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Reorder paragraphs and fill in the blanks: the two that carry PTE reading Vibedu CounsellingBook Free Counselling
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Reorder paragraphs and fill in the blanks: the two that carry PTE reading

Negative marking on some item types changes the guessing maths. Know which ones.

8 min read

PTE reading is mostly four item types, and two of them decide the score.

Reorder paragraphs. Four or five text boxes to put in order. The technique is to find the opening box first — it introduces a subject in full, with no pronoun standing in for something unseen — and then chain the rest by reference. A box beginning "This approach", "These findings", "However, the team" cannot be first, because "this", "these" and "the team" all point backwards. Each connection you are certain of is worth marks even if the whole order is not perfect.

Fill in the blanks (reading). Drag words into gaps. Read the whole sentence before choosing: the answer is usually decided by collocation rather than meaning — "conduct research", "pose a threat", "draw a conclusion". If two options both make sense, pick the one you have actually seen beside that word.

Reading and writing: fill in the blanks. The higher-value version, because it contributes to both scores. The choices are close in meaning and separated by grammar — a noun where a verb is needed, a preposition that does not travel with that verb.

The negative marking rule, which changes strategy. Multiple-choice items with MULTIPLE correct answers deduct for wrong selections. So on those, select only what you can defend — two confident choices beat four hopeful ones. Every other item type has no penalty, so never leave those blank.

Pace. Reading is about 30 minutes for roughly 15–20 items and the section does not let you return to it. Reorder paragraphs is the item most worth extra seconds; a fill-in-the-blank you cannot settle in forty seconds is a guess and a move on.

Do this now

Five to ten minutes. This is the part that moves your band.

Take any five-paragraph article, cut it into paragraphs, shuffle them and reassemble. Then write down, for each join, the WORD that proved the order — a pronoun, a repeated noun, a connective. That word is what the exam is testing. Ten minutes.

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