PTE Academic · Listening
PTE Listening Fill in the Blanks
You read a text with words missing, hear the recording once, and type what belongs in each gap.
A short academic text appears on screen with several words taken out. You get seven seconds to read it, then the recording of that same text plays once, and you type the missing word into each gap as you hear it. Every gap you fill with the right word, spelled correctly, is a point towards your Listening score.
How the task works
Read, listen once, type
The recording starts by itself after the seven seconds are up. You type into the gaps while it plays.
Read the text first
Find the gaps before the audio starts and work out what each one needs — a noun, a verb, an ending in -ed or -s. Seven seconds is short, so go straight to the gaps rather than reading every word.
Fill the gaps as you listen
Here the text stays on screen while the recording plays, so you can read along and type each word as it arrives. If a word gets away from you, put down its first letters and come back to it — the audio does not wait.
Check your spelling
A word you heard clearly but spelled wrong earns nothing. Read each gap once more, and if one is still empty, type your best guess: nothing is taken off for being wrong.
How Pearson scores it
One point for every gap you fill correctly
Each gap is a point of its own. There is no mark for style, and a wrong answer never costs you a point you have already earned.
Correct words
You earn a point for each gap filled with the right word, spelled correctly. A gap left empty earns nothing, and neither does a word you heard but misspelled. There is no negative marking, so a wrong guess costs you no more than a blank.
Fill in the Blanks counts towards your Listening score. Two or three of these appear in a test, and every gap you spell right is a point you keep.
What usually goes wrong
Where students lose points
Spending the seven seconds reading the whole text
By the time the audio starts you have read two sentences and seen none of the gaps. Jump from gap to gap instead and ask what kind of word each one needs — the sentence around it usually tells you.
Still typing when the next gap goes past
One careful word can cost you the two that follow. Type the first letters, let the recording carry on, and finish the spelling once it stops.
Misspelling a word you heard perfectly well
“Enviroment” for “environment” is a point gone, even though your ear did everything right. Academic words with doubled or silent letters cost the most.
Leaving a gap empty
Nothing is deducted for a wrong word, so an empty gap is simply a point handed back. Write what you think you heard, or what the sentence needs.
Worked example
One passage, five gaps, and where each point went
Here is a passage of the kind you hear in this task: “Urban planners in several European cities have begun to (1) how much of the day people spend outdoors. Early (2) suggest that the figure falls sharply in neighbourhoods with little shade, even when the streets are otherwise (3). The research team argues that planting trees along the main routes is the cheapest way to (4) the hours a street stays usable in summer. Their findings will be (5) at the end of the term.” Below is what one student typed, gap by gap.
The five gaps and what they scored
- Points kept Gaps 1, 4 and 5 Gaps 1, 4 and 5 — “measure”, “extend” and “published” — were heard and spelled correctly, so each one earned its point.
- Point lost Gap 2, misspelled “surveis” for “surveys”. The word was heard, but a misspelling earns nothing here, exactly as in the exam.
- Point lost Gap 3, left empty “comfortable” was still being typed when the recording moved on, so the gap stayed blank — and a blank can never score.
- What it adds up to Where the points went No deduction for the misses. The lost points were a spelling and a blank, not a word the student failed to hear.
The passage with every gap filled
Urban planners in several European cities have begun to measure how much of the day people spend outdoors. Early surveys suggest that the figure falls sharply in neighbourhoods with little shade, even when the streets are otherwise comfortable. The research team argues that planting trees along the main routes is the cheapest way to extend the hours a street stays usable in summer. Their findings will be published at the end of the term.
Strategy tip: Use the seven seconds on the gaps, not on the text. Decide what kind of word each gap needs before the audio starts, and your ear only has to confirm it.
Neither lost point here was a listening problem. That is the usual pattern in this task: the words arrive, and the points go on spelling and on gaps that never got filled.
Practising here
See what every gap scored, and why
The timing and the answer chips match the exam screen, so the practice feels like the task and the feedback tells you where each point went.
Seven seconds, then one play
The countdown runs, the recording plays once, and you type while it plays. After you check your answer you can replay it as often as you like.
Scored the way Pearson does
We score the way Pearson does — one point for each gap word spelled correctly — and show the right word next to every miss.
Every gap marked in place
The gaps turn into chips inside the passage: a green chip with your word where you were right, and where you were not, your word struck through next to the word that belonged there.
Heard but misspelled, told apart
A near miss is labelled as a misspelling rather than lumped in with a word you never caught, so you can see whether to work on your ear or on your spelling.
One tip, and every attempt kept
You get a single piece of advice about the gaps you actually lost, plus your score and your earlier attempts on the same passage, so you can tell whether the same words still trip you up.
Common questions
Fill in the Blanks, answered
How long do I get before the recording starts?
Seven seconds. The text with its gaps is already on screen, so use them to find the gaps and decide what kind of word each one needs.
How many times does the recording play?
Once. It runs for about 30 to 60 seconds and there is no replay in the exam, so our practice plays it once too — after you check your answer you can listen again as often as you like.
Does a misspelled word still earn the point?
No. The point is for the right word spelled correctly, so a word you heard but spelled wrong scores nothing. Here it is marked as a misspelling rather than a wrong word, so you can see the difference.
Do I lose marks for a wrong guess?
No. There is no negative marking in this task, so a wrong word costs you exactly what an empty gap does. Always type something.
Does British or American spelling matter?
Either is fine, as long as the word is spelled correctly in one of them.
Which score does this task count towards?
Listening — unlike Write from Dictation, it does not feed your Writing score.
How many of these are in the test?
Two or three, depending on the test you get.
Try it with one play
Read a passage for seven seconds, hear it once, and see what every gap scored — and the word that belonged in the ones you missed.