As of 2025, the Listening section of the PTE remains structurally unchanged but features stricter scoring criteria. The focus is now more on your ability to understand spoken English, identify key ideas, respond naturally, and write accurately, just like in real academic or real-life situations.
👉 To score high, you must understand each task clearly and apply the right strategy.
🔍 Detailed Task Requirements & Scoring Criteria
✅ 1. Summarize Spoken Text
- Task: You will hear a short spoken report (45–75 seconds) and write a summary for a fellow student who was not present.
- Word Limit: 50–70 words (strictly enforced)
- Time Limit: 10 minutes
- Skills Assessed: Listening + Writing
- Scoring Criteria:
- Content – Are key ideas covered and accurate?
- Form – Is the response between 50–70 words?
- Grammar – Are the sentences well-structured?
- Vocabulary – Is academic and topic-appropriate language used?
- Spelling & Punctuation – Are there any errors?
📝 Template – General Topic with Two Ideas
The lecture was about [main topic].
The speaker discussed [first key idea], giving examples like [example or detail].
They also talked about [second idea], which is important because [short reason].
Overall, the lecture showed that [main message].
✅ 2. Write From Dictation
- Task: Listen to a short sentence (3–5 seconds) and type it exactly as heard.
- Word Limit: Not fixed, but must match the original sentence 100%.
- Time: One sentence per screen
- Skills Assessed: Listening + Writing
- Scoring Criteria:
- Correct Words
- Word Order
- Spelling
✅ 3. Fill in the Blanks (Type-In)
- Task: Listen to a short recording (30–60 seconds) and fill in missing words in a transcript.
- Time: Auto-advances after audio ends
- Skills Assessed: Listening + Spelling
- Scoring Criteria:
- Correct word in correct blank
- Spelling accuracy