PTE Academic Question Prediction: What to Practise

How to judge a PTE Academic prediction file, and which tasks repay repeated practice: essays, Describe Image, dictation and timings.

Lume Test

Sep 4, 2026

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5 min read

PTE Academic Question Prediction: What to Practise

Key Takeaways

How to judge a PTE Academic prediction file, and which tasks repay repeated practice: essays, Describe Image, dictation and timings.

PTE Academic has 22 scored question types: 9 in Speaking and Writing, 5 in Reading and 8 in Listening, plus an unscored Personal Introduction. Question “prediction files” are sold as lists of live PTE Academic questions. This page takes a different view. Instead of asking which questions will come up, it asks which parts of your preparation pay back whatever question you get, and how to tell when a file is not worth your time.

If you are sitting PTE Core instead, the topic is covered separately in PTE Core question prediction, because the two tests do not weight tasks the same way.

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Key Takeaways

A prediction file is only as useful as its source, its date and its honesty about what it cannot know.
Task formats, timings and word limits are published, so learn them exactly and stop spending time hunting for them.
Repetition pays back most on tasks where the skill is mechanical: dictation, repeating sentences, essay structure and image openings.
Do not memorise answers. An answer that does not fit the prompt in front of you costs marks.
Material copied from a live test is a breach of the test rules, so a file claiming to hold real questions is a risk, not a shortcut.

How to judge a prediction file in five minutes

Before you spend an evening on a file, run it through four quick checks. These are editorial rules of thumb from Lume, not a statement about any particular seller.

Check	What to look for	What it tells you
Date	Is there a date, and is it recent?	An undated file cannot be matched to the test you are about to sit.
Source	Does it say where the questions came from?	If the answer is “test takers”, see the test rules point in the FAQ.
Wording	Does it promise “guaranteed” or “exact” live questions?	Nobody outside the test can promise that, so treat the claim as marketing.
Method	Does it teach a way to answer, or only list answers?	A list gets you one prompt. A method gets you every prompt of that kind.

A file that fails two or more of these is better left alone. Put the same hours into the tasks below and the result is yours to keep.

What stays fixed in PTE Academic: timings and limits

The test publishes its time limits and word counts, so there is nothing to guess. Learn the ones below until you stop having to check them, and re-check them against Pearson’s published test format before test day.

Task	Time	Limit
Summarize Written Text	10 min	Text up to 300 words; answer 5-75 words
Write Essay	20 min	200-300 words
Summarize Spoken Text	10 min	Audio 60-90 sec; answer 50-70 words
Read Aloud	Prep 30-40 sec	Text up to 60 words
Repeat Sentence	Respond 15 sec	Audio 3-9 sec
Describe Image	Prep 25 sec, speak 40 sec	One image
Retell Lecture	Prep 10 sec, speak 40 sec	Audio up to 90 sec
Answer Short Question	Respond 10 sec	Audio 3-9 sec
Summarize Group Discussion	Prep 10 sec, speak 2 min	Audio up to 3 minutes
Respond to a Situation	Think 10 sec, prep 10 sec after the audio, speak 40 sec	Text up to 60 words
Write from Dictation	Type what you hear	Audio 3-5 sec

PTE Core has no Summarize Group Discussion, and its Respond to a Situation timing differs. Some other Core tasks use different limits too, so check which test a study resource was written for before you copy its numbers.

Which tasks reward repetition, by skill

Practice pays back unevenly. Where the item itself is unpredictable but the way you handle it is not, repeating the method is time well spent. Where the task depends on new content each time, memorised content does not help.

Skill	Task	What to rehearse	What not to memorise
Speaking	Describe Image	One opening sentence per visual type, and a fixed order to cover the data	A full script for a picture you have not seen
Listening and Speaking	Repeat Sentence	Holding rhythm and stress on any audio	Sentence banks
Listening and Speaking	Retell Lecture	A note structure: topic, claim, because, but	Predicted lecture topics
Listening and Speaking	Summarize Group Discussion	A note frame for three speakers: who said what, then the outcome	Discussion topics
Speaking	Respond to a Situation	The register and the order of your answer	Scripts for situations you have not seen
Writing	Write Essay	A plan per question type, timed at two minutes	Whole essays
Reading and Writing	Summarize Written Text	Building one good sentence within the word limit	Passages
Listening and Writing	Write from Dictation	Fresh sentences daily, plus spelling drill	Dictation lists
Listening and Writing	Summarize Spoken Text	Note-taking and the 50-70 word shape	Audio topics

None of this depends on knowing a live question. It depends on turning the first ten seconds of each task into a habit.

Write Essay: five question types Lume uses

Lume groups essay prompts into five types by how the question ends. This is our own grouping for practice, not a list published by the test provider, but it covers the prompts we see and it makes planning faster.

Type	Prompt ends with	Structure
Opinion	Do you agree or disagree? / To what extent…	Position, two supporting arguments, conclusion
Argument	Discuss both views / What is your view?	View A, view B, your position
Advantages and disadvantages	What are the advantages and disadvantages?	Advantages, disadvantages, verdict if asked
Problem and solution	What problems… and what can be done?	Problems, solutions attached to each
Cause and effect	What are the causes and effects of…?	Causes, effects, roughly equal space

Spend your practice on the plan, not on a finished essay. Two minutes per type, written from a fresh prompt each time, is enough to make the structure automatic. For longer guidance see the PTE essay writing format and PTE essay templates.

Describe Image: seven visual types Lume uses

The same applies to images. You will not know the image in advance, but its kind is usually easy to name. Again, this is a Lume grouping for practice.

Visual	Opening sentence	Cover in 40 seconds
Bar chart	“This bar chart compares [X] across [categories].”	Highest, lowest, one comparison
Line graph	“This line graph shows [X] between [years].”	Overall direction, peak, one crossover
Pie chart	“This pie chart shows the breakdown of [X].”	Largest and smallest segments, one comparison
Table	“This table presents [X] for [categories].”	Highest and lowest figures, one pattern
Process diagram	“This diagram shows the process of [X] in [n] stages.”	Input, two stages, output
Map	“This map shows [place] and its [features].”	Orientation, two features, one relationship
Photograph or picture	“This image shows [scene].”	Setting, main subject, one detail

An opening sentence ready for each type removes the hesitation at the start, where fluency marks are easiest to lose. More examples are in PTE Describe Image tips and templates.

Negative marking: where it applies

Most tasks do not take marks away for a wrong answer, but a few do. Check the table so you know where to guess and where to leave an option alone.

Task	What happens
Reading: Multiple Choice, Multiple Answers	A correct choice earns a mark, an incorrect choice loses a mark
Listening: Multiple Choice, Multiple Answers	Same rule as above
Listening: Highlight Incorrect Words	A correct click earns a mark, an incorrect click loses a mark

On these three, pick only the options you can support. Elsewhere there is no mark taken for a wrong attempt, so a reasoned guess costs nothing.

A 10-day plan weighted to the repeatable tasks

This plan assumes about an hour a day. Adjust the length to your own schedule. It is a suggestion for balance, not a promise of a result.

Days 1 and 2: Learn the timings and word limits table above until you can say it without looking. Do ten Write from Dictation sentences each day.
Days 3 and 4: Write one two-minute plan for each essay type. Then write one full essay from your weakest type.
Days 5 and 6: Say the seven opening sentences for Describe Image out loud, then describe two new images per visual type in 40 seconds.
Day 7: Practise Repeat Sentence on audio you have not heard before, and rehearse the Retell Lecture note structure on a short talk.
Day 8: Drill Summarize Written Text, one sentence within the limit, three times with different passages.
Day 9: Do a timed section from a mock test and mark the three negative marking tasks separately.
Day 10: Light review of the tables on this page. Stop early and rest.

FAQ

Are PTE prediction files allowed?

Material taken from a live test breaches the test rules. Pearson’s malpractice policy lists harvesting, sharing or attempting to collect test content as a breach of the Test Taker Rules, and the penalties include cancelled scores and bans. A file that does not name its source gives you no way to tell where it came from, so be careful with it.

Do the same questions come back in PTE Academic?

You cannot count on it, and a plan that depends on it is fragile. What does repeat is the format of each task, so preparing the format is the safer use of your time.

How long should I practise each day?

There is no single right number. Pick a length you can keep up for the whole run-up to the test.

Is it better to memorise templates or learn structures?

Learn structures. A template that you have to bend to fit the prompt is slower than a plan that already matches the question type. Use templates as a starting point and keep your own wording.

Where does negative marking apply?

On Reading and Listening Multiple Choice, Multiple Answers, and on Highlight Incorrect Words. The table above lists how each one works.

I am taking PTE Core. Does this page apply?

Partly. The advice about files and the value of repeating methods carries over, but timings and some task types differ. Use the PTE Core guide linked below for that test.