Part 3: Summarize Spoken Text is the first question type that appears in Part 3: Listening. This item type is not easy, we admit it. Nevertheless, there are strategies that help you leverage your skills to the highest level and face this question successfully.
In this strategy article, we will be going through a step-by-step guide to help test takers deal with this item type in both the PTE Academic and PTE Core.
Fundamental information
Part 3: Summarize Spoken Text is available in both the PTE Academic and PTE Core. Let’s explore fundamental information about both of them.
PTE Academic
Task: Listening to an audio first and write a summary of 50-70 words.
Prompt Length: Audio is from 60 to 90 seconds
Timer: 10 minutes
Frequency: 1-2 questions
Skills assessed: Listening, Writing
PTE Core
Task: Listening to an audio first and write a summary of 20-30 words.
Our strategy is developed based on the grading aspects that Pearson uses to evaluate test-takers' answers. In this question type, we have Content, Form, Grammar, Vocabulary, and Spelling. Please kindly pay close attention to every step because they are built closely related to all the grading elements in order to help PTE takers achieve the highest score possible.
As we can see in the Fundamental information part, the audio is from 60 to 90 seconds. While in the PTE Core, we have from 45 to 75. Thus, we will be using the following question sample, which is 69 seconds long, and meets the prompt length of both PTE Academic and PTE Core.
If you are using a FREE account, it’s question Number 1 in the PTE Practice Platform. As we will be applying our strategy to this question sample, you should open the PTE Practice Website and practice along the way with us.
If you only want to focus on reading first, it’s fine. However, click here to listen to the audio question first.
cre: TADE Hub
If you already listen to the audio, it’s time to explore this strategy.
Step 1: Listen and take notes
PTE takers can only listen to the audio once in all question types, Part 3: Summarize Spoken Text is no exception. As a result, we need to listen to the audio carefully and take notes at the same time because it’s the only shot we have. If PTE takers just focus on the audio and take notes later, it’s super hard to remember all key points clearly, which leads to missing important content in your answers.
Luckily enough, we already shared how PTE takers can take notes while listening. It’s not easy, but it can be improved through practice. Thus, we strongly recommend you read our note-taking strategy first and apply it to take notes immediately.
If you already took notes, let’s check the audio description and our notes.
Audio description
Molly: Here's a quick content warning for the next section. It includes a discussion of eating disorders and their risk factors. If you're not ready for that today, you can skip ahead 10 minutes to the next segment. There's an abundance of literature on the benefits of music, for example, for dementia, building relationships, and even memory. Music is often thought of as an escape something relaxing or fun.
Dr. Marianna: So they were surprised that music can have sort of a negative impact. But it's not really the music, it is the musician's lifestyle….
Molly: People who dedicate their lives to the arts have more to navigate than just the arts themselves. The Arts are synonymous with a certain lifestyle, which also takes some negotiating. To learn more about this, I spoke to Dr. Marianna Kapsetaki.
Dr. Marianna: I'm a medical doctor and neuroscientist and also a classical pianist. I studied medicine in Greece. Then I did a master's at UCL in performing arts medicine, and I did a PhD I Imperial College London, then a postdoc at UCL, again, looking at memorability, and now I'm working in Greece as a medical doctor.
Our notes: Let’s check our notes and compare them to yours;
A heads-up about eating disorders discussion;
Music benefits, building relationships and memory;
Music is for relaxing or fun;
Music’s not negative, it’s the musician’s lifestyle; - guest
The arts are synonymous with a certain lifestyle;
The female talks to Dr. Mariana? – a multifaceted expert;
Here we remind you again about tips to take notes while listening.
Write exactly what you hear, there is no time to paraphrase, we do it later;
Only write key points, do not write the whole sentence;
Wrong grammar or spelling is no problem, they do not evaluate your notes;
Feel free to write short forms, acronyms, or contractions;
Make sure that you take notes on personal names, and data such as numbers and dates.
Time management: When the audio plays, the timer starts as well. We do not know exactly how long the question audio is until it finishes. In our question sample, the audio is 69 seconds long, and PTE takers feel free to use the next 15 or 20 seconds to complete their notes. If you take the PTE Academic, we still have 8.5 minutes left, while the PTE Core has 6.5 minutes, which is still enough to deal with this task.
Step 2: Review notes and write your answer
This question type requires PTE takers to write from 50 to 70 words in the PTE Academic or 20 to 30 words in the PTE Core, so we can write them all in one single paragraph. We simply go through our notes one more time and think of how to connect all key points together by using linking words, some may call transition words.
On the PTE Practice Website, we have sixteen linking-word categories that students can review in their account Dashboard. PTE takers should check each category carefully because each of them is used for different purposes. For instance, we use any linking words in the “Addition” category if we want to add other information to the previous one. If we use linking words in the “Results” category, it means that we want to close our messages.
In our paragraph, it should be divided into three main parts for easier management and structure. Please remember, we need to review our notes before writing each part.
Part 1: Introduction of the text content
Recommended timer for PTE Academic: 1.5 minutes
Recommended timer for PTE Core: 1 minute
The text in Part 3: Summarize Spoken Text will be either an Interview (just like our sample question) or a Lecture. Therefore, we have the following opening statements to start your introduction. Yes, you can also take it as a template.
This’s an interview (a lecture) of …
This interview (lecture)) is of …
This interview (lecture) shares / delivers / gives / points out …
This interview (lectures) is about …
Your job is to identify the main topic of the text to add to the opening statement. What is it about? After reviewing, it’s not hard to realise that the main content shares about music’s benefits, but before that, the text mentions a discussion of eating disorders. You can try to use one of the above opening statements to write the introduction. PTE takers should remember that it’s best to write a concise introduction in one sentence. Nevertheless, sometimes, it’s hard to do, so two sentences are acceptable.
Introduction sample - Opening
The interviewer gives a heads-up about discussing eating disorders, offering an out for sensitive listeners, but delving into music’s benefits.
Part 2: Key points delivery
Recommended timer for PTE Academic: 4 minutes
Recommended timer for PTE Core: 3 minutes
PTE takers need to pay close attention to the requirements all the time. We are permitted to write up to 70 words. In our introduction sample, we already wrote 20, so we only have 50 words left. The best is to construct our body part around 35 words that we have a maximum of two sentences.
It’s time to review our notes. As we already had the main content of the text, all key points will definitely offer information related to the main content, which is about music’s benefits.
Our job is to connect all available key points by paraphrasing them and using transition words. After the opening statement, if PTE takers want to share something in a more detailed way, let’s use the following to get started.
In detail, …
Specifically, …
It should be noted that …
Let’s give it a try first, use one of the above ways to deliver key points and check our sample right below.
Key points delivery sample - Body
In detail, the music’s benefits vary, from aiding dementia patients to enriching relationships and memory. Dr Marianna Kapsetaki, a multifaceted expert, sheds light on the unexpected strains of musicians' lifestyles, portraying the intricate challenges faced by artistic souls.
In our writing answers, we do not need to put all key points in the same order as we take notes as long as we are able to deliver a logically coherent response to the question. In our body sample, we only paraphrased all key points and used some common grammatical structures to connect them smoothly. You definitely can do it as well as long as you have the right study plan and commit to your advancement every day. Let’s take a look at this “Five PTE Preparation Steps Guide” to help you achieve any scores.
Part 3: Conclusion
Recommended timer for PTE Academic: 1.5 minutes
Recommended timer for PTE Core: 1 minute
It’s come to the last part – the ending. In this part, we emphasise the main content one more time by simply paraphrasing the Opening part and using one of the following to start your conclusion.
All in all, …
In conclusion, …
In a nutshell, …
Therefore, …
Accordingly, …
Kindly remember that there are just a few ways, and depending on specific questions you face determine what word should we use.
Conclusion sample - Ending
Therefore, this dialogue captures the nuanced dance between artistic passion and overall well-being.
Time management: We already recommend the timer you should spend for each part, make sure to apply it to practice as it’s the only way to master our time management strategy. Sometimes, depending on a particular question we have a slightly different time management strategy; however, in order to adapt to different situations smoothly, PTE takers have to put it into practice. After this step, we have 1.5 minutes left to check our answers.
Step 3: Check your answer
Grammar and Spelling are two grading aspects besides Content, Form and Vocabulary. We already review all key points before writing each part in Step 2, so no need to do it again here. In this step, we only need to review our Grammatical Accuracy and Spelling including Punctuation.
cre: Pearson
The Pearson Test of English also recommends PTE takers check Grammar, Spelling and Punctuation (commas and full stops) in order to avoid mistakes and achieve higher scores. We already wrote it in detail in our Summarize Written Text strategy, everything is the same, so you can click here to check it out.
Time management: In this step, we have 1.5 minutes for both PTE Academic and PTE Core to review your answer.
Practice makes perfect!
Live-interactive PTE Practice Website
You already learned the best strategy to deal with Part 3: Summarize Spoken Text, it’s NOT a template as templates cannot be applied to all scenarios, only your real English skills do. We believe in your ability to transform yourself better, so go apply the strategy to advance your English levels.
If you haven’t found where to practice yet, let’s try out our PTE Practice Website, which offers the following benefits for your preparation.
Thousands of practice questions;
Instantly detailed feedback for all question types;
Same grading elements as what Pearson uses to assess your skills;
2-hour Mock tests with estimated scores and feedback;
Three supportive vocab lists;
Other supporting self-study features.
To illustrate bout instant feedback for Speaking and Writing questions, if you practice a Summarize Spoken Text question, you will receive the following feedback that we evaluate your practice answers based on the same grading aspects as what Pearson uses to evaluate your skills, including Content, Form, Grammar, Spelling, and Vocabulary. Let’s review this video sample for a better understanding.
cre: TADE Hub
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