PTE Academic Writing Skills 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: In PTE Academic's 'Summarize Written Text' task, what is the strict word limit for your response?
- Between 5 and 75 words (Correct answer)
- Between 10 and 100 words
- Exactly 50 words
- Between 20 and 150 words
Correct answer: Between 5 and 75 words
The Summarize Written Text response must be a single sentence between 5 and 75 words.
Question 2: How much time is allocated for each 'Summarize Written Text' item in PTE Academic?
- 5 minutes
- 10 minutes (Correct answer)
- 15 minutes
- 20 minutes
Correct answer: 10 minutes
Each Summarize Written Text item has a 10-minute time limit.
Question 3: Which aspect of the 'Summarize Written Text' task contributes to your Reading score as well as Writing?
- Grammar accuracy
- Vocabulary range
- Content coverage of the source text (Correct answer)
- Sentence length
Correct answer: Content coverage of the source text
Because you must comprehend the passage to summarize it, the Content score component feeds into both Reading and Writing scores.
Question 4: A student writes a summary that omits the main point of the passage but uses perfect grammar. What score dimension suffers most?
- Form
- Grammar
- Vocabulary
- Content (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Content
Content is scored on how well the main idea of the source is captured, so missing it costs Content points regardless of grammatical accuracy.
Question 5: In PTE Academic Writing, the 'Write Essay' task is scored on five dimensions. Which of the following is NOT one of them?
- Content
- Form
- Spelling (Correct answer)
- Coherence & Cohesion
Correct answer: Spelling
The five essay scoring dimensions are Content, Form, Development Structure & Coherence, General Linguistic Range, Vocabulary Range, and Grammar Usage & Mechanics — Spelling is folded into Grammar/Mechanics, not a standalone dimension.
Question 6: For the PTE Write Essay task, what is the recommended word range Pearson specifies for a complete response?
- 100–150 words
- 150–200 words
- 200–300 words (Correct answer)
- 250–300 words
Correct answer: 200–300 words
Pearson specifies 200–300 words as the target range; responses outside this window risk losing Form points.
Question 7: Which sentence structure is most appropriate for the single-sentence summary in 'Summarize Written Text'?
- A compound sentence joined by a comma splice
- A complex sentence using a subordinate clause to capture the main idea (Correct answer)
- A series of bullet points within one sentence
- A rhetorical question summarizing the topic
Correct answer: A complex sentence using a subordinate clause to capture the main idea
A complex sentence with a main clause and one or more subordinate clauses allows you to pack the key idea and supporting detail into one grammatically correct sentence.
PTE Academic Writing Skills 2
In PTE Academic's 'Summarize Written Text' task, what is the strict word limit for your response?