A2–C2 · PTE Academic
PTE Academic Practice Test 44
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.
In 1928, Alexander Fleming noticed that a mould growing on one of his laboratory dishes had killed the surrounding bacteria. This chance observation led to the discovery of penicillin, which went on to save millions of lives during and after the Second World War.
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Model answer: Say the year as "nineteen twenty-eight". Pause after "dishes" and after "penicillin". Stress "chance observation" and "millions of lives". Pronounce "penicillin" and "laboratory" carefully and give "Second World War" a clear fall.
Anthropologists studying small-scale societies have found that gift-giving does more than transfer goods. It creates obligations, builds trust and strengthens relationships between families. In many cultures, refusing a gift or failing to return one can be interpreted as a serious insult.
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Model answer: Pronounce "anthropologists" slowly (five syllables). Pause after "societies" and after "goods". Treat "creates obligations, builds trust and strengthens relationships" as a three-part list with a rising tone on the first two items. Stress "refusing" and "serious insult", 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: Please bring a calculator and two pencils to the test.
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Model answer: Please hand in your assignments before the end of the week.
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Model answer: A rise in the price of oil affects almost every industry.
Describe Image
Describe the image in detail.
Housing — 32%
Food — 18%
Transport — 13%
Education — 8%
Leisure — 10%
Savings — 12%
Other — 7%
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 typical family spends its income. Housing takes the largest share at 32 percent, almost a third. Food comes second with 18 percent and transport third with 13. The family saves 12 percent, spends 10 percent on leisure and 8 percent on education, while other costs make up the smallest slice at 7. Housing and food together account for half of all spending.
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 neuroplasticity, the brain's ability to have healthy tissue take over functions lost to stroke damage. This requires repeated, targeted practice, which is why rehabilitation therapy lasts months. New neural connections form based on repeated tasks, with recovery fastest early on, though some patients keep improving for years with continued therapy.
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: Grace credits online dating with widening people's social circles beyond their usual networks. Henry worries endless choice undermines commitment to working through relationship friction. Isla notes curated profiles can create unrealistic expectations. They agree online dating changes how people meet but that building genuine relationships afterward still depends on the same fundamental social skills as before.
Respond to a Situation
Listen to the situation and respond as if you were in it.
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Model answer: I checked the phone number on these cards, and it's missing the final digit, which definitely wasn't the case in the file I approved before printing. Since this seems to be an error on your end during production, I'd like a full reprint at no additional cost, and ideally as quickly as possible since I need these for an event soon.
Writing
Summarize Written Text
Read the passage and write a one-sentence summary.
Modern consumer culture encourages people to accumulate possessions as a sign of success and a route to happiness, yet a growing number of individuals are questioning this equation. Adherents of minimalism deliberately reduce the number of things they own, keeping only items that serve a clear purpose or bring genuine satisfaction. Their motives vary. Some are troubled by the environmental impact of manufacturing and disposal, while others simply feel overwhelmed by clutter and wish to spend less time cleaning, sorting and repairing. Psychological research offers partial support for the movement. Studies indicate that spending on experiences, such as travel or shared meals, tends to produce longer-lasting satisfaction than spending on objects, because memories are less prone to the adaptation that dulls our enjoyment of new purchases. Nevertheless, critics observe that minimalism can itself become a form of consumption, with enthusiasts buying expensive, carefully designed items to achieve a particular aesthetic. It is also a lifestyle more readily available to those with financial security; someone who cannot be sure of replacing a tool if they discard it has good reason to keep it. Perhaps the most useful version of the idea is therefore a modest one: not the pursuit of an empty room, but a habit of asking whether each purchase genuinely improves one's life or merely satisfies a passing impulse.
Read the passage and summarise it in ONE sentence of no more than 75 words.
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Model answer: Minimalism, which involves owning fewer things for environmental and psychological reasons, is partly supported by research showing that experiences satisfy longer than objects, but because it can become another form of consumption and is easier for the affluent, it is best treated as a habit of thoughtful purchasing.
Write Essay
Write an essay of about 200-300 words on the topic.
Some people believe that university education should be free for all students, paid for by taxpayers. Others argue that students should contribute to the cost themselves. Discuss both views and give your own opinion.
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Model answer: The question of who should pay for higher education divides opinion sharply. Advocates of free tuition argue that it promotes equal opportunity. If fees are abolished, talented students from poor families are no longer discouraged by the prospect of debt, and society benefits from a better-qualified workforce. Countries such as Germany, where public universities charge very little, show that the system can work without sacrificing quality.
On the other hand, there are sound reasons for asking students to contribute. Higher education is expensive, and general taxation means that people who never attended university, such as plumbers or shop workers, subsidise those who will later earn higher salaries. Moreover, when students invest their own money, they tend to take their studies more seriously, and universities gain the funds they need to maintain facilities and attract good teachers. Where budgets depend entirely on government, institutions can be underfunded and overcrowded.
In my view, the fairest approach lies between these extremes. Fees could be kept moderate and repaid only after graduates reach a reasonable income, so that nobody is prevented from studying by lack of money, while the burden on other taxpayers is limited. Grants should also be available for those from the poorest backgrounds. Such a system recognises that education benefits both the individual and society, and that its costs should therefore be shared between them rather than borne by one side alone.
Reading
Reading & Writing: Fill in the Blanks
Select the best word for each blank.
Tree roots bind soil particles together and slow the flow of rainwater across the ground, which helps the topsoil from being washed away during heavy rain. When large areas of forest are cleared, whether for farming, logging or construction, the soil is left far more to wind and water erosion. Without the roots and leaf litter that once absorbed rainfall gradually, water tends to run off the surface quickly, increasing the risk of flooding downstream while the immediate area of moisture. Farmers who clear forest for short-term cultivation often find that yields decline within a few years, since the fertile topsoil, once eroded, cannot easily be . For this reason, many agricultural scientists now recommend leaving strips of forest along riverbanks and slopes long-term erosion.
Multiple Choice, Choose Multiple Answers
Read the text and select all the correct answers.
Franchising allows an entrepreneur to open a business under an established brand name, following a proven operating model in exchange for an initial fee and ongoing royalty payments to the parent company. For the franchisee, this arrangement offers access to brand recognition, standardised training, and marketing support that would be far more difficult and expensive to build from scratch as an independent business owner. For the company granting the franchise, expansion into new markets can occur far more rapidly than opening company-owned locations directly, since franchisees provide much of the capital and local knowledge required, while the parent company earns revenue through fees without bearing the full cost of expansion itself. The relationship is not without tension, however: franchisees must generally follow strict rules governing everything from store layout to ingredient suppliers, leaving comparatively little room for independent business decisions, and disputes sometimes arise when franchisees feel that a parent company prioritises its own profit over the interests of individual outlet owners. Despite these tensions, franchising remains a popular route into business ownership for people who want the structure and reduced risk of an established brand, rather than the greater uncertainty of building a completely new company.
1. Which TWO statements are consistent with the passage?
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.
A small number of fungus species growing on decaying wood in forests around the world emit a faint greenish glow, a phenomenon known as foxfire that has puzzled and fascinated observers for centuries. Scientists have since identified the chemical reaction responsible for this glow, which occurs when a specific compound within the fungus with oxygen, releasing light as a by-product. Although the exact evolutionary purpose of this glow remains debated, one leading theory suggests that it may insects that then help disperse the fungus's spores to new locations. Another possibility is that the glow deters certain animals that would otherwise the fungus, since a glowing, unfamiliar object may appear more threatening or unappetising than an ordinary dark patch of wood. Because the glow is extremely faint, it is typically only to the human eye under conditions of near-total darkness.
Multiple Choice, Choose Single Answer
Read the text and choose the best answer.
Before finalising a significant merger or acquisition, the acquiring company typically conducts an extensive investigative process known as due diligence, carefully examining the target company's finances, existing legal obligations, contracts and overall business operations to confirm that the target genuinely matches how it has been publicly or privately represented before the deal is finalised. This thorough process can uncover significant hidden problems that might not be readily apparent from a target company's own public statements alone, such as substantial undisclosed debts, pending or threatened legal disputes, or a heavy, concerning reliance on just one or two major customers whose potential future loss could seriously threaten the target company's ongoing viability after any acquisition. Due diligence teams typically include specialists from several distinct professional disciplines, including accountants, corporate lawyers and, increasingly, technical experts specifically tasked with carefully evaluating a target company's technology systems, cybersecurity practices and existing data privacy compliance. Mergers that proceed without sufficiently thorough due diligence can subsequently expose an acquiring company to serious unexpected costs or significant legal liabilities discovered only well after a deal has already closed, a risk that has led many corporate boards to insist on considerably more extensive due diligence procedures than were once considered standard practice in earlier decades.
3. According to the passage, what can thorough due diligence help an acquiring company uncover?
Listening
Summarize Spoken Text
Listen to the recording, then write a summary.
Transcript (available after checking)
Deep inside a mountain on the Norwegian island of Svalbard, there's a vault that holds more than a million seed samples from almost every country. It's called the Global Seed Vault, and it functions as a backup for the world's seed collections. Why is that necessary? Over the last century, farmers have increasingly planted a small number of high-yielding varieties, so thousands of traditional crop varieties have disappeared from fields. Those old varieties may contain genes for resistance to drought, pests or disease that plant breeders will need in the future. Ordinary seed banks are vulnerable to war, floods, equipment failure and funding cuts. The Svalbard vault sits in permafrost, which keeps the seeds cold naturally, and it's designed to survive even if the power fails. In two thousand and fifteen, it made its first withdrawal, when researchers in Syria needed to replace seeds lost in the conflict.
Write a summary of the lecture in 50–70 words.
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Model answer: Farmers increasingly grow a few high-yielding varieties, so traditional crops with useful genes for drought or disease resistance are disappearing. The Svalbard Global Seed Vault stores backup samples from around the world in cold permafrost, protected from war, disasters and funding problems, and it was first used in 2015 to replace seeds lost in Syria.
Multiple Choice, Choose Multiple Answers
Listen and select all the correct answers.
Transcript (available after checking)
The Fibonacci sequence begins one, one, two, three, five, eight, thirteen, and each number is the sum of the two before it. What makes it interesting is how often it appears in nature. Count the spirals on a sunflower head and you'll usually find two neighbouring Fibonacci numbers, such as thirty-four spirals in one direction and fifty-five in the other. The same happens with pine cones and pineapples. The reason is not mysterious mathematics but efficient packing. As a plant grows, each new seed or leaf appears at an angle of about one hundred and thirty-seven degrees from the last, called the golden angle, and this angle allows seeds to fill the available space without gaps. Not everything in nature follows the sequence, though.
1. Which of the following does the speaker say?
Fill in the Blanks
Listen to the recording and type the missing words.
Simple magnifying lenses had existed for centuries, but building a genuine compound microscope from two lenses is credited to Dutch spectacle makers around the turn of the seventeenth . The merchant Antonie van Leeuwenhoek later ground exceptionally precise lenses himself and became the first person to observe single-celled organisms, which he called , swimming in pond water and even samples from his own . His detailed letters describing these invisible creatures astonished scientists, since nobody had suspected a hidden world of tiny living things existed all around . His work laid groundwork for the later germ .
Highlight Correct Summary
Listen and choose the paragraph that best summarises the recording.
Transcript (available after checking)
Water boils at a lower temperature at high altitude because atmospheric pressure is lower there, and conversely, raising the pressure inside a sealed container allows water to reach a higher temperature before boiling, cooking food considerably faster than an open pot ever could at standard atmospheric pressure. This principle was demonstrated as early as the seventeenth century by a French physicist, but early sealed cooking vessels were prone to dangerous, sometimes violent, explosions if pressure built up beyond what the container could safely withstand, which limited practical adoption for a long time. Twentieth-century pressure cookers added reliable safety valves that release excess pressure automatically before it reaches a dangerous level, making the appliance safe for ordinary home use and finally allowing the speed advantage to be widely enjoyed without the earlier explosion risk.
2. Which paragraph best summarises the recording?
Multiple Choice, Choose Single Answer
Listen and choose the best answer.
Transcript (available after checking)
Caribou herds in the Arctic undertake some of the longest overland migrations of any land mammal, travelling between winter feeding grounds in sheltered forest and summer calving grounds on the open tundra, sometimes covering over a thousand kilometres each way. Females time their arrival at calving grounds carefully, aiming to give birth just as the most nutritious young plants emerge after the spring thaw, since a calf born too early or late faces a lower survival chance. Herds also travel in large groups partly for protection against predators such as wolves.
3. Why do female caribou time their arrival at calving grounds carefully?
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 automobiles had no mirrors at all, so drivers had to turn around physically to check for traffic behind them, which was clearly both dangerous and impractical at higher speeds. A racing driver in the early nineteen hundreds is often credited with attaching a small mirror to his car specifically so he wouldn't need a riding mechanic, and the idea gradually spread to everyday road vehicles soon afterward.
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 45