PTE Repeat Sentence Scoring: Why Half the Sentence Still Gets You 2 Points

Repeat Sentence is one of the hardest tasks in the PTE. Many students panic when they miss a few words. But missing words does not mean you fail the question. If you understand how the points work, you can stay calm and still score well.

The Task — 01What Is Repeat Sentence?

Repeat Sentence is the second task in the Speaking section. You hear a short sentence once, and then you say it back exactly.

Wait for the beep before you speak. Nothing is recorded before the beep. Also, do not stop for too long. If you are silent for 3 seconds, the microphone turns off and the test moves to the next question.

Repeat Sentence scores both Speaking and Listening. To see how many Listening points come from tasks like this, read how many PTE Listening points come from Speaking and Writing tasks.

Scoring — 02How the Content Points Work

Like the other Speaking tasks, Repeat Sentence is scored on content, pronunciation and oral fluency. The difference is that Pearson's official Score Guide tells us exactly how the content points work. There are 3 of them:

Notice the words "correct order". You cannot say the words in a different order and expect full points. Saying a wrong word, leaving a word out or adding an extra word all count as errors.

Content is only one part of your score. Repeat Sentence is also scored on pronunciation and oral fluency, and each of those is worth up to 5 points.

The Key Point — 033 Points vs 2 Points

Look at the gap between 3 points and 2 points. The only way to get 3 points is to repeat every word in the correct order. Miss just one word, and you drop to 2 points.

Here is the surprising part. You also get 2 points if you repeat only half of the sentence. The score for 9 words and the score for 5 words is exactly the same.

Here is an example with a 10-word sentence:

All the words must be in the correct order. In the second answer, one word is missing, so it drops to 2 points. The third answer has only half the words, but it gets the same 2 points.

Analogy — 04Would You Work Nine Hours?

Here is a simple way to think about it. Imagine you are paid for the hours you work:

Repeat Sentence works in a similar way. Repeating all 10 words is like working 10 hours: you get the full 3 points. But repeating 9 words only gets you 2 points, the same as repeating 5 words.

Proof — 05I Did It in the Real Exam

On my most recent exam, I scored 90 in Speaking. In Repeat Sentence, I repeated only about 50% of the content.

This was not luck. The same thing happened on five exams: Speaking 90 every time, with about 50% of the content repeated in Repeat Sentence. You can see all five score reports in my post about my September exam results.

Confidence — 06You Do Not Need Every Word

Two content points can still give you a very high Speaking score.

So do not panic when you cannot remember the whole sentence. Say what you remember, in the correct order, and say it smoothly. Half the sentence, spoken clearly and fluently, is enough to get you close to full marks.

Frequently Asked Questions