Strategies to deal with P2: Multiple Choice, Multiple Answer

Part 2: Multiple Choice, Multiple Answers appears from one to two times in both the PTE Academic and PTE Core. This item type is assessed based on your ability to analyse and evaluate a short reading text (not really short because the text in PTE Core could be up to 275 words and 300 words in PTE Academic in a limited of time) in academic use. Thus, in most cases, it’s not an easy task, so PTE takers need to put effort into practising and mastering this question type. Nevertheless, we will be sharing a unique step-by-step strategy to empower your preparation, so you are able to deal with this item type effortlessly. 

Fundamental information

• Task: PTE takers need to answer a multiple-choice question after reading a given text by selecting more than one response
• Prompt length: Up to 300 words in the PTE Academic, and up to 275 words in the PTE Core
• Recommended timer: 3 minutes each question
• Frequency: 1-2 questions
• Skills assessed: Reading

In Part 2: Reading, we have around 30 minutes to deal with five question types, and there are no specific timers for each question like item types in Part 1: Speaking & Writing. Nonetheless, it’s genuinely essential to set up a timer for each question in order to answer each of them effectively and correctly, and most importantly, we have enough time to face all the rest of the questions. For more details regarding the Time Management strategy for each item type, please kindly take a look at this article: “PTE Time Management Strategy”.

If you practice through the Pearson Official Site, they also propose 03 minutes for completing each question, which is the same as what we recommend. In a nutshell, Pearson also highlights the importance of specific timers for completing each question while practising. Thus, make sure you pay close attention to our time strategy.

Unique step-by-step strategy

First and foremost, we need to comprehend how Part 2: Multiple Choice, Multiple Answer is scored in order to develop the most effective strategy to face it. This is a partial credit question type, which means PTE takers will get a partial credit if they only answer “one part” correctly. In detail, if students pick all correct options (and do not pick any incorrect options), they will receive the highest score. For example, if Question A has three correct options, and Test-taker B picks all three of them then he will obtain a maximum of three points. For each incorrect option, one point will be deducted, and the minimum score is zero.

Kindly remember how this question type is scored until the end of this article, we will be using it to build our strategy. 

Step 1: Read the question and find keywords in the answers

The text length is mostly pretty long, we should not read it first without information. So what is the information here? They are, of course, the question and keywords to answer that question in all options on the right of the screen. 

If you read the question, take notes on WH questions and keywords. While reading all options, make sure to take notes in mind only on keywords as well because we do not have enough time to read each option thoroughly or write them down. Keywords predominantly are the subjects and verbs in the main clause and in the supporting clause if any. We have the following sample question, PTE takers give it a try and check ours later. If you have it on our PTE Practice Website, kindly remember that we have 3 minutes for each question. We strongly recommend you practice and complete each Part 2: Multiple Choice, Multiple Answer in that time. Nevertheless, if you need a bit longer time, for example, 30 seconds more, feel free to do it even if the timer finishes. 

Question number 1, Part 2: Multiple Choice, Multiple Answer on the PTE Practice Website. With your FREE account, you can access it as well. 

If you already have the WH question and keywords, let’s check ours as follows.

• WH-questions: It’s super easy to identify WH-questions in all questions. In our sample, we have “who scored” and “how did they score”. As a result, we use this information to find keywords in the below options. 
• Keywords: You can review all keywords that we highlighted in blue. All keywords answer for the “Who scored” and “How did they score”. Again, we highlighted keywords for you easier to review, but when you prepare for the test, it’s better to keep notes in mind as we don’t have enough time to just write down all of them. Therefore, to master this strategy, you need to put a lot of effort into practice. 

Time management: As for each Part 2: Multiple Choice, Multiple Answer question, we have 3 minutes, so we spend 1 minute in this step to read the question and find keywords in all the answers. 

Step 2: Find relevant words in the text and pick the correct options

After acquiring all the needed information from the previous step, it’s time to skim through the text to find corresponding information. 

The Skim through technique is pretty renowned in academic settings, which means that students read through the text quickly to find information related to what we took notes in mind earlier. There are some tips and tricks to skim through effectively.

• Divide five options into two parts: In each Part 2: Multiple Choice, Multiple Answer questions, we have five options to choose from. If you are able to remember keywords in all five options, that is a phenomenon. If you cannot, it’s normal, and we simply divide five options into two parts to remember better. 

• Focus mainly on subjects and verbs: PTE takers take a quick look at the first two options’ keywords and skim through the paragraph to find related information. DO NOT forget to only focus mainly on subjects and verbs. From case to case,  we may need other information to identify the correct option, however, most of the time, the main subjects and verbs are good enough. If we have the same pieces of information, then that option is correct.

Right from the first sentence, the text tells us who scored the goals, which is great. By skimming through the rest of the text, we have details about how they scored the goals. The second option is correct as you can see what we highlighted in red, which explains everything. The last response is correct as well, which is explained in the last few sentences of the text. 

Time management: PTE takers have 2 minutes ideally to complete this step. We may spend around 50 seconds to find correct responses in the first part and use the rest of 70 seconds for the second part. 

Things to avoid

• Choose all options: If you do not know the answers and then decide to pick all five options, the score is zero. 
• Pick responses that you are NOT confident: Sometimes, we will face difficult questions that almost every response seems incorrect. In this case, the only way is to pick the two responses that you are most confident with because this is a multiple-choice question. 

Practice makes perfect!

PTE Practice Platform with instant feedback

On the PTE Practice Platform, we have thousands of practice questions at your service. On top of that, we provide instantly detailed feedback for all question types, especially Speaking and Writing item types using the same grading elements that Pearson uses to assess your skills. We have been supporting over 25,000 students across the world in taking the Duolingo English Test and PTE Academic, our data is generated from nearly 1,000 students who took our mock tests and the real tests their certified scores are over 90% in the range score in our mock tests. You can experience everything FOR FREE and see our detailed feedback after taking 2-hour mock tests.

Regarding Part 2: Multiple Choice, Multiple Answer, we provide feedback as follows:

The PTE Practice Website – TADE Hub shows you why the response is correct. We highlight the explanation in blue in the text with the number next to it, so PTE takers can check it easily.

Don’t wait, utilise your previous time now by visiting the PTE Practice Website, create your FREE account and start boosting your scores today.