a mark, so a doubtful option is usually better left alone.
- In Highlight Incorrect Words, do not take notes. Follow the transcript with your cursor and click only the words you clearly heard differently.
- In Write from Dictation, write the words you are sure of, in order, and check plural s and past tense endings before you move on.
- In Fill in the Blanks (Type In), spell every word you write. Practise the usual trouble spots: double letters, silent letters and plurals.
- In Summarize Spoken Text, write a main point and one or two supporting points, keep to the word range, and leave a minute to check spelling and grammar. Stay on the topic of the talk.
- In Select Missing Word, predict the last word while you listen. The recording ends in a beep where the last word should be.
- Practise typing on a standard QWERTY keyboard, because Pearson says the test computer uses one. Typing slowly costs you time in the writing types.
- Practise with headphones, in a quiet room, with a pencil and paper beside you, so test day feels familiar.
Summarize Spoken Text in more detail
The longest listening task, and the one with the most rules.
Pearson's rules for this task are in the table above. In short, you write a summary of what you heard, and Pearson scores five things: content, form, grammar, vocabulary and spelling.
"Task After listening to a recording, write a 50–70 word summary."
Our method: the first sentence states the main point, the next sentences give the one or two supporting points, and the last sentence gives the outcome or recommendation if there is one. Use your own words as far as you can. Keep to the word range and check your count before you finish.
Our practice script and model summary
This talk is invented for practice. Ask a friend to read it once at a normal pace, then write your own summary and compare with ours. Ours is one possible answer, not a claim about any score.
Pearson's format page gives the Summarize Spoken Text recording as 60–90 seconds. Our script is shorter than a real recording, so do your real-length practice with talks you find online.
Households are responsible for a large share of the food that is thrown away each year. Researchers who tracked the contents of household bins found that most of the waste was not leftovers but food that was never cooked, such as bread, vegetables and fruit that spoiled before it was eaten. The main cause was over-buying: people bought for the week they imagined, not the week they lived. Simple changes helped. Households that planned their meals, wrote a shopping list and checked the fridge before shopping wasted far less. The researchers add that clearer storage advice on packaging would help, because many people throw food away too early, worried by the date printed on the label.
Our example summary: Researchers who studied household bins found that most wasted food was never cooked, mainly because people over-buy. Planning meals, writing a shopping list and checking the fridge before shopping reduced waste. They also suggest clearer storage advice on packaging, since people discard food too early because of the date printed on the label.
Four original drills with keys
Short, sharp practice for the types that cost most marks.
Drill A: Write from Dictation
A friend reads each sentence once. You type it. Then compare word by word. The watch-for column tells you what each sentence trains.
| Group | Sentence | Watch for |
|---|---|---|
| Plurals | The two committees have published their reports. | The final s on committees and reports. |
| Plurals | Several students asked for extra tutorials. | Students and tutorials. |
| Past tense | The department rejected the proposal last week. | The ed ending on rejected. |
| Past tense | We discussed the results and revised the plan. | Two past tense verbs in a row. |
| Time words | The lecture starts at half past nine. | Half past, written as words. |
| Time words | Registration closes on the fifteenth of March. | The ordinal and the month. |
| Small words | She was responsible for the design of the survey. | For, of and the. |
| Small words | Please hand in your assignments by the end of the week. | In, by and of. |
Drill B: Highlight Incorrect Words
Read the transcript below on screen. A friend reads the spoken version once. Click, or underline, every word in the transcript that differs. There are three.
Transcript: The library has extended its opening hours on weekends because more students are using the quiet rooms before their assessments.
Spoken version, for your reader only: The library has extended its opening hours on weekdays because more students are using the study rooms before their examinations.
Key: weekends (weekdays), quiet (study), assessments (examinations).
Drill C: Select Missing Word
A friend reads each script once and says "beep" instead of the last word. Choose the word that fits.
| Script | Options | Answer and reason |
|---|---|---|
| After years of research, the team finally announced that the new vaccine was safe and ready to be used. Doctors across the region welcomed the news, saying it would save thousands of [beep]. | lives / loves / lines / limbs | lives. Safe vaccine, doctors welcoming it: the phrase "save thousands of lives" fits the context. |
| The hotel was far more expensive than the brochure suggested, so we decided to look for somewhere [beep]. | cheaper / cleaner / higher / quieter | cheaper. The contrast with "expensive" points to cost. |
| Please remember that the laboratory closes at six o'clock, and no one may enter after that time unless a member of staff gives them [beep]. | permission / promotion / position / provision | permission. "Unless staff give them" calls for something that allows entry. |
Drill D: Multiple Choice, Multiple Answer, with a trap
A friend reads this once: "The new tram line will open in the autumn. It will connect the university with the railway station, and it will run every ten minutes during the day. The council says that fares will be lower than bus fares, but it has not yet decided whether students will get a further reduction." Select all the true statements: (a) The line will open in the autumn. (b) It will link the university and the railway station. (c) Students have been given a special reduced fare. (d) Trams will run every ten minutes during the day. Key: a, b and d. Statement c is a trap, because the council has not yet decided on a student reduction. Remember that a wrong tick costs a mark.
Study plans
Ours. Adjust them to the time you have.
Pearson says many candidates prepare for a few weeks, and that it varies.
"Many candidates prepare for 2 to 4 weeks, although some may need more or less time."
One-week plan
| Day | Focus | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | Know the types | Read the format page for each of the eight types. Write one line per type on what you must do and how it is marked. |
| Day 2 | Short answers | Do Drill A and Drill C. Mark yourself word by word. |
| Day 3 | Summaries | Write two summaries from talks you find online, with a timer. Check the word range. |
| Day 4 | Choosing answers | Do Drill D, Drill B and the Highlight Correct Summary set on our page for it. |
| Day 5 | Typing in gaps | Do two typed fill-in exercises. Check every spelling. |
| Day 6 | Full run | Do one session the same length as the real listening part, with headphones, notes and no pauses. |
| Day 7 | Repair | Redo the two types you got most wrong. Rest early. |
Four-week plan
| Week | Focus | Targets |
|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | Know the types, build habits | Learn all eight types. Set up your noteboard shorthand. Do Write from Dictation and Select Missing Word every day. |
| Week 2 | Notes and summaries | Write one Summarize Spoken Text a day. Practise Multiple Choice, Multiple Answer and Highlight Incorrect Words with the penalty in mind. |
| Week 3 | Mixed sets under time | Do mixed sets of all eight types. Do one full listening-length session twice. Log every mistake by type. |
| Week 4 | Weak spots and a mock | Spend most time on your two weakest types. Take one full mock test. Rest the day before the exam. |
Where to get official listening practice
Free first.
Pearson puts free practice inside a myPTE account, including guided practice tests and a free start on its AI Practice.
Pearson's own advice for its guided tests is to review what you got wrong.
More about what is free and what is paid is on our PTE practice test and free mock test page. Our Highlight Correct Summary and fill in the blanks pages go deeper on two of the types. For a speaking task, see our PTE Read Aloud guide.
Common questions
Pearson says Part 3: Listening lasts 31–39 minutes and has 8 question types.
No. Pearson says: "You hear each audio or video clip once. You are allowed to take notes."
In two types, yes. Pearson says in Multiple Choice, Multiple Answers you lose points for incorrect options, and in Highlight Incorrect Words "one point is deducted" for each wrong option. Other types are marked correct or incorrect, or by correct words.
A listening and writing task. Pearson says: "After listening to a recording, write a 50–70 word summary." You have 10 minutes, and a summary under 40 or over 100 words scores nothing.
Use free guided practice and the AI Practice start in a myPTE account, then add drills of your own for each type. Our four drills and study plans are on this page. Practise each type, keep notes, and review your mistakes.
Pearson's free resources include Sectional Guided Practice Tests and a free start on its AI Practice with a Reading and Listening diagnostic. Pearson says AI Practice is "Free to start, no payment required".
Pearson lists Summarize Spoken Text and Write from Dictation as listening and writing, and Highlight Correct Summary and Highlight Incorrect Words as listening and reading. For Fill in the Blanks (Type In) its skills box and its Academic Score Guide table say Listening, but one scoring note says the question affects listening and writing, so do not count on it adding to your Writing score, and spell every word correctly either way.
Pearson's format page says to use an erasable noteboard booklet. Its test-day page lists a notepad and pencil. Ask the test centre administrator on the day.