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Fill in the Blanks Questions in PTE Listening

Learn about Fill in the blanks questions in PTE listening with an overview, recommended strategy and practice question.

by Tim Martyn

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Table of contents

Overview
Example question
Recommended strategy
Practice question

Overview

Fill in the blanks questions test your ability to listen for missing words in a recording and type them into a transcript.

Here are some key points about Fill in the blanks questions:

They assess both your listening and writing skills.
The recording will last between 30 and 60 seconds.
You’ll hear the recording once only.
You’ll need to complete up to 7 blanks.
The recording will begin automatically after 7 seconds.
You’ll answer 2–3 Fill in the blanks questions in the listening test.

Example question

Here’s an example Fill in the blanks question related to the topic of consumerism.

You can try this question in the practice section.

You will hear a recording. Type the missing words in each blank.

So, thinking a little bit more about how people their way in the world, we can also talk about world views such as consumerism or materialism. And these are generally part of the assumed of our lives. They’re part of the , and we don’t talk about them so much, but we could consider that we might agree or disagree to different extents with the of consumerism, an ideology that encourages the ongoing of goods and services. That is to say, the good life is made up of consuming more and more. You could agree with that to a certain extent or not. Materialism, highly related, is a system where social status, whether people are high or low status, in some sense whether they’re good compared to other people, is determined by wealth, by , and ownership, and consumption of goods and services.

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Sustainability Lecture, University Level (Social Psychology) by Cameron Brick is licensed under CC BY 3.0. An audio excerpt was extracted from the original video and transcribed.

Recommended strategy

Here’s my recommended strategy for answering Fill in the blanks questions.

Before you listen

Start by quickly skimming the text. This will give you a general understanding of what the text is about and help you understand what you hear.
Put your cursor in the first blank so that you’re ready to type.

While you’re listening

Follow the written text as you listen to the recording.
After you type an answer, don’t stop to check what you’ve written. Instead, keep following the written text so that you’re ready for the next answer.
Move your cursor into the next blank so that you’re ready to type. Alternatively, you can press the Tab key on your keyboard to move the cursor between blanks.
Some test takers prefer to take notes and then fill in the blanks after the recording has finished. You can try both methods to see which you prefer.