PTE Academic · Guides · October 24, 2026 · 7 min read

PTE Retell Lecture: tips, template and examples (2026)

In PTE Re-tell Lecture you listen to a short lecture of up to about 90 seconds, get about 10 seconds to prepare, then retell it in your own words for up to about 40 seconds. The answer is scored on content (how many of the lecture’s main ideas you convey, and how accurately), oral fluency and pronunciation, and it counts toward Speaking and Listening. What earns marks is the topic, the main point, two or three supporting details and the conclusion, said smoothly. A template filled with keywords you half-heard earns much less.

How the task works

The lectures cover academic topics in plain language: science, history, psychology, cities, technology. You hear the audio once. After the preparation time a tone sounds and the microphone opens. If you are silent for 3 seconds, it closes, so you need your first sentence ready before the tone.

How Re-tell Lecture is scored

• Content. How fully and accurately you retell the lecture: the topic, the main ideas, the key supporting details (an example, a cause, a result) and how they connect. Wrong facts and unrelated words do not help.
• Oral fluency. Smooth, continuous speech. Pauses inside phrases, fillers, restarts and long silences lower it.
• Pronunciation. Clear sounds and natural word and sentence stress.

Pearson does not publish exact trait scales that every source agrees on, so we describe them in words. Since 2025 some responses are also checked by human experts, and memorized answers stuffed with random keywords lose content credit.

A worked example

Here is a practice task from Nomto (task rl-0003, “The spacing effect”), about 67 seconds of audio. In short, the lecturer says:

• the spacing effect: studying the same material in several short sessions over a few days beats one long session;
• the reason: a little forgetting is useful, because the effort of bringing information back makes the memory stronger, and studying everything in one night feels easy but that feeling is misleading;
• an experiment: one group studied a list of science terms for 90 minutes in one evening, another for 30 minutes on three days; a week later the second group remembered almost twice as many terms;
• the advice: plan short reviews across the term instead of cramming; it takes the same time, used differently.

What good notes look like. You cannot write sentences while listening. Write five lines of keywords, one per idea, with arrows and numbers:

spacing effect: short sessions > 1 long why: forget a bit → effort → stronger memory 1 night = feels easy, misleading exp: 90 min × 1 vs 30 min × 3 → week later ×2 terms → plan reviews, not cram

A strong answer, about 40 seconds:

The lecture was about the spacing effect, which means that studying material in several short sessions over a few days leads to better memory than studying it in one long session. The speaker explained that a small amount of forgetting is helpful, because recalling information after a gap takes effort, and that effort makes the memory stronger. In one experiment, students who studied for thirty minutes on three days remembered almost twice as many terms a week later as students who studied for ninety minutes in one evening. The advice was to plan short reviews instead of cramming.

Why it works: it opens with the topic and the main idea, explains the reason, gives the one example with its numbers, and ends with the conclusion. Each sentence is linked to the next (because, in one experiment, the advice was). It does not try to repeat every sentence of the lecture.

What a weaker answer sounds like: “The lecture was about the spacing effect, study, memory, brain, students, experiment, ninety minutes, cramming. The speaker also talked about the importance of … uh … forgetting. In conclusion, the lecture was very informative.” It contains keywords, but no idea is explained, the numbers have no meaning, and there is a filler and a pause. Content is low even though many “right words” were said.

How to take notes from a 90-second lecture

1. Listen hardest to the first 15 seconds. Lecturers usually name the topic at the start (“Today’s topic is … and it’s called …”). That is your first sentence.
2. Write keywords, not sentences. Nouns, numbers and names. Use symbols: → for “leads to”, > for “better than”, × for “times”.
3. Mark the signposts. “One explanation is…”, “Let me give you an example”, “So what does this mean for you?” Each signpost starts a new idea; start a new line.
4. Catch numbers with their meaning. “90 min × 1 vs 30 min × 3” is useful; “90, 30, 3” alone is not.
5. Listen for the conclusion. The last 10–15 seconds often repeat the main point or give advice. Write it down; it is your closing sentence.

A minimal frame instead of a template

Long templates (“The speaker was talking about the importance of… The speaker also mentioned… In conclusion, the lecture was informative”) are popular because they let you speak without thinking. They also add little: the frame itself is not content, and an answer that is mostly frame with a few keywords dropped in gets little credit.

Three short phrases are enough to keep you moving:

1. “The lecture was about …” plus the topic and main idea.
2. “The speaker explained that … For example, …” plus two or three details from your notes.
3. “The main point / The advice was …” plus the conclusion.

Everything else should come from the lecture.

Tips that actually help

1. Use the 10 seconds to plan your first sentence and your order of points, not to reread every note.
2. Start right after the tone. Begin with the topic; the rest follows from your notes.
3. Aim for four or five ideas, not ten. In 40 seconds you can cover the topic, the main idea, two details and the conclusion.
4. Link ideas with simple connectors: because, for example, as a result, however, so.
5. Use your own words. Paraphrasing is expected. You do not need to match the lecturer’s sentences.
6. Keep going if a detail is gone. Skip it and move to the next note. A 3-second silence ends your answer.
7. Speak at a calm, steady pace. Rushing to fit more in usually costs fluency and pronunciation.
8. Practice with lectures of different speeds and accents. Do not rely on one familiar voice.

Common mistakes

• Writing so much during the lecture that you miss the next idea.
• Listing keywords with no connection between them.
• Spending 15 seconds on a memorized introduction and running out of time before the main points.
• Getting a number or a fact wrong because it was noted without context.
• Long pauses while searching the notes, which can trigger the 3-second cut.

Practice Re-tell Lecture in the Nomto trainer

The Re-tell Lecture task in the Nomto PTE trainer plays each lecture once, gives you 10 seconds to prepare and 40 seconds to speak, with the tone and the 3-second microphone rule. After each answer you get estimates for content, oral fluency and pronunciation, an approximate score on the 10–90 scale, a checklist of the lecture’s key points showing which ones you covered, and a sample answer. The same note-taking skills help in Summarize Spoken Text and Summarize Group Discussion, and the 40-second speaking habits carry over from Describe Image.

Common questions

How long is the lecture in PTE Re-tell Lecture? Up to about 90 seconds. You then have about 10 seconds to prepare and about 40 seconds to speak.

How many Re-tell Lecture questions are in the PTE exam? Usually 2–3. Pearson gives a range, and the exact number changes from test to test.

Is there a template for PTE Re-tell Lecture? A long template earns little on its own, because content is scored on the ideas from the lecture. Use a short frame (topic, two or three details, conclusion) and fill it from your notes.

What should I write in my notes? Keywords, numbers with their meaning, and one line per idea. Make sure you catch the topic at the start and the conclusion at the end.

Do I need to speak for the full 40 seconds? No. Cover the main ideas and finish cleanly. If you are silent for 3 seconds, the microphone closes.

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