What Respond to a Situation is
This task joined PTE Academic on 7 August 2025. You see a short description of a situation, up to 60 words, and the same text is also played as audio. The situation puts you in a role and tells you who you need to speak to and why. For example, you might need to explain to a tutor why your assignment will be late, or ask a classmate to change the time of a group meeting. After 10 seconds of preparation, you have 40 seconds to say what you would actually say to that person.
The task counts toward your Speaking score. It tests whether you can use English for a practical purpose: making a request, apologizing, explaining a problem or suggesting a solution, in a tone that suits the listener.
What is scored
- Content: whether you do what the situation asks, address the right person and give relevant details.
- Pronunciation: clear, understandable speech.
- Oral fluency: natural, steady delivery.
There is no single correct answer. Two quite different responses can both be strong if each deals with the situation sensibly and politely. Some responses are part-scored by human raters as well as AI, and memorized all-purpose openings may be flagged, so respond to the specific details you are given. On this page the tool shows which key points you covered, your word count and your pace, and offers a sample response to compare with.
How to answer
Use the 10 seconds to find three things in the text: who you are speaking to, what the problem or need is, and what you have been asked to do. Then speak directly to that person, in the first person, as if they were in front of you.
- Greet them and set the context in one sentence.
- State your main message: the request, apology or explanation.
- Give a reason or a key detail.
- Offer a solution or next step.
- Close politely.
Here is how that works for a situation where you borrowed a classmate's notes and spilled coffee on them: "Hi Sam, I need to tell you something about the notes you lent me. I'm really sorry, but I spilled coffee on them last night and a few pages are hard to read. I've already typed up the parts I could still see, and I can print a clean copy for you tomorrow morning. If anything is missing, I'm happy to go through it with you before class. Again, I'm sorry about this." That is about 75 words and covers every step.
Getting the tone right
Match your language to the listener. With a professor, manager or official, use polite forms such as "Would it be possible to..." and "I wanted to let you know that...". With a friend or classmate, you can be warmer and simpler, but still clear and courteous. In both cases, be direct about the main point. A response that spends 30 seconds on greetings and background before reaching the request leaves too little time for the part that matters.
Common mistakes
- Describing the situation from outside ("I would tell my tutor that I am sick") instead of speaking to the person ("I'm sorry, I've been unwell this week").
- Doing only half the task, for example apologizing but never proposing what happens next.
- Repeating the situation text back instead of responding to it.
- Using a tone that does not fit, such as very casual language with a lecturer.
- Stopping after 15 or 20 seconds. Add a reason, a detail or a follow-up offer to fill the time naturally.
For a view of where this task sits among the other speaking items, see the PTE Academic exam format.