A Complete Guide to Score Better in PTE Reading

PTE stands for the Pearson Test of English. The PTE Academic test is one of the world’s leading computer-based tests of the English language for immigration and study abroad purposes. PTE is approved by the Australian government for all visa applications. Other than this, it is also accepted by different institutions in the UK, USA, Canada and New Zealand.

The test taker has to give this completely computer-based exam in a Pearson-authorized test centre. In the PTE exam, the four segments of the English language have been divided into three sections i.e. Speaking and Writing, Reading and Listening.

The scoring pattern of the PTE exam has been precisely explained here.

Many people struggle to get a good score in PTE Reading as they do not have the habit of reading daily. Here, we have shared some useful information including tips for each question type of PTE Reading that will help you get better grades in this module of PTE.

Reading is the second module of PTE. The time given for the PTE Reading section is 32-41 minutes. The test taker has to attempt 19-22 questions which are divided into five different question types.

Following are the five different types of questions in PTE Reading:

1. Multiple Choice Questions (Single Answer)

The test taker will see a passage of 70-90 words on the screen. Also, a question with four options will be displayed on the screen. One will have to read the passage and find the right answer to the question. For each question, there would be a different passage and the test taker will have to answer 2-3 such questions. There is no negative marking for this question type. 1 point will be given for a correct answer and 0 for the incorrect answer.

2. Multiple Choice Questions (Multiple Answers)

This question type is very much similar to the aforementioned question type. However, a few changes make it different. A 100-120 words paragraph would be displayed on the screen along with a question with multiple options. The test taker will have to read the passage and choose two or more than two options for the answer. But in this question type, there is negative marking. For every incorrect answer, a reward of -1 will be given. There would be 2-3 such questions in the Reading section.

3. Reorder paragraph

In this question type of PTE Reading, 4-5 disarranged sentences will be displayed on the screen. These sentences are to be re-arranged in the correct order to make a meaningful paragraph. Some text boxes in a random order will be given that need to dragged and dropped in the right order in an empty text box to make a paragraph. The test taker will earn 1 point for each pair of sentences placed correctly and full marks if the whole paragraph is in correct order. 2-3 such questions will be asked to the test taker.

4. Reading: Fill in the blanks

For this question type, a small paragraph of up to 80 words is displayed on the screen with 3-5 missing words. The test taker has to fill the correct answer in each blank from 6-8 options given along with the paragraph. Not all words in the box are to be used. 1 point for each right answer is given. The test taker is asked 4-5 such questions.

5. Reading and Writing: Fill in the blanks

This is the last question type of the PTE Reading module. This is similar to the fourth question type. A paragraph of up to 80 words is displayed with five blank spaces. Instead of collectively giving options with the paragraph, a set of 4 options is given for each blank. These options are either vocabulary-based or grammar-based. One will have to answer 6-7 such questions.

PTE Reading- Some important tips to follow to get a good score

For Multiple Choice questions

Multiple Choice Questions are one of the easiest questions in PTE. However, these do not have much marks weightage. Therefore, in PTE Reading, do not spend more time in attempting the Multiple Choice Questions (Single Answer).

For such questions, read the question first. After that, you read the paragraph and look for the answer. This will help you understand the context and you will easily find the answers after reading the question. Do not spend more than a minute in the MCQ (Single Answer) type in PTE Reading in order to save time for the next questions.

Beware of the negative marking

You should be very careful while answering the Multiple Choice Questions with multiple answers. You need to keep this thing in mind that there is negative marking for such questions. Finding one answer from a paragraph is easy. However, for choosing the second option, you need to be very careful. Answer only if you are completely sure about it. Else, do not waste time and focus on the other question types of PTE Reading.

For re-ordering paragraph

This task type is very time consuming and tough. Time management in this task type is important as one needs to understand the context of the paragraph first in order to answer.

Firstly, look for the sentence that is an introduction to something. That will be your first sentence. Remember, the sentences starting with pronouns like He, She, They, will not be the first sentences. Also, sometimes years are mentioned in the sentences. One can look for them and arrange the sentences in chronological order. However, this does not work for every question.

Also, keep in mind that you get 1 point for each correct pair of sentences. For example, if the right order for an answer is A, B, C, D, you will get 2 points if you answer it as C, D, A, B.

If you struggle in answering the re-ordering paragraph question type, practice it as much as you can. This will surely help you understand how paragraphs are formed.

Fill in the blanks type questions

Firstly, you need to understand the context of the passage and then you should write answers in the blanks. You can answer the question easily if you have good knowledge of collocations. These are the words which are generally used together. For example, have a break, made a mistake, save money. Having a good understanding of these collocations can help you answer the fill in the blanks questions.

Also, you should be good with the grammar to answer these questions easily. Look for the adjectives and verbs in the options. In most of the questions, if the blank is before the noun, the answer is an adjective. For example, a fat woman, a huge elephant.

Similarly, if the blank is after the noun, the answer can be a verb. For example, the woman is running, the owl is sleeping.

PTE Reading tasks are not very difficult if one practice daily. You can check different PTE Practice and mock tests on FourModules. These are designed by industry experts and will surely help you get better grades.