Repeat Sentence in PTE: how it is marked, tips and practice sentences
In Repeat Sentence you hear a sentence of 3-9 seconds once and repeat it. Content is a count of correct word sequences, so a half-right answer still earns points, and pronunciation and oral fluency are scored too. Listen for phrases, copy the stress, and keep going if you lose a word.
This page is for PTE Academic, which Pearson describes as "For global study, visa applications to Australia and New Zealand, and professional registration." It gives Pearson's rules in its own words, a method for repeating what you hear, and eighteen practice sentences of our own. Pearson's pages decide the rules, and this is not immigration advice.
What Repeat Sentence asks you to do
Listen once, then say the sentence back.
"After listening to a recording of a sentence, repeat the sentence."
| Detail | What Pearson says |
|---|---|
| Audio length | 3-9 seconds. |
| Time to answer | 15 seconds. |
| Questions in the test | 10-12 in the PTE Academic Score Guide. |
| Skills assessed | Listening and speaking. |
| Replay | None. You hear the audio once and record your response once. |
"Speak into the microphone immediately (there is a short tone) and repeat exactly what you heard."
The question is also listed in the Score Guide as one that counts toward both listening and speaking. Pearson says it "affects the scoring of the following: listening, speaking, pronunciation and oral fluency." That makes it worth steady practice: one question type trains several skills.
How Repeat Sentence is marked
Three things are scored: content, pronunciation and oral fluency.
"Content: Does your response include all the words in the sentence, and only these words?"
"Content is scored by counting the number of correct word sequences in your response. Having almost nothing from the prompt in your response will negatively affect your score."
The Score Guide turns that into a four-step scale for content:
| Content points | What your response contains |
|---|---|
| 3 | All words in the response from the prompt in the correct sequence |
| 2 | At least 50% of words in the response from the prompt in the correct sequence |
| 1 | Less than 50% of words in the response from the prompt in the correct sequence |
| 0 | Almost nothing from the prompt in the response |
The Score Guide adds two details. Errors are counted as replacements, omissions and insertions only. And hesitations, filled or unfilled pauses, and leading or trailing material are ignored when content is scored.
"Hesitations, filled or unfilled pauses, leading or trailing material are ignored in the scoring of content"
Pronunciation and oral fluency are scored separately. Pearson describes them like this:
"The best responses are spoken at a constant and natural rate of speech with appropriate phrasing."
"Hesitations, repetitions and false starts will negatively affect your score."
"PTE Academic recognizes regional and national varieties of English pronunciation to the degree that they are understandable to most regular speakers of the language."
Our reading: two things follow. First, a half-right answer still earns points, so never stop or go silent when you lose a word. Second, a restart hurts fluency, because Pearson counts repetitions and false starts against you, and it uses up the time you need to finish the sentence. If you lose a word, keep going and finish the sentence.
Pearson's own tips
Listen for phrases, and copy the stress.
"Listen to the phrasing of the sentence as it is read aloud"
"You will be scored on the correct word sequences that you produce for this item type, so the more phrases you understand, the better your reproduction of the sentence will be."
"Copy the stress and intonation patterns of the sentence you hear"
"Make a mental note of the way the speaker uses stress and intonation on the recording. These patterns help to convey the meaning."
Pearson's tips are about listening for meaningful chunks and copying the way the speaker stresses and pauses. The rest of this page shows you how to train both.
One more rule from Pearson's Answer Short Question tips applies here as well, and it matters if you lose a word:
"When you have started talking, don’t stop for more than a second or two until you have finished."
"If you stop for three seconds whilst speaking, the recording status will change to ‘completed’ even if you haven’t finished, and you won’t be able to continue answering."
"This also applies to speaking item types Read aloud, Repeat Sentence, Describe Image and Re-tell Lecture."
Our reading: a pause of three seconds ends your recording, so a pause of any length is a risk. Say something, even a best guess, and keep the sentence moving.
A method for repeating what you hear
Five habits. Practise them until they feel natural.
- Listen for chunks, not words. A sentence is two to four meaning units. Hear each unit as one block: "the department / has decided to extend / the deadline".
- Hold the shape, then the words. Your memory keeps meaning better than a list of words. If you can say what the sentence is about, the words come back more easily.
- Keep the small words. The, a, of, to, was and has are the first words to drop. Hear them as part of the chunk ("has decided to"), not as noise between the important words.
- Start the moment the microphone opens and copy the rhythm. Speak at the speaker's pace. Copy the stress and the pauses. You do not need to copy the accent.
- If you lose a word, keep going. Fill the gap with your best guess and finish the sentence. A restart costs fluency, and a long silence can end the recording.
Common errors, causes and fixes
| What goes wrong | Why it happens | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| You drop small words such as "the", "a" and "to" | You listen only for the important words. | Practise whole chunks aloud with their small words: "to the main hall", "has been moved". |
| You swap a similar word: "offer" for "offered" | You remember the meaning, not the exact word. | Echo drills with a partner. Compare word by word, not by meaning. |
| You stop in the middle | You panic after losing one word. | Practise a "keep walking" rule: when you lose a word, say the next chunk anyway. |
| You restart the sentence | You want a perfect answer. | Accept a small error. A steady answer with one slip beats a stop-start try at perfection. |
| Your voice drops at the end and the last chunk is mumbled | You relax before the sentence is finished. | Practise ending with a clear falling tone on the last word. |
| You mix up numbers, names or dates | They are unpredictable, so you cannot guess them from meaning. | Add a number or name to every practice sentence and check it first when you review. |
A template cannot help with this question. Every sentence is new, and the marking counts the words you actually repeat. The only preparation that works is practice at listening and repeating.
Eighteen practice sentences
Our own. Chunks are marked with a slash.
These sentences are original. They are written to be easy to read aloud and to include the kinds of word that get dropped. Pearson gives the real audio length as 3-9 seconds, and we do not claim our sentences match the real ones. Treat them as a gym, not a mock test.
How to use them
- With a partner. Your partner reads the sentence once at a normal pace, without the slashes. You repeat it from memory. The partner marks any word you missed, changed or added.
- Alone. Record yourself reading a sentence at a normal pace. Wait a moment, play the recording once, and repeat it without looking at the text. Then check your repeat against the written sentence. A text-to-speech voice also works.
- One sentence, one go. Do not replay the recording. The real question does not let you.
- Score yourself like the Score Guide. All the words in the right order is the top mark. If you got at least half the words in the right order, that is a middle mark; if you got fewer than half, that is a lower mark. Count and note the type of error: dropped, swapped, added or mispronounced.
| No. | Level | Sentence |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Short | The library / closes early / on Friday. |
| 2 | Short | Please submit your form / before the deadline. |
| 3 | Short | The workshop / for new students / starts at noon. |
| 4 | Short | Students must bring / a valid photo card. |
| 5 | Short | The seminar begins / at half past nine. |
| 6 | Short | Our laboratory / is open / every weekday. |
| 7 | Medium | The department / has decided to extend / the deadline for the final report. |
| 8 | Medium | Several students / reported difficulties / accessing the online portal. |
| 9 | Medium | All first-year students / are invited to a welcome event / in the main hall. |
| 10 | Medium | The guest speaker / will discuss / recent changes in urban planning. |
| 11 | Medium | Please read the first two chapters / before tomorrow's tutorial. |
| 12 | Medium | Applications for the scholarship / must include / two references. |
| 13 | Long | Although the experiment was repeated several times, / the results remained / surprisingly consistent. |
| 14 | Long | Researchers have suggested / that regular exercise improves concentration / and reduces stress / among university students. |
| 15 | Long | The committee will review all proposals / and announce its decision / at the end of next month. |
| 16 | Long | Because of the construction work / on the north side of campus, / students are advised to use the east entrance. |
| 17 | Long | A growing number of graduates / are choosing to work / for small companies / rather than large corporations. |
| 18 | Long | Please remember to return your library books / before the semester ends / to avoid a late charge. |
Making more. Take any short sentence from a university notice or a news article and add a slash after each meaning unit. Aim for sentences that you could only say after listening, not ones you could guess from the first three words.
Four drills that build the skill
Ten minutes is enough.
- Chunk echo. A partner (or a recording) says one chunk at a time. You echo it straight back. Then two chunks together, then the whole sentence.
- Delayed echo. Listen to a sentence, wait two seconds, then repeat. This builds the memory you need when you start speaking after the audio ends.
- Shadowing. Play a short news clip at normal speed and speak along a fraction of a second behind. Copy the rhythm and the stress. Do not worry about every word.
- Number and name drill. Every day, repeat five sentences that contain a number, a date or a name. These are the words you cannot guess.
A one-week routine
Ten minutes a day.
| Day | Do this |
|---|---|
| 1 | Six short sentences. Partner or recording. Mark every error by type. |
| 2 | Six medium sentences. Concentrate on keeping the small words. |
| 3 | Six long sentences. Concentrate on chunking. |
| 4 | Chunk echo and delayed echo with sentences from a news article. |
| 5 | Shadowing for five minutes, then six sentences you have not seen. |
| 6 | Number and name drill, then twelve mixed sentences. |
| 7 | Mixed set of ten sentences without stopping. Review the errors, then rest. |
PTE Core has this question too
Same task, same idea.
"Listen to a recording of a sentence. Then repeat the sentence."
"You will be scored on the correct word sequences that you produce, so the more phrases you understand, the better your reproduction of the sentence will be."
Everything on this page about chunking, stress and keeping going applies to PTE Core as well. One difference: Pearson's Core format page says there is no short tone before you speak in Repeat Sentence, while its Academic page says there is one, so start the moment the recording status box shows "Recording". For the Canadian side of PTE reading, see our PTE reading practice for Canada page.
"When the audio finishes, the microphone will open and the recording status box will show “Recording”. Speak into the microphone immediately (there is no short tone) and repeat exactly what you heard."
Common questions
Pearson says: “After listening to a recording of a sentence, repeat the sentence.” The audio is 3-9 seconds long, you have 15 seconds to answer, and you record once.
The Score Guide lists 10-12 Repeat Sentence questions.
Three traits: content, pronunciation and oral fluency. Content is scored by counting correct word sequences. The Score Guide gives the top content mark when all the words are in the correct sequence, a middle mark for at least 50% of the words in the correct sequence, and a lower mark for less than 50%.
No. Pearson says: “You are not able to replay the audio. You are only able to record your response once.”
Listen for meaningful phrases, copy the stress and intonation, speak clearly without rushing, and keep going if you lose a word. Pearson's own tips are to listen to the phrasing of the sentence and to copy the stress and intonation patterns. Our method and drills are above.
Use a partner or a recording. Hear a sentence once, repeat it without looking, then compare word by word and note your errors by type. Our eighteen practice sentences, four drills and one-week routine are on this page. Pearson's free Guided Practice Tests cover the real format.
You still earn points. The Score Guide gives a content mark for at least 50% of the words in the correct sequence, and lower marks below that. So keep speaking and finish the sentence.
No. Pearson says PTE Academic recognizes regional and national varieties of English pronunciation to the degree that they are understandable to most regular speakers of the language.