# PTE Summarize Group Discussion: scoring, examples and practice

Summarize Group Discussion plays a discussion between three people lasting up to 3 minutes, then gives you 10 seconds to prepare and 2 minutes to summarize it aloud.

## The short answer

Summarize Group Discussion plays a conversation between three speakers, lasting up to 3 minutes. You get 10 seconds to prepare and 2 minutes to summarize it aloud. There are 2 to 3 in a test, scored for both Listening and Speaking, and the content score includes a human expert review. It is the longest speaking response in the test.

## Key facts

- **Items per test:** 2-3
- **Prompt length:** Up to 3 minutes
- **Preparation:** 10 seconds
- **Response time:** 2 minutes
- **Skills scored:** Listening and speaking

*Summarize Group Discussion timing: a discussion of up to 3 minutes, 10 seconds to prepare, then 2 minutes to speak.*

| Stage | Time |
| --- | --- |
| Discussion plays | up to 3 min |
| Prepare | 10 sec |
| You speak | 2 min |

*Two minutes is the longest single response in PTE Academic. Plan for three speakers, not three sentences.*

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

## How it's scored

Content rewards the main threads of the discussion and how the speakers relate to each other: who proposed what, who disagreed, and what the group settled on. A list of everything said, in the order it was said, sits lower than a summary that groups the argument.

Two minutes is a long time to speak without notes, so oral fluency matters more here than in the shorter tasks. Long silences and restarts are audible across a two-minute answer in a way they are not across 40 seconds.

> Track speakers by role, not by name: the one who proposed the idea, the one who raised the cost, the one who suggested the compromise.

## Summarize Group Discussion 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 -- a disagreement that resolves**

Recording (played once), transcript:

> Priya: I want to put the four-day week back on the agenda. Two teams in our sector moved to it last year and their output held steady, and we are losing people to firms that offer it. Daniel: My worry is cover, not output. Clients call on Fridays. If half the team is off, someone still has to pick up the phone, and that someone ends up working five days anyway. Priya: Then we stagger the days off. Daniel: That only works if the rota is real, and ours never survives a busy month. Sarah: Could we trial it? Three months, staggered days, and we measure response times on Fridays specifically. If cover holds, we make it permanent. If it does not, we stop and nobody has promised anything. Daniel: I can live with that. Priya: Agreed, three months.

Prompt: Listen once, then summarize the discussion in two minutes.

10 seconds to prepare, then 120 seconds to speak.

Model response: "The group discussed moving to a four-day week. The first speaker argued it would improve retention and pointed to teams elsewhere that kept output steady. The second was skeptical, saying client cover would suffer on the fifth day. The third suggested a trial with staggered days off, and the others agreed that a three-month trial would answer the cover question before any permanent change."

Why it scores: Positions, the objection, the compromise and the outcome. That structure is what the content band means by connected ideas.

**Example 2 -- filling two minutes**

Prompt: You have covered the discussion above in 50 seconds and the recording is still open. What do you say for the remaining 70?

10 seconds to prepare, then 120 seconds to speak.

Model response: Add the reasoning: "The retention argument rested on the cost of replacing staff, which the first speaker said outweighed the lost day."

Why it scores: Expanding on why each speaker held their position uses the time without inventing content. Repeating your summary word for word does not.

**Example 3 -- when speakers overlap**

Recording (played once), transcript:

> Tom: The budget is already committed, we signed the contract in March. Mei: Signed, yes, but the second phase has not started, so -- Tom: It has been allocated. Mei: -- so it can still be moved, that is my point. Tom: Not without going back to the board. Mei: Then we go back to the board.

Prompt: Listen once. If you cannot separate the speakers, summarize the disagreement.

10 seconds to prepare, then 120 seconds to speak.

Model response: "Two of the speakers disagreed about the budget, one arguing it was already committed and the other that it could be moved."

Why it scores: If you cannot separate who said what, summarize the disagreement itself. That is more accurate than guessing at attribution.

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## Common mistakes

| What costs marks | Do this instead |
| --- | --- |
| Trying to note every point from three speakers. | Note one phrase per speaker plus the outcome. Your ears are worth more than your pen here. |
| Running out of things to say at 45 seconds. | Plan to add reasons after positions. Reasons are what the discussion is mostly made of. |
| Reporting the conversation line by line. | Group it: the proposal, the objection, the resolution. |
| Inventing an agreement that never happened. | If the group did not settle, say so. "They did not reach agreement" is accurate content. |

**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. Listen to a three-person podcast segment and summarize it in two minutes without pausing.
2. Practice the shape: topic, position one, position two, objection, outcome.
3. Record and count your silences. Anything over three seconds is worth training out.
4. Build stamina: two-minute answers are tiring, and this is the second-longest single response in the test.

## Common questions

### How long is the Summarize Group Discussion recording?

The discussion runs up to 3 minutes. You then get 10 seconds to prepare and 2 minutes to speak.

### How many speakers are in Summarize Group Discussion?

Three.

### Is Summarize Group Discussion new in PTE?

Yes, it is one of the two task types added for tests taken after 7 August 2025, along with Respond to a Situation.

**Sources**
- [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)

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