PTE Listening - Highlight Incorrect Word

Question type #19 PTE Listening: Highlight incorrect words

Familiarise with how the question is formed

–       There are 2-3 paragraphs, each of which refers to a brief lecture of 60-90 seconds.

–       The paragraph will be on the screen for you to view and you have 10 seconds to preview the text before the lecture starts.

–       You need to slide your mouse pointer along the text as it is read to you, and click on the word (up to 7 of them) which is printed differently to what you hear.

–       To unselect a word, simply click on it again.

Understand how this question is scored

–       Each correct word clicked will earn 1 small mark

–       Each wrong word clicked will lose 1 small mark.

–       Maximum mark: 5-7; minimum mark: 0

Avoid these common mistakes

1. Guessing after the lecture is over. Most people cannot remember the detail of the words used in the lecture after it is over. Remember, you’ll lose marks if you click on the wrong word(s).
2. Clicking on the maximum, which is 7 words. In fact, most of the time, there are only 5-6 errors.
3. Clicking on a word because the grammar or spelling is ‘wrong’. Note that, the grammar and spelling is never wrong in this type, just that the word is different. It may be the synonym, the antonym, a different number, or with(out) a prefix.

Practise the best way to do it

1. Preview the text before the lecture starts. Take mental note of the story.
2. Click on the different word the instant you hear each of them.
3. After the lecture, proofread quickly to make sure you don’t pick a grammatical mistake or more than 6 or 7 words.
4. Never make a guess even if you only have 3 or 4 words.