PTE listening is one long written task and a set of short ones, and they need opposite habits.
Summarise spoken text. You hear a lecture and write 50 to 70 words in ten minutes. It feeds listening and writing.
- Take notes in a fixed shape: topic, then three or four points, then the conclusion. Do not try to transcribe.
- Write it as three or four sentences: what the lecture was about, its main points, what it concluded. Formulaic is fine.
- Keep inside the word range — outside it is penalised as it is in the essay.
- Spelling and grammar are scored, so leave a minute to re-read.
Highlight correct summary. Choose the paragraph that best summarises the recording. The wrong options are typically accurate about a detail but wrong about the emphasis. Note the OVERALL point as you listen; the details are the distractors.
Multiple choice, choose multiple answers — and the negative marking. This is the strategic one: items with multiple correct answers deduct for wrong selections. So select only what you can defend. Two confident choices score better than four hopeful ones. Every other listening item type has no penalty, so never leave those blank.
Select missing word. The recording cuts off and you choose what completes it. Listen for the argument's direction rather than the last few words — the ending is usually the logical conclusion of the whole extract, not a grammatical continuation of the final clause.
Highlight incorrect words. A transcript on screen, a recording that differs from it in a few places. Follow the text with your eyes at the speaker's pace, and click as you hear the difference — do not try to remember and come back. There is a penalty for wrong clicks here too, so click on what you heard, not on what looks odd.
Write from dictation, last and most valuable. Every correct word scores and it feeds listening and writing. Type what you caught, spell carefully, and never leave it blank.