What Summarize Group Discussion is
This task became part of PTE Academic on 7 August 2025, so older study materials do not cover it. You listen to a recorded conversation between three speakers, up to 3 minutes long. They exchange views on a topic, agreeing on some points and disagreeing on others. When the recording ends, you get 10 seconds to prepare and then 2 minutes to give a spoken summary.
A good summary answers four questions: What was the discussion about? What did each person think? Where did they agree or disagree? Did they reach any conclusion? It feeds both your Listening and Speaking scores.
What is scored
- Content: whether your summary captures the topic, each speaker's position and the main points of agreement or disagreement.
- Pronunciation: clear, understandable speech.
- Oral fluency: smooth delivery across a long response.
The practice discussions on this page are recorded with three different natural voices, one for each speaker, with realistic pauses between turns, so you can follow who is speaking as you would in the test. After you record, the tool shows which key points you mentioned, your word count and your speaking pace. It does not measure pronunciation or fluency as Pearson's scoring does.
How it differs from Retell Lecture
It is tempting to treat this as a longer Retell Lecture, but the job is different. A lecture has one voice and one line of argument. A discussion has three people with their own positions, and the value of your summary lies in keeping those positions separate. You also have 2 minutes to speak instead of 40 seconds, which means you need enough notes to talk for much longer without repeating yourself.
How to take notes and answer
Divide your notes into three columns, one per speaker. Write each speaker's name, or a label such as "woman 1" if you miss the name. Under each, note their main view and one reason or example. Mark agreement with a tick and disagreement with a cross between columns when one speaker responds to another.
Then speak in this order:
- One sentence on the topic: "The three speakers discussed whether first-year students should live on campus."
- The first speaker's view and reason.
- The second speaker's view, linked to the first: "Daniel disagreed, arguing that..."
- The third speaker's view, and whether it sided with anyone.
- Where they ended up: a shared conclusion, a compromise, or no agreement.
Aim to speak for most of the 2 minutes. If you reach the end of your notes early, add a supporting detail for one speaker rather than repeating what you have said.
Common mistakes
- Summarizing only the speaker who talked most, or only the first one you heard.
- Mixing up who said what. Attribute views carefully, and use "one speaker" if you are unsure of a name.
- Retelling the conversation line by line in order instead of grouping ideas by speaker.
- Stopping after 45 seconds, as if it were Retell Lecture, and leaving most of the time unused.
- Adding your own opinion on the topic.