PTE Reading

Fill in the Blanks

Task 1 - Fill in the Blanks (Drop Down Menu/Reading and Writing) –
Most Important - 2.5 minutes each: (5-6 questions)
Description: This is the very first task of your Reading module. In this task, there will be a
passage with blanks on the screen. Every blank is going to have a drop-down menu
containing approximately 4 words, one of which is the right option and the rest of three
words are wrong. If you choose the right option, you will get one mark each for your Reading
and Writing modules and if you choose the wrong option, you will get a zero. So, there is no
negative marking.
There is one mark for each blank. In the exam, you are going to get 5 to 6 of these questions.
Each question will have anywhere between 4 to 7 total blanks.
Strategy:
1. Read the text without looking at the options.
2. Try to eliminate the options based on grammar, thus one would have fewer options to
choose from.
3. Guess the word which could be there in the blank.
4. Look at the options.
5. Choose the word which best relates to your guess.

Useful resources:
1. Language Academy portal access
2. PTE reading grammar tips and strategies
3. PTE academic collocation list

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Task 4 - Fill in the Blanks (Drag and Drop/Reading Only) – Very
Important - 2.5 minutes each: (4-5 questions)
Description: This is the fourth task of your Reading module. It comes straight after your Re-
Order Paragraphs. In this task, there will be a passage with blanks on the screen. You will
have individual words as options at the bottom of the screen. You must drag and drop the
word from the bottom of the screen to the relevant blank. The total number of options
available will be greater than the total number of blanks. If you choose the right option, you
will get one mark towards your Reading module and if you choose the wrong option, you will
get a zero. Once again, there is no negative marking.

There is one mark for each blank. In the exam, you are going to get 4 to 5 of these questions.
Each question will have anywhere between 3 to 7 total blanks.
Strategy:
1. Read the text and try to understand the context.
2. Try to eliminate the options based on grammar, thus one would have fewer options to
choose from.
3. Guess the word which could be there in the blank.
4. Look at the options.
5. Choose the word which best relates to your guess.
Useful resources:
1. Language Academy portal access
2. PTE reading grammar tips and strategies
3. PTE academic collocation list

Important things to remember:

You must consider the following factors while attempting “Drag and Drop” and “Drop-
down” blanks:

• Context: The word you chose must fit the context and must convey a coherent
meaning.
• Grammar: The word you choose must satisfy the grammar of the sentence.
• Vocabulary: You must know the meaning of the word, otherwise you will not be able
to check if the given word fits the context or not.

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Important grammatical Rules for Reading fill in the blanks:
1. If there is a blank right after an article (a/an/the), there will always be a ‘noun’.
[Article (a/an/the) + Noun]
a. Gerard had a friend who helped him in the time of need.

2. If there is a blank between the article (a/an/the) and the noun, it will always be an
‘adjective’. [Article (a/an/the) + Adjective + Noun]
a. Steve played a great role in the success of his team.

3. If there is a blank right after a possessive pronoun (his, their, her, our, mine, your,
etc.), there will always be a ‘noun’. [Possessive pronoun + Noun]
a. We will use his car tomorrow.

4. If there is a blank between a possessive pronoun (his, their, her, our, mine, your, etc.)
and a noun, there will always be an ‘adjective’. [Possessive pronoun + Adjective +
Noun]
a. She admired your stellar performance in the last month.

5. If there is a blank right after the helping verb (HV) is/am/are/was/were, there will
either be the ‘third form’ or ‘continuous form of the verb’ (with ‘ing’). [HV + third or
continuous form of verb]
a. John is playing football. (Active voice)
b. We were stranded in the mountains because of land sliding. (Passive voice)

6. If there is a blank right after the words be/been, there will either be the ‘third form’ or
‘continuous form of the verb’ (with ‘ing’). [be/been + third or continuous form of
verb]
a. They have been trying to solve the problem for two hours.
b. The project will be completed by next month.

7. If there is a blank right after the word ‘to’, it will be the ‘first form of verb’. [To +
first form of the verb]
a. I am here to represent my client.
b. Certain measures must be taken to rectify the situation.

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 MCQs and Reorder Paragraph
Task 5 – Multiple Choice Questions (Choose Single Answer) – Not very important – 40
seconds each: (1-2 questions)
Description: This is the last task of your Reading module. There will be a question, four
options and a paragraph on the screen. You are required to choose the right option based on
the question asked and the information provided in the paragraph. Out of four options, only
one is correct and the rest of the three are wrong. You will get one mark for one question if
you choose the right option. If you choose the wrong option, you will get a zero.
Strategy:
1. Read and try to understand the question as quickly as possible.
2. Read the options and choose the most appropriate one.
3. Skim through the paragraph and try to look for the keywords mentioned in the
question.

Task 2 – Multiple Choice Questions (Choose Multiple Answers) – Negative Marking -

Not so important – 40 seconds each: (1-2 questions)
Description: This is the second task of your Reading module. There will be a question, four
to seven options and a paragraph on the screen. This time, at least two answers are correct.
You are required to choose the right options based on the question asked and the information
provided in the paragraph. You will get one mark for choosing one right option and minus
one for choosing the wrong option. Do not guess a second or third option, only go for the
second option if you are 100% certain about it. There is negative marking but zero is the
minimum mark that you can get. You will not get an overall negative mark for this question.
Strategy:
1. Read and try to understand the question as quickly as possible.
2. Read the options and choose the most appropriate one.
3. Skim through the paragraph and try to look for the keywords mentioned in the
question.
Important things to remember:
1. Keep going back and forth between the options and the paragraph.
2. You must do it in 40 seconds.
3. Never leave this question unattempted.

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Task 3 – Reorder Paragraph – Important Task – 2:00 minutes each: (2-3 questions)
Description: This is the third task of your Reading module. In this question, you will get
anywhere between three to seven sentences, which have been taken from one paragraph.
Their relative sequence has been shuffled. You are required to put these sentences back into
the original order in which they appeared in the paragraph from which they were taken.
You are going to get three to four such questions in your exam. The maximum marks are one
less than the total number of sentences in any reorder paragraph question. For example, if you
have got five sentences in the reorder paragraph question, the maximum marks for that
question are four. You will get one mark for each right pair irrespective of the relative
position in which the pair appears.
Strategy:
1. Identify the first sentence using the identifiers discussed with the PTE expert.
2. Find out the following sentences using the rules discussed with the PTE expert.
3. Always be mindful of the “references” and “links” between the sentences and use
them to your advantage.
Important things to remember:
• You must finish one reorder paragraph question in 2:30 minutes.
• If you cannot find the first sentence in the first one minute, quit finding it and try to
find the right pairs (refer to the links and rules discussed).
• When found, please take the right pairs to the “right-hand side column” and repeat the
same procedure (find the right pairs) for the sentences still in the “left-hand side of the
column”.

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