PTE · LISTENING SAMPLES

PTE® Listening Practice Questions

PTE Listening Sample Questions and Responses

Practice with sample questions and get detailed explanations for all PTE Listening tasks: Summarize Spoken Text, Multiple Choice (Multiple), Fill in the Blanks, Highlight Correct Summary, Multiple Choice (Single), Select Missing Word, Highlight Incorrect Words, and Write From Dictation.

Task 1: Summarize Spoken Text

You will hear a short report. Write a summary for a fellow student who was not present. You should write 50-70 words.

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Sample 1: Storytelling

0:00 0:57

Write your summary (50-70 words):

Sample Answer:

Storytelling was the main topic of the audio. Firstly, it was clear that it is more than entertainment, as it influences our values and beliefs. Moreover, the speaker mentioned the impacts of digital media and various challenges associated with them. Furthermore, we learned that meaningful stories preserve our traditions and cultural heritage. To conclude, he asserted that storytelling is a central part of our culture and generations.

Sample 2: Biodiversity

0:00 1:00

Write your summary (50-70 words):

Sample Answer:

The lecture is mainly about climate change, while the impacts of new technology such as earth and ecosystems are important: the effects of habitat such as food and water are remarkable. Finally, the influence of networks such as global and saving are significant. Overall, the lecture was quite informative as it provided some valuable information regarding biodiversity.

Task 2: Multiple Choice (Multiple)

Listen to the recording and answer the question by selecting all the correct responses. You will need to select more than one response.

Sample 1: Average Unemployment

0:00 1:38

What can be said about social economy?

A) It is a system to help young people build basic job skills. B) It is a system to help young people work in a profitable company. C) It is part of the welfare system to help long-term unemployed people. D) It refers to the social assistance system to help farmers find a decent job.

Correct Answers: A, C

The social economy helps young people build basic job skills by focusing on training and education, especially targeting those who have never worked before. It is also part of the welfare system to assist long-term unemployed people, particularly those whose traditional industry skills are no longer in demand.

Task 3: Fill in the Blanks

Read more about Fill in the Blanks

You will hear a recording. Type the missing words in each blank.

Sample 1: Diplomatic Immunity

0:00 0:50

Spanish police say they have the driver of the van that mowed down crowds walking along Barcelona's main tourist street last Thursday, killing 13 people. They haven't named him, but he's understood to be Younes Abouyaaqoub, a 22-year-old born in Morocco. Police say he may have the country. A South African court has given for an online auction of rhino horns despite a global trade ban. The authorities have tried to stop the 3-day auction. There's a great demand for rhino horns in Vietnam and China with their use in traditional medicines. The South African government has that it granted diplomatic immunity to Zimbabwe's First Lady, Grace Mugabe, enabling her to return home despite being of assaulting a model in Johannesburg. The government said it was imperative to good relations with Zimbabwe.

Correct Answers:

[0] identified, [1] fled, [2] permission, [3] confirmed, [4] accused, [5] maintain

Task 4: Highlight Correct Summary

You will hear a recording. Click on the paragraph that best relates to the recording.

Sample 1: Ernest Hemingway

0:00 1:31

Click on the paragraph that best relates to the recording.

A) The main point is to question whether the biographical facts of a writer's life are of any importance in evaluating his work. Hemingway is the example used here, and there does seem to be a direct connection between the events of his life and those in his books, but knowing this should not get in the way of a true critical judgement of the works.

B) The writer Ernest Hemingway had a particularly eventful and exciting life and a lot of his real-life experiences got into his books. The speaker thinks this is irrelevant and doesn't believe that having lived such a full life makes the books any better, but he regrets that people now would prefer to read the biographies of writers rather than the books they wrote.

C) It is difficult to tell whether the speaker approves of Hemingway's lifestyle or not. He was famously macho and spent a lot of time hunting wild animals, going to wars and getting into fights. All these things got into his books, and the speaker thinks that this is not necessarily a good thing as it means that too many people prefer to read about his life than read his books.

Correct Answer: A

The correct option is A because it encapsulates the central theme of the transcript: the debate over the influence of a writer's biography on evaluating their work, using Ernest Hemingway as an example.

Task 5: Multiple Choice (Single)

Listen to the recording and answer the single-choice question by selecting the correct response. Only one response is correct.

Sample 1: Tests and Grades

0:00 0:55

What do students have to do to get good grades?

A) They must study the handouts and actively participate in the class. B) They must get a good score on the written test. C) They have to study more for the oral test. D) Only class participation is important.

Correct Answer: A

In the lecture, the speaker emphasizes two key activities that students need to engage in to secure good grades: actively participating in class and studying the provided handouts.

Task 6: Select Missing Word

Read more about Select Missing Word

You will hear a recording about fiction writing. At the end of the recording the lost word or group of words has been replaced by a beep. Select the correct option to complete the recording.

Sample 1: Computerized Workplace

0:00 0:46

At the end of the recording the lost word or group of words has been replaced by a beep. Select the correct option to complete the recording.

A) on the cellphones B) in the movies C) parking lot D) in your brain

Correct Answer: C

The correct answer is "parking lot" as it completes the sentence about looking at objects that are far away, like something outside the building across the street, or the tree in the parking lot.

Task 7: Highlight Incorrect Words

You will hear a recording. Below is a transcription of the recording. Some words in the transcription differ from what the speaker said. Please click on the words that are different.

Sample 1: Testing of Lie

0:00 1:01

When we lie, our brains work hard to make sure we get the story right and come off as truthful. Law enforcement officials try to tap into that effort, for example with polygraphs, to find out if a suspect is telling the truth. But such stress tests are beatable and not admissible in court. Now comes a report that handwriting tests could be a competitor to the familiar, but unreliable lie detector. The study appears in the Journal of Applied adjective Psychology. Researchers at Israel's Haifa University worked with 34 volunteers, who wrote truthful and false paragraphs on paper using a wireless workaholic pen and a pressure sensitive tip. A computerized system measured pressure and stroke duration, both on the paper and in the air. Spatial measures, such as stroke length, height and width were also tracked. And the itemise found significant differences in pressure and spatial measures in intersubjective statements compared with the truth. The investigators say they need to vaccinate this initial result and compare the technique with polygraphs and other lie detection tools. But perhaps in the future even a written claim of innocence could turn out to be a de facto confession.

Incorrect Words:

adjective → cognitive, workaholic → electronic, itemise → scientists, intersubjective → deceptive, vaccinate → validate

Task 8: Write From Dictation

You will hear a sentence. Type the sentence in the box below exactly as you hear it. Write as much of the sentence as you can. You will hear the sentence only once.

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