How Describe Image works
An image appears with a 25-second countdown. When the tone sounds, you have 40 seconds to describe what it shows. On this page you practice with bar charts, line graphs, pie charts, tables and process diagrams, which cover the main kinds of data and sequence you are likely to meet.
The task counts toward your Speaking score. You are not expected to explain every figure. The aim is to show that you can pick out what matters in an image and talk about it clearly for 40 seconds.
What is scored
- Content: whether you identify the main features, relationships and any conclusion the image supports.
- Pronunciation: clear, understandable speech.
- Oral fluency: steady delivery without long pauses or repeated restarts.
Since August 2025 some responses are part-scored by trained human raters alongside AI, and heavily templated or memorized responses may be flagged. That matters here more than almost anywhere else, because Describe Image is a task where memorized templates are widely shared. A clear structure is fine. A script that could describe any image is not.
The practice tool shows which of the image's key points your answer mentioned, your word count and your speaking pace in words per minute. It does not score pronunciation or fluency as Pearson does.
How to answer
Spend the 25 seconds answering three questions for yourself: What is this image about? What is the biggest or most obvious feature? Which two or three details prove it? Read the title, the units and the axis labels first, because misreading "thousands" as "per cent" or a year as a category will throw off everything you say.
Then speak for most of the 40 seconds. Aim to finish your last sentence at around 35 seconds, so you are never cut off mid-thought. Use real numbers or labels from the image, and connect them with comparison language: "twice as high as", "fell steadily from", "the smallest share went to".
A flexible structure for Describe Image
- Say what the image shows, using the title in your own words.
- Name the main feature: the highest category, the overall trend, or the first and last stages of a process.
- Give two or three specific details with figures or labels.
- Make one comparison or describe one change.
- Close with a conclusion the image supports.
For a bar chart on energy use in a sample town, that might sound like: "This bar chart compares energy use in a small town by source. Natural gas is clearly the largest source, at around 40 per cent. Solar and wind are much smaller, at about 12 and 9 per cent. Coal sits in between. Overall, the town still depends mainly on gas, although renewable sources make up a noticeable share." Every sentence carries information from the image, which is what separates a structure from a template.
Common mistakes
- Filling time with memorized phrases that mention nothing specific from the image.
- Reading out every number in a table instead of choosing the ones that show a pattern.
- Stopping at 20 seconds, or getting cut off before the conclusion.
- Getting stuck on a label you cannot read. Describe the category by position or color instead and move on.
- Long silences while you search for a word. A simpler word said smoothly is the better choice.
Once single images feel comfortable, practice switching between task types under time pressure in a full PTE mock test.