PTE Academic — Task Types and Question Counts

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Many students are unfamiliar with the PTE exam due to a lack of information. In reality, for those looking to obtain a language score or pursue immigration, PTE (Pearson Test of English) is often easier to score highly on than IELTS or TOEFL. Countless test-takers have contributed memorized questions and summaries of high-frequency topics, so with a bit of luck it can feel like an open-book exam. However, unlike IELTS and TOEFL, PTE Academic has a large variety of task types and requires strong test-taking strategies. Students who score well on IELTS may still struggle with PTE if they underestimate the importance of practice and technique. Here is a simple introduction to the task types and cross-scoring system — more PTE tips will follow in future updates. Feel free to leave a comment if there is something specific you would like to see covered.

PTE task types and question counts at a glance:

TL;DR — The highest-priority PTE task types are: WFD, RS, RA, DI, SGD, SWT, WE, FIB-D, FIB-DD. Focusing on these alone (when time is limited) can still yield a solid score.

Speaking (36–44 minutes, all tasks timed together)

Module	Order	Priority	Task	Cross-scored With	Count	Time
Speaking	1	Medium	Read Aloud (RA)	Speaking	6–7	Combined 36–44 min
Speaking	2	High	Repeat Sentence (RS)	Speaking · Listening	10–12
Speaking	3	High	Describe Image (DI)	Speaking	5–6
Speaking	4	Medium	Re-tell Lecture (RL)	Speaking · Listening	2–3
Speaking	5	Medium	Answer Short Question (ASQ)	Listening	5–6
Speaking	6	High	Summarize Group Discussion (SGD)	Speaking · Listening	2–3
Speaking	7	Medium	Response to a Situation (RTS)	Speaking	2–3

Writing (independently timed)

Module	Order	Priority	Task	Cross-scored With	Count	Time
Writing	8	High	Summarize Written Text (SWT)	Writing · Reading	2	10 min per task
Writing	9	High	Write Essay (WE)	Writing	1	20 min

Reading (29–30 minutes, all tasks timed together)

Module	Order	Priority	Task	Cross-scored With	Count	Time
Reading	10	High	Dropdown Fill in the Blanks (FIB-D)	Reading	5–6	Combined 29–30 min
Reading	11	Low	Multiple Choice – Multiple Answers (MCQ-M)	Reading	2–3
Reading	12	Medium	Reorder Paragraph (RO)	Reading	2–3
Reading	13	High	Drag and Drop Fill in the Blanks (FIB-DD)	Reading	4–5
Reading	14	Low	Multiple Choice – Single Answer (MCQ-S)	Reading	2–3

Listening (20–33 minutes, all tasks timed together — time is very tight; move quickly through lower-value tasks to save time for the high-scoring ones)

Module	Order	Priority	Task	Cross-scored With	Count	Time
Listening	15	High	Summarize Spoken Text (SST)	Listening · Writing	1	10 min per task
Listening	16	Low	Listening MCQ-M	Listening	2–3	Combined 20–33 min
Listening	17	Medium	Fill in the Blanks (FIB-L)	Listening	2–3
Listening	18	Low	Highlight Correct Summary (HCS)	Listening · Reading	2–3
Listening	19	Low	Listening MCQ-S	Listening	1–2
Listening	20	Low	Select Missing Words (SMW)	Listening	2–3
Listening	21	Medium	Highlight Incorrect Words (HIW)	Listening · Reading	2–3
Listening	22	Top Priority	Write from Dictation (WFD)	Listening · Writing	3–4

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PTE Academic — Task Types and Question Counts

Speaking (36–44 minutes, all tasks timed together)

Writing (independently timed)

Reading (29–30 minutes, all tasks timed together)

Listening (20–33 minutes, all tasks timed together — time is very tight; move quickly through lower-value tasks to save time for the high-scoring ones)

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