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PTE Read Aloud practice, marked word by word

Read a text of up to 60 words aloud, after 30 to 40 seconds to prepare. Each word you skip, change or add counts as an error.

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By Thanh Tran, PTE and IELTS coach
Updated

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Part 1 of 3: Speaking and writing

Preparation time. Recording starts when it ends.

Look at the text below. In 30 seconds, you must read this text aloud as naturally and clearly as possible. You have 40 seconds to read aloud.

Recorded Answer

Current Status : Beginning in 23 seconds

Many universities now ask first-year students to keep a short learning journal. Writing a few lines after each class helps students notice what they understood and what they still need to review.

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A Read Aloud question in a PTE Academic mock test on Leap Exam, shown on a laptop

Key facts

The text

Up to 60 words

Time to prepare

30 to 40 seconds

Time to read aloud

30 to 40 seconds, depending on the length of the text

Recording

Once, starting after a short tone

In each test

6 or 7 questions

Skills scored

Speaking

Questions to practise

Over 750, from real tests and Pearson's practice tests

What it is worth

4%of your overall score

Speaking
9% of the skill score

How it's scored

Our engine marks every missed word in the text and shows content out of 5, since Pearson's maximum depends on the length of the text.

Speaking, Read Aloud

Question 4 of 10

Graded

12 / 15

Content
5 / 5

Words from the text you read, in order, shown out of 5

Pronunciation
4 / 5

How easily most listeners understand your speech

Oral fluency
3 / 5

A smooth, natural pace without hesitations or restarts

Every word was read in order, but some hesitations lowered oral fluency to 3.

Practise Read Aloud

Use the preparation time

Pearson's own advice is to practise the text silently, find the hard words and use the punctuation to plan your pauses.

  1. Read the whole text silently once, from start to finish.

  2. Find long or unfamiliar words and say them silently a few times.

  3. Use the commas and full stops to split the text into short chunks, and plan a small pause after each one.

  4. Start speaking right after the tone, at your normal speed and volume.

  5. If you miss a word or say it wrong, keep reading without going back.

  6. Stop when the text ends, even if there is time left.

Common mistakes

  • Skipping words or lines

  • Adding or changing words

  • Going back to fix a word

  • Long silences

    If you're silent for three seconds, the microphone closes.

  • Reading slowly to fill the time

Practise next

Common questions

What happens if I stop speaking in Read Aloud?

If you're silent for three seconds, the microphone closes, even if you haven't finished. The same happens if you wait more than three seconds to start. You can't go back, so keep reading through small mistakes.

How is Read Aloud scored in PTE?

On three traits: content, pronunciation and oral fluency. Content counts the words you read correctly, and each word you skip, change or add counts as one error. Pronunciation and oral fluency are each rated from 0 to 5.

How many Read Aloud questions are in the PTE exam?

Pearson's Score Guide lists 6 or 7 in each test. They're the first scored questions you meet, right after an unscored personal introduction.

How much time do you get for Read Aloud?

You get 30 to 40 seconds to prepare and then 30 to 40 seconds to read. The exact time depends on the length of the text, which is up to 60 words.

Does accent matter in PTE Read Aloud?

No. Pearson accepts regional and national accents if most regular speakers can understand them. You lose marks only when your speech is hard to understand.

Is it OK to finish Read Aloud early?

Yes. Pearson says it's fine to finish before the timer reaches zero, so don't slow down to fill the time.

Get the score you need

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