PTE “prediction files” are sold as lists of live questions. That is not what this page is. What is genuinely predictable in PTE Academic is structural: the 22 task types with their timings and limits, the five essay question types, the seven Describe Image visual types, and the topic domains the texts come from.
All of that is knowable from the published test design, and it is worth more on test day than a file of questions that may or may not still be in the bank.
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| Predictable | Why it is worth marks |
|---|---|
| 22 task types and their order within each part | You never lose seconds identifying the task |
| Preparation and response times for every speaking task | You pace to the clock rather than guessing |
| The three word limits: 5-75, 200-300, 50-70 | Breaches are pure avoidable loss |
| Which three tasks carry negative marking | Changes your selection discipline on those items only |
| Which tasks score two skills | Tells you where practice returns most |
| That Personal Introduction is unscored | Removes the nerves from the first thing you do |
| That the overall score is not an average of the four skills | Stops you planning around a calculation that does not apply |
| 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 | — |
| 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 min |
| Respond to a Situation | Prep 10 sec, speak 40 sec | Text up to 60 words |
| Write from Dictation | — | Audio 3-5 sec |
Note that PTE Core differs on several of these: its Respond to a Situation gives 20 seconds of preparation rather than 10, and its two summary tasks have shorter word limits. Check which test your material is for.
| 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 |
Five structures cover every essay prompt. Matching the structure to the type is where content marks are won or lost, and it costs nothing to prepare.
| 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 |
The image is unpredictable; its type is one of seven. An opening sentence per type removes the hesitation in the first five seconds, which is where fluency marks are most easily lost.
| Situation | First sentence |
|---|---|
| Cancelling on someone | Apologise, state the cancellation, offer an alternative |
| Declining a request | Thank them, decline, give the reason |
| Complaining about a service | State the problem, then what you want done |
| Apologising for an error | Apologise, explain briefly, say what you have done |
| Thanking someone | Thank them specifically, say what it meant |
| Giving bad news | Say it in the first sentence, then the reason |
| Making a suggestion | Frame it as a suggestion, give it, name the benefit |
| Asking for help | Acknowledge the imposition, state the need, propose a time |
| Domain | Where it appears | Vocabulary to have ready |
|---|---|---|
| Environment and climate | Reading, Retell Lecture, Summarize Spoken Text | emissions, sediment, attenuation, canopy, mitigation |
| Urban planning and transport | Reading, Describe Image, essays | congestion, capacity, consolidation, induced demand |
| Education and higher education | Reading, essays, lectures | curriculum, assessment, enrolment, attainment |
| Work and the labour market | Reading, essays, Respond to a Situation | retention, turnover, productivity, credential |
| Research methods and data | Summarize Spoken Text, Reading | sample, correlation, baseline, proxy, displacement |
| Health and public services | Reading, lectures | incidence, provision, eligibility, screening |
| Economics and public finance | Reading, essays | valuation, expenditure, regressive, cost-benefit |
| Technology and society | Reading, essays | automation, platform, adoption, displacement |
| History and archaeology | Reading, lectures | artefact, settlement, chronology, excavation |
| Biology and ecology | Reading, lectures | species, habitat, population, reintroduction |
Ten domains, and the vocabulary column is the preparation. That is the honest limit of topic prediction: it tells you which words to recognise, not which text you will get.
| Claim | Problem |
|---|---|
| “These are the current live questions” | Item banks rotate; a file accurate for one period is not for the next |
| “Memorise these answers” | A memorised answer that does not fit the prompt scores worse than an unprepared one that does |
| “This covers most of the test” | Most of the 22 task types respond to material you see for the first time and have no memorisable content |
| “It saves study time” | The time goes on memorising rather than on the mechanical tasks where practice reliably raises the score |
| “Everyone uses them” | Using material taken from a live test breaches the test rules, with consequences for your result |
| Instead of… | Do… | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Memorising essay answers | Learn five structures by question type | Covers any prompt in the category |
| Memorising Describe Image scripts | Learn seven opening sentences by visual type | Removes hesitation without misfitting the image |
| Collecting predicted Retell Lecture topics | Drill the note-taking structure: topic, claim, because, but | Works on any lecture |
| Hunting Write from Dictation lists | Do ten fresh sentences daily plus spelling drill | Purely mechanical and sentence-independent |
| Looking for Repeat Sentence banks | Practise rhythm reproduction on any audio | Fluency is scored and it transfers |
| Predicting Summarize Written Text passages | Drill the 5-75 word single-sentence structure | The constraint is the hard part, not the content |
None of that requires knowing a single live question, and all of it is worth marks on any version of the test.
The structures can: 22 task types with fixed timings and word limits, five essay question types, seven Describe Image visual types and around ten recurring topic domains. Specific live questions cannot be reliably predicted, and material claiming to list them is a poor use of preparation time.
No, on two counts. Item banks rotate so accuracy decays, and using material obtained from a live test breaches the test rules with consequences for your result. The structural prediction on this page comes from the published test design and carries neither risk.
Three: Summarize Written Text is 5 to 75 words, Write Essay is 200 to 300, and Summarize Spoken Text is 50 to 70. PTE Core has different limits for its summary tasks, so check which test your material is for.
On three tasks: Multiple Choice Multiple Answers in Reading, Multiple Choice Multiple Answers in Listening, and Highlight Incorrect Words, where a correct click earns a mark and an incorrect one loses a mark. Everywhere else guessing is free.
Five: opinion, argument, advantages and disadvantages, problem and solution, and cause and effect. Matching your structure to the type is where content marks are decided, and preparing all five costs nothing.
The mechanical tasks that score two skills: Write from Dictation, Repeat Sentence and Listening Fill in the Blanks. They respond directly to volume of practice and are entirely independent of which items you receive, which makes them the most reliable place to gain marks.
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