Part 2: Reading

PTE Reading Practice

Part 2 of PTE Academic is reading. It runs for 23 to 30 minutes with five question types and one timer for the whole part. Practice each type here with instant marking and an explanation for every answer.

Start Reading Test 1 See all 50 reading tests

50 free PTE reading tests

Each test has 10 questions covering all five reading question types, on a single 20 minute timer as in the real part. You get an estimated reading score and a full review at the end. Every question is unique to its test.

  1. 1 Reading Test 1Seafloor spreading, limestone caves, groundwater and wells, subduction zones, earthquakes
  2. 2 Reading Test 2Hotspot islands, cave bats, artesian wells, cave climate records, Himalaya
  3. 3 Reading Test 3 HarderOphiolites, karst aquifers, seismic waves and Earth interior, fossil groundwater, supercontinents
  4. 4 Reading Test 4Tsunamis, cenotes, show cave conservation, GPS and plate motion, hydrothermal vents
  5. 5 Reading Test 5Forces that move plates, geysers, sinking streams, Iceland, cave diving
  6. 6 Reading Test 6 HarderFresco painting, ultramarine pigment, Mexican muralism, legal graffiti walls, anti-graffiti coatings
  7. 7 Reading Test 7Tempera and oil paint, mural festivals, New York subway graffiti, Sistine Chapel restoration, reverse graffiti
  8. 8 Reading Test 8Renaissance anatomy, exterior mural paints, Vasari, Berlin Wall art, infrared study of underdrawings
  9. 9 Reading Test 9 HarderMannerism, artists' rights over murals, bronze casting, murals and gentrification, graffiti and the broken windows theory
  10. 10 Reading Test 10Renaissance portraiture, 1930s public murals, varnish conservation, painters' guilds, tile street art
  11. 11 Reading Test 11Ancient bone flutes, the early piano, the saxophone, musical chills, sad music
  12. 12 Reading Test 12 HarderBrass valves, Cremona violins, the theremin, musical expectation, emotion across cultures
  13. 13 Reading Test 13The ancient water organ, electric guitars, music in dementia care, film music, group singing
  14. 14 Reading Test 14Early synthesizers, the sitar, the accordion, singing to infants, major and minor keys
  15. 15 Reading Test 15 HarderThe modern flute, drumheads, equal temperament, music for mourning, perceived and felt emotion
  16. 16 Reading Test 16Lactate threshold, expected goals, heat acclimatization, high pressing, cardiovascular drift
  17. 17 Reading Test 17Maximal oxygen uptake, three-point shooting, altitude training, fourth-down decisions, set pieces
  18. 18 Reading Test 18 HarderFatigue and the brain, pulling the goaltender, glycogen depletion, passing networks, possession statistics
  19. 19 Reading Test 19Overtraining, zonal marking, iron and endurance, load management, territory in rugby
  20. 20 Reading Test 20Sleep and recovery, player tracking, downhill running, periodization, cooling by sweat
  21. 21 Reading Test 21 HarderVertical farming, cod fishery collapse, oyster reefs, aquaponics, salmon farming
  22. 22 Reading Test 22Rooftop gardens, seaweed farming, victory gardens, marine reserves, rice-fish farming
  23. 23 Reading Test 23Community gardens, shrimp farming and mangroves, fishing quotas, Paris market gardens, food access
  24. 24 Reading Test 24 HarderFish feed, urban land access, tragedy of the commons, salmon hatcheries, tuna ranching
  25. 25 Reading Test 25Allotment gardens, illegal fishing, garden pest control, bottom trawling, offshore fish farms
  26. 26 Reading Test 26Dam sediment, fish passes, reverse osmosis, river meanders, environmental flows
  27. 27 Reading Test 27 HarderPumped storage hydropower, reservoir methane, thermal desalination, potable water reuse, levees
  28. 28 Reading Test 28Dam design, brackish groundwater desalination, river deltas, aquifer recharge, recycled water networks
  29. 29 Reading Test 29Spacecraft water recycling, ultraviolet disinfection, watermills, estuaries, phosphorus recovery
  30. 30 Reading Test 30 HarderBraided rivers, renewable-powered desalination, wastewater irrigation, electrodialysis, reservoir evaporation
  31. 31 Reading Test 31Bakelite, float glass, porcelain, microplastics, glass recycling
  32. 32 Reading Test 32Kevlar, borosilicate glass, bioplastics, Teflon, Venetian glassmaking
  33. 33 Reading Test 33 HarderGraphene, optical fibers, advanced ceramics, plastic recycling, self-healing materials
  34. 34 Reading Test 34Aerogels, laminated glass, Delftware, carbon fiber, brickmaking
  35. 35 Reading Test 35 HarderSmart glass, mycelium packaging, early pottery, strengthened glass, mirrors
  36. 36 Reading Test 36 HarderSpider silk production, Classroom acoustics, Class size experiments, Open-air schools, Diving bell spider
  37. 37 Reading Test 37Orb web building, Daylight in classrooms, School size, Ballooning spiders, Desk arrangement
  38. 38 Reading Test 38Spider silk in instruments, Open-plan schools, Classroom ventilation, Trapdoor spiders, Mixed-age classes
  39. 39 Reading Test 39 HarderBolas spiders, Cost of smaller classes, Silk supercontraction, Spider silk in medicine, Venom-based medicines
  40. 40 Reading Test 40Social spiders, Playground design, Spider farming, School libraries, Spider molting
  41. 41 Reading Test 41Correspondence courses, coworking spaces, short video lectures, MOOC completion, video call fatigue
  42. 42 Reading Test 42 HarderEducational broadcasting, proximity bias, learning analytics, remote onboarding, synchronous and asynchronous courses
  43. 43 Reading Test 43Open textbooks, digital nomads, gamified learning, the right to disconnect, peer assessment
  44. 44 Reading Test 44Flipped classrooms, weak ties at work, home network security, remote proctoring, location-based pay
  45. 45 Reading Test 45 HarderMultimedia lesson design, results-based management, self-regulated learning, meeting overload, spaced practice
  46. 46 Reading Test 46Psychological safety, tourist taxes, delegation, overtourism, tourism leakage
  47. 47 Reading Test 47Servant leadership, eco-labels in tourism, remote teams, stages of group development, voluntourism
  48. 48 Reading Test 48 HarderTransformational leadership, carrying capacity, carbon offsets, workplace conflict, short-term rentals
  49. 49 Reading Test 49Emotional intelligence, water use in resorts, jazz and teamwork, community homestays, agritourism
  50. 50 Reading Test 50Crew resource management, timed entry at heritage sites, charismatic leadership, trekking porters, cultural commodification

The five reading question types

Question typeWhat you doText lengthMarking
Reading & Writing: Fill in the BlanksChoose words from dropdown listsUp to 300 wordsPartial credit per blank
Reading: Multiple Choice, Multiple AnswersChoose all correct optionsUp to 350 wordsPoints lost for wrong choices
Reorder ParagraphsPut jumbled text boxes in orderUp to 150 wordsPartial credit
Reading: Fill in the BlanksDrag words from a bank into gapsUp to 80 wordsPartial credit per blank
Reading: Multiple Choice, Single AnswerChoose the one correct answerUp to 300 wordsRight or wrong

Your reading score also draws on Summarize Written Text in Part 1 and on Highlight Correct Summary and Highlight Incorrect Words in Part 3.

Managing one timer for the whole part

Reading has no per-question timer, so it is easy to spend too long on one hard passage. A few principles help:

  • The two fill in the blanks tasks reward vocabulary and grammar you either know or don't. Answer them steadily and move on.
  • Multiple Choice, Multiple Answers takes the longest to read and costs points for wrong choices. Select only options you can point to in the text.
  • If a reorder task is not working, fix the first box and the pairs you are sure about, then move on. Partial credit rewards correct pairs.
  • Check the clock after each question so you can adjust early instead of rushing at the end.

What PTE reading really tests

Most reading points come from language knowledge rather than from comprehension alone. The blank-filling tasks test collocations (which words naturally go together), word forms and grammar. Reorder Paragraphs tests how texts hold together through pronouns, connectors and time order. The multiple choice tasks test careful reading of what a text does and does not say. Reading widely in academic English and noticing word partnerships helps across all five.

What feedback you get on MocksPTE

Every reading question is marked the moment you check your answer, using the same kind of partial credit and minus marking Pearson describes. You see the correct answers and a short explanation of why they fit. Reorder Paragraphs is marked by correct neighboring pairs, a common way to estimate partial credit since Pearson does not publish its exact formula.

Choose a reading task

6 questions

Reading & Writing: Fill in the Blanks

Pick the right word for each gap from a dropdown list.

Practice Reading & Writing Fill in the Blanks
5 questions

Reading: Multiple Choice, Multiple Answers

Choose every correct option. Wrong choices cost points.

Practice Multiple Choice, Multiple Answers
6 questions

Reorder Paragraphs

Rebuild a jumbled text in its logical order.

Practice Reorder Paragraphs
6 questions

Reading: Fill in the Blanks

Drag words from a shared word bank into the gaps.

Practice Reading Fill in the Blanks
5 questions

Reading: Multiple Choice, Single Answer

Read a passage and choose the one correct answer.

Practice Multiple Choice, Single Answer

Frequently asked questions

Is there negative marking in PTE reading?

Only in Multiple Choice, Multiple Answers. Each wrong option you select cancels a correct one, and the score for the question cannot go below zero. The other reading tasks do not deduct points.

How long is the PTE reading section?

Part 2 lasts 23 to 30 minutes, depending on the version of the test you get, with one timer for all reading questions.

What is the difference between the two fill in the blanks tasks?

Reading & Writing Fill in the Blanks gives you a separate dropdown list for each gap in a longer text. Reading Fill in the Blanks gives you one shared word bank for a shorter text, and you drag words into the gaps.