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PTEPTE Prep

Part 3 · Listening · HIW

Highlight Incorrect Words: Listening PTE question type

You hear a recording and see a transcript with roughly one word wrong per sentence. You highlight the incorrect words.

The errors are the kinds a second language makes — article choice, plural endings, wrong verb form — and they appear in both a short and a longer passage. Highlighting is done by clicking words in sequence.

Scoring

How Highlight Incorrect Words is scored

One point per correctly highlighted word, minus one per word highlighted wrongly, floored at zero. This is one of only three items on the whole test that carries negative marking.

Skills scored
Listening — contributes to your Listening scoreReading — contributes to your Reading score
Questions per test
2–3 in Listening

This is an integrated item: it counts towards 2 different skill scores at once, which is why its weighting in a full test is higher than a single-skill item.

Watch out

Common Highlight Incorrect Words mistakes

  1. 1Highlighting a word that is grammatically odd but genuinely in the recording.
  2. 2Missing an error because the sentence sounded fluent, which is the point of the distractor.
  3. 3Continuing to hunt after a long clean stretch, since errors are unevenly spaced.

Strategy

One point per correct highlight, minus one per word highlighted wrongly. Highlight a third word by mistake and the item scores zero.
Practice Highlight Incorrect WordsSit a full mock

Questions

Highlight Incorrect Words questions, answered

How many Highlight Incorrect Words questions are on the PTE Academic?

A PTE Academic has 2–3 Highlight Incorrect Words items in the Listening section. Each one is an integrated item, so it counts towards both your Listening and Reading scores.

How is Highlight Incorrect Words scored?

One point per correctly highlighted word, minus one per word highlighted wrongly, floored at zero. This is one of only three items on the whole test that carries negative marking.

What goes wrong most often on Highlight Incorrect Words?

Highlighting a word that is grammatically odd but genuinely in the recording.

Keep going

Related listening question types

All Listening question types · tips for all 22 types · full test format · how PTE scores work.

Scoring figures on this page follow the current PTE Academic official guide. This is an independent practice site and is not affiliated with Pearson.