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Part 1 · Speaking & Writing · RTL

Re-tell Lecture: Speaking & Writing PTE question type

You hear a short academic lecture, then retell it in your own words. You are given preparation time before the recording plays.

The lecture is the kind delivered to a university audience, and the item is framed as "in your own words" — paraphrase is explicitly permitted and expected. This is one of only eight integrated items on the test, scoring both Listening and Speaking.

Scoring

How Re-tell Lecture is scored

Content runs 0 to 6 and rewards the lecture’s argument rather than its vocabulary. Pronunciation and oral fluency are scored with it, and the item contributes to the Listening skill score as well as Speaking.

Skills scored
Listening — contributes to your Listening scoreSpeaking — contributes to your Speaking score
Questions per test
2–3 in Speaking & Writing
Traits Pearson rates
Content · Pronunciation · Oral Fluency

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 Re-tell Lecture mistakes

  1. 1Trying to reproduce the lecturer’s phrasing instead of the argument, which loses content on complex phrasings.
  2. 2Re-telling sequentially through every example rather than the through-line.
  3. 3Spending preparation time writing instead of noting three or four keywords.

Strategy

Note only the lecture skeleton — three or four keywords — while listening. Re-tell in your own words with a clear cause-and-effect chain.
Practice Re-tell LectureSit a full mock

Questions

Re-tell Lecture questions, answered

How many Re-tell Lecture questions are on the PTE Academic?

A PTE Academic has 2–3 Re-tell Lecture items in the Speaking & Writing section. Each one is an integrated item, so it counts towards both your Listening and Speaking scores.

How is Re-tell Lecture scored?

Content runs 0 to 6 and rewards the lecture’s argument rather than its vocabulary. Pronunciation and oral fluency are scored with it, and the item contributes to the Listening skill score as well as Speaking.

What goes wrong most often on Re-tell Lecture?

Trying to reproduce the lecturer’s phrasing instead of the argument, which loses content on complex phrasings.

Keep going

Related speaking & writing question types

All Speaking & Writing 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.