Struggling to stay focused and score high in the PTE Listening section?
LUME Test gives you one practice question for each of the eight Listening tasks below, each with its own audio player.
You’ll also learn common mistakes that hold test-takers back.
Check it out and get one step closer to your goal score.
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Listening is Part 3 of PTE Academic. It takes about 31–39 minutes and has eight question types. Each audio or video clip starts automatically and plays only once, and you can take notes.
| Question type | Questions per test | Recording length | Skills scored | Scoring |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Summarize Spoken Text | 1 | 60–90 seconds | Listening and Writing | Partial credit on five traits |
| Multiple Choice, Multiple Answers | 2–3 | 80–120 seconds | Listening | +1 per correct option, −1 per incorrect option, minimum 0 |
| Fill in the Blanks | 2–3 | 30–60 seconds | Listening | 1 point per word spelled correctly |
| Highlight Correct Summary | 2–3 | 30–90 seconds | Listening and Reading | Correct or incorrect |
| Multiple Choice, Single Answer | 2–3 | 30–60 seconds | Listening | Correct or incorrect |
| Select Missing Word | 1–2 | 20–70 seconds | Listening | Correct or incorrect |
| Highlight Incorrect Words | 2–3 | 15–50 seconds | Listening and Reading | +1 per correct word, −1 per incorrect word, minimum 0 |
| Write From Dictation | 3–4 | 3–5 seconds | Listening and Writing | 1 point per word spelled correctly |
Sources: PTE Academic Test Taker Score Guide, pages 41–44; Pearson’s PTE Academic Listening test format page, checked 7 October 2026.
This page gives you one question of each type, which is fewer than a full Listening part. To practise it as a timed set, do the eight questions in order without pausing and keep to the 10-minute limit on Summarize Spoken Text.
The Summarize Spoken Text assesses both listening and writing skills.
In this task, you’ll hear an auto-played audio of 60-90 seconds and write a summary of 50-70 words.
You can only hear the audio once.
A Word Count is shown at the bottom of the screen so that you can ensure the appropriate length of your summary.
You can also use the cut, copy, and paste buttons to edit your answer.
The total time to finish this task (including both listening and writing) is 10 minutes.
Your summary is scored on five traits: Content, Form, Grammar, Vocabulary and Spelling. Form gets full marks for 50-70 words.
If your summary has fewer than 40 or more than 100 words, or misreads the topic of the recording, Pearson says it scores zero on all five traits. A human expert also reviews Content before the score is confirmed.
Practice question:
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An audio of 80-120 seconds will play automatically at the beginning of the task. You get seven seconds to read the question before it starts.
Candidates can only listen once.
Then, you have to answer the multiple-choice question by selecting MORE THAN ONE correct response from the list of possible options.
Use the left button on your mouse to select an answer.
This option will then be highlighted in yellow.
If you want to deselect it, left-click again.
Pearson gives no separate answer time for this task, but the time you spend still comes out of the Listening part.
Each correct option earns 1 point and each incorrect option loses 1 point, with a minimum score of 0. Select only the options you are confident about.
Practice question:
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A recording of 30-60 seconds will be played.
There will be an incomplete transcript with missing words on the screen. You have seven seconds to skim it before the recording starts.
All you need to do is listen and fill in the blanks.
Left-click on the gap you want to type in.
Use the Tab button if you want to move between gaps.
An erasable notepad will be provided to help you complete the task.
Remember that you can only hear the recording once, so ensure you keep on track well.
You get 1 point for each missing word you type and spell correctly.
Practice question:
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In this question type, candidates will listen to an audio and then need to select the best summary for the content from several possible options.
The total prompt length is from 30 to 90 seconds. This task scores both Listening and Reading, and your answer is marked correct or incorrect.
Use the left-click on your mouse to choose ONE option that you think is correct.
You can also change your answer by left-clicking on a different one.
One trick to perform this task well is to listen first, take notes on the erasable note board, and then start reading the summaries.
Practice question:
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Candidates will first listen to an audio of 30-60 seconds (one time only) and then answer a multiple-choice question. You get five seconds to read before the recording begins.
You will see several response options, but you can choose only ONE.
Use the left button of your mouse to select or deselect an option.
Your answer will be highlighted in yellow.
Like all other item types, there’s no second chance to listen to the audio again.
Your answer is marked correct or incorrect, so a guess cannot cost you points.
Practice question:
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Audio begins to play automatically, yet the content is incomplete.
Candidates can’t hear the last word(s) but a beep sound.
After listening, they need to select the correct option from the list to complete the audio.
The prompt length is 20-70 seconds, and the recording only plays once. There are 1-2 of these questions per test, each marked correct or incorrect.
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This item type assesses candidates’ listening and reading skills.
In this question, you will listen to an audio with a transcript on the screen.
The transcript contains some words that are different from the spoken content.
Candidates need to identify them by left-clicking their mouse on the words.
The prompt length is 15-50 seconds. You get 10 seconds to skim the transcript before the audio starts.
Each correctly identified word earns 1 point and each wrong click loses 1 point, with a minimum score of 0, so click only the words you are sure about.
Practice question:
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This task tests your listening and writing skills.
You will listen to a short sentence and then type it into the response box at the screen’s bottom.
The prompt length is 3-5 seconds, and the audio will play only once.
Candidates can take notes on the erasable notepad.
After typing, double-check your answer, especially spelling.
There are 3-4 of these sentences per test, and you get 1 point for each word spelled correctly.
Practice question:
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In some parts, like Fill In The Blanks, you should type in the exact words that the speaker speaks.
However, tasks such as Summarize Spoken Text require your ability to paraphrase the content.
It shows your level of using different vocabulary and grammar, giving you more chances to get a high score.
This mistake usually happens in the Fill In The Blanks task.
Some candidates write down only the sound they heard and don’t check it against the words surrounding a blank.
Therefore, they often miss endings such as -s, -ed or -ly that are hard to hear.
A tip to avoid this mistake is to have good basic grammar.
Also, focus on the words before and after the blank to identify whether they’re nouns, verbs, or adverbs.
Candidates often under-evaluate the seconds before the audio starts: seven seconds in Fill in the Blanks and Multiple Choice, Multiple Answers, and 10 seconds in Highlight Incorrect Words.
In fact, they can use this very short moment to skim the text to have a general idea of the content.
It can be helpful for some questions, such as Fill In The Blanks or Highlight Incorrect Words.
In most Listening tasks a wrong answer scores the same as an empty one, so in those tasks always type or select something.
The exceptions are Multiple Choice, Multiple Answers and Highlight Incorrect Words, where each wrong choice costs a point. There, select only what you are confident about.
Sometimes, test takers are confused between Multiple Choices, Single Answer, and Multiple Choices, Multiple Answers.
Ensure you understand the prompt correctly and choose the correct number of answers in these tasks.
It’s a serious mistake that many students make.
Only Summarize Spoken Text has its own 10-minute limit; Pearson lists no separate answer time for the other seven tasks.
So, candidates tend to stay too long on a question that they’re struggling with.
Thus, it leads to a lack of time for the last questions.
Remember to keep an eye on the time remaining and manage your time well to complete all the tasks.
You can only hear the recordings once in each question.
Once your mind is not on the test, it can cause terrible consequences.
You may miss important information, leave some blanks empty, or lose points for an incomplete response.
Some students underestimate double-checking, but it’s actually a useful step.
Therefore, spend a few seconds to 1 minute reading your response before heading to the next item.
Pearson does not rank the Listening tasks by difficulty. Fill in the Blanks does give you a lot of support: the transcript is on screen and you only type the missing words.
Ensure that you catch up with the recording so that you can fill in all the missing words.
Pearson does not rank difficulty here either, but timing can make Write From Dictation harder than it looks.
The question alone may not be a challenge for candidates.
It is the last item type, so test takers who run short of time often rush it, and each word scores only if it is spelled correctly.
Yes. Listening is reported on the same 10-90 scale as the other skills, so 90 is the top score. You can do it, but with really hard work.
It requires regular practice and daily exposure to various content (listening to podcasts, watching movies, etc.) to build vocabulary and increase language sense.
You face not only one but various English accents.
Pearson says you will hear international English speakers with a variety of accents.
Therefore, you should get yourself used to different speakers so that you can understand them in the test.
There is no single rule: each task has its own scoring method.
Summarize Spoken Text is scored on Content, Form, Grammar, Vocabulary and Spelling. Fill in the Blanks and Write From Dictation give 1 point per word spelled correctly. Multiple Choice, Multiple Answers and Highlight Incorrect Words take a point off for each wrong choice. The other three tasks are correct or incorrect.
For example, in Summarize Spoken Text, a summary of 50-70 words that covers the main points scores best on Form and Content.
Meanwhile, your score in Write From Dictation is based on how many words of the spoken sentence you type and spell correctly.
PTE Listening contains 8 different question types.
It requires your listening skills and ability to understand various accents.
Besides, you also need writing skills in Summarize Spoken Text and Write From Dictation, and reading skills in Highlight Correct Summary and Highlight Incorrect Words.
Consistent practice is key to acing the section and achieving a high score.
Moreover, you need to learn how to allocate your time properly so that you can complete all the sections without being rushed.
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