Reorder Paragraphs gives you a text of up to 110 words broken into boxes in the wrong order, and asks you to restore the sequence. It is a Part 2 Reading task, scored with partial credit on adjacent pairs.
That scoring detail changes the strategy: you are credited for each correctly adjacent pair, not for the whole sequence. Getting three of five boxes in the right relative order still scores.
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| Element | Detail |
|---|---|
| Text length | Up to 110 words |
| Boxes | Typically 4-5 |
| Skill scored | Reading |
| Scoring | Partial credit on adjacent pairs |
| Part | Part 2, Reading |
With five boxes there are four adjacent pairs. A sequence with two pairs correct earns half the available marks, which is why an incomplete attempt is always better than none.
| Signal | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| Full noun phrase with no article referring back (“Coastal salt marsh sits…”) | Likely the opening box |
| A pronoun (it, they, this, these) | Cannot be first; the referent is in an earlier box |
| Definite article with a specific noun (“the reclassification”) | That thing was introduced earlier |
| Connective (However, Therefore, In addition, Instead) | Names the relationship to the previous box |
| Ordinal or sequencing language (First, The second, Finally) | Fixes relative order directly |
| A dated or numbered fact | Chronology may fix the sequence |
| A conclusion marker (“What this illustrates is…”) | Almost always the last box |
| A repeated key term | Its first appearance comes before its later ones |
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A. This delay is the whole benefit in a storm event, because it flattens the peak flow that overwhelms drains. B. Urban trees deliver three distinct benefits, of which the hydrological one is the least discussed. C. Leaf surfaces intercept rainfall, which delays the moment water reaches the drainage system rather than reducing the total volume. D. Cities that price this benefit at all tend to do so by comparing it with the cost of engineered attenuation ponds. E. Those comparisons flatter the trees, since a pond is designed to a specification and a tree is not. |
| Position | Box | Why |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | B | Introduces the subject with no backward reference and announces the topic |
| 2 | C | Explains the hydrological benefit that B named; introduces “delays” |
| 3 | A | “This delay” points directly back to C |
| 4 | D | “this benefit” refers to the benefit described in C and A |
| 5 | E | “Those comparisons” refers to the comparisons in D |
Every position after the first is fixed by a backward reference: this delay, this benefit, those comparisons. Find the box with no backward reference and the rest is a chain.
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A. The result is that headline vacancy figures describe a market no individual building is in. B. Commercial landlords spent a decade assuming demand for office space would return to its previous level. C. Instead the market has divided: well-connected refurbished buildings let at or above old rents, while older stock in secondary locations struggles. D. That assumption now looks optimistic. |
| Position | Box | Why |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | B | No backward reference; names the actors and the assumption |
| 2 | D | “That assumption” refers to B |
| 3 | C | “Instead” contrasts with the expectation D has just undermined |
| 4 | A | “The result” follows from the division described in C |
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A. Uptake correlates poorly with rainfall and strongly with water pricing. B. Rainwater harvesting is old technology with a new justification. C. Cisterns appear in Bronze Age settlements; what has changed is the reason for building them, which is now as much about drainage as supply. D. Cities with abundant rain and cheap water install little, while cities with volumetric charging install a great deal regardless of climate. |
| Position | Box | Why |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | B | Topic sentence; “old technology with a new justification” sets up C |
| 2 | C | Gives the old and the new that B announced |
| 3 | A | Moves to a new claim, stated generally |
| 4 | D | Gives the examples that demonstrate A’s claim |
A and D are the pair to identify: a general claim followed by the evidence for it. General before specific is the most common ordering relationship after backward reference.
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A. Whether the reclassification caused those reversals is contested. B. Public libraries in many countries have been moved in local accounts from cultural services to community infrastructure. C. One consequence is that authorities still reporting only items issued are reporting decline in services that are busier than before. D. The change is administrative but not trivial: infrastructure budgets are protected in a way cultural budgets are not, and several authorities reversed scheduled branch closures within two years. E. Library use itself continued to change, with book lending falling while computer use and study space bookings rose. |
| Position | Box | Why |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | B | Introduces “the change” that D refers to |
| 2 | D | “The change” points back to B; introduces the reversals |
| 3 | A | “those reversals” points back to D |
| 4 | E | “Library use itself” shifts topic, using “itself” to mark the shift |
| 5 | C | “One consequence” follows from the change in use described in E |
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A. Displacement is the most persistent of these problems. B. Health-based valuations of green space estimate avoided treatment costs from increased physical activity. C. The stronger designs therefore compare whole neighbourhoods rather than park visitors. D. Each link in that chain carries an assumption: that the activity is additional, that the association is causal, and that the health system would have borne the cost. |
| Position | Box | Why |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | B | Introduces the method and the chain of inference |
| 2 | D | “that chain” refers to the inference in B |
| 3 | A | “these problems” refers to the assumptions listed in D |
| 4 | C | “therefore” follows from the displacement problem in A |
| Error | Fix |
|---|---|
| Leaving the boxes unmoved | An unordered attempt scores nothing; a partial order scores |
| Starting with a box containing a pronoun | Pronouns need an antecedent, so that box cannot be first |
| Ordering by topic similarity rather than reference | Follow the explicit backward references first |
| Ignoring connectives | “Instead”, “therefore” and “however” each name a relationship to one specific box |
| Not reading the final order back | Twenty seconds catches most wrong adjacencies |
| Spending too long on one set | Each pair is one mark; a near-miss order is worth most of them |
With partial credit on adjacent pairs. With five boxes there are four pairs, and each correctly adjacent pair earns a mark, so a sequence that is partly right still scores. That is why leaving the boxes unmoved is the worst possible choice.
Up to 110 words in total, usually split into four or five boxes. It contributes to your Reading score.
Look for the box with no backward reference: no pronouns such as it, they or this pointing at something unstated, no definite article naming something not yet introduced, and no connective. It normally introduces the subject with a full noun phrase.
Use general before specific. A claim stated generally comes before the examples or evidence that demonstrate it, and a method comes before the problems with that method.
No. Negative marking in PTE Core applies to the Multiple Choice, Multiple Answers tasks in Reading and Listening. Reorder Paragraphs uses partial credit, so an attempt can only gain marks.
Enough to read every box once and place the opening and closing boxes, then chain the middle. Because each adjacent pair scores independently, a fast near-correct order beats a slow perfect one that costs you a later task.
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