# PTE Listening Multiple Choice, Multiple Answers: negative marking explained An 80-120 second recording with more than one correct option, and a point deducted for each wrong one. How to decide how many options to select. ## The short answer Listening: Multiple Choice, Multiple Answers plays a recording of 80 to 120 seconds and asks a question with more than one correct option. There are 2 to 3 in a test. Each correct option scores a point and each incorrect option loses one, so selecting an option you are unsure about can cancel out one you got right. ## Key facts - **Items per test:** 2-3 - **Prompt length:** 80-120 seconds - **Skills scored:** Listening - **Scoring:** +1 per correct option, -1 per incorrect option - **Minimum score:** 0 for the item Timings and scoring rules come from Pearson's task pages and the July 2025 Score Guide, checked 28 September 2026. ## How it's scored This is the listening twin of the reading task with negative marking, and the same arithmetic applies: two certain options beat three uncertain ones. The item cannot score below zero, but a scattergun answer wastes the item. Because the audio plays once, you are choosing from memory and notes rather than rereading. That makes note discipline the difference: mark the options you heard supported while the recording runs, not afterward. > Read the options before the audio starts. Knowing what to listen for turns a two-minute recording into a checklist. ## Listening: Multiple Choice, Multiple Answers examples Worked examples written for this page. Answer each one before you open the model response: memorizing a response is scored as an irrelevant answer in the real test. **Example 1 -- read the options before you play** Recording (played once), transcript: > The bike-share scheme we launched in 2022 has been funded locally from the start, rather than through the national transport grant, which is why we were able to set our own fares. Usage doubled in the second year. It is still concentrated in the flat districts along the river, and we move about four hundred bikes uphill every night to reset the network. The plan for next year is more docking stations in the hill districts, not more bikes. Prompt: Which two statements are supported by the recording? Each wrong tick costs a point. - A. The scheme is paid for by the local authority - B. Bikes are moved overnight to redistribute them - C. The scheme received a national transport grant - D. Usage is spread evenly across the city - E. The plan is to buy more bikes next year Answer: A and B. Each wrong tick costs a point. Model response: A and B. C reverses what the speaker said, and D and E both contradict the last two sentences. Why it scores: The options are on screen before the audio. Reading them first turns listening into checking, which is the single biggest gain available on this task. **Example 2 -- the paraphrase trap** Prompt: The recording said the scheme was funded locally rather than by the national grant. One option says it received national funding. Tick it or leave it? - A. Leave it: the words match but the meaning is reversed - B. Tick it: the words appear in the recording Answer: A. Model response: Leave it. "Rather than" negates everything after it. Why it scores: The words match, the meaning is reversed. Negated statements are the standard distractor in listening multiple choice, and under negative marking one costs you a point you already earned. **Example 3 -- when you only caught two** Prompt: You are confident about two options and vague about a third. How many do you tick? - A. Two: the ones you actually heard - B. Three: a vague memory is still a memory - C. One: the safest of the two Answer: A. Model response: Two. A wrong third cancels one of them, leaving one point instead of two. Why it scores: Scoring is +1 per correct option and -1 per wrong one. Only add a third option if you are as sure of it as you were of the first two. **Three questions is a warm-up, not practice** 20,000+ PTE practice questions across all 22 task types, 20+ full mocks and 20+ sectional tests, with instant AI scoring on speaking and writing. Practise any task type with AI scoring, then take sectional tests and full mocks in the app. [Start practicing free](https://app.testmigo.com/register) ## Common mistakes | What costs marks | Do this instead | | --- | --- | | Selecting every option that sounds familiar. | Familiar wording is how distractors work. Select what you heard stated, not what you heard mentioned. | | Reading the options for the first time after the audio. | Skim them during the preview. You cannot replay the recording. | | Selecting one option only. | There is more than one correct answer by design. | | Forgetting the negative marking and guessing widely. | This and Highlight Incorrect Words are the only two tasks that deduct. Be precise here, generous everywhere else. | **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) ## How to practice 1. Practice previewing options in 15 seconds and marking them live during the audio. 2. Score with the real +1/-1 rule so over-selection has a visible cost. 3. Drill negation: not, rather than, instead of, failed to. These flip an option's truth. 4. Work with recordings at natural speed; slowed audio trains the wrong reflexes. ## Common questions ### Does PTE listening have negative marking? On this task and on Highlight Incorrect Words, yes. Every other listening task has no deduction, so answer those in full. ### How long is the recording? 80 to 120 seconds, played once. ### Can I take notes during the audio? Yes, and marking the options as you hear them supported is the most reliable method. **Sources** - [Pearson: PTE Academic Listening task types (checked 28 September 2026)](https://www.pearsonpte.com/pte-academic/test-format/listening) - [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) [Practice Listening: Multiple Choice, Multiple Answers free](https://testmigo.com/pte)