PTE Highlight Incorrect Words and Select Missing Word: how they affect your Listening and Reading scores
Two small PTE Academic Listening tasks, two very different scoring rules. One can take points away from you. The other never can. Knowing which is which changes how you answer.
Both tasks sit in the Listening part of PTE Academic, near the end of the test. Students often treat them the same way: listen, click, move on. But Pearson scores them differently, and they feed into different skills on your score report.
| Task | Counts towards | Scoring |
|---|---|---|
| Highlight Incorrect Words | Listening and Reading | 1 point for each correct word you click, 1 point taken away for each wrong click, never below 0 |
| Select Missing Word | Listening only | 1 point if right, 0 if wrong or left empty |
Pearson does not publish how many points each task adds to your final 10 to 90 score, so I will not guess a number for you. What we do know is the rule for each answer, and that is enough to decide how to play them.
Highlight Incorrect Words
You see a transcript on screen and hear a recording of about 15 to 50 seconds. Some words in the transcript are different from what the speaker says. You click the words that are different.
Because this task counts towards both Listening and Reading, a careless click costs you in two places, and a good click earns in two places. The changed words are often ordinary words swapped for one that is similar in sound or opposite in meaning, like open and close.
You are not sure about one word. It might have been report or record.
Select Missing Word
You hear a recording of about 20 to 70 seconds. At the end, a word or a group of words is replaced by a beep. You choose the option that best completes it. There is one correct answer.
Recording: ...so the cost of solar panels has fallen every year, and more households than ever are now choosing to (beep). Options: move abroad, install them, sell their homes, reduce taxes
Select Missing Word counts towards Listening only. There are no minus points, so never leave it empty.
A routine for both tasks
- Highlight Incorrect Words: before the audio starts, put your eyes on the first word of the transcript.
- Follow each word with your eyes or the mouse pointer as the speaker talks. Click the moment a word is different.
- Do not go back and click words at the end because they look suspicious. Only click what you heard.
- Select Missing Word: read the options quickly before the audio starts, then listen for the topic and the direction of the talk.
- If you miss the ending, choose the option that fits the topic best. Never leave it empty.
- Practise both in the real format. NextBand students do this in the NextBand Room between classes.
For another Listening task that counts towards two skills, read PTE Write from Dictation: the small task worth big marks.
Exam rules change. Always check with the exam provider and the organisation you are applying to.
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