A2–C2 · PTE Academic
PTE Academic Practice Test 28
AI-generated practice paper in the style of PTE Academic — original material, not a reproduction of any real exam paper, following the official task types. Listening audio is read aloud by your browser's voice. For Speaking you can record yourself and compare with a model answer, and Writing tasks include a model answer — neither is scored automatically, since that needs real speech and writing evaluation this site does not offer for this exam.
Speaking
Read Aloud
Look at the text below. In 30 seconds, you must read this text aloud as naturally and clearly as possible.
Many universities now offer online degrees that allow students to study while working full time. Supporters praise the flexibility and lower cost, but critics question whether virtual classrooms can match the discussion and networking that take place on campus.
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Model answer: Pause after "time" and after "cost". Stress "flexibility" and "lower cost", then change your tone at "but critics" to signal the opposing view. Say "virtual classrooms" and "networking" clearly and fall on "campus".
The Silk Road was not a single road but a network of trade routes linking China with the Mediterranean. Merchants carried silk, spices and paper westward, while gold, glass and horses travelled east. Ideas and religions moved along the same paths, connecting distant civilisations.
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Model answer: Stress "not a single road but a network". Pause after "Mediterranean" and after "westward". Contrast "westward" and "east". Keep the last sentence smooth, stress "distant civilisations", and fall on the final word.
Repeat Sentence
You will hear a sentence. Please repeat the sentence exactly as you hear it.
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Model answer: The department will hold an information evening for prospective students on Thursday.
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Model answer: There is a small charge for using the swimming pool.
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Model answer: What time does the library open on weekends?
Describe Image
Describe the image in detail.
Salaries — 46%
Research and development — 18%
Marketing — 12%
Office costs — 9%
Training — 3%
Profit — 12%
Look at the image below. In 25 seconds, prepare, then describe in detail what the image is showing. You will have 40 seconds to speak.
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Model answer: This pie chart shows how a software company allocates its yearly budget. Salaries take almost half, at 46 percent. Research and development receives 18 percent, and marketing and profit are equal at 12 percent each. Office costs use 9 percent, while training gets the smallest slice, just 3 percent. The company clearly invests most in people, and more in developing products than in advertising them.
Re-tell Lecture
Listen to the lecture and retell it.
Listen to the lecture. Then retell it in your own words. You will have 40 seconds to speak.
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Model answer: The lecture explains that glacier retreat raises sea levels both directly, through meltwater entering the ocean, and indirectly, through thermal expansion of warming seawater, which causes about a third of the rise. It also highlights that shrinking mountain glaciers threaten drinking water and irrigation for millions before sea level rise becomes the primary concern.
Answer Short Question
You will hear a question. Type your answer in one or a few words.
1. Type what you hear.
2. Type what you hear.
3. Type what you hear.
4. Type what you hear.
Summarize Group Discussion
Listen to a group discussion and summarise it.
Listen to the discussion. Then summarise it, covering each speaker's main point. You will have 70 seconds to speak.
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Model answer: Emma argues unpaid internships unfairly exclude students without financial support. Frank notes smaller companies struggle to afford paying interns. Grace suggests a modest stipend as a middle ground. They agree on requiring at least a minimum stipend or wage, with possible subsidies for small businesses, rather than continuing unpaid internships or demanding full salaries immediately.
Respond to a Situation
Listen to the situation and respond as if you were in it.
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Model answer: I can see how busy things are right now, so no worries at all, but I think this might be the wrong drink, I ordered an oat milk latte rather than this one. Whenever you get a moment is completely fine, I don't need it remade urgently, just wanted to flag it for whenever it's convenient.
Writing
Summarize Written Text
Read the passage and write a one-sentence summary.
About three-quarters of the world's leading food crops, including apples, almonds, coffee and cocoa, depend at least partly on animal pollination, and bees are the most important of the pollinators. Reports of dramatic declines in honeybee colonies since the mid-2000s therefore aroused considerable concern. Researchers have identified no single culprit but rather a combination of pressures. The parasitic Varroa mite weakens bees and transmits viruses, certain insecticides known as neonicotinoids impair the insects' navigation and immune systems even at low doses, and the conversion of meadows into monoculture farmland deprives them of varied nourishment. Climate change adds further stress by disrupting the timing of flowering. Beekeepers have responded by replacing lost colonies, which explains why global honeybee numbers have in fact remained fairly stable. The picture for wild pollinators, including bumblebees, solitary bees and hoverflies, is considerably more worrying, as many species have declined sharply in their native ranges and cannot be replaced by commercial hives. Conservation measures include restrictions on the most harmful pesticides, planting of wildflower strips along field margins, and the creation of urban gardens that offer year-round forage. Scientists emphasise that protecting a diversity of wild species is essential, because reliance on a single managed species leaves agriculture dangerously exposed if that species is struck by disease.
Read the passage and summarise it in ONE sentence of no more than 75 words.
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Model answer: Although beekeepers have kept honeybee numbers stable despite pressures from mites, pesticides, habitat loss and climate change, wild pollinators are declining seriously, so scientists urge measures to protect species diversity, since dependence on one managed insect would leave agriculture vulnerable.
Write Essay
Write an essay of about 200-300 words on the topic.
Genetically modified crops could help to feed the world's growing population, but many consumers are uneasy about eating them. Do you think the benefits of genetically modified food outweigh the risks?
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Model answer: With the global population expected to exceed nine billion by 2050, farmers must produce more food on limited land. In my opinion, genetically modified crops can make an important contribution, and the fears surrounding them are largely exaggerated, though not entirely without foundation.
The benefits are tangible. Crops can be engineered to resist pests and drought, which raises yields and reduces the use of chemical pesticides. Golden rice, enriched with vitamin A, was designed to prevent blindness in children in regions where the diet is poor. In countries frequently hit by drought, resilient varieties can protect farmers' incomes and prevent famine.
Opponents raise several concerns. Some fear that eating modified food could harm human health, although major scientific bodies have found no evidence of this for approved products. A more legitimate worry is ecological: modified genes might spread to wild relatives, and reliance on a few varieties may reduce biodiversity. There are also economic objections, because a handful of corporations hold patents on seeds and farmers may become dependent on them.
These risks, however, are arguments for careful regulation rather than rejection. Each new crop should be tested independently for safety and environmental effect, food should be labelled clearly so that consumers can choose, and public institutions should develop varieties for the poorest farmers. Handled responsibly, the technology offers more advantages than dangers.
Reading
Reading & Writing: Fill in the Blanks
Select the best word for each blank.
When a virus enters the body, specialised white blood cells proteins on its surface that are unfamiliar to the immune system. Some of these cells destroy infected tissue directly, while others produce antibodies, proteins shaped precisely the invading virus and mark it for destruction. After the infection clears, a small number of specialised cells in the body, ready to respond far more quickly if the same pathogen returns. Vaccines exploit this mechanism by the immune system to a harmless version or fragment of a pathogen, training it in advance. Because immune memory can weaken over time, booster doses are sometimes required to keep protection an effective level.
Multiple Choice, Choose Multiple Answers
Read the text and select all the correct answers.
In several European countries, a substantial proportion of school leavers enter formal apprenticeship programmes rather than proceeding directly to university, spending several years combining paid, structured work at a company with part-time classroom instruction in a related technical subject. Supporters of this dual system argue that it produces workers with practical, immediately applicable skills, since apprentices spend most of their time actually performing tasks under supervision rather than only studying theory, while employers benefit from a steady supply of trained staff who are already familiar with their specific working methods by the time they qualify. Countries with strong apprenticeship traditions frequently report lower youth unemployment than countries relying mainly on academic qualifications, since apprentices generally transition smoothly into stable employment immediately upon completing their training. Critics, however, note that apprenticeship systems can be less flexible for young people who are genuinely uncertain about their long-term career direction, since choosing a specific trade at sixteen or seventeen commits a student to a particular path earlier than a broader academic education typically requires, potentially closing off options that might have suited them better later in life.
1. According to the passage, which TWO of the following are true?
Re-order Paragraphs
Click the sentences to put them in the correct order.
2. Put the paragraph in the correct order.
Reading: Fill in the Blanks
Choose the best word for each blank.
Impressionist painters working in nineteenth-century France departed sharply from the precise, carefully finished style favoured by the official art establishment of their time, instead applying visible, often rapid brushstrokes intended to a fleeting visual impression rather than a meticulously detailed record of a scene. Many impressionists chose to paint outdoors directly in front of their subject, a practice that allowed them to observe and subtle, rapidly changing effects of natural light that would be far more difficult to reproduce accurately from memory in a studio. Critics and the art establishment initially reacted to this loose, unfinished-looking style with considerable hostility, dismissing early impressionist exhibitions as amateurish and lacking proper technical . Despite this early rejection, impressionism gradually gained wider critical and public acceptance over subsequent decades, eventually coming to be regarded as one of the most significant and influential developments in the entire history of Western painting, one that directly many of the more radical artistic movements that followed.
Multiple Choice, Choose Single Answer
Read the text and choose the best answer.
A spider constructing an orb web performs a remarkably efficient feat of engineering, producing several distinct types of silk from specialised glands and deploying each type exactly where its particular properties are most useful. The web's outer frame and radiating spokes are built from a relatively stiff, strong silk that gives the structure its overall shape and stability, while the spiral threads running between these spokes are coated with a sticky substance designed specifically to trap and hold struggling insects. Remarkably, spiders build their webs without any visual blueprint, relying instead on a genetically programmed sequence of movements refined over countless generations of natural selection. Because a web accumulates damage and loses its stickiness over time, most orb-weaving spiders rebuild their entire web from scratch every day or two, consuming and recycling the old silk's proteins rather than allowing this valuable material to go to waste. Researchers studying spider silk continue to be impressed by how effectively this instinctive process produces a structure so well suited to its specific purpose.
3. What does the passage suggest about how spiders build their webs?
Listening
Summarize Spoken Text
Listen to the recording, then write a summary.
Transcript (available after checking)
Antibiotics transformed medicine in the twentieth century, but their success has created a serious problem. Whenever we use an antibiotic, most bacteria die, but a few may carry mutations that let them survive. Those survivors multiply, and eventually the drug stops working against that strain. This is natural selection happening in real time. The process speeds up whenever antibiotics are misused, for example when patients take them for viral infections such as colds, when they stop treatment early, or when farmers give them routinely to healthy animals. Today, some infections can resist nearly every available drug. The World Health Organization considers this one of the greatest threats to global health. Solutions include developing new drugs, which is difficult and unprofitable for companies, and using existing ones more carefully. Doctors emphasise that prevention, like hand washing and vaccination, also reduces the need for antibiotics.
Write a summary of the lecture in 50–70 words.
Show sample answer
Model answer: Antibiotic resistance arises when resistant bacteria survive treatment and multiply, a process accelerated by misuse such as taking antibiotics for viral infections or stopping early. Because it threatens global health, solutions include developing new drugs, using existing ones carefully, and preventing infections in the first place through good hygiene and vaccination, which reduces the need for these drugs.
Multiple Choice, Choose Multiple Answers
Listen and select all the correct answers.
Transcript (available after checking)
Roughly ninety percent of flowering plant species rely on animals, mostly insects, to move pollen from one flower to another, but a significant minority, including grasses and many trees such as oak and birch, rely instead on wind. Wind-pollinated plants tend to produce enormous quantities of small, lightweight pollen, since most grains never reach a matching flower and are simply wasted, whereas insect-pollinated flowers can produce far less pollen because bees and other visitors deliver it directly and efficiently. This trade-off also explains why wind-pollinated flowers are usually small, dull-coloured and unscented, with no need to attract anything, while insect-pollinated flowers invest energy in bright petals, fragrance and nectar to lure their pollinators. Interestingly, some plants hedge their bets and use both strategies depending on conditions, an approach that can be especially useful in years when pollinating insects are scarce.
1. Which THREE statements match the lecture?
Fill in the Blanks
Listen to the recording and type the missing words.
Genetic evidence suggests horses were domesticated around five thousand years ago on the steppes of Central Asia, initially perhaps for milk before people began riding them. Once tamed, horses transformed human mobility, allowing people and goods to travel far faster than permitted, and enabling lifestyles built around herding across open . Horses also reshaped warfare, giving mounted armies enormous advantages over foot soldiers for thousands of years. Genetic studies show that the specific lineage behind almost all modern horses actually spread quite , apparently replacing older domesticated , though the exact reasons remain a subject of ongoing .
Highlight Correct Summary
Listen and choose the paragraph that best summarises the recording.
Transcript (available after checking)
Many reef fish rely on camouflage to avoid predators or to ambush prey, and their strategies vary considerably depending on where and how each species lives. Some species match the mottled colours and rough texture of the coral or rock they rest on, remaining almost invisible until they move, while others use disruptive patterns, bold stripes or blotches that break up the outline of their body, making it harder for a predator to judge exact size or shape at a glance rather than truly hiding the fish itself. A few species can even change colour actively over seconds or minutes by adjusting pigment cells in their skin, similar in principle to how an octopus does it, allowing them to match a new background as they move between different parts of a reef throughout the day.
2. Which paragraph best summarises the recording?
Multiple Choice, Choose Single Answer
Listen and choose the best answer.
Transcript (available after checking)
Natural rubber becomes far more useful once it undergoes vulcanisation, a chemical process discovered in the eighteen forties that involves heating raw rubber with sulphur, which makes it stronger, more elastic and far less likely to become sticky or brittle depending on temperature. A British inventor patented the modern rubber band shortly after, in eighteen forty-five, cutting vulcanised rubber tubing into thin rings to bundle papers and envelopes more conveniently than string or pins had allowed. Rubber bands proved so useful and cheap to make that their basic design has stayed almost unchanged for over a century, despite rubber itself later being partly replaced by synthetic alternatives elsewhere.
3. What discovery made rubber suitable for the invention of the rubber band, according to the speaker?
Select Missing Word
The recording ends with a beep. Choose the option that best completes it.
4. Choose the word or phrase that best completes the recording.
Highlight Incorrect Words
Listen to the recording and select the words in the text that differ from what you hear.
5. The text below differs from the recording in some words. Select the words that are DIFFERENT from what you hear. Early bicycles had no reliable way to warn pedestrians of their approach beyond a rider shouting, which often proved too quiet or too late on a busy, crowded street. Manufacturers began fitting a compact spring-loaded bell, hit by a lever or thumb-operated striker mounted near the handlebars, and its distinctive sharp ring quickly became a familiar safety feature on bicycles everywhere.
Write from Dictation
Listen to the sentence and type it exactly as you hear it.
6. Type what you hear.
7. Type what you hear.
Keep your streak going
Up next: PTE Academic Practice Test 29