Strategies to deal with P2: R - Fill in the Blanks

Part 2: R. Fill in the Blanks is one of the five-item types in Part 2: Reading, the Pearson Test of English takers must drag words from a given box to fill in the blanks in the provided paragraph. This question type is available in both the PTE Academic and PTE Core, so make sure that you read our strategy thoroughly and apply it to practice.

Fundamental information

• Task: Drag words from a given box to fill in the blanks in the provided paragraph
• Prompt length: Text up to 80 words
• Recommended timer: 2 minutes
• Frequency: 4-5 questions
• Skills assessed: Reading

If you have just read our strategy for the first time, you may be confused about the recommended timer. Why do we have 2 minutes to complete each question? We are all aware that Part 2: Reading lasts around 30 minutes and PTE takers need to face five different item types. According to our Time Management strategy, depending on the number of each item type that appears in the test and the prompt length to decide how many minutes we should spend on each question in order to have enough time and successfully answer all questions.

Additionally, Pearson also recommends the same amount of time that students should spend to complete each Part 2: R Fill in the Blanks question. Hence, let's follow our instructions carefully and put an adequate amount of time into practice for the best outcome.

A unique step-by-step strategy

Part 2: R Fill in the Blanks is a partial-score type, which means if students only fill in some correct blanks, they will still receive partial scores. In detail, for each correctly completed blank, PTE takers get one point, and their scores will not be deducted if students fill in the blanks incorrectly.

Our unique strategy is developed based on how each question type is graded, and Part 2: R Fill in the Blanks is no exception. As a result, we wholly recommend PTE takers read it carefully and apply it into practice right away for both the PTE Academic and PTE Core.

Step 1: Get a general idea

By skimming through the text quickly, we will be able to get a general idea of the text. Students only need to know what is the main subject that the text is discussing and what is the content of that subject. Having a general idea is truly crucial in giving students clues to fill in the blanks correctly.

This is the sample question that will go with us until the end of this article, question number 1 Part 2: R Fill in the Blanks on the PTE Practice Website. PTE takers can access this question for free.

Let’s give it a try! What is the main subject and content of the text?

Here is the answer: The text shares how companies can promote investment and innovation through incomplete clauses. However, the “something” is very different mainly due to the “someone” decision that makes researchers question their impact.

“Something” and “someone” are the blanks that we need to fill in. If PTE takers cannot get the general idea at this time, you should not worry because this is a skill, which can be improved through everyday practice. PTE takers need to pay close attention to repeated words, most of the time, some words show up several times in the text, which are clues to help us get the primary subject and content. Aside from that, Part 1: Summarize Written Text and Part 3: Summarize Spoken Text offer opportunities for students to practice the summarizing skill as well. Consequently, test-takers can combine practising these item types and getting the general idea from the text.

There is one more good point in getting the general idea. As we need to skim through the text before generating the idea, we may find words that appear in the text, which help us fill in the blanks effortlessly. To illustrate, “in theory” appears in the first sentence of the text, and in the second sentence, we have something similar as you can see in the below image. Moreover, we also have the word “theory” in the box, so it could possibly be “in theory” in the second blank as well.

Recommended timer: Maximum 30 seconds. Test-takers have to get the general idea within 30 seconds or they don’t have enough time to complete all blanks. In case there is a super hard text that students cannot get the general idea in 30 seconds, let’s skip it and move on to the next step.

Step 2: Fill in the Blanks

We currently have around 90 seconds left because we already spent 30 seconds on the previous step. The number of blanks varies, it could be four or up to seven or even more and we don’t have a concrete answer until we see the question. As a result, students have to be really flexible in dealing with this item type. Let’s assume that we have six blanks to complete, then we have around 15 seconds to fill in each blank. Admittedly, it’s not easy, but by following our below tips, PTE takers will be able to give correct answers.

Tip 1: Find collocations

Collocation is a combination of words in a language that happens very often and more frequently than would happen by chance – this is what Oxford Learners’ Dictionaries explain. In other words, collocations include a few words that you see usually go together.

For example, “But the reality” is a collocation. Do you realise something? Yes, if you read our sample question carefully, you may find it is in the fourth blank as follows. We have “But the …” and the word “reality” is in the given box. So this is what we call “find collocations”.

Tip 2: Use your grammar knowledge

When it comes to English grammatical structures, we could talk about them all day long. Thus, we will only list out some most common and easiest grammatical structures for your reference. 

• After articles: We have definite and indefinite articles (the / a / an), after articles, there has to be a noun or noun phrase.

In the fifth blank, it has to be a noun. Thus, students go find a noun that fits the contextual meaning. At this point, PTE takers may have completed the previous blanks, so we have several nouns left: principle, acknowledgement, enforceability, and court. When we check the whole phrase, we have “several states restricted the … of noncompete clauses to various degrees”. Thus, there is nothing but the word “enforceability” that fits the blank perfectly.

• After preposition: We put nouns, noun phrases or V_ing after a preposition. Nevertheless, there are two exceptions if we have on and about. We put to_V after on or about.

My father went on to become the principal.

They are about to leave.

In our sample question, after “exchange for” plus a V_ing, and after “because of” should be a noun because we don’t see any V_ing in the given box. Can you guess what is the word we should fill in the last blank? At this point, ”court” is the most suitable answer because when we combine it with the word “decisions” to make “court decisions” it relates to the word “enforceability” that we filled in the previous blank.

• Tense structures: There are tons of English tense structures that PTE takers need to understand if they want to achieve a high score. In our sample question, the tense structures are pretty simple. We have two examples as follows:

The first example: "And, again, in theory, workers should be paid more in exchange for agreeing to sign a contract that … their autonomy". In this sentence, we need to use the Present Simple tense, and the blank can only be a verb, so the word “restricts” is our answer.

The second example: "But the reality looks very different. We know this because, over the past few decades, several states restricted the enforceability of noncompete clauses". We can see the verb they used in the past form “restricted” because apparently, the tense was the Past Simple.

Conclusion: By paying attention to the tense used in each sentence, we are able to identify what kind of tense is used in order to pick the correct verbs.

Recommended timer: We already spent 30 seconds in the first step, so 90 seconds are what we have left. Ideally, PTE takers should complete all the blanks faster so they have time to double-check answers. Nonetheless, if we face challenging questions, students feel free to spend all 90 seconds filling in the blanks or even more if needed. But if we do have time to double-check our answers, let's read more.

Step 3: Double-check

This step ensures that PTE takers don’t miss any blanks. And if possible, we still can review our answers to make changes where needed. Students should always remember that whether they fill in a blank incorrectly or skip it, they receive the same score as zero. As a consequence, it’s always better to fill in the blanks even if they are not sure about the answers.

Flexibility is a truly essential skill in the face of the Pearson Test of English. Even though we create our ideal time management strategy, sometimes, you need to be more flexible in dealing with specific questions. For instance, if we face a Part 2: R Fill in the Blanks including 5 blanks, which is a bit different compared to another question including up to 7 blanks. We can also skip this step and use its time to fill in the blanks as well if necessary. But whatever you do, make sure NOT to skip any blanks because if you do, you sign a contract of losing your scores. Instead, let’s try to fill in all blanks no matter what as you may be lucky to have it correctly. 

Recommended timer: It depends on the question you face, feel free to flexibly decide how many seconds you should devote to this step.

Things to avoid

• Fill in the blanks immediately when we see the question: This could possibly lead you to lose points for lots of blanks as we do not understand the general idea but you jump right to fill in all the blanks. As we already explained in the first step, it’s genuinely vital to get a general idea first because it helps you pick suitable words later.
• Take notes: If you have come across other articles and they advise you to take notes, let’s take time to think about it deeply. Do we really to take notes, and if we do, what should we take note no? Perhaps, the question is, do we have enough time to take notes? Facing a total of five different question types with lots of times appearing in around 30 minutes, we need to comprehend all question formats thoroughly in order to have a suitable strategy for dealing with each of them. Not every question type that it’s necessary to take notes. In Part 2: Fill in the Blanks, all information is displayed crystal clear on the screen with a text and given words in the box, PTE takers simply read and fill in the blanks. As you have studied our strategy, there is no step that advises you to take notes because we don’t need it. Let’s go experience, apply to practice and you surely have your own conclusion. There is no right or wrong here, we give advice and we need you to experience it first, then you have your own answers and decide what to do next.

Practice makes perfect!

Live-interactive PTE Practice Website

If you are new to the Pearson Test of English and do not know how to start your preparation, we strongly recommend you take a look at this unique five-preparation-step guide, read it carefully and apply it to your case.

When we prepare for any English preparation tests, we cannot miss practice websites. Regarding your PTE Academic or PTE Core preparation, this PTE Practice Website is developed just for you offering the following benefits.

• Thousands of practice questions;
• At least 10 Full 2-hour Mock tests with estimated scores;
• Instantly detailed feedback for all question types;
• Same grading elements as what Pearson uses to judge your skills;
• Three supportive vocab lists;
• And so many other self-study supporting features.

The most important feature is instantly detailed feedback for all question types because it’s how PTE takers learn from their mistakes and advance their skills. If students practice Part 2: R Fill in the Blanks, here is feedback.

By checking this feedback, students know their correct blanks, and incorrect blanks and what to fill in to make them correct. When it comes to Speaking or Writing question types, for example, if PTE takers practice Part 1: Describe Image, feedback is provided based on Content, Oral Fluency, and Pronunciation. Feel free to review our video sample feedback for a better understanding.

Your most effective PTE Practice Website is here, let’s take a visit, create your FREE account and experience all question types.