During your next PTE listening test, you will need to do a multiple choice question that is based upon an audio recording. This is usually referred to as the PTE listening multiple choice single answer section because – of course – you need to choose just one single answer from the list that you are given. This will be the fifth part of the listening exam.
In today’s article, we are going to explore the things you need to know in order to succeed at this particular question type.
What is PTE listening multiple choice single answer?
In this part of the test, you will hear and audio recording that will last for between thirty and sixty seconds. As with the other parts of the test, you will hear the audio recordings only one time.
On the screen in front of you, you will see a question with several possible answers. Your job is to pick the best possible answer from this list. You should only choose one answer.
How should you approach this sort of question?
The purpose of multiple choice single answer PTE listening questions is to test your English language comprehension in several aspects: main idea, specific details, inferences, and purpose.
It is important that you read the question quickly before listening to the audio passage because the question will actually tell you what sort of information you should listen for. This is important because it can focus your attention on the right part of the listening passage instead of trying to understand everything.
For example, if you are asked, “What was the main reason for…?” then clearly you are listening for a big, important idea. However, if the question says, “Why does the speaker…?” then you are being asked about the speaker’s purpose. Similarly, the question may give clues about the specific information, helping guide you to the right answer.
All of this will be really useful in helping you to find the correct answer because those are different sorts of English listening skills.
How to prepare for multiple choice PTE listening questions
For this sort of question, it is important to practice often in advance of the real exam. Of course, practice is generally important but in this case there are more specific reasons.
As I explained above, these multiple choice single answer questions are designed to test different skills and so you are listening in different ways during the exam. In order to be ready for this, you should do some PTE listening multiple choice single answer practice. Try Edubenchmark’s PTE listening services for the best ways to improve.
Beyond that, you ought to make sure you listen to different types of English audio every single day. This will help you become familiar with the accents, rhythms, and content of our speech. Try TED talks or YouTube videos on different sorts of subjects (history, economics, politics, society, etc) in order to boost a range of your skills.
Pre-read for an extra good chance of PTE success
One piece of advice that I strongly recommend to everyone who is planning to do their PTE test soon is to pre-read the listening questions. The reason for this is that skimming through those questions (and possible answers) will help you to understand the topic before you listen.
This is important because our brains take a while to focus on a subject, but if we can warn them in advance then they will be quicker at getting the vocabulary ready in our minds.
We should also take this approach because it can help us to search for the right answer in various ways. When we have skimmed quickly through the possible answers, we may see certain repeated words or notice some interesting things about the information given. These can help us when we actually listen to the recording.
Other things to know about multiple choice single answer listening questions for PTE
For this sort of question, your answer will simply be marked as correct or incorrect. You should note that wrong answers are not penalized, so do not be afraid to take a guess if you are unsure about what the answer is. This is a handy technique to consider because sometimes you are unsure of the correct answer but you are certain about one or two being incorrect. In such cases, you can then make a guess at the right answer.
By using all of this advice, you can approach PTE multiple choice single answer listening questions with confidence and expect a high degree of succeed.
