PTE Academic · Guides · October 24, 2026 · 8 min read
PTE Listening multiple choice: Select Missing Word, Highlight Correct Summary and MCQ tips (2026)
The PTE Listening part has four tasks where you choose from options: Multiple Choice, Single Answer, Multiple Choice, Multiple Answers, Highlight Correct Summary and Select Missing Word. Three of them are simply right or wrong. Only Multiple Answers has partial credit and negative marking: +1 for each correct option, −1 for each wrong one, never below zero. That one difference should change how you answer it.
The four listening tasks at a glance
| Task | What you hear | What you choose | Tasks per test | Scoring |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Multiple Choice, Single Answer | a recording of about 30–90 s | one option answering a question | 2–3 | right or wrong |
| Multiple Choice, Multiple Answers | a recording of about 80–120 s | all options that are true | 2–3 | +1 / −1 per option, minimum 0 |
| Highlight Correct Summary | a recording of about 30–90 s | the paragraph that best summarises it | 2–3 | right or wrong |
| Select Missing Word | a recording of about 20–70 s cut off before its last word or words | the option that completes it | 1–2 | right or wrong |
Every recording is played once. The numbers of tasks are the ranges described for the format since August 2025 and change from test to test; the full layout is in the PTE exam pattern guide.
The Reading part has two matching tasks: Multiple Choice, Single Answer and Multiple Choice, Multiple Answers on a written passage. They are scored the same way as their listening twins; more on them below.
Multiple Choice, Single Answer
You hear a short talk and answer one question by choosing one option. Here is a practice task from Nomto (try it): the speaker talks about wildlife crossings over and under roads, mentions cameras that showed deer, foxes and reptiles using them, and then says that the key, it turns out, is fencing that guides animals towards the crossing.
Question: According to the speaker, what makes wildlife crossings work?
- A. Fences that guide animals towards the crossing ✔
- B. Cameras that record the animals using them
- C. Soil and plants that cover the bridges
- D. Tunnels built especially for small reptiles
Every wrong option uses words from the talk. Cameras, soil and plants, and reptiles were all mentioned, just not as the answer to this question. The speaker signals the answer with the key, it turns out, is. Listen for those signposts: the main point, what matters, in fact, but.
Multiple Choice, Multiple Answers
Same idea, but more than one option is correct and you do not know how many. In a practice task from Nomto (try it) the talk is about trees cooling city streets: shade keeps roads from heating up, roads and pavements otherwise absorb heat by day and release it at night, and trees release water through their leaves, which cools the air. One study found tree-lined streets up to four degrees cooler in the afternoon.
Question: Which of the following are mentioned in the talk?
- In one study, streets with trees were four degrees cooler at night.
- Young trees can be left without water once they are planted.
- Roads and pavements take in heat by day and give it off at night. ✔
- Some councils have stopped planting trees close to roads.
- Trees cool the air by releasing water through their leaves. ✔
- Trees reduce the noise of traffic in busy streets.
Option 1 is the classic trap: the number is right, the time of day is wrong.
How negative marking works: a worked example
There are two correct options, so the maximum is 2. Each option you tick that is correct adds 1; each one that is wrong takes 1 away; the task cannot go below 0.
| You tick | Right | Wrong | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 and 5 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 3 only | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 3, 5 and 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 − 1 = 1 |
| 3 and 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 − 1 = 0 |
| 1, 4 and 6 | 0 | 3 | → 0 |
Ticking only the one option you are sure of (row 2) scores the same as ticking both right answers plus a guess (row 3), and a guess that goes wrong can wipe out a correct answer (row 4). So tick only what you clearly heard. One sure answer is a safer plan than “tick two to be safe”.
Highlight Correct Summary
You hear a talk and then read three or four paragraphs; one summarises the talk correctly. In a practice task from Nomto (try it) the speaker explains why we always see the same side of the Moon: it does rotate, but it spins once in the same time it takes to orbit the Earth; this is tidal locking; Earth’s gravity slowed the Moon’s spin long ago; and many moons are locked the same way.
The wrong summaries fail in typical ways:
- one reverses the talk (the Moon does not rotate; its spin sped up);
- one makes a minor detail the main point (the dark and light patches);
- one adds information that was never said (the Moon moving away, the far side becoming visible).
The correct one covers the main idea and the key supporting points with nothing added or contradicted. Take short notes while you listen: the main point and two or three supporting ideas are enough. Then cross out any option that contradicts your notes, adds something new, or misses the main point.
Select Missing Word
You hear a recording; its last word or phrase is cut off, and you choose what was missing. In a practice task from Nomto (try it) the talk explains that teenagers’ bodies release the hormone that makes us sleepy only around eleven o’clock, and ends: “a teenager lying awake at ten at night is usually not being difficult. Their body is simply…”
- ready for bed / short of exercise / fast asleep / not tired yet ✔
The ending follows from the logic of the whole talk, not just the last sentence. Read the options before the audio starts if you can, follow the argument, and pay special attention to the last two sentences, where the direction is set.
Reading multiple choice, briefly
The Reading part has the same two formats on a written passage. Multiple Choice, Single Answer in Reading is right or wrong; a typical question asks for the writer’s main purpose, and wrong options exaggerate the text (permanent damage instead of tired eyes) or pick a side detail. Multiple Choice, Multiple Answers in Reading uses the same +1 / −1 rule, never below zero, so the advice above applies in full: tick only what the passage clearly supports. The other negatively marked task in PTE is Highlight Incorrect Words.
Tips for all listening multiple-choice tasks
- Read the question and options before the audio. There are a few seconds; in Nomto’s trainer, between 5 and 10 depending on the task. Know what you are listening for.
- Take light notes. Key words and numbers with what they refer to: 4° — afternoon, not just 4°.
- Distrust word matches. The wrong options are built from the talk’s own words. Ask whether the option says what the speaker meant, not whether it uses the same words.
- Listen for signposts. But, however, the key is, in fact, the main reason usually mark the answer.
- In Multiple Answers, tick only what you are sure of. Negative marking makes a guess a risk, not a free try.
- In the right-or-wrong tasks, always answer. There is no penalty there, so a guess is better than a blank.
- Move on. Each recording plays once. Do not let one task’s doubt spill into the next.
Common mistakes
- Choosing the option that repeats the most words from the audio.
- Ticking three or four options in Multiple Answers “to cover the possibilities”.
- In Highlight Correct Summary, picking the summary with the most detail instead of the one with the right main point.
- In Select Missing Word, choosing an ending that fits the last sentence but contradicts the talk as a whole.
Templates and tricks
There are no templates for multiple-choice tasks, and “the longest option is right” or “C is most common” rules do not hold up. What works is a method: read the question first, note the main point and key details, eliminate options that contradict, add or exaggerate.
Common questions
Is there negative marking in PTE multiple choice? Only in Multiple Choice, Multiple Answers (both Reading and Listening): +1 for each correct option, −1 for each wrong one, not below zero. Single Answer, Highlight Correct Summary and Select Missing Word are simply right or wrong.
How many correct answers are there in Multiple Answers? More than one; the number is not given and varies. Tick only the options you are sure of.
What is Highlight Correct Summary in PTE? A listening task where you hear a talk and choose the paragraph that summarises it best. It is scored right or wrong.
What is Select Missing Word in PTE? A listening task where the end of a recording is missing and you choose the missing word or phrase. It is scored right or wrong.
Practise with exam scoring
Nomto’s PTE trainer has all of these tasks with recorded audio played once and exam timing: Highlight Correct Summary, Select Missing Word, Single Answer and Multiple Answers in Listening, and Single and Multiple Answer in Reading. Answers are marked by the key, with partial credit and negative marking exactly as described above, and the review shows the transcript and explains every option. For a full picture of your Listening and Reading, take a mock test. The word-by-word listening tasks are covered in Write from Dictation and Fill in the Blanks.
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