Write from Dictation gives you more return for your practice time than any other task in the test. This lesson covers how it works and why; from here on, it is worth practicing a little every day until your test.
Why this task pays off
| Detail | What to know |
|---|---|
| Items per test | 3–4 (per Pearson's PTE Core Score Guide; check the latest official guide) |
| Sentence length | Not specified by Pearson. In a set of 80 practice sentences we reviewed, the average was 9.3 words, the typical length was 9 words, and the range was 5–12. Only about a third were 10–11 words long. |
| Plays | Once |
| Scoring | One point for each correctly spelled word |
| Counts toward | Listening and writing at the same time |
One item lifts two skill scores. And there is little luck involved: your real listening level and your spelling accuracy show up directly in the result.
Scoring: fill every gap
The Score Guide describes Write from Dictation as partial credit for each word spelled correctly. A correct word earns a point. A wrong word earns nothing, but it never takes away points you already have. Grammar checks for filling missed words are in Write from Dictation in practice.
That single rule settles every decision about guessing:
- A blank is certainly worth zero.
- A guess that fits the grammar has some chance of earning a point, and a wrong guess costs exactly the same as a blank.
- So always fill every gap. This is not about being brave. Guessing is never worse than leaving a blank, and often better.
Being cautious makes sense on tasks with negative marking, such as the multiple-answer questions in reading and listening, where a wrong choice takes a point away. It makes no sense here.
The only real question is what to write. Choose common words you can spell with confidence. A correctly spelled "place" is worth more than a misspelled "accommodation", which scores the same as a blank. The next lesson gives specific rules for choosing the right kind of word for each gap.
Listen for meaning, then rebuild
The biggest mistake is trying to record every word as it goes by. You hear the sentence only once, and chasing each word makes you fall behind and freeze. Instead, understand the meaning first, then rebuild the sentence from it. A word you missed can often be recovered from grammar.
A three-step routine:
- While listening, ignore spelling. Catch the subject, verb and object, plus the key content words: nouns, verbs, numbers and times.
- In the one or two seconds after the audio ends, run through the whole sentence structure in your head.
- Type it out, then read it back for spelling, and make sure it starts with a capital letter and ends with a full stop.
Three sound changes that hide words
Mishearing is often not about vocabulary. It happens because natural speech changes how words sound when they run together.
| Sound change | What happens | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Linking | A word ending in a consonant runs into a word starting with a vowel | "turn off" sounds like "tur-noff" |
| Dropped sounds | /t/ and /d/ before another consonant are barely pronounced | "next door" sounds like "nex door" |
| Weak forms | Prepositions, articles and auxiliaries are reduced | "to" becomes /tə/, "and" becomes /ən/ |
When a word sounds distorted, do not type the sound you heard. Work out what the grammar needs in that position first, then write the full spelling.
Worked example. Pearson's PTE Core Test Tips give this sentence:
Some materials are more comfortable to wear than others.
The key word may sound like "material", singular. But the sentence begins "Some ... are". With a plural verb, the noun must be plural, so the correct answer is "materials". In natural speech the final /s/ is often so weak it almost disappears. If you type only what you heard, you lose it. If you hold on to the "Some ... are" frame, grammar gives it back to you.
What to hold in memory
You do not need a shorthand system for this task. Pearson's Test Tips suggest abbreviations, symbols and arrows only for Summarize Spoken Text, where you listen to a whole passage. A Write from Dictation sentence is short, typically about 9 words. Turning 9 words into symbols and back again adds two conversions, and each one is a chance to lose a word. Remember the words themselves.
What should stay in your head after the audio ends:
- Content words: nouns, verbs, numbers, times.
- Sentence structure: subject, verb, object, tense, singular or plural.
Function words such as articles, prepositions and auxiliaries do not need to be memorized. Grammar puts them back.
Worked example. You hear "Please get us a meeting room for the next hour." (9 words). What you keep is: an instruction, "get us", "meeting room", "next hour". When you rebuild it, the instruction pattern tells you where "a" and "the" go. Keep the real words, "meeting room", not an abbreviation you would have to expand again.
Two form rules you should never miss
Pearson's Test Tips for Write from Dictation say: "After completing the sentence, go back and check the grammar, spelling, and punctuation. Always start with a capital letter and finish with a full stop."
These two checks cost nothing. They do not depend on listening or vocabulary, only on a quick look before you submit. When you mark your own practice, count a missing capital or a missing full stop as an error, so the habit is automatic on test day.
The same tips also say you can note the main words as you listen, either by typing on screen or by writing on the erasable whiteboard. Both are allowed. Try both in practice and keep whichever works better for you.
Practice routine and self-check
- Do 3–4 Write from Dictation items every day: listen once, type your answer, then replay and check word by word. Rewrite any sentence you got wrong until it is exactly right. Use the Write from Dictation question bank.
- Practice spelling separately with single-word dictation. Many lost points come from word endings like -s and -ed and from long words, not from misunderstanding.
- For each mistake, note whether it was caused by linking, a dropped sound, or a weak form.
- Learn the three sound changes and one example of each.
Self-check: when you practice with audio, aim for at least 90% of sentences fully correct and at least 97% of words correct. Both numbers matter.
How to work them out, using a round of 10 sentences:
- Sentences fully correct = sentences with no errors at all ÷ total sentences. "No errors" includes the opening capital and the closing full stop. 9 out of 10 = 90%.
- Words correct = correct words ÷ total words in the original. If 10 sentences contain 93 words and you got 3 wrong, that is 90 ÷ 93 = 96.8%, just short. With 2 wrong it is 97.8%.
Why two numbers? They point to different problems. The word rate tells you how much you lost overall; the sentence rate tells you whether the errors cluster in a few sentences or are spread across all of them. A high word rate with a low sentence rate means you are almost right everywhere, which usually points to something systematic such as dropped -s and -ed endings or missing capitals and full stops. If both are low, the problem is hearing itself, so go back to the three sound changes.
Worked example of checking one sentence: "Time is needed to complete the lecture."
- Content words caught while listening: time, need, complete, lecture.
- Structure rebuilt afterwards: subject "Time", then "is needed" (passive), then "to complete the lecture".
- Typed answer: Time is needed to complete the lecture.
- Word-by-word check: the passive "is needed" is where people lose points, either dropping "is" or the -ed on "needed".
Run every practice sentence through these four steps: catch content words and structure, rebuild the full sentence, type it, then check word by word including capital and full stop. Typing straight after listening, without the rebuild step, is where most avoidable errors come from.