PTE Reading Score: Which Tasks Matter Most and How to Target Them

Most of the test takers usually start practising all the five task types of PTE Reading to learn it. That is an inefficient use of your prep time because the five tasks do not carry equal weight in your PTE reading score. Most of the lift comes from two task types; two more are easy marks; one is the highest-risk task on the test.

This guide clearly indicates the value of each task on your final PTE reading, gives you one sample question and its model answer for every high value task and a targeted improvement plan to help you move up to the next score band based on your current level.

Key Takeaways

• The PTE reading score is derived from five task types which have very different score weights.
• The highest impact task is Reading and Writing Fill in the Blanks. It helps in improving your PTE reading score and also in your Writing score as well.
• Second highest impacting task for PTE reading is to reorder paragraphs.
• Multiple Choice Multiple Answer Reading has negative marking and is the most risky task. Choices that you make are used to deduct points.
• There are two nonweighing individual mark weight multiple-choice; single answer and reading fill in the blanks (drag and drop) which should not be overlooked.
• Upon August, the 2025 update, Read Aloud will no longer impact scores for the PTE reading module.

Reading and Writing Fill in the Blanks: Highest Impact on PTE Reading Score

PTE experts agree that RWFIB is the most impactful Reading task, but there is no official task-by-task weighting by Pearson. It seems to appear in Reading 5-6 times in each test, reported in Reading, and Writing, and is likely to be estimated (from third party analyses) at about 29% of Reading marks and 25% of Writing marks. Those percentage are estimates and not official Pearson figures.

Why RWFIB Affects PTE Reading Score Most

RWFIB displays up to 300 words with drop down blanks. There are 4-5 word choices for each blank and you select the one you need. All correct responses will receive Reading and Writing credit, incorrect responses will receive zero on the blank. There is no negative marking within an RWFIB blank – that sets it apart from MCMA, where wrong selections cost marks.

Most Common Errors and How to Fix Them

Selecting by meaning alone without checking grammar: Many test takers choose the appropriate answer by its meaning rather than checking the grammar. A word may perfectly fit into the meaning of a sentence, but be grammatically incorrect.

Fix: Once they’ve chosen an answer in RWFIB practice, read through the entire sentence using their chosen answer. If it does not sound like a real sentence, verify the choice against the grammatical criteria of the blank (verb form, noun/adjective, countable/uncountable and/or tense).

Not reading the full passage before answering: Taking something out of context by missing the logical flow and the cohesion in the topic; thus, being unable to determine what word(s) to put into the following empty, or open, item.

Fix: Read the entire passage without having options in front of you to choose from. Set the context, line and tone. Now go back to each “blank” where that context is open.

Ignoring collocation patterns: Some RWFIB blank tests test collocation and not vocabulary meanings. The right answer is the word that follows syntactically without the need for any special structures to link it to the context, rather than the word that has the right general sense.

Fix: During RWFIB practice write down the word combinations that occur in correct answers. Research, Conclusions, Awareness, and Challenge are frequently-used collocations in reading passages.

RWFIB Sample Question With Model Answer

Passage:

In recent decades, there has been a lot of (1) __________ research on the link between physical activity and cognitive performance. Research has repeatedly (2) __________ that exercise can help maintain memory, speed up processing and lower the risk of cognitive decline in older people. However, the exact way in which exercise (3) __________ brain function is still not fully understood.

Options:

1. (a) extensive (b) extended (c) expended (d) expansive
2. (a) show (b) suggest (c) imply (d) indicate
3. (a) affects (b) effects (c) impacts (d) influences

Model answers:

1. (a) extensive: “Extensive research” is the standard collocation. “Extensive” means covering a large area or amount. The term “extended” means length of time. Expended: spent/used up. The term “expansive” is used to describe something that is wide-ranging, but not necessarily associated with research.
2. (c) suggest: All four options have similar meanings, but “suggest” is the most natural collocation with “studies consistently.” The term “Demonstrate” suggests a higher level of evidence than a correlational finding is likely to provide. Both “indicate” and “imply” are acceptable but less precise.
3. (a) affects: “Affects” is a verb meaning “has an effect on.” The word “effects” is a noun and should not be used in this context. In an academic context, when talking about cause and effect, “impacts” and “influences” are both verbs, but “affects” is the most accurate. 

Reorder Paragraphs: Second Highest Impact on PTE Reading Score

Reorder Paragraphs is a component of the reading section and is used 2-3 times in each test and has the second highest mark weight in the reading section of your PTE score. It employs partial credit scoring, so that if a pair of paragraphs is correctly placed, but the rest of the sequence is not, then marks are awarded for the correct pair. This is a less demanding task than Multiple Choice Multiple Answer, which penalises for incorrect answers.

How Reorder Paragraphs Contributes to PTE Reading Score

You have a number of paragraphs written in text boxes, but some are scrambled. You drag them into the correct order. Pearson’s partial credit is given for correct order of adjacent pairs, not for the correct placement of each box. If you place paragraphs 1 and 2 correctly together, then you get the credit for that pair, even if the other two boxes are placed elsewhere.

Even if you can’t complete the whole sequence, if you can correctly complete the first sentence and confidently place one or two boxes later on, you could get substantial partial marks for a task that is contributing to your PTE reading score.

The First Sentence Strategy

The best place to begin any Reorder Paragraphs task is to identify the first sentence. The first sentence of a paragraph has certain qualities:

• Brings up the subject without going back to what has been said before.
• Does not start a sentence with a pronoun (“he,” “she,” “they,” “it”) unless it is preceded by a named antecedent
• Does not start with a result connector such as “Therefore,” “As a result,” “Consequently”
• It can start with a topic introducing phrases such as: In recent years, A growing body of research, The question of “whether…”

After the first sentence has been discovered and written down, look through the rest of the boxes for words that indicate the next logical step: “Furthermore,” “However,” “In contrast,” “This suggests,” “Building on this.”

Reorder Paragraphs Sample Question With Step-by-Step Solution

Jumbled boxes:

A. This indicates that the positive effects of urban green spaces are not only recreational, but measurable public health benefits as well.

B. Parks and green corridors have become more and more important to urban planners in city design.

C. “However, implementing large-scale greening projects in established urban areas presents significant logistical and financial challenges.”

D. Research in several cities has revealed that people who live within 300 metres of a park experience fewer stress-related illnesses.

Step-by-step solution:

Step 1: Find the first sentence. Box B presents the topic (urban planners and green spaces) without any reference to previous information. It starts with a subject-verb phrase and does not contain a connector. Box B is first.

Step 2: Box D supports the argument in Box B. The general statement about recognition is followed by the phrase “Studies conducted across multiple cities have found…”. Box D is second.

Step 3: Box A contains the conclusion that is drawn from the studies in Box D, and it starts with the word “This suggests”. Box A is third.

Step 4: Box C starts with “However,” which indicates a contrast to the positive ending in Box A. It adds a twist. Box C is fourth.

The correct order is: B, D, A, C

Multiple Choice Multiple Answer Reading: High-Risk Task for PTE Reading Score

There is only one Reading task that has negative marking: Multiple Choice Multiple Answer (MCMA). You lose a mark if you choose the wrong answer and the question may not earn negative marks. This is the riskiest word for your PTE reading score, making MCMA the highest-risk task.

Why Negative Marking Makes MCMA Dangerous

According to the Pearson Test Format, for each correct answer that you choose you will get +1 point and for each incorrect answer that you choose you will get -1 point, but you will not get any points if you don’t choose an answer. There are 5 to 7 answer choices for each typical item and 2 to 4 are correct. Ticking all the boxes is NOT penalty-free: almost always there are some false boxes, and each one will be a loss of mark.

If you don’t have a strong feeling about a guess, it is a losing bet on MCMA. If you aren’t certain an option is right, leave it unchecked.

The Elimination Strategy With Example

Read the question first, not the passage. The question provides you with the information you are looking for before you read. This will enable you to read with purpose and not memorize everything.

Select only options directly supported by the passage. The most frequently occurring MCMA error is to choose answers that are true in the real world but not mentioned in the text. Only options that are clearly or strongly implied in the text before you will receive PTE MCMA marks.

When uncertain between two options, select neither. When confidence is low, the risk of a wrong selection is greater than the potential of a correct selection.

Sample approach:

Which of the following factors helped cause the decline of manufacturing in the region, according to the passage?

Apply: Read the text while thinking about this question. Only mark those parts that clearly reference factors that have led to the decline in manufacturing. Only choose the answers that correspond to the factors that have been mentioned. Avoid choosing answers that are similar to but not explicitly mentioned.

Multiple Choice Single Answer and Reading Fill in the Blanks

How Scoring Differs From Multiple Answer Tasks

Multiple Choice Single Answer (MCSA) is a question type that is scored on a correct/incorrect basis and has no negative marking. This results in a lower risk but also a lower individual mark weight than MCMA. When answering MCSA questions, do not be afraid to guess as there is no penalty for a wrong answer, so always choose the best answer.

Reading Fill in the Blanks (RFIB) is based on drag and drop from a word bank. It is only a factor in your PTE Reading score (not Writing) and therefore is less important than RWFIB but still important because it occurs 4 to 5 times per test.

Sample Questions With Model Answers

RFIB Sample:

After considering the financial implications, the committee has decided to __________ the proposal.

The words that follow the same pattern are: “postpone”, “suspend”, “delay”, “defer”, “cancel”.

Model answer: “defer” When used in formal committee language, “defer” is used to mean “postpone for consideration at a later meeting. The words “postpone” and “delay” are correct in meaning, but less precise in the committee/formal register. The term “Suspend” does not mean that the decision was to be made for a specific date. The word “cancel” means to end for good.

MCSA Sample:

Question: “What is the main purpose of the passage?” A. To advocate renewable energy over fossil fuels B. To give an overview of the current debate on energy policy C. To show that government subsidies have not helped the uptake of renewables D. To show the difference in the environmental impact of the various energy sources

Model approach: Read the structure of the passage. Does it offer several points of view on a policy issue, or does it make a single argument? If the passage gives details of several jobs, but does not clearly conclude for one of them, then answer B is correct. If the passage leads to a single claim, correlate it to the choice that most closely states that claim.

Targeted PTE Reading Score Improvement by Band

If Your Score Is Below 50

Priority: Academic Vocabulary before task specific strategy.

Daily routine: 15 minutes Academic Word List vocabulary study, 10 minutes of RWFIB practice (reading the first sentence to identify the blanks), 5 minutes Reorder Paragraphs (reading the first sentence to identify the blanks).

Do not: Spend a lot of time on MCMA or MCSA. The mark contribution is not high enough to make the time investment worthwhile at this point.

If Your Score Is 50 to 65

Priority: RWFIB collocation accuracy and Reorder Paragraphs transition word recognition.

Daily routine: 20 minutes of RWFIB practice and 10 minutes of Reorder Paragraphs practice with explicit analysis of transition words, followed by 5 minutes of RFIB under timed conditions.

Change strategy: Start using the conservative MCMA strategy (only choose when you are sure) so that you do not have to worry about the negative marking affecting your reading score below your comprehension level.

If Your Score Is 65 to 79

Priority: eradicate RWFIB errors with less frequent collocations and academic vocabulary. Use a maximum conservative approach to MCMA.

Daily routine: 15 minutes of RWFIB, 10 minutes MCMA with elimination strategy practice, 5 minutes RFIB & MCSA for maintenance.

For time management focus, at this score level, time pressure can impact accuracy more than knowledge. In the section, practice the section in full, within the 29-30 minute limit, to determine which tasks are taking you too long.

FAQ about PTE Reading Score Tasks

Which single task has the highest impact on PTE reading score?

Reading and Writing Fill in the Blanks is the Reading item with the most weight, as it is estimated to take up a significant proportion of Reading marks, it is tested 5-6 times in each test, and it requires both Reading and Writing credit for each correct answer; this is the reason most teachers and test prep analysis suggest that it is the most important Reading item. There is no official task-by-task weighting from Pearson.

Does Read Aloud still contribute to reading scores after August 2025?

No, after the August update 2025 Read Aloud will only affect the Speaking communicative skills score. It no longer shares a cross contribution with PTE reading score. If you have been using Read Aloud as a strategy to enhance Reading, this is no longer working. There are now only five tasks contributing to your PTE reading score in this guide.

How many reading tasks appear in a standard PTE Academic exam?

The official Pearson Test Format says that there are about 14 to 20 items in the Reading section. A count of individual tasks adds up to 13-18, whereas the number published by Pearson is 14-20. Unlike a real-time adaptive (RT-A) test, the difficulty of the test forms in PTE Academic is determined by the item bank prior to the exam

Can strong listening skills help improve reading scores?

Indirectly. Good listening skills are indicative of wide English skills, which are generally linked to reading skills. The PTE reading score is constructed from reading-specific tasks which involve reading comprehension, vocabulary and text-based reasoning. 

Listening tasks do not directly affect the performance on RWFIB, Reorder Paragraphs or RFIB. The most direct route to a higher PTE reading score is to practice the reading tasks themselves, especially RWFIB, focusing on vocabulary and collocation knowledge.

What is the quickest way to improve PTE reading score?

The most rapid measurable gains in PTE reading score are achieved when students apply the conservative Multiple Choice Multiple Answer strategy (MCMA) (selecting answers only when they are certain of the correct answer; not guessing) and 10-15 minutes of daily practice in RWFIB (collocation accuracy). 

These two changes resolve the two most frequent sources of avoidable mark loss: negative marking for wrong MCMA choices, and incorrect RWFIB answers as a result of vocabulary gaps. When used together they can give you a significant boost in your PTE reading score within 2 weeks of regular use.

The first step is to know what tasks help you get the most points for your PTE reading score. The score improvement comes from consistent targeted practice on those tasks. PTE Magic offers a complete PTE Academic mock test with task level score analysis to understand which Reading tasks are impacting your score and which part of the test you should practice next.

Start practising at PTEMAGIC