“Question prediction” is sold two ways for PTE Core. One is a file of supposedly leaked live questions. The other is a map of what recurs structurally — formats, prompt situations, topic domains — which is knowable from the published test design and from what the tasks have to be.
This page is the second kind. The first kind is not something to plan a test around, for reasons set out below.
|
Want to FINALLY Pass the PTE Core Test And Achieve Your Goals? Get Your FREE Lume Account Today to Unlock… ✅ 10,000+ PRACTICE QUESTIONS with detailed answers ✅ FREE MOCK TESTS with fast & accurate AI scoring ✅ Get BETTER SCORES with a PERSONALIZED study plan (Limited seats available!) |
These do not change between sittings, and knowing them exactly is worth real marks.
| Predictable | Value |
|---|---|
| The 20 question types and their order within each part | You never lose seconds working out what the task is |
| Preparation and response times for every speaking task | You pace to the clock instead of guessing |
| The three word limits: 25-50, 80-120, 20-30 | Breaches are pure avoidable loss |
| Which two tasks carry negative marking | Changes your selection discipline on those items only |
| Which tasks score two skills | Tells you where practice time returns most |
| That Personal Introduction is unscored | Removes the nerves from the first thing you do |
Write Email prompts are workplace and everyday scenarios with two or three points to cover. The situations recur.
| Situation type | Typical prompt | Points usually required |
|---|---|---|
| Request | Ask your manager for leave, an extension or equipment | What, why, how the impact is managed |
| Complaint | A damaged item, a poor service, a billing error | Order details, the problem, the remedy you want |
| Enquiry | A course, a service, a membership, a property | What you saw, your questions, your situation |
| Information | An office move, a schedule change, a new procedure | What and when, what people must do, who to contact |
| Apology | A missed deadline, an error in a document, a cancelled meeting | What happened, why, what you have done about it |
| Invitation | An event, a meeting, a social occasion | What and when, why this person, practical details |
| Declining | An invitation or a request you cannot meet | Thanks, the refusal, the reason, an alternative |
Seven situations, and a template for each covers nearly any prompt you will see. That is the useful form of prediction: not knowing the prompt, but having a structure ready for its type.
| Situation type | Your first sentence |
|---|---|
| A colleague has done you a favour | Thank them specifically, then say what it meant |
| You have to cancel on someone | Apologise, state the cancellation, offer an alternative |
| Someone asks for help you cannot give now | Acknowledge, decline for now, propose a time |
| A neighbour complains about something you did | Apologise, explain briefly, say what you will change |
| You need to complain about a service | State the problem, then what you would like done |
| You have to give someone bad news | Say it in the first sentence, then the reason |
| Someone has achieved something | Congratulate, name the achievement, add a personal note |
| You need to make a suggestion | Frame it as a suggestion, then give it, then the benefit |
With 20 seconds of preparation, having a first sentence ready for each of these eight is the difference between speaking for 40 seconds and speaking for 25.
The texts and recordings are new every time, but the domains they come from do not change much.
| Domain | Where it appears | Vocabulary to have ready |
|---|---|---|
| Workplace and employment | Write Email, Respond to a Situation, Reading texts | retention, cover, appraisal, procedure, deadline |
| Services and consumer | Write Email, Reading, Listening | refund, warranty, invoice, subscription, deposit |
| Urban life and transport | Reading, Listening, Describe Image | congestion, capacity, consolidation, zone, permit |
| Environment | Reading, Listening, Summarize tasks | emissions, sediment, canopy, attenuation, drainage |
| Education and training | Reading, Listening, Write Email | enrolment, curriculum, assessment, credential |
| Research and data | Summarize Spoken Text, Listening MC, Reading | sample, correlation, methodology, baseline, proxy |
| Health and public services | Reading, Listening | referral, provision, eligibility, screening, threshold |
| Property and facilities | Write Email, Reading | lease, tenant, maintenance, occupancy, access |
Eight domains, and the vocabulary column is what to prepare. That is the honest limit of topic prediction: it tells you which words to know, not which text you will get.
| Visual type | Your opening sentence | What to 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 segment, smallest, 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 or three stages, output |
| Map | “This map shows [place] and its [features].” | Orientation, two or three features, one relationship |
| Photograph | “This photograph shows [scene].” | Setting, main subject, one detail |
The image is unpredictable; its type is one of seven. Having an opening sentence per type removes the hesitation that costs fluency marks in the first five seconds.
| Claim | Problem |
|---|---|
| “These are the current live questions” | Item banks rotate, and a file that was 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 80 percent of the test” | Twelve of the twenty task types have no memorisable content at all — they respond to material you see for the first time |
| “Prediction files save study time” | The time goes on memorising instead of on the mechanical tasks where practice reliably raises the score |
Beyond accuracy, using material obtained from a live test breaches the test rules, with consequences for your result. The structural prediction on this page is available from the published test design and carries none of that risk.
| Instead of… | Do… | Why it works |
|---|---|---|
| Memorising Write Email answers | Learn seven templates by situation 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 Summarize texts | Drill the 25-50 and 20-30 word structures | The limit is the hard part, not the content |
| Hunting Write from Dictation sentence lists | Do ten fresh sentences daily and drill spelling | The skill is mechanical and transfers to any sentence |
| Looking for Repeat Sentence banks | Practise rhythm reproduction on any audio | Fluency is scored, and it is sentence-independent |
None of that requires knowing a single live question, and all of it is worth marks on any version of the test.
The formats, timings, word limits, scoring rules and prompt situation types can, and those are worth memorising. Specific live questions cannot be reliably predicted, and material claiming to list them is a poor use of preparation time.
They are a bad bet on two counts. Item banks rotate, so accuracy decays, and using material taken from a live test breaches the test rules with consequences for your result. Structural prediction from the published test design gives you most of the practical benefit with none of that.
The situation types. Requests, complaints, enquiries, information announcements, apologies, invitations and declines cover almost every prompt, and having a template for each means you spend your nine minutes on content rather than structure.
Around eight recur: workplace, consumer services, urban transport, environment, education, research and data, health and public services, and property. The texts are new every time, so the useful preparation is the vocabulary rather than the content.
No, but memorise an opening sentence for each of the seven visual types. That removes the hesitation in the first five seconds, which is where fluency marks are most easily lost, without producing an answer that misfits the actual image.
The mechanical tasks. Write from Dictation, Repeat Sentence and Read Aloud respond directly to volume of practice and are entirely independent of which items you get, which makes them the most reliable place to gain marks.
|
Want to FINALLY Pass the PTE Core Test And Achieve Your Goals? Get Your FREE Lume Account Today to Unlock… ✅ 10,000+ PRACTICE QUESTIONS with detailed answers ✅ FREE MOCK TESTS with fast & accurate AI scoring ✅ Get BETTER SCORES with a PERSONALIZED study plan (Limited seats available!) |
Share
Lume Test
Editor
Lume Test is a leading platform offering practice questions and mock tests for major English exams like PTE, IELTS, TOEIC, Duolingo English Test, and more. We provide up-to-date, comprehensive materials designed to help learners improve their language skills and achieve high scores. With expert-crafted tests that closely mirror real exam formats, Lume Test ensures you're fully prepared for success. Your goals are our mission!
