PTE ANSWER SHORT QUESTION

Ever had a friend ask you a question, which you answered in a word or two? Well! The Answer Short Question type is the same.

You will have 10 to 12 questions of this type in the exam. You will hear a short question and you have to answer it in a word or a couple of words. No need to make full sentences!

Recently, Pearson has started including images and videos in their questions. For e.g. you will see a map and the question will ask you a specific detail from that map – such as, in which block is the Library located.

In a nutshell, if you don’t panic you will be able to answer these questions quite well.

Let’s get the basic details out of the way

The questions in this type, cover a wide range of general knowledge topics. You are not expected to have any specialized knowledge to answer these questions.

The Answer Short Question type in PTE gives you a chance to score really well and in turn increase both your speaking and listening scores. Unlike other speaking questions, you only need to speak for a very short time. This makes it the easiest Speaking question type.

The method here is simple!

You listen to the audio and then without thinking too much, give your best answer in a word or two. The key here is understanding what is being asked. There is usually no time to take notes and review them. Your focus should be one hundred percent on understanding the question.

The questions usually come from topics of everyday general knowledge. None of the questions will require you to have any specialized knowledge. As long as you don’t panic or overthink, you should be able to give the right answer.

Daily practice of listening to English audio and making sense of it will help you not only with this question type but a lot of other sections of PTE Academic. That is why we once again recommend TED Talks.

Even though Answer Short Question type is one of the simplest question types in PTE, test takers still end up making silly mistakes. Keep in mind the following and you will do well.

Do not panic

As we mentioned earlier, do not panic. This is one of the biggest mistake you can make while attempting questions of this type. They won’t ask you complicated questions. You do not need to have any specialized knowledge to answer these questions. Most questions come from everyday general topic, which you would have come across in daily life or work. Even if a question sounds complicated, it will probably have a simple answer. You just need to follow the question.

Do not think too much

Thinking too much can harm your score! We have seen students think too much and apply convoluted logic to simple questions. As a result, they end up giving wrong answers. The correct answer in most cases is the simplest answer, the natural answer. Our favorite example here is:

Which piece of furniture will you usually find in a bedroom?

The simple answer is – a bed, because there can’t be a bedroom without a bed! But some students think too much and end up answering – a cupboard, a couch, a sofa, etc. It’s true that these other things are also found in bedrooms, the most common and most obvious is – a bed.

Concentrate 100%

There are 10~12 questions of this type in the exam. And they all come one after the other without a break. People start answering the questions very well, but by the time they reach the 6^th or the 7^thquestion, they somehow lose their focus. It is almost like they get bored! And that reflects in the answer in your voice. You must avoid this. Start afresh after each question. Think of each question as the first one.

Review your vocabulary

How well you understand a question and how well you answer it depends upon how much you understand the words in the question! It comes down to your vocabulary. If you have a large enough vocabulary you will know most of the words that will appear in these questions. For example – if you know what a “newspaper” is or what an “editor” is, you will be able to answer most questions related to newspapers, articles, editing, etc.

Our advice is make sure you are thorough with the Academic Word List. Students of the Sure Way English premium course can also take the free vocabulary course to brush up their vocabulary.

Do not hesitate, give the first answer that comes to your mind

Most of the times, what comes to your mind first will be the right answer. Simply go ahead with it. If you think too much or go back and forth again and again you will increase the chances of making errors. Avoid this at all costs!

Draw a picture in your mind

This is a very useful technique which we recommend to the students of our online PTE course. When you hear the question and the specific words in the question, use those words to draw a picture in your mind. Then answering the question is simply a matter of looking at the picture and picking a specific information from it. For example, if the question is about a university matter, you can draw a university campus, students etc. in your mind. This is a very effective technique and reduces the chances of errors.

So are you ready to test how good you are at the Answer Short Question? Take this FREE Test to find out now!