# PTE Listening: the 12 tasks that decide your score

Twelve PTE task types feed your Listening score, more than any other skill. Eight sit in Part 3, which runs 31 to 39 minutes. What each one asks, how long its audio runs, and a timed item you can try now.

## Which tasks decide your Listening score

Twelve of the 22 PTE task types feed your Listening score, more than feed any other skill. Eight are in Part 3, which runs 31 to 39 minutes, and four more are spoken tasks back in Part 1: Repeat Sentence, Re-tell Lecture, Answer Short Question and Summarize Group Discussion. Every recording plays once, so this score is settled while the audio is running rather than afterward.

Timings and scoring rules come from Pearson's task pages and the July 2025 Score Guide, checked 28 September 2026.

- **Tasks that feed it:** 12 of 22
- **Where they sit:** Parts 1 and 3
- **Part 3 length:** 31-39 minutes
- **Items in Part 3:** 15-22
- **Scale:** 10-90
- **Longest recording:** 3 minutes, Summarize Group Discussion

| Task | Items per test | Timing | Scoring |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [Repeat Sentence](/pte/task-types/repeat-sentence) | 10-12 | Prompt length: 3-9 seconds, played once; Response time: 15 seconds | Content, oral fluency, pronunciation |
| [Re-tell Lecture](/pte/task-types/re-tell-lecture) | 2-3 | Prompt length: Up to 90 seconds; Preparation: 10 seconds; Response time: 40 seconds | [How it's scored](/pte/task-types/re-tell-lecture#how-its-scored) |
| [Answer Short Question](/pte/task-types/answer-short-question) | 5-6 | Prompt length: 3-9 seconds; Response time: 10 seconds | Correct or incorrect, 1 point for a correct response |
| [Summarize Group Discussion](/pte/task-types/summarize-group-discussion) | 2-3 | Prompt length: Up to 3 minutes; Preparation: 10 seconds; Response time: 2 minutes | [How it's scored](/pte/task-types/summarize-group-discussion#how-its-scored) |
| [Summarize Spoken Text](/pte/task-types/summarize-spoken-text) | 1 | Prompt length: 60-90 seconds; Response: 50-70 words | Content, form, grammar, vocabulary, spelling |
| [Listening: Multiple Choice, Multiple Answers](/pte/task-types/listening-multiple-choice-multiple-answers) | 2-3 | Prompt length: 80-120 seconds | +1 per correct option, -1 per incorrect option |
| [Listening: Fill in the Blanks](/pte/task-types/listening-fill-in-the-blanks) | 2-3 | Prompt length: 30-60 seconds | 1 point per correct word spelled correctly |
| [Highlight Correct Summary](/pte/task-types/highlight-correct-summary) | 2-3 | Prompt length: 30-90 seconds | Correct or incorrect, no penalty |
| [Listening: Multiple Choice, Single Answer](/pte/task-types/listening-multiple-choice-single-answer) | 2-3 | Prompt length: 30-90 seconds | Correct or incorrect, no penalty |
| [Select Missing Word](/pte/task-types/select-missing-word) | 1-2 | Prompt length: 20-70 seconds | Correct or incorrect, no penalty |
| [Highlight Incorrect Words](/pte/task-types/highlight-incorrect-words) | 2-3 | Prompt length: 15-50 seconds | +1 per correct word, -1 per incorrect word |
| [Write from Dictation](/pte/task-types/write-from-dictation) | 3-4 | Prompt length: 3-5 seconds | 1 point per correct word spelled correctly |

*Compiled by Testmigo from Pearson's own task pages. Each task links to its own rules.*

## How long the audio runs

Part 3 plays every recording once. How long it runs is how much you have to hold onto before you can answer.

*Longest recording per Part 3 task: Write from Dictation 5 seconds, Highlight Incorrect Words 50, Listening Fill in the Blanks 60, Select Missing Word 70, Highlight Correct Summary 90, Multiple Choice Single Answer 90, Summarize Spoken Text 90, Multiple Choice Multiple Answers 120.*

|  | seconds |
| --- | --- |
| Write from Dictation | 5 |
| Highlight Incorrect Words | 50 |
| Fill in the Blanks | 60 |
| Select Missing Word | 70 |
| Highlight Correct Summary | 90 |
| Multiple choice, one answer | 90 |
| Summarize Spoken Text | 90 |
| Multiple choice, several | 120 |

*Pearson's published maximums for Part 3. Above about a minute, notes stop being optional.*

## How the score is built

Listening reaches further than any other score because four spoken tasks in Part 1 are marked for it too. A Speaking score that will not move is often a listening problem: Repeat Sentence and Re-tell Lecture both fail when the input did not land.

Write from Dictation is the densest item in the part. It gives a point for every word you spell correctly, takes nothing off for a wrong one, and also feeds your Writing score. Three to four of them appear in a test.

> Two Part 3 tasks cancel a right answer with a wrong one: Listening: Multiple Choice, Multiple Answers and Highlight Incorrect Words. Everywhere else in the part, a guess is free.

## How to spend the clock

Four habits that protect the score more than extra vocabulary does.

1. Take notes during the recording, not after it. Nothing replays, and the answer options stay on screen once the audio stops.
2. On Highlight Incorrect Words, read along with the transcript at the speaker's pace. Falling behind turns the task into a memory test.
3. Type Write from Dictation as you hear it, then fix spelling in the seconds after. Reconstructing the whole sentence from memory loses words at both ends.
4. Spend the preview seconds on the question, not the options. Knowing what to listen for beats recognizing an option you half heard.

## Practice Listening free

One full PTE mock and one sectional test per skill are free, with question-bank practice and 100 AI scoring coins a month. No card required. A sectional test is the same engine as a full mock, one skill at a time, so you can fix listening without sitting two hours.

- **Questions in the bank:** 20,000+
- **Sectional tests:** 20+
- **Full mocks:** 20+
- **Listening task types:** 12

**Know the score you are aiming at** Put a target into the PTE score calculator to see the visa band it reaches, the points it is worth, and how far off you are. [Open the PTE score calculator](/pte/score-calculator)

## Common questions

### How many PTE tasks count toward the Listening score?

Twelve, which is more than any other skill. Eight are in Part 3 and four are spoken tasks in Part 1: Repeat Sentence, Re-tell Lecture, Answer Short Question and Summarize Group Discussion.

### How long is the PTE listening section?

Part 3 runs 31 to 39 minutes and holds 15 to 22 items. The four Part 1 tasks that also feed the score are timed separately, inside that part's 76 to 84 minutes.

### Why is my PTE Listening score lower than my Speaking?

Usually because the four Part 1 tasks are pulling it down. Repeat Sentence, Re-tell Lecture, Answer Short Question and Summarize Group Discussion are all scored for listening, so mishearing a prompt costs both scores at once.

### Which PTE listening task is worth the most marks?

Write from Dictation, by density. Each correct word spelled correctly is a point, there is no penalty for a wrong word, and it feeds your Writing score too. Three to four items appear in a test.

**Sources**
- [Pearson: PTE Academic Listening task types (checked 28 September 2026)](https://www.pearsonpte.com/pte-academic/test-format/listening)
- [Pearson: PTE Academic Speaking & Writing task types (checked 28 September 2026)](https://www.pearsonpte.com/pte-academic/test-format/speaking-writing)
- [Pearson: PTE Academic Test Taker Score Guide, July 2025 (PDF)](https://www.pearsonpte.com/ctf-assets/yqwtwibiobs4/WUcBAMkYCC9Dj5vs2HfVA/941d88d07ba7c2a5007f7ce1b18eedbf/Score_Guide__Test_Taker__-_PTE_Academic_-_July_2025__web_.pdf)