PTE Core Describe Image: how it works, with practice

In PTE Core Describe Image you get 25 seconds to study an image and 40 seconds to describe it, and expect 3-4 of them. Content is marked from 0 to 5. Pearson treats memorised material as irrelevant, so use a structure of introduction, main points and conclusion, not a memorised script.

Describe Image is one of the seven tasks in the Speaking and Writing part of PTE Core. Pearson sets it out like this:

The sample prompt on Pearson's format page uses a map. Pearson says only that you will see an image, so be ready for other kinds too, such as charts and tables. Pearson's Core test tips advise you to use the study seconds well:

• Take time to understand the image.
• Use the 25 seconds to look carefully at the image and try to understand its full meaning.

Pearson says the content of PTE Core focuses on everyday situations. Our reading: expect images about ordinary life, such as a timetable, a survey of how people travel or a street map, and practise with that kind of image. Pearson describes the difference between the two tests this way:

The Score Guide gives content a score from 0 to 5. Here is each level in Pearson's words:

Read the table from the bottom. A zero is a list of disconnected points, possibly learned in advance. A five covers every element, the relationships between them and an implication. Our reading: that is why a plain list of numbers, however fluent, cannot reach the top, and why a closing sentence matters.

Fluency and the rule on memorised answers

• Hesitations, repetitions and false starts will negatively affect your score.
• Partial credit scoring applies. No credit is given for no response or an irrelevant response.
• Responses that contain significant amounts of pre-prepared/memorized material are not relevant responses and do not properly address the prompt.

Our reading: with fewer Describe Image questions in PTE Core, you have fewer chances to show the skill, so make each one count. And practise with Core material. Pearson answers no when asked whether Academic preparation material can be used for Core:

If you are also thinking about PTE Academic, our PTE Academic Describe Image page covers that version, including its 0 to 6 scale. The skills transfer, but the practice images should match the test you take.

Pearson's Core test tips give a clear structure:

That is the safe template: an introduction, main points and details, and a conclusion. Pearson's scoring is blunt about prepared answers, so do not turn the structure into a paragraph you memorise:

Pearson also says: “If you organize what you say, you will get a better score.” Our frame for the forty seconds is below. Everything in it is ours.

Because PTE Core images are about daily life, a good closing sentence is usually about people: what they choose, what they need, what is missing. That gives you an implication without needing special knowledge.

A quick test: if you could swap in a different image and your answer would still be mostly the same words, it is a script. If only the sentence shapes stay and the content words change, it is a frame.

Pearson's tips also say what to do when you slip:

• Try to speak with confidence while maintaining a natural speed and volume. If you make a mistake, it is ok, just continue with your response.

We cannot show pictures here, so each image is described as the data it would hold. The images are ours and all the figures are made up. The model answers show structure and tone. We make no claim about what score either would earn.

Image one: a bar chart

Title. "How workers in a small city travel to work".

Model answer (92 words). This bar chart shows how people in a small city travel to work. Overall, the car is by far the most common way, used by 44 percent of workers. The bus comes second at 23 percent, followed by cycling at 14 percent and walking at 12 percent. Only 7 percent of people work from home, which is the smallest group. Taken together, cars and buses account for about two thirds of workers, so the city may need better public transport and safer bike lanes if it wants fewer cars on the road.

• The first sentence says what the image is and what it is about.
• The second sentence gives the main point before any detail.
• The details are ranked from largest to smallest, with the middle three figures grouped in one sentence.
• The numbers are used for comparison, not read out one by one without a link.
• The closing sentence says what the data suggests for the city.

Image two: a timetable

Title. "Weekly activities at a community centre".

Model answer (86 words). This timetable shows the weekly activities at a community centre. Most activities happen in the afternoon and evening, and the busiest days are Monday and Thursday, which both have a morning, an afternoon and an evening session. Yoga runs twice a week, on Monday and Wednesday mornings, and the English class is held on Monday and Thursday evenings. Friday evening has no activity. Overall, the centre offers something for different ages, from a toddler group to a choir, so it seems to serve the whole neighbourhood.

• It picks out a pattern (afternoons and evenings), then names the busiest days, so the listener gets the shape of the table.
• It gives two exact examples (yoga, the English class) instead of reading the whole grid.
• It mentions something that is missing (Friday evening), which shows the whole image was checked.
• It ends with what the timetable suggests about the people who use the centre.

Image three: a map, for you to describe

Title. "The streets around the park". The park is in the centre. The library is on the north side of the park and the school is on the east side. A pharmacy and a small shop are on the south side, next to a bus stop. A river runs along the west side, with a footbridge near the north-west corner. Describe this map in forty seconds after twenty-five seconds of study. Use the four moves: introduce, main point, details, conclusion. Record it, then listen for hesitations.

Pearson's Core test tips end the Describe Image page with a study tip:

Our routine builds on that. It is ours.

1. Collect everyday images: bus timetables, price lists, simple charts from the news, maps of a town centre, floor plans.
2. For each, spend the study time, then speak for the full speaking time into your phone.
3. Play it back. Did you introduce, give a main point, give details and conclude? Count hesitations and repeats.
4. Give the recording to a friend who has not seen the image and ask them to sketch it. If the sketch is wrong, find which sentence misled them.
5. Repeat the same image a week later without notes and compare. If the two sound identical, you are reciting.

Pearson sells official practice for PTE Core too. Its AI practice says it is “Free to start, no payment required”, with “1 Speaking and Writing diagnostic” in the free version, and its paid plans list “300+ official questions”. Our PTE Core practice test page compares the options, and PTE Core tips has study plans. This page is not immigration advice; Pearson's own pages decide how the test works.

Common questions