PTE Listening - Multiple Choice, Multiple Answers Tricks & Strategies

One of the questions in the PTE’s listening portion is “Multiple Choice, Multiple Answer”. In this task you must listen to the audio and select the appropriate answers, keeping in mind that you must select more than one option that corresponds with the audio. The task is destined to assess your ability to interact with auditory information & identify what the main idea is.

This blog offers a complete guideline on how to approach this task with practical tips to improve your score. If you are new to PTE then you should explore the PTE Listening Section first.

Question Pattern

Typically, there will be a 30 to 60-second recording of a conversation or monologue. The audio has a question with multiple options. Test takers responsibility is to determine which answer is the most appropriate. Although there will be a time of 5 seconds to read the provided content fast, however, bear in mind that the audio will play just one time. Therefore, listen up and pick the right answers.

Be Careful of Negative Marking

Multiple choice, multiple answers is one of the few PTE test questions with negative marking. Negative markers are used for wrong answers in certain PTE exam questions. For each incorrect response, there will be negative marking. Nonetheless, the minimum score will be zero. That is why it is important to only select options that seem appropriate.

Tips and Strategies

The tips and strategies described below can help you to demonstrate how the multiple choice multiple answers can be done effectively:

1. Utilize the Time before Starting of Audio:
Before the beginning of audio you have a short time of about 5 seconds to skim (read quickly) through the question statement along with answer statements as well so that you can get an overview of the topic present in the recording. It is a crucial step as skimming act as a correlation between question and audio. It helps to opt out the statement regarding the answers.

2. Understanding the Nature of the Context:
The first and foremost important thing is to know the structure of context meaning whether the nature of audio is a dialogue (a conversation between two or more people), a lecture or a news. The complete knowledge of the context can help you to anticipate answers to the question.

3. Identifying the Central Idea:
As you follow the audio, it’s crucial to focus on the main idea or the key points being discussed. Not all the details are related closely to the main idea. Understanding what the audio mentions will help you filter out irrelevant information and make it easier to choose the correct answer.

4. Paying Attention to Supporting Details:
While listening to the audio, write down the pointers that play a major role in solving the question. The pointers mainly includes names, dates, numbers or events that happened in the past decades. Therefore, you should remain alert an attentive towards these pointers as they may be relevant to your question.

6. Keep a Notepad Handy:
Taking effective notes while the audio is playing is a valuable asset that can significantly enhance power of judgement and memory. Focusing on key points and important details, rather than attempting to grasp everything, allows for better engagement with the material. Moreover, summarizing information through note-taking helps individuals organize their thoughts and create a quick reference for later review. It’s an efficient way to capture the main ideas and supporting details, making it easier to recall information during the question-and-answer phase.

7. Retain Concentration:
Concentration is a key to success especially in listening module. Many people find is an enormous hurdle to keep up with audio resulting them to get stuck on a specific part of recording which leads to missing out the whole context and theme of the audio. It is necessary not to lose your confidence if you miss a specific part of audio related to question, focus on the second part of question instead as you don’t want to end up getting the second part wrong as well. If you miss the answer you can always make an educated guess.

8. Visualize while Listening:
While listening to the audio, it can be beneficial to create an imagination that is being described as it plays a pivotal role in solving the question. If the audio is about the park or about a museum or about any landscape, visualizing the graphics can be beneficial.

Conclusion:

Conclusively, the PTE Listening Multiple Choice Multiple Answer task is a challenging but crucial component of the PTE exam. In order to combat this task, requires a combination of active listening, critical thinking, and effective test-taking strategies.
With the above tips and strategies we provided, you can significantly enhance your performance in this section. Remember to practice regularly, manage your time wisely, and remain calm during the test as these are the key components of achieving success.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is negative marking is included in PTE listening Multiple Choice And Multiple Answers?
Yes, besides from Multiple Choice and Multiple Answer negative marking is also included in 2 other tasks including Highlight Incorrect Words (listening) and Multiple Choice and Multiple Answers (reading).

What is the result of negative marking in PTE listening Multiple Choice and Multiple Answers ?
When you give a wrong response, you will receive a negative marking, or lose one mark. Nonetheless, the minimum score will be 0.

Does the recording plays for a second time if a candidate misses the statement regarding the answer?
No, the recording will be played only once in every task of listening module that’s why concentration is a key element of achieving success in listening module.