Tips and strategies for each type of Reading Question (PTE Academic)

MCQ – Single Answer

Strategies:

 Read with a purpose – Read the question before you read the passage. Look for main idea,
writer’s purpose or attitude, some detailed information or inferences
 Skim the text to get an idea of the general development
 Be aware of the time and do not spend too much time on one task. Click next and move on

Total number of questions: 2 -3

Tip: Identify the signpost words that indicate evidence, support, details, examples or opposing
arguments

MCQ – Multiple Answers

Strategies:

 Confirm your choices, and after you have chosen the options compare each of the options with
each other, and eliminate the odd options.
 Be aware of the time and do not spend too much time on one task
 Match each information to the passage and find whether it stands true or not

Total number of questions 2 -3

Reorder Paragraphs

Strategies:

 Find the topic sentence – Skim the sentences. Look for a sentence that introduces the topic.
Check that your topic sentence which stands alone containing no references to any information
that must be stated before it
 Look for the links – look for linking words and structures in the other sentences. Look for signal
words like however, in addition to, First, next, then, on the other hand.
 Replace all the nouns with pronouns such as he, she, it, they, then etc.

Tip: Confirm the order – check each sentence

Fill in the blanks

Strategies:

 If there are words you don’t know, read around them to try to guess the meaning from the
context.
 Use grammar clues to help you decide the possible option
  Think about a collocation such as between adjective and noun. What word often appears with
the word before or after the blank?

Tip: Check each of the unused words to confirm your choices

Total Questions : 4 -5

Reading and Writing – Fill in the blanks

Strategies:

 Look at the sentence grammar to decide what is needed, eg. Noun, past tense, verb, adjective
 Click on the first blank. From the drop-down list, select the one that will create meaning and is
grammatically correct.
 Be careful with the tense of the chosen words. Subject and verb agreement rules needs to be
adhered to.

Total Questions: 5 - 6