PTE Core Reading & Writing: Fill in the Blanks

What the task asks

A text of a paragraph or two appears with several words removed. Where each word should be, there is a drop-down list. You open each list, pick the word that fits, and move on. There is no per-item timer; the whole of Part 2 runs on one reading clock shared by every reading task, so the time you spend here is time you do not have for Reorder Paragraphs or the multiple-choice items. With five or six of these texts in the section, it is the task that decides whether your reading time runs out.

The texts are everyday and informational: a notice about recycling collection, a paragraph from a staff handbook, a few lines about how a loyalty scheme works. The missing words are chosen to test three things at once. Does the word mean the right thing in context, does it fit the grammar around the gap, and does it collocate, meaning does it sit naturally with the words next to it? The options in each list are usually plausible on at least one of those counts, and only one is right on all three.

How it is scored

Scoring is partial credit, one point for every blank filled correctly. There is no deduction for a wrong answer, so an empty blank and a wrong blank cost exactly the same: nothing gained. Because word choice and grammar in context are writing skills as much as reading skills, the task contributes to both your Reading and your Writing scores.

Two consequences follow. First, never leave a blank empty; a guess has a chance and an empty gap has none. Second, the points are the same whether the blank was easy or hard, so it is better to secure the four blanks you are sure of in every text than to spend three minutes agonising over one.

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 blank, nothing taken off for wrong choices. The answer is revealed the moment you submit, with each blank shown as right or wrong, the correct word in place, and a short explanation of why that word fits and why the most tempting alternative does not. Your running score across texts is shown on the 10 to 90 scale with the CLB level beside it.

That number is a practice estimate. The marking rule is the Pearson rule, but the question set is ours, and nothing here sees your real test.

A worked example

Blank 1 is a meaning question. A council does not invent a scheme, and informed and included need a different object. Introduced is the word that goes with launching something new. Blank 2 is a grammar question. Four verbs with similar meanings, but only one of them takes the pattern verb + someone + to do. You insist on, you suggest that, you recommend that; only requires residents to separate is grammatical. Blank 3 is a word-form question. All four options come from the same root, and only compulsory is the adjective meaning required by rule. Compulsive describes a habit, compelling describes an argument, and compelled is a past participle that needs a different sentence.

Each blank was decided by a different test, and in each case the wrong options were designed to pass one test and fail another. That is the pattern in nearly every text: the list contains a word that means the right thing but breaks the grammar, a word that fits the grammar but means something else, and a word that looks like the answer but is the wrong form of it.

Five habits that raise the score

1. Read the whole sentence before you open the list. The clue is often after the gap: a preposition, a to, an object that only some verbs can take.
2. Check grammar first, meaning second. Grammar eliminates options with certainty; meaning eliminates them with judgement. Do the certain step first.
3. Look at the word on each side of the gap. Collocation lives there. Make a decision, take responsibility, meet a deadline. If the pairing sounds odd, it probably is.
4. Fill the easy blanks first, then return. A completed sentence around a hard blank gives you more to work with than an empty one.
5. Read the finished text once at speed. A wrong word usually jolts when the paragraph is read as prose. Fix it, then move on; this is a time-shared section.

The mistakes that cost the most

• Choosing by meaning alone. Half the distractors mean roughly the right thing. The grammar after the gap is what rules them out.
• Leaving a blank empty. No negative marking means every empty gap is a point thrown away.
• Spending four minutes on one text. With five or six texts and the whole reading section on one clock, a slow item here starves the items that follow. Secure the sure blanks, guess the rest, move.
• Ignoring the word form. Noun, verb, adjective, adverb. Options built from the same root are a sign that the test is about form, not meaning.
• Not re-reading the completed text. One pass at the end catches the slip that every other check missed.

Quick answers

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

Five or six, in Part 2. It is the largest group of items in the reading section. See the exam guide for the whole section.

Is there negative marking?

No. A wrong choice scores zero for that blank and nothing else. Always select something.

How is this different from Reading: Fill in the Blanks?

Here every gap has its own drop-down list. In Reading: Fill in the Blanks you drag words from a shared box that contains more words than gaps, and that task counts toward Reading only.

How much time should I give each text?

The section clock is shared across every reading item, so budget roughly two minutes per text and keep a little in hand for Reorder Paragraphs, which tends to take longer than people expect.