Part 3: Multiple Choice, Single Answer appears in both the PTE Academic and PTE Core, which contributes to the Listening skill. It asks students to pick the only correct response after listening to an audio recording. Let’s explore this strategy to learn how to face this item type successfully.
Fundamental information
Task: After listening to an audio, answer a multiple-choice question by selecting only one correct answer
Prompt length: 30-90 seconds in the PTE Academic, and 30-60 seconds in the PTE Core
Recommended timer: 2.5 minutes
Frequency: 1-2 questions
Skills assessed: Listening
Some students may ask why we have 2.5 minutes to complete each question here. It is the result of research based on the length of the question and how many times each question type appears. It’s truly vital to practice managing your time while preparing on the PTE Practice Website because, in the real test, we have 30-43 minutes for Part 3: Listening in the PTE Academic and around 30 minutes for Part 3: Listening in the PTE Core. By doing so, PTE takers get familiar with the time management strategy and apply it on their test day effortlessly. To learn more about the Time Management Strategy, click here.
A unique step-by-step strategy
There is only one correct answer, if PTE takers pick it correctly, they will get points. Otherwise, they will lose points, which is how this item type is graded. Our strategy is developed to help students answer this question type correctly through several simple steps, make sure to follow our guide carefully and apply it to practice.
We have one sample question, which goes with us until the end of this article. Question number 1, Part 3: Multiple Choice, Single Answer that you can access for FREE on the PTE Practice Website. This question lasts for 40 seconds, which meets the prompt length requirements in both the PTE Academic and PTE Core.
cre: TADE Hub
Step 1: Skim through the questions and answers
Why should we skim through the questions and answers?
When it comes to the question, we skim through to find the kind of information we need and the main subject is being talked about. Students may find, most of the time, questions starting with this list: What, Why, Who, Which, How, which are the kind of information we are looking for. For example, our sample question starts with “What”, so we need to concentrate on this clue “What issues” while listening to the audio recording. Moreover, the main subject being talked about here is “the figure” at the Grevin Museum.
As a result, make sure to pay attention to the following points when you listen to the audio recording and take notes on all things related.
What issue;
About the figure;
Regarding the answers, how could you pick the correct answer if you don’t read them? We skim through all the answers in the 10 preparation seconds before the audio starts. So, how should we skim through?
In most questions, we always have one (or several words) repeatedly appear in most answers. In the sample question, we have “The figures”, which is the foundation for finding main words adjacent to it including nouns, verbs, adjectives, or adverbs. In the sample question, we have main words as nouns: attire, hairstyle, skin, and facial expression. In case students face questions which don’t have repeated words, it’s okay as we also need to skim through them quickly. In all scenarios, please DO NOT try to remember anything, it’s worthless and impossible in 10 preparation seconds. Your job is to skim through all the answers naturally without trying to remember anything.
Recommended timer: 10 seconds
Step 2: Take notes while listening
This is a Listening question, so we have to take notes while listening. Your unique note-taking strategy is available on the PTE Practice Website Blog, PTE takers kindly stop here for a while to read the note-taking strategy first and get back here to practice.
If you continue reading, we assume that you already completed reading the note-taking strategy, so let’s visit the PTE Practice Website, and access Question 1 Part 3: Multiple Choice, Single Answer to give it a try. After you take notes by yourself, students need to remember the kind of information that the question asks and the subject is being talked about to find related information.
Here are our notes:
Johnson reposted a video about comedian James joking that the figure “looks like he works at H and R block”;
John has his rep work with the museum for improvement – start with skin colour;
The museum confirmed they already working on improvement;
What do you think when you see our notes? There are some key essential points PTE takers need to bear in mind while taking notes.
Grammar, spelling or punctuation mistakes are okay because Pearson DO NOT evaluate your notes. We need to do it as quickly as we can, even using short forms or taking notes in any way that you can review them again easily.
Only focus on the kind of information and the subject talked about, which are all we need to find the correct option. If students hear anything information fall out of that range, ignore it.
This is the description of the sample question if you need it.
On Sunday evening, Johnson himself weighed in, reposting an Instagram video in which the comedian James Andre Jefferson Jr. jokes that the figure “looks like he works at H & R Block.” Johnson added that he would have his representatives work with the museum on “some important details and improvements — starting with my skin color.” The Grévin responded to the criticism on Monday afternoon, posting in an Instagram story that it had listened to feedback and that its artists were “already working on improving” the statue. The museum says it is home to more than 250 celebrity wax figures, including those of Angelina Jolie, President Joe Biden, and Serge Gainsbourg.
Recommended timer: Flexible depending on the length of the audio recording. In our sample question, it’s 40 seconds. We rarely see questions up to 90 seconds, around 60-70 seconds appear more frequent. When the audio finishes, PTE takers can spend another 20 to 30 seconds to organise all notes before moving on to the next step, picking the correct answer. In total, we may spend from 70 to 90 seconds in this step.
Step 3: Pick the correct answer
It’s time to eliminate all irrelevant answers and pick the correct one. We start by reviewing our notes one more time and comparing them with all the answers from top to bottom. PTE takers should know that the correct answer WILL NEVER be the same as what we took notes, the correct answer is already paraphrased and delivered in a completely different way. As a result, it’s best to read the answers to find the key points and compare them to our notes.
If students notice, we already found some main words in all the answers in Step 1, and the third answer includes “the figure’s skin”, which is the same issue as what Johnson raised in the audio recording.
cre: TADE Hub
However, some of you may be confused with the information in the red frame: “about the accurate portrayal of Johnson’s ethnicity and physical features.” From our notes, we know that Johnson raised concern about his skin and that the museum needs to improve it, which is the physical features and ethnicity. Therefore, the answer number 3 is the best one.
Recommended timer: Because we spent 70 to 90 seconds on the audio and re-organised our notes, we have around 60 to 80 seconds left to pick the correct answer. Additionally, our sample question is pretty easy, right? Everything’s crystal clear in the answers that we may not need up to 60 seconds to pick the correct one. If students face similar questions on their test day, be flexible to complete them quickly to save time for other more challenging questions. On the contrary, PTE takers can spend a bit more time completing one question if they find it hard.
Things to avoid
Skip the 10 preparation seconds: We all know how crucial these 10 preparation seconds are in finding the kind of information we need and the main subject being talked about, so we know what to take notes on, and of course save time to pick the correct answer later.
Take notes on everything you hear: We definitely don’t need to take notes on everything because most of them do not relate to the kind of information and the main subject we are looking for. So be practical and only take notes on necessary information.
Live-interactive PTE Practice Platform
To prepare for any English proficiency tests, a practice website is genuinely vital in getting familiar with all question types, especially practising every day and learning from your mistakes. The PTE Practice Website – TADE Hub offers thousands of practising questions aside from instantly detailed feedback for all question types so that PTE takers are able to review their answers and learn from mistakes if any. In detail, for example, if students practice a Part 3: Multiple Choice, Single Answer question, they will receive the following feedback.
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Besides knowing if they picked the correct answer or not, students also identify the clue in the transcription explaining why Answer number 3 is correct but not others to boost their comprehension.
Regarding Speaking and Writing item types, we evaluate your answers based on the same grading aspects as what Pearson uses to judge test-takers' skills. To illustrate, if you practice Part 3: Summarize Spoken Text, the following feedback appears after submitting your answers. The evaluation is based on Content, Form, Grammar (Spelling), and Vocabulary. Make sure to review your feedback rigorously to avoid similar mistakes in the next try, which is the only way to improve your scores after every practice.
