PTE Core Reading: Fill in the Blanks

What the task asks

A short text appears with several words missing, each gap shown as an empty slot. Below the text is a box of words. There are more words in the box than gaps in the text; the extras are distractors. You drag a word from the box into a gap, and drag it back out again if you change your mind. Each word can be used once. When every gap is filled you click Next. There is no item timer; the task shares the Part 2 reading clock with every other reading item.

The texts are of the same everyday kind as the rest of the reading section: a few lines from a volunteer handbook, an explanation of how a deposit scheme works, a short news item about a local decision. The missing words are mostly content words, nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs, chosen because the text around them narrows the choice. The distractors are chosen because they almost fit: a word that is the right part of speech but the wrong meaning, or the right meaning but the wrong form, or a near-synonym that does not collocate with its neighbour.

How it is scored

Scoring is partial credit, one point for each gap filled with the correct word. A gap filled with the wrong word scores zero for that gap and nothing more; there is no deduction. The task contributes to your Reading score only, unlike its drop-down sibling, which also feeds Writing.

The practical consequence is the same as for every no-penalty item: never leave a gap empty. The second consequence is specific to this task. Because the words are shared across gaps and each can be used once, a word placed in the wrong gap costs twice, once there and once in the gap where it belonged. Filling the gaps you are certain of first shrinks the pool for the harder ones.

How our practice scorer grades it

When you submit a text here it is marked automatically and exactly by the rule above: one point per correct gap, nothing taken away for a wrong one. The answer is revealed the moment you submit, each gap shown as right or wrong with the correct word in place, and a short explanation of why that word fits and which distractor was designed to tempt you there. Your running score across texts appears on the 10 to 90 scale with the CLB level beside it.

It is a practice estimate. The marking follows the Pearson rule; the texts are ours; nothing on this site sees your real test.

A worked example

Seven words, four gaps. Gap 1 needs a noun that goes with date, and only expiry does; condition is a noun too, but condition date is not a phrase. Gap 2 needs a past participle after are, which leaves distributed and reduced; items near their limit are given out, not made smaller, so distributed. Gap 3 follows kept in and must be a noun; reserve is the only noun left that fits the idiom kept in reserve. Gap 4 is the one the distractors were built for. Rises and falls are both verbs, both agree with demand, and both make a grammatical sentence. Only the logic settles it: goods are kept back for the winter months, which only makes sense if winter is when demand goes up. Rises.

The three leftover words, falls, condition and reduced, each failed a different test: one on meaning, one on collocation, one on sense. That is the usual design, and it is why checking grammar first, then collocation, then meaning works as a routine.

Five habits that raise the score

1. Read the whole text once before you drag anything. You need the topic to judge meaning, and the gap-4 kind of decision depends on a sentence you have not reached yet.
2. Sort the word box by part of speech in your head. Nouns, verbs, adjectives. Then look at what each gap needs grammatically. Half the words usually drop out of consideration for any given gap.
3. Fill the certain gaps first. Every word you place with confidence is a word removed from the pool for the gaps that are harder.
4. Check the word on each side of the gap. Expiry date, kept in reserve, demand rises. If the pairing sounds unnatural, try the next candidate.
5. Read the finished text aloud in your head. A wrong word interrupts the rhythm. Then click Next; the clock is shared.

The mistakes that cost the most

• Dragging the first word that fits. The distractor is built to fit at a glance. The right word fits on a second look too.
• Ignoring word form. Reduce, reduced, reduction. The box will often contain the right root in the wrong form.
• Leaving a gap empty because nothing seems right. One of the remaining words is right. A guess scores sometimes; an empty gap never does.
• Running out of time. Four or five of these share the clock with five or six drop-down texts and the rest of the section. About two minutes each is the budget.
• Not checking the leftovers. If a word left in the box fits a gap better than the word you put there, you have found a swap worth making.

Quick answers

How many Reading: Fill in the Blanks items are in PTE Core?

Four or five, in Part 2. See the exam guide for the full section and its shared timer.

Can a word from the box be used in two gaps?

No. Each word goes into one gap, and the extra words in the box are never needed anywhere.

Is there negative marking?

No. A wrong word scores zero for that gap; it does not take away points from the others.

What is the difference between this and Reading and Writing: Fill in the Blanks?

Here you drag words from a shared box with distractors, and the task feeds Reading only. In the Reading and Writing version each gap has its own drop-down list, and the task feeds Writing as well.