PTE Listening Test Overview: Ultimate Guide to PTE Academic

The PTE Listening Test

You will have between 45 and 57 minutes for the PTE listening test which is the final part of the test. The actual length depends on the combination of items you get. Every test is different.

To achieve success, you will need to:

• manage your time
• understand the test format & quickly recognize the different sections
• have strong language skills
• be confident.

In this overview of the PTE Listening test, we will look at all of these important aspects that will help you to prepare.

TIME MANAGEMENT

The first task for listening is Summarize the spoken text. You will have 10 minutes to complete each item (question). You may get two or three of them. Use the whole time and check your work carefully. There is no advantage to finishing this section early as the time will not carry over to the rest of the listening test.

The remaining listening tasks are not individually timed. You will need to click NEXT when you have finished each item. Stay calm and be aware of the time. A countdown timer appears on the top right of your screen throughout the test. It indicates how many items and how much time you have left in the listening section. As a rough guide, you will have around 1.5 minutes per item but check the quick data table below for our recommended times.

UNDERSTAND THE FORMAT AND RECOGNISE THE DIFFERENT TASKS

When you are practicing, you always know which task you are working on, but in the real test, there is nothing to tell you that now you have finished one task and you are moving on to a different task. In order to prepare for the PTE listening test, you need to be able to recognize the different tasks. This will save time and avoid confusion for you. Note that all of the items in a task are grouped together. So, for example, once you have finished the Highlight correct summary items, you will not get any more of them.

A useful tip is that if you see squares before each option, it means two things (firstly, negative scoring – see next paragraph – and secondly, there is more than one correct answer). If you see circles (radio buttons) there will only be one correct answer (and normal scoring).

You need to know when to guess and when not to guess. Usually, if you don’t know the actual answer, it is okay to guess, while at other times, you should definitely not guess. In the entire PTE, there are three tasks that have negative scoring – and you shouldn’t guess. One is in the reading section (Multiple choices, multiple answers) and the other two are both in the listening section. The two listening tasks are; Multiple choices, multiple answers and Highlight incorrect words.

Negative scoring means that, if you get the answer wrong, you will lose an extra point. Note, that you will not get less than zero in total for any individual item.

Something else to be aware of is note-taking. Check the quick data below to see where we recommend taking notes.

HAVE STRONG LANGUAGE SKILLS

Test strategies and confidence will help you in the PTE listening test, but if your communicative and enabling English skills (speaking, writing, reading, listening & vocabulary, grammar and so on) are poor, your score will not be high. You need strong English skills. Have a look at the skills and ways to study listed below to see how to continue to develop your language skills.

BE CONFIDENT!

Of course, you’re wondering, “How can I be confident?”

Mostly this will come from knowing about the task types, knowing how to manage your time and have strong English skills. Beyond that, it depends to some extent on how much time you have before your test.  If you plan to do your test very soon, then you need to understand and quickly recognize the various tasks in the PTE listening test and you need to know how to manage your time.

SO HOW WILL YOU ACHIEVE SUCCESS ON THE PTE LISTENING TEST?

If you have several weeks until your test, you also need to understand the various tasks and you need time management, but additionally, you will be able to keep developing your underlying communicative and enabling language skills. You need to identify your weak areas and work on them in an E2Language tutorial with your tutor, or with a native speaker or near-native speaker of English, and on your own. Also, attend E2Language live classes for extra practice and guidance.

To do well in the test, you don’t need to be perfect. You just need to be ‘pretty good.’ You need to allow yourself to make a few mistakes. You can score 90 with a few mistakes, so you can certainly score 65 or 79 despite some mistakes. Become knowledgeable about English and about the test. Check out the checklists below for skills and ways to study!

Skills needed in order to effectively prepare for the PTE listening test

Ways to study on your own

Good luck. Do lots of practice. Attend E2Language tutorials and live classes. Be confident and exceed your expectations. Sign up now for a free trial if you haven’t already done so – at www.e2language.com – and join a free PTE listening live class.