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PTE writing: the essay, the summaries and the marking

Two tasks are pure writing: Summarize Written Text, a one-sentence summary of a text of up to 300 words, and Write Essay, 200 to 300 words in 20 minutes. Both come in Part 1, mixed in with the speaking. Three listening tasks also count towards your PTE writing score, because you type what you hear.

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Updated October 2026 · Written from official sources, listed at the bottom of this page

Which tasks count in the PTE writing test?

TaskPartHow manyWhat you write
Summarize Written Text12One sentence of 5-75 words, in 10 minutes
Write Essay11An argumentative essay of 200-300 words, in 20 minutes
Summarize Spoken Text31A summary of 50-70 words of a 60-90 second recording, in 10 minutes
Fill in the Blanks (Type In)32-3The missing words in a transcript
Write from Dictation33-4A sentence of 3-5 seconds, exactly as you hear it

Write Essay: length and marking

The prompt is 2 to 3 sentences, and Pearson doesn’t publish a list of essay topics. Length is marked on its own: 200 to 300 words gets full marks for form, 120 to 199 or 301 to 380 gets part marks, and under 120 or over 380 words gets 0. So does an essay in capital letters, without punctuation or written as bullet points.

The essay is also marked for content, development and structure, grammar, general linguistic range, vocabulary and spelling. An off-topic essay scores nothing. A human expert reviews the content, the structure and the range of language, as well as the AI.

The summary tasks

  • Summarize Written Text must be one complete sentence. Fewer than 5 or more than 75 words, or a summary in capitals, scores 0 for form.
  • Summarize Spoken Text should be 50 to 70 words. Under 40 or over 100 words scores 0.
  • Both are scored on content, form, grammar and vocabulary, and Summarize Spoken Text on spelling too. Human experts check the content of both.

Spelling and typing

You can write in British or American English, but stick to one for the whole test. In Write from Dictation and Fill in the Blanks (Type In) you score a point for each correct word spelled correctly, so spelling matters as much as listening.

The listening tasks in full →How the scores fit together →

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Everything else, in one place

OverviewPTE AcademicScoringHow PTE Academic scoring worksBookingHow to book your PTE testCostPTE exam fee in AustraliaOnline testCan you take PTE Academic online?Test formatPTE Academic test format: three parts, 22 question typesSpeakingPTE speaking: the tasks and how they’re scoredReadingPTE Academic reading: five question typesListeningPTE Academic listening: eight question typesResultsPTE results: when they come and how long they lastAustralian visasPTE Academic for Australian PR and other visasPTE vs IELTSPTE Academic equivalent to IELTS scoresPTE CorePTE Core: the PTE test for CanadaTypes of PTEPTE General test vs PTE Academic, Core and HomeTest centresPTE test centres in AustraliaTest datesPTE Academic dates and test availabilityHandbookPTE Academic handbook and official guidesPractice testPTE mock test: 20 free practice questionsWhere to learnWhere to do your PTE preparationStudy plannerHow to prepare for PTE Academic: your study planner
Sources: Pearson PTE and 3 more. Checked October 2026.

Rules and fees can change, so check the official site before your test.