Future Link ConsultantsPTE MasterBook · Course Book · Interactive edition

Level 1 · Reading

Foundation · PTE 30–49 · 21 exercises

This unit is for you if your Reading score is below 50, or if you have not yet taken PTE and your English reading feels slow: you understand most words in a short text but lose the thread in long academic sentences, you are not sure which word "sounds right" in a gap, and you run out of time before the last questions. At Foundation level you do not need to read faster. You need to know exactly what each task asks for, read the small clues that decide the answer, and stop losing marks you could easily keep.

Why Level 1 matters

For PTE Academic tests taken on or after 7 August 2025, Australia's Competent English level needs at least 48 in Reading (with 47 Listening, 51 Writing, 54 Speaking). The top of this level is therefore already a real target for many migration plans, and many diploma and pathway courses accept scores around this band. Despite its name, Reading & Writing: Fill in the Blanks now counts for Reading only, but it is the biggest single source of Reading marks, so the work in Lesson 2 pays off quickly. FLC levels are our estimates, and requirements change: always check the current rule for your visa or course.

Lesson 1 · The Reading part at a glance

Reading is Part 2 of PTE Academic. It comes after Speaking and Writing and before Listening. Pearson gives 23–30 minutes for the whole part, with one timer for all the Reading tasks together, not one per question. You see one task at a time. When you click Next, you cannot go back.

Task (in test order)What you doItems*How it is scored
Reading & Writing: Fill in the Blankschoose one word for each gap from a drop-down list (text up to 200 words)5–61 mark per correct gap; counts for Reading only, despite its name
Multiple Choice, Multiple Answerschoose all the correct options (more than one is correct; text up to 350 words)2–3+1 for each correct option, −1 for each wrong option; never below 0
Re-order Paragraphsdrag jumbled text boxes into the right order (up to 110 words)2–3partial credit: 1 mark for each pair of boxes next to each other in the right order
Reading: Fill in the Blanksdrag words from a word bank into the gaps (more words than gaps; text up to 80 words)4–51 mark per correct gap
Multiple Choice, Single Answerchoose the one correct option (short text, up to 110 words)2–3correct or incorrect; no penalty for a wrong choice

Text lengths are from Pearson's test format pages. * Item ranges are from Pearson's Test Taker Score Guide (2025); the exact number in your test varies within these ranges.

Your Reading score does not come only from this part. Some tasks in other parts are integrated: they count for two skills. Summarize Written Text (with Writing), Highlight Correct Summary and Highlight Incorrect Words (with Listening) all add to your Reading score too. Read Aloud no longer does: since 7 August 2025 it counts for Speaking only. That is why reading practice also lifts your other scores, and the other way round.

The one rule about guessing

Only Multiple Choice, Multiple Answers takes marks away in the Reading part. In every other Reading task a wrong answer simply scores 0, so never leave a gap empty or an item unanswered. In Multiple Answers, choose only what you can prove.

An FLC time plan for the Reading part

Watch the timer in the top corner of the screen. A simple plan for a test with about 18 items:

TaskAim per itemWhy
Reading & Writing Fill in the Blanksabout 2 minutesworth the most marks: do it carefully
Multiple Answersabout 2 minuteslong text, few marks, risk of losing points: do not overspend
Re-order Paragraphsabout 2 minutesfind the first box and the pairs, then move on
Reading Fill in the Blanksabout 1 minuteshort text: grammar does most of the work
Single Answerabout 1½ minutesone mark only: never let it eat your time
Exam Trap

Many Foundation students spend five or six minutes on the first Re-order Paragraphs item because they want it perfect, then guess the last four or five Fill in the Blanks in a panic. Those quick Fill in the Blanks items are worth more marks in total. If an item has taken twice its time, choose your best answer, click Next and protect the rest of the part.

Exercise 1 Know the Reading part

Choose the best answer.

1 How much time does Pearson give for the whole Reading part?

  1. about 10 minutes
  2. 23–30 minutes
  3. 45–55 minutes
  4. one hour

2 Which task from another part of the test also adds to your Reading score?

  1. Read Aloud
  2. Write Essay
  3. Summarize Written Text
  4. Answer Short Question

3 In which Reading task can a wrong choice take marks away?

  1. Reading & Writing: Fill in the Blanks
  2. Multiple Choice, Multiple Answers
  3. Multiple Choice, Single Answer
  4. Re-order Paragraphs

4 In Reading: Fill in the Blanks, the word bank contains

  1. exactly one word for each gap
  2. more words than there are gaps
  3. one word that you must use twice
  4. no words, because you type your answers

5 How is Re-order Paragraphs scored?

  1. You get marks only if every box is in the right place.
  2. You get a mark for each pair of boxes that are next to each other in the right order.
  3. You get more marks if you finish quickly.
  4. Only the first box is marked.

6 You are not sure about a gap in Reading & Writing: Fill in the Blanks. What should you do?

  1. Leave it empty so you do not lose a mark.
  2. Choose your best option, because a wrong answer only scores 0.
  3. Click Next and come back to it at the end.
  4. Choose the longest word in the list.

Lesson 2 · Reading & Writing: Fill in the Blanks

What it tests: whether you can choose the word that fits a gap in an academic text, both in grammar and in meaning. Each gap opens a drop-down list, usually of four words. Because it has the most items and the most gaps, it is the most valuable task in the Reading part.

At Foundation level, two kinds of clue answer most gaps:

ClueLook at…Example
Grammar: part of speechthe word before and after. After a, an, the, this, their or an adjective you need a noun; after is, are, was often an adjective; before a noun an adjective; next to a verb or adjective an adverb.the results · is essential · a rapid rise · rose rapidly
Grammar: formthan needs a comparative; has/have needs a past participle; a plural subject needs a plural verb; an needs a vowel sound.cooler than · has become · trees absorb · an increase
Collocationwords that normally go together in English. Only one option "partners" the word next to the gap.play a role · pay attention · raise awareness · conduct research · depend on
Meaning and linkingthe whole sentence: does the gap continue the idea or contrast with it?…slept normally, while the second group stayed awake.

Method

  1. Skim the whole text first (about 15 seconds) so you know the topic.
  2. For each gap, read the full sentence, not just the two words around it.
  3. Cross out options that break the grammar. Usually one or two go immediately.
  4. Choose between the rest by collocation and meaning. Which word does the sentence "expect"?
  5. Fill every gap, then click Next. There is no penalty for a wrong choice.

Worked example

Bees play an important 1 in farming. About one third of the food we eat 2 on insects that carry pollen from flower to flower.

Gap 1: role / effect / work / position. After an important we need a noun, and all four are nouns, so grammar does not decide. Collocation does: we say play a role. "Play an effect" and "play a position" are not English, and "work" is uncountable, so it cannot follow an. Answer: role.

Gap 2: depends / based / consists / results. The next word is on. We say depend on; "based on" needs is before it; "consist on" and "result on" are wrong (consist of, result in). The subject, "one third of the food", is singular, so depends fits. Answer: depends.

FLC Tip

Learn words with their partners, never alone. In your notebook, do not write "impact = asar". Write "have an impact on something". The test checks the partner as often as the word.

Exercise 2 What kind of word fits?

For each gap, write the part of speech needed (noun, verb, adjective or adverb) and the clue that tells you. Then suggest one word that fits.

  1. The study produced some surprising ______.
  2. Over two years, the researchers ______ data from 400 schools.
  3. House prices rose ______ after the new railway opened.
  4. The results of the survey were not ______ to the public until 2024.
  5. An ______ of the survey showed that most students worked part-time.
  6. The new policy has ______ reduced traffic in the city centre.

Exercise 3 Collocation partners

Choose the word that normally goes with the words around the gap.

1 Scientists ______ an experiment to test the new idea.

  1. told
  2. conducted
  3. happened
  4. gave

2 The campaign aims to ______ awareness of water safety among children.

  1. raise
  2. rise
  3. grow
  4. lift

3 Regular exercise has a positive ______ on mental health.

  1. affect
  2. effect
  3. result
  4. cause

4 Students must ______ attention to the submission deadlines.

  1. give
  2. pay
  3. take
  4. put

5 The council ______ a decision to close the old bridge.

  1. did
  2. made
  3. said
  4. got

6 Many species of frog are now at ______ of extinction.

  1. danger
  2. risk
  3. threat
  4. chance

Exercise 4 Practice set 1: City trees

Exam conditions: 2 minutes. Choose the best word for each gap.

City trees

Trees do more than make cities look attractive. On hot days, streets with many trees can be several degrees 1 than streets with none, because leaves provide shade and release water into the air. Trees also 2 some of the pollution produced by traffic. For these reasons, many city councils have 3 plans to plant more trees in the coming decade. However, young trees need regular watering, and without 4 care, many of them die within their first few years.

1 Gap 1

  1. cool
  2. cooler
  3. coolest
  4. cooling

2 Gap 2

  1. absorb
  2. produce
  3. increase
  4. create

3 Gap 3

  1. announced
  2. told
  3. spoken
  4. said

4 Gap 4

  1. proper
  2. properly
  3. property
  4. propose

Exercise 5 Practice set 2: Sleep and memory

Exam conditions: 2½ minutes. Choose the best word for each gap.

Sleep and memory

Scientists have long known that sleep is 1 for good health, but its role in learning has only recently 2 clear. In one study, two groups of students learned a list of new words in the evening. The first group slept normally, 3 the second group stayed awake all night. The next day, the students who had slept remembered 4 more words. The researchers concluded that sleep helps the brain to 5 new information.

1 Gap 1

  1. essential
  2. essentially
  3. essence
  4. necessity

2 Gap 2

  1. became
  2. become
  3. becoming
  4. becomes

3 Gap 3

  1. while
  2. because
  3. so
  4. unless

4 Gap 4

  1. significantly
  2. significant
  3. signify
  4. significance

5 Gap 5

  1. store
  2. spend
  3. sell
  4. borrow

Lesson 3 · Multiple Choice, Multiple Answers

What it tests: whether you can find several pieces of information, or the writer's view, in a longer text. You read a passage, answer one question, and choose more than one option. There are usually five to seven options; Pearson does not tell you how many are correct.

Why choosing fewer is safer

Each correct option earns +1. Each wrong option costs −1. The item cannot go below 0, but a wrong choice can wipe out a mark you had already earned. Suppose the correct options are B and D:

You chooseCalculationScore
B and D+1 +12
B only+11
B and C+1 −10
A, B, C, D, E (everything "to be safe")+2 −3 = −10
The FLC 1-and-done rule

If you are sure of one option and only half-sure of another, choose only the one you are sure of. One safe mark beats a gamble that can leave you with nothing. Choose an option only when you can point to the sentence that proves it.

Method

  1. Read the question first and underline its key idea: reasons, problems, benefits, the writer's opinion.
  2. Read the passage with that idea in mind.
  3. Test every option against the text and mark it in your head: S (the text says this), N (not stated) or O (the opposite of the text).
  4. Choose only the S options that also answer the question. A true fact that answers a different question is still wrong.

Worked example

Coffee was first drunk in Yemen in the fifteenth century, where it helped people stay awake during long night prayers. From there it spread to Egypt and Turkey, and coffee houses became popular meeting places where people discussed news and business. By the seventeenth century, coffee had reached Europe.

Question: According to the passage, what were coffee houses used for? Options: A) night prayers B) discussing news C) growing coffee D) doing business E) selling books.

Answer: B and D. "Coffee houses became popular meeting places where people discussed news and business." A is the trap: night prayers are in the text, but they were a reason to drink coffee, not an activity in coffee houses. C and E are not stated.

Exam Trap

Some coaching shortcuts say "always choose two options". Pearson never says two. Some items have two correct answers, some have three. Choose what the text proves, whether that is one, two or three options.

Exercise 6 Count the marks

In one Multiple Answers item, the correct options are B and D. Work out each candidate's score.

  1. Harpreet chose B and D.
  2. Nisha chose B only.
  3. Arjun chose B and C.
  4. Meera chose A, B, C and D.
  5. Rohan chose A and C.
  6. Kavya chose B, D and E.

Exercise 7 Said, not said or opposite?

Read the passage. For each statement, write S (the passage says this), N (not stated) or O (the opposite of the passage).

Community gardens

Community gardens are shared spaces where local people grow vegetables, fruit and flowers. In many cities, they are built on empty land that was once used for factories or car parks. Supporters say the gardens give people who live in flats a chance to grow their own food. Research in several countries has also found that gardeners eat more fresh vegetables than people who do not garden. The gardens can bring neighbours together too: older residents often share their skills with younger ones. However, the gardens face problems. Land in city centres is expensive, and some gardens have been closed so that the land can be sold to builders.

  1. Some gardens are on land that used to have a different use.
  2. Gardeners in the research ate fewer fresh vegetables than non-gardeners.
  3. Most community gardens receive money from the government.
  4. The gardens can help people of different ages to share knowledge.
  5. Community gardens are always protected from builders.
  6. People in community gardens grow only vegetables.

Exercise 8 Practice set: Multiple Answers

Exam conditions: 2 minutes for each passage. Choose all the correct options. Write the letters. Remember: a wrong letter costs a mark.

Why languages disappear

Linguists estimate that about 7,000 languages are spoken in the world today, but many of them are in danger. A language usually disappears when parents stop teaching it to their children. This often happens when another language offers better chances of work or education. Young people move to cities, where they use the national language every day, and after one or two generations the old language is spoken only by grandparents. When the last speakers die, the language is lost, together with its songs, stories and knowledge of local plants and animals. Not every endangered language disappears, however. In Wales, for example, the number of young people who speak Welsh has grown since schools began teaching in the language. Recording elderly speakers is also important, because it gives future learners materials to study.

1 According to the passage, which of the following can help to keep a language alive?

  1. young people moving to cities
  2. teaching school lessons in the language
  3. making recordings of older speakers
  4. offering better jobs in the national language
  5. reducing the number of languages taught in schools

Paying for plastic bags

Several countries now charge shoppers a small fee for each plastic bag. The fee is usually very low, yet in many places the number of bags used has fallen sharply within a year. Economists explain this by pointing out that people dislike paying for something that used to be free, even when the amount is tiny. The fee also reminds shoppers to bring their own bags. Critics, however, argue that some shoppers simply buy thicker bags, which use more plastic, or buy bin bags to replace the free bags they once reused at home. For this reason, researchers say the overall effect on plastic waste is smaller than the fall in bag numbers suggests.

2 Which of the following does the passage give as reasons why the fee reduces the number of bags used?

  1. People do not like paying for things that used to be free.
  2. The fee is very expensive for most shoppers.
  3. The fee reminds shoppers to bring their own bags.
  4. Shops stop selling plastic bags completely.
  5. Shoppers buy thicker bags instead.

Lesson 4 · Re-order Paragraphs

What it tests: whether you can follow how a short academic text is built. Four or five text boxes appear in the wrong order, and you drag them into the right order. Marks come from pairs: every two boxes that sit next to each other in the correct order earn one mark. A five-box item is worth up to four marks.

Three clues do almost all the work at Foundation level:

ClueWhat it tells youExamples
The topic sentenceThe first box introduces the subject in full and makes sense on its own. It does not point back to anything.Mountain glaciers store huge amounts of fresh water.
Pronouns and "pointing" wordsA box with it, they, this, these, such, the researchers needs an earlier box that names the thing. A noun with a usually comes before the same noun with the.a study … the study · glaciers … these glaciers
Linking wordsThey show the job of the box: adding, contrasting, giving a result, giving an example, ordering steps.However (contrast) · As a result (result) · For example (example) · First … then … finally (steps)
Key Language · Words that cannot start a paragraph

A box that begins with any of these is almost never first: However · Therefore · As a result · For example · In addition · Also · This · These · Such · It · They · He · She · The second · Finally · Then.

Method

  1. Read all the boxes quickly (20 seconds) to get the topic.
  2. Find the first box: the general one with no pointing word and no linking word at the start.
  3. Build pairs: for each box, ask "what must come just before this?" A box with these changes follows the box that describes the changes.
  4. Read your order from top to bottom once. Does each box follow naturally? Then click Next.

Worked example

A As a result, many towns in these regions may face water shortages in the dry season.
B Mountain glaciers store huge amounts of fresh water as ice.
C Today, however, rising temperatures are causing most of these glaciers to shrink.
D Each summer, some of this ice melts and supplies rivers that millions of people depend on.

Answer: B – D – C – A. B is the only box that names its subject without pointing back. D follows B because "this ice" refers to the ice in B. C contrasts ("however") the normal summer melt with today's shrinking. A gives the result of the shrinking, so it comes last. Pairs: B-D, D-C, C-A = 3 marks.

FLC Tip

Even if you cannot find the full order, secure the pairs you are sure of. Two boxes that clearly belong together ("a study" … "The study found") are a mark, wherever they end up.

Exercise 9 Find the first box

Each set comes from a different paragraph. Choose the sentence most likely to begin its paragraph.

1 Set 1

  1. However, their diet gives them very little energy.
  2. These animals sleep for up to 20 hours a day.
  3. Koalas live in the eucalyptus forests of eastern Australia.
  4. For this reason, they move very slowly.

2 Set 2

  1. It was finally completed in 1889.
  2. The Eiffel Tower was built for a world fair held in Paris.
  3. At first, many artists criticised its design.
  4. This made it the tallest structure in the world at the time.

3 Set 3

  1. Such courses are now common in many countries.
  2. Many universities offer courses that students can take entirely online.
  3. They also save students the cost of travel.
  4. In addition, recorded lectures can be watched again.

Exercise 10 What came before?

Each sentence comes from the middle of a paragraph. Write the clue word(s) and say what the sentence just before it must contain.

  1. These changes made the city centre much cleaner.
  2. However, the plan was rejected by local residents.
  3. The researchers then repeated the test with older children.
  4. For example, a single cow can produce around 100 kilograms of methane a year.
  5. As a result, the price of coffee rose sharply.

Exercise 11 Practice set 1: Choose the order

Exam conditions: 2 minutes for both texts. In the test you drag the boxes; here, choose the correct order.

A The first lessons were short, so that the children could get used to the new way of learning.
B A primary school in a large city recently decided to teach some lessons outdoors.
C By the end of the year, the teachers reported that the children were calmer and more focused.
D Because of this success, the school now plans to build a covered outdoor classroom.

1 Which order is correct?

  1. B – C – A – D
  2. B – A – C – D
  3. A – B – C – D
  4. B – A – D – C

A One reason is that much of the soil on these hills was washed away long ago.
B Scientists have studied why trees grow so slowly on the hills above the town.
C A second reason is the strong wind, which dries out young leaves.
D Planting low bushes first may solve both problems, because bushes hold the soil and block the wind.

2 Which order is correct?

  1. B – A – C – D
  2. B – C – A – D
  3. D – B – A – C
  4. B – D – A – C

Exercise 12 Practice set 2: Five boxes

Exam conditions: 2 minutes. Write the boxes in the correct order and the clue that links each pair.

A First, the medicine is tested in the laboratory, often on cells rather than on people.
B Developing a new medicine is a long and careful process.
C If these early results are promising, small groups of healthy volunteers then take part in trials.
D Only after larger trials with patients show that it is safe and effective can the medicine be approved.
E Once it has been approved, doctors can finally prescribe it to the public.

Exercise 13 Score the pairs

The correct order for Exercise 12 is B – A – C – D – E. How many marks (out of 4) does each answer earn? Count the pairs that are correct and next to each other.

  1. B – A – C – D – E
  2. B – C – D – A – E
  3. A – C – D – E – B
  4. B – A – E – C – D

Lesson 5 · Reading: Fill in the Blanks

What it tests: whether you can complete a short academic text (up to about 80 words) with words from a word bank. You drag each word into a gap. There are always more words than gaps, so some words are not used. Each correct gap is one mark, and a wrong one simply scores 0.

Method

  1. Read the text once for the topic (10 seconds).
  2. Sort the word bank in your head: which words are nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs? Often two words come from the same family (explain / explanation): only one fits the grammar.
  3. Fill the easiest gaps first. Each word you place makes the bank smaller and the other gaps easier.
  4. Read the completed text once. Check singular and plural, and words like a number of (countable) and an amount of (uncountable).

Worked example

The internet has 1 the way people find information. In the past, students had to visit a library; today, most 2 begin with an online search.

Word bank: changed · change · research · researchers · quickly

Gap 1: after has we need a past participle: changed. Change is the wrong form, and quickly leaves the sentence without a verb. Gap 2: after most we need a noun, and the verb after the gap is begin, with no -s, so the noun must be plural. Research is uncountable: "most research" would need begins. The answer is researchers: "most researchers begin with an online search". Two words, change and research, were there only to test your grammar.

Exam Trap

Students often drop in the first word that "looks academic". Check the small grammar signals around the gap: a / an, has / have, plural verbs, to + verb. They decide more answers than meaning does.

Exercise 14 Sort the word bank

Put each word into the right group: noun, verb, adjective or adverb. One word can go in two groups.

population · increase · rapid · rapidly · expand · efficient · efficiency · recent

Exercise 15 Practice set 1: The Great Barrier Reef

Exam conditions: 1 minute. Write the word from the bank for each gap. There are three extra words.

The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef 1. It stretches for more than 2,000 kilometres along the coast of Queensland, Australia, and is home to more than 1,500 2 of fish. In recent decades, warmer seas have 3 large areas of coral to lose their colour, a process known as bleaching. Scientists are now testing ways to help the reef 4.

Word bank: system · species · caused · recover · recovery · made · colourful

Exercise 16 Practice set 2: Reading for pleasure

Exam conditions: 1½ minutes. Write the word from the bank for each gap. There are three extra words.

Children who read for pleasure tend to do better at school, and not only in English. A large 1 of studies has found that regular readers also 2 higher marks in subjects such as mathematics. One possible 3 is that reading builds vocabulary, which helps students to understand questions in every subject. Teachers therefore 4 parents to keep books at home and to read 5 with young children.

Word bank: number · achieve · explanation · encourage · together · amount · explain · encouraging

Lesson 6 · Multiple Choice, Single Answer

What it tests: whether you can understand the main idea, a detail or the writer's purpose in a short text. One question, several options, only one correct. A wrong answer scores 0 and nothing is taken away, so always choose something.

Wrong options are written to catch readers in four familiar ways:

TrapWhat it doesHow to spot it
Word matchcopies words from the text but changes the meaningSame words, different idea. Check the whole sentence it came from.
Too strongturns "may", "some" or "often" into "always", "all" or "the only"Circle extreme words: only, always, never, all, completely.
Oppositesays the reverse of the textWatch more/fewer, increase/decrease, not.
True but not the answera fact from the text that answers a different questionReread the question: main idea, detail or purpose?

Method

  1. Read the question first and note what kind it is: main idea, detail or purpose.
  2. Read the text and find the line or lines that answer it.
  3. Remove options with a trap, then choose the one that paraphrases the text.
FLC Tip

The correct option almost always uses different words from the text with the same meaning: "may protect the heart" becomes "may be good for the heart". If an option repeats the text word for word, check it twice.

Exercise 17 Practice set: Single Answer

Exam conditions: 1½ minutes for each text. Choose the best answer.

Text 1

Studies of people living around the Mediterranean Sea in the 1950s and 1960s found lower rates of heart disease than in some northern countries. Their traditional diet was rich in vegetables, beans, fish and olive oil, and included little red meat. Researchers have since suggested that this way of eating may protect the heart, although they point out that other factors, such as physical activity, may also have played a part.

1 What does the text suggest about the traditional Mediterranean diet?

  1. It was the only reason for the lower rates of heart disease.
  2. It may be good for the heart, but other things may also matter.
  3. It contained large amounts of red meat.
  4. It is now eaten mainly in northern countries.

Text 2

Many people believe that they can "catch up" on lost sleep at the weekend. Recent research suggests this is only partly true. In one experiment, adults who slept five hours a night during the week and then slept longer at the weekend still had the same problems with attention as those who never caught up. The researchers concluded that a regular amount of sleep each night is more important than extra sleep later.

2 What is the main point of the text?

  1. Sleeping longer at the weekend fully repairs a week of short nights.
  2. Adults need only five hours of sleep a night.
  3. Regular sleep every night matters more than extra sleep at the weekend.
  4. Too much sleep causes problems with attention.

Text 3

When a honey bee finds a good source of food, it returns to the hive and performs a "waggle dance". The direction of the dance shows other bees which way to fly in relation to the sun, and the length of the dance tells them roughly how far away the food is. In this way, a single bee can guide many others to the same flowers.

3 According to the text, the length of the waggle dance tells other bees

  1. which direction to fly.
  2. how far they need to fly.
  3. what kind of flower it found.
  4. where the sun is in the sky.

Exercise 18 Name the trap

Look again at the three wrong options in Exercise 17, Text 1. For each, write the trap type: word match, too strong, opposite, or true but not the answer.

  1. It was the only reason for the lower rates of heart disease.
  2. It contained large amounts of red meat.
  3. It is now eaten mainly in northern countries.

Lesson 7 · Academic vocabulary basics

PTE texts come from university subjects: science, health, history, the environment, business. You do not need rare words at this level. You need the few hundred words that appear in almost every academic text, and you need their families, because Fill in the Blanks tests the right form as often as the right word.

NounVerbAdjectiveAdverb
analysisanalyseanalyticalanalytically
significancesignifysignificantsignificantly
increaseincreaseincreasingincreasingly
benefitbenefitbeneficialbeneficially
evidenceevidence (rare)evidentevidently
effectaffect / effect (rare)effectiveeffectively
Key Language · Twenty academic words to know first

approach · area · assess · benefit · concept · consist of · data · decline · environment · establish · estimate · evidence · factor · impact · indicate · method · occur · process · require · significant. Learn each with one partner: a new approach to, consist of, evidence of / for, have an impact on.

Exercise 19 The right form

Choose the correct form of the word.

1 The ______ of the data took three months.

  1. analyse
  2. analysis
  3. analytical
  4. analytically

2 Online shopping has become ______ popular among older adults.

  1. increase
  2. increased
  3. increasingly
  4. increases

3 There is little ______ that the new drug works better than the old one.

  1. evident
  2. evidence
  3. evidently
  4. evidences

4 Regular breaks can be ______ for students' concentration.

  1. benefit
  2. benefits
  3. beneficial
  4. beneficially

5 Changes in temperature can ______ the behaviour of fish.

  1. affect
  2. effect
  3. effective
  4. effectively

6 The new timetable has made the bus service more ______.

  1. efficiency
  2. efficient
  3. efficiently
  4. efficiencies

Exercise 20 Same meaning, different words

Match each word from a text (1–6) with the word that means the same in a correct option (a–f). This is the paraphrase skill behind both multiple-choice tasks.

  1. significant
  2. decline
  3. occur
  4. require
  5. estimate
  6. indicate

a) need b) happen c) show d) important e) fall f) calculate roughly

Lesson 8 · Habits that cost marks, and your Level 1 plan

These are the habits FLC teachers see most often in Foundation students. Each one costs real marks, and each one is easy to fix.

HabitWhat it costsThe fix
Translating every sentence into Gujarati, Punjabi or Hinditime: the last items are guessedRead for the clue around the gap, not for a full translation.
Ticking every option in Multiple Answers "to be safe"the item drops to 0Choose only options you can prove. One sure answer is enough.
Leaving a gap empty when unsurea free chance of a markOutside Multiple Answers there is no penalty: always choose.
Choosing by "sound" without checking grammareasy Fill in the Blanks marksCheck a/an, has/have, plural verbs and than every time.
Learning long word lists without partnerscollocation gapsWrite every new word in a phrase: pay attention to.
Relying on "repeated question" lists shared in WhatsApp groupsfalse confidence; test items changePractise the method on new texts. A method works on any passage.
Spending five minutes on one Re-order itemtime for the quick tasksFirst box, then sure pairs, then Next.
Clicking Next before every gap is filledmarks lost by accidentGlance over the screen once before you click.
FLC Tip

Read one short academic text every day: a science news story, a university blog, a museum website. Copy three useful phrases with their partners into your notebook. Fifteen minutes a day for a month moves Foundation students more than one long weekend of practice tests.

Your four-week Level 1 Reading plan

WeekFocusDaily work (about 30 minutes)
1Format and grammar cluesLessons 1–2. Ten drop-down gaps a day: say the clue (part of speech, form, collocation) before you choose.
2Multiple Answers and Single AnswerLessons 3 and 6. One text a day: mark every option S, N or O before you choose.
3Re-order Paragraphs and word banksLessons 4–5. Two Re-order items and three word-bank items a day; time each one.
4Timing and reviewA timed Reading part (about 29 minutes) twice this week. Fill in your error log and repeat the lesson behind your biggest loss.

Exercise 21 Your score and error log

Add up your marks from the practice sets on this page and write the kind of mistake that cost you most in each task.

  1. Reading & Writing Fill in the Blanks (Exercises 4–5): ___ / 9 · main error: __________
  2. Multiple Answers (Exercise 8): ___ / 4 · main error: __________
  3. Re-order Paragraphs (Exercises 11–12): ___ / 2 orders + ___ / 4 pairs · main error: __________
  4. Reading Fill in the Blanks (Exercises 15–16): ___ / 9 · main error: __________
  5. Single Answer (Exercise 17): ___ / 3 · main error: __________

Teacher mode. Show the answer key for one exercise or the whole page. Multiple-choice items mark themselves.

Student mode. Do the exercise first, then check it. Writing spaces are for practice on this device only; nothing is saved or uploaded.

© 2026 Future Link Consultants · Santosh Ramrakhiani · FLC PTE MasterBook. For MasterBook readers and FLC classes only.