PTE Academic, Speaking and writing
PTE Re-tell Lecture
You listen to a short lecture, sometimes with an image, then retell it in your own words.
Format and scoring
| Skill | Speaking |
|---|---|
| Preparation | 10 seconds |
| Response time | Up to 40 seconds |
| How it's scored | Scored on content, oral fluency and pronunciation. |
| Weight (estimate) | About 11% of your speaking score |
How to answer Re-tell Lecture
- 1Take quick notes: the topic, two or three main points and any example or number.
- 2Open with the topic: “The lecture was about…”
- 3Give the main points in order, linking them with first, also, however.
- 4Close with the speaker's conclusion or your summary of it.
Re-tell Lecture template
- 1The speaker was discussing topic.
- 2First, the speaker explained that main point 1.
- 3The speaker also mentioned main point 2, giving the example of example or number.
- 4In addition, main point 3 or a detail.
- 5In conclusion, the speaker emphasised that overall message.
Common mistakes
- Writing full sentences in your notes and missing the next point.
- Long silences while searching for a detail.
Sample question
Why sleep matters for memory
This is a listening question: open it in the app to hear the recording.
Show a model answer (90 / 90)
The lecturer explained that sleep, once considered a passive state, actually plays an active role in learning. During deep, slow-wave sleep, the hippocampus replays the day's experiences and transfers them to the cortex for long-term storage. The speaker described experiments in which students who slept after learning word pairs recalled significantly more than those who stayed awake. The brain also appears to be selective, keeping emotionally meaningful information or material people expect to be tested on. Therefore, the lecturer concluded that all-nighters before exams undermine the process that creates lasting memories.