PTE Answer Short Question: one word, ten seconds, no replay
A short general-knowledge question, answered in a word or two. The only Speaking task scored on listening comprehension alone.
What the screen says
“You will hear a question. Please give a simple and short answer. Often just one or a few words is enough.”
How the task runs
- You hear a short question — up to about nine seconds — played once, with no preparation time.
- You have 10 seconds to answer, though almost every correct answer takes under two.
- Five or six of these per sitting, which makes them a meaningful block of the Speaking section even though each one is short.
- This is the one Speaking task scored on listening comprehension rather than content, fluency and pronunciation — the answer is right or it is not.
What the scoring rewards
- The correct word. There is no partial credit for a fluent wrong answer and no penalty for a blunt right one.
- Everyday general knowledge, not academic knowledge. The questions cover ordinary categories: parts of the body, weather, occupations, common objects, basic geography.
- Answering immediately. A correct answer given after eight seconds of thought still scores, but the habit costs you on every other task in the section.
- A single word or a short noun phrase. Full sentences are neither required nor rewarded.
What costs people marks
Answering in a full sentence.
'A dentist' scores exactly what 'I think that the person you would visit would be a dentist' scores, and takes eight seconds less.
Guessing silently when you do not know.
Say your best guess out loud. Silence is a guaranteed zero on the item, and a plausible wrong answer costs nothing extra.
Preparing for it like an academic task.
The vocabulary here is deliberately ordinary. Time spent on academic word lists does nothing for this task; time spent on everyday category vocabulary does.
Letting a missed question rattle the next one.
Five or six items come in quick succession. Each is scored independently, and carrying one loss into the next question is how candidates lose three instead of one.
What the questions are actually about
Candidates over-prepare this task because it is the one that feels like it could be about anything. In practice the categories are narrow and ordinary, and an afternoon of vocabulary in the right areas covers most of what appears.
- Everyday objects and their uses — what you cut paper with, what you tell the time by.
- Occupations by what the person does — who repairs pipes, who defends someone in court.
- Parts of the body, family relationships, and the natural world.
- School-level basics: the shapes, the seasons, the points of the compass, the units of measurement.
The other Speaking tasks
Read Aloud
Six texts of up to 60 words, read aloud from the screen. The easiest task to sound fine on and still score badly.
Repeat Sentence
Ten sentences, heard once, repeated exactly. Scored on what you reproduce, not on whether you understood it.
Describe Image
A chart, map, graph or process diagram, described from scratch. The task where a rehearsed structure genuinely helps.
Re-tell Lecture
A lecture of up to 90 seconds, retold in your own words after ten seconds of preparation. The task that punishes note-taking systems.
Summarize Group Discussion
A discussion between three people, up to three minutes long, summarised in your own words. The task that marks you on how the views connect, not only on what each speaker said.
Respond to a Situation
An everyday situation of up to 60 words, shown on screen and read aloud, then 40 seconds to reply as if the person were in front of you. Scored on whether your reply does what the situation needs.
Common questions
How many Answer Short Question items are in PTE Academic?
Five or six per sitting. Each takes seconds, but together they are a meaningful block of the Speaking section.
How long should your answer be?
One word or a short noun phrase. You are given 10 seconds, but almost every correct answer takes under two, and a full sentence scores exactly what a single word scores.
What should you do if you do not know the answer?
Say your best guess out loud. Silence is a guaranteed zero on the item and a wrong answer costs nothing beyond that, so guessing is strictly better than staying quiet.
What topics does Answer Short Question cover?
Everyday general knowledge rather than academic knowledge — common objects and their uses, occupations described by what the person does, parts of the body, family relationships, the natural world, and school-level vocabulary like shapes, seasons and units of measurement.
Practise this out loud
Our PTE mock runs Answer Short Question on the published timings — No preparation time · 10s to answer · 6 per sitting — and marks your recording against what the task asks for. Start with a free quick mock: about 20 minutes, the real tasks, with an estimated score. Full mocks come with a pass.
This guide is written from the PTE Academic format published by Pearson, in our own words. For the official wording, see Pearson's Speaking & Writing format page. MockLive AI is an independent practice tool and is not affiliated with Pearson.