PTE Academic · Listening
PTE Listening Highlight Correct Summary
You hear a recording once, then pick the one paragraph that sums up the whole of it — not just a detail you remember.
Several summary paragraphs appear on screen, and you get ten seconds to read them before a recording of 30 to 90 seconds starts by itself and plays once. There's no separate question: your job is to choose the paragraph that best summarizes what you heard. Only one paragraph is correct. Choosing it earns a point, and choosing any other earns nothing, with no penalty on top. The task counts towards both your Listening and your Reading score.
How the task works
Read, listen once, choose the summary
The recording starts by itself once the ten seconds are up. The paragraphs stay on screen while it plays and after it ends, so you can compare them against what you heard.
Skim the paragraphs for how they differ
Ten seconds isn't enough to read every paragraph closely, and you don't need to. Skim for what sets them apart — a claim one makes that another denies, a paragraph that's all about one example — so you know what to listen for.
Listen for the argument and where it ends up
Follow the speaker's main point from start to finish: what they set out to say, the evidence they use, and the conclusion they reach. A vivid detail is easy to remember, but the summary you want covers the whole talk.
Rule out, then choose one
Go through the paragraphs and cross off the ones that add something the speaker never said, contradict them, or only cover one detail. The paragraph left standing is usually your answer — choose it and move on.
How Pearson scores it
One point for the right paragraph, nothing for any other
The whole question is scored as a single unit. Choose the correct paragraph and you earn a point; choose any other, or none, and the question earns nothing.
Correct or incorrect
There's no partial credit for a paragraph that's nearly right, and no penalty beyond missing the point — the question is worth one point if you picked the paragraph Pearson marks correct, and zero otherwise.
Highlight Correct Summary counts towards both your Listening and your Reading score. Two or three of these appear in a test.
What usually goes wrong
Four ways a wrong summary goes wrong
Says what the speaker didn't say
The paragraph sounds reasonable and fits the topic, but it adds names, numbers or events that never came up. If you can't place a detail in the recording, don't trust the paragraph that carries it.
Contradicts the speaker
Often this paragraph repeats an idea the speaker mentioned only to reject it. It feels familiar because you heard those words — but the speaker was arguing against them.
Only one detail, not the whole talk
Everything in it is true, and that's the trap. It retells one example or one finding in full, but a summary has to cover the speaker's argument and conclusion, not a single part of the talk.
Gets the main point wrong
The paragraph picks up real parts of the talk but puts the weight in the wrong place, turning a side remark into the speaker's message. Ask yourself what the speaker wanted you to walk away with.
Worked example
One talk, four paragraphs, one summary — and why the other three fail
Here is a recording of the kind you hear in this task: “Most people assume that a city's trees are planted mainly for their looks, and for a long time planners thought so too. But when researchers in Melbourne mapped summer temperatures street by street, they found something more useful. Streets with a full canopy of trees were up to six degrees cooler at midday than bare streets only a few hundred metres away. That difference matters, because heat is now the leading weather-related cause of death in Australian cities. The council's response was not to plant more trees everywhere, which would have been expensive and slow. Instead, it used the temperature map to choose the hottest streets first, especially those near hospitals, schools and housing for older residents. The trees themselves were chosen for shade rather than for flowers. So the lesson is not simply that trees are good. It is that a city gets the most from its trees when it plants them where the heat does the most harm.” Below are the four paragraphs on screen, what each one scored, and why.
The four paragraphs and what they scored
- The correct paragraph Paragraph (b) "The speaker argues that city trees are worth more than their looks. A temperature map showed shaded streets were much cooler, so the council planted the hottest streets first, near hospitals, schools and older residents, choosing trees for shade. Trees do the most good where heat does the most harm." It carries the argument, the evidence and the conclusion in one paragraph. Choosing it is the only choice that earns the point.
- Says what the speaker didn't say Paragraph (a) "The speaker explains that Melbourne planted trees on every street within a single year, paid for by a new tax on drivers. Residents chose the species themselves, and most of them picked flowering trees. The result, the speaker says, was cooler streets across the whole city and far fewer hospital visits in summer." No one-year programme, tax or residents' vote is mentioned — the details sound plausible but were never said.
- Only one detail, not the whole talk Paragraph (c) "The speaker describes a study in Melbourne that measured summer temperatures street by street. Researchers found that streets with a full canopy of trees were up to six degrees cooler at midday than bare streets only a few hundred metres away, which shows how much difference shade can make on a hot afternoon." True, but it is one piece of evidence, not the whole talk.
- Contradicts the speaker Paragraph (d) "The speaker says that trees in cities are planted mainly for their looks, and that the council agreed. Because shade made little difference to summer temperatures, Melbourne chose flowering trees and spread them evenly across every suburb, so that no neighbourhood would feel left out of the programme or be given fewer trees." The speaker corrects exactly this assumption: the trees were chosen for shade and planted where heat harms most.
What the speaker actually says
City trees are worth more than their looks: shaded streets were much cooler, so the council planted the hottest streets first, near the people most at risk — trees do the most good where heat does the most harm.
Strategy tip: The right paragraph covers the whole talk — its argument and its conclusion — not its most vivid detail.
Notice that the correct paragraph isn't the longest one, and the most detailed paragraph, (c), is entirely true. What makes (b) right is that it's the only one that covers the talk from its opening claim to its conclusion.
Practising here
See what's wrong with every paragraph you didn't choose
The timing matches the exam screen, and the review after you check explains every paragraph, not just the one you picked.
Ten seconds, then one play
The countdown runs, the recording plays once, and the paragraphs stay on screen throughout. After you check your answer, you can replay the recording as often as you like.
Scored the way Pearson does
We score the way Pearson does — one point for the right paragraph, none otherwise — and the review says why the right paragraph is right.
Every wrong paragraph named
Each wrong paragraph shows which of the four ways it goes wrong — says what the speaker didn't say, contradicts the speaker, covers only one detail, or gets the main point wrong — with a short explanation from the talk.
Written to be fair
In this practice bank each question has three or four paragraphs of 35 to 70 words, and the right one isn't simply the longest or always in the same place — so you learn to judge the summary, not the layout.
One tip, and every attempt kept
You get one strategy tip for this question, plus your score and your earlier attempts on the same recording, so you can see whether you keep falling for the same kind of wrong paragraph.
Common questions
Highlight Correct Summary, answered
How long do I get before the recording starts?
Ten seconds. The paragraphs are already on screen, so use the time to skim them for how they differ.
How many times does the recording play?
Once. It runs for 30 to 90 seconds and starts by itself, so our practice plays it once too — after you check your answer you can listen again as often as you like.
Is there a question to answer?
No. There's no separate question: you simply choose the paragraph that best summarizes the recording.
How many paragraphs are correct?
Exactly one. The others are built to look plausible without being a fair summary of what you heard.
What happens if I choose the wrong paragraph?
The question earns nothing. There's no partial credit and no penalty beyond missing the point.
Which score does this task count towards?
Both Listening and Reading.
How many of these are in the test?
Two or three.
Try it with one play
Hear a recording once, choose the paragraph that sums it up, and see exactly what's wrong with each of the others.