Templates
Respond to a Situation frames for PTE Core
You hear and read a short situation, then speak as yourself to the person in it for forty seconds. The first trait is appropriacy: did you say the right kind of thing, in the right tone, to that person? A memorised speech cannot be appropriate to a situation it was not written for. These frames give the response a shape and leave the content to the prompt.
Pearson scores a memorised response that does not address the situation 0 for appropriacy, and that zeroes the item. Appropriacy is this task's content trait: it measures whether what you said fits the situation, the listener and the purpose. A polished general apology delivered to a prompt that asked you to make a request is not appropriate, however fluent.
What the prompt asks
Each prompt describes a situation and tells you what to do: apologise to a neighbour, ask a colleague for a favour, complain to a shop, decline an invitation, explain a problem to a landlord, persuade a friend. The situation is read aloud and shown on screen. You have twenty seconds to prepare and forty to speak. The scorer listens for three things: that you did what was asked (apologised, asked, declined), that you did it in a tone that suits the listener, and that you included the specifics of the situation. Roughly 80 to 100 words fills the time.
The four moves
| Move | Seconds | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Address and acknowledge | 0–6 | Name the person, name the situation |
| 2. Explain | 6–18 | The reason, the detail, the feeling, from the prompt |
| 3. Propose or request | 18–32 | The thing the prompt told you to do, made concrete |
| 4. Close | 32–40 | Soften, thank, or confirm next step |
Frames
Move 1: address and acknowledge
- "Hi ___, I wanted to talk to you about ___."
- "___, I know ___ and I'm sorry about that." (for apologies)
- "Excuse me, I'm calling about ___." (for shops, services, strangers)
Move 2: explain
- "The thing is, ___, so ___."
- "What happened was ___, which meant ___."
- "I completely understand that ___, and ___."
Move 3: propose or request
- Request: "Would it be possible to ___? If that's difficult, ___ would also work."
- Apology with repair: "To make up for it, I'd like to ___."
- Decline: "I'm afraid I can't ___ this time, but I'd really like to ___."
- Complaint: "I'd like you to ___, or alternatively ___."
Move 4: close
- "Thanks for understanding, and let me know what works for you."
- "Again, I'm sorry, and I'll make sure ___."
- "I'd appreciate it if you could get back to me by ___."
A filled example
Your neighbour has agreed to water your plants while you are away next week, but your trip has been extended by four days. Call your neighbour, explain, and ask if they can continue.
Hi Priya, it's Daniel from next door. I wanted to talk to you about the plants. The thing is, my trip's been extended because the client moved our final meeting, so instead of getting back on Sunday I'll be back on Thursday. I know you've already agreed to a week, and I don't want to take advantage. Would it be possible for you to keep watering them until Thursday? If that's difficult, every second day would be absolutely fine. I'll bring you something back from Halifax, and thanks so much for helping with this.
The response does what the prompt asked: it explains the change, with the reason and the new date, and it asks the question. It names the listener, uses first names because the prompt said neighbour, offers a fallback so the request is easy to accept, and closes with thanks. Of 92 words, around 70 are specific to the situation. The frames are the connective tissue; the plants, the client, Sunday, Thursday and Halifax are the content.
Getting the tone right
Appropriacy depends on who is listening. The prompt always tells you. Use these as defaults:
- Friend, neighbour, flatmate, close colleague: first name, contractions, "would it be possible", "thanks so much".
- Manager, teacher, landlord, official: their title if given, fewer contractions, "I wanted to let you know", "I would be grateful if".
- Shop, company, service line: "I'm calling about", a clear statement of what you want, a deadline.
- Apologies in any register: say sorry early, say what happened without excuses, offer a repair. Three sentences, not six.
Over-formality is the common failure with friends ("I sincerely apologise for the inconvenience caused") and over-familiarity with officials ("Hey, so basically"). Both are scored as less appropriate.
Using the twenty seconds
- Seconds 1–5: identify the listener and the instruction verb: apologise, ask, explain, decline, complain. Write the verb on the notepad.
- Seconds 5–15: pick two facts from the situation to use in the explanation and one concrete thing to propose or request.
- Seconds 15–20: choose the opener and say the listener's name in your head. Start speaking on the tone.
The mistakes that cost the most
- Doing the wrong act. Apologising when asked to request, or describing the situation back without asking the question. Find the verb in the prompt and make sure it happens by second twenty.
- Speaking about the situation instead of to the person. "In this situation, I would tell my neighbour that" is a report, not a response. Say "Hi Priya" and talk to her.
- Template openings. "I would like to express my sincere gratitude for taking the time to listen" fits no situation and spends six seconds.
- Stopping at twenty-five seconds. If you finish the request early, add the fallback option or the thank-you. The recording should end naturally near forty.
- Restarting. A small slip, left alone, costs almost nothing. A restart costs fluency every time.
Practise with real prompts and the twenty-second timer on the task page. The scorer there reports appropriacy separately from pronunciation and fluency, which shows you whether the problem is what you said or how you said it.