Understanding PTE Part 3 Listening Item 3 Fill in the blanks

Understanding PTE Part 3 Listening Item 3 Fill in the blanksThis page will help you with PTE Part 3 Listening Item 3 Fill in the blanks.

What you have to do for this question type:

The third question type you need to complete in the PTE listening test is the fill in the blanks question type. You will be given a transcript of an audio recording with words missing in the transcript. You will need to type in the missing words to complete the transcript.

Task length and timing:

You have 7 seconds to read the test, then an audio recording that is 30-60 seconds long will play automatically (you will only be able to listen once). You will have 2 or 3 audio recordings in total.

The scoring for this question type:

This question type affects your listening and writing score. Your score on fill in the blanks is calculated by counting the number of right words with correct spelling in your response. Each correct word spelled correctly scores 1 point. If all blanks are filled with the right word spelled correctly, you receive the maximum score points for this question type. If one or more blanks are filled incorrectly, partial credit scoring applies. Spelling is essential – incorrectly spelled words means 0 points.

Useful tips:

  • It is recommended that you take notes of the words you hear on the erasable noteboard while the audio is playing, then fill in the blanks.
  • You should use the 7 seconds before the recording begins to skim the text. Don’t focus on the gaps, try to get an overall idea of what the text is about from the content that is there.
  • Some of the things you can look for are…
    • Proper nouns – nouns that begin with a capital letter. They can give you information about people and what they do (for example; ‘Dr White … Biologist), places (for example; the British Museum…London) and organisations (for example; ‘Cancer Research UK ’).
    • Nouns that are repeated in the text (these can help you identify the main points)
  • As you listen, write the words you hear for the blanks on your ‘erasable noteboard booklet’. Don’t focus on spelling at this stage just use your erasable noteboard booklet to write down what you think you hear.
  • After the recording has finished, you will then need to read through the text, and use your notes to decide on the words that are missing. At this point think about how you can spell these words correctly. You will then need to type them into the gaps.