PTE Listening Select Missing Word: Questions with Answers

Table of Contents

What Is Select Missing Word in PTE Listening?

Select Missing Word is a PTE Listening item in which a beep replaces the last word or group of words of a recording and you select the option that completes it. The 20-70 second recording plays once, with three to five options. It's task 6 of 8 in Part 3 Listening for PTE Academic and task 5 of 7 in PTE Core Listening, and it scores listening only. Pearson says it judges whether you can predict what a speaker will say from context clues.

What Are the Select Missing Word Format and Timing Rules?

The recording runs 20-70 seconds and plays once, a beep replaces its ending, and you pick one of three to five options. The next recording waits until you click Next. One item breaks down into four stages.

Pearson gives no separate preparation time for this task, so don't plan around a fixed prep window. The item count comes from Pearson's Score Guides: 1-2 Select Missing Word items in PTE Academic and 1-2 in PTE Core. The selected option turns yellow, and to change your answer you click it again to de-select it or click a different option. Pearson's PTE Core page gives the same 20-70 second recording length.

Expect varied voices: Pearson's FAQ says PTE Academic uses genuine academic lectures and includes non-native English accents.

How Is Select Missing Word Scored?

Pearson scores each item correct or incorrect, with no partial credit and no negative marking. There's no credit for a wrong answer or an empty one, so always choose an option. The item feeds only your Listening score in both Score Guides. Pearson uses question weighting in score calculations; do not treat a raw item point as a fixed contribution to your reported score.

What Types of Select Missing Word Endings Will You Hear?

Pearson says the beep can replace one word or a group of words, so the ending you choose may be a single word or a short phrase. Three practical ending types help you study, and the examples here are our own.

These are study categories for practice, not Pearson's official item types. A single-word ending often hangs on a collocation, while a phrase ending usually follows the topic direction. For a grammar fit, decide whether the gap needs a noun, verb, adjective or adverb, then check tense and subject-verb agreement.

What Does a Select Missing Word Sample Question Look Like?

Choosing a workshop room

Listen and choose the ending replaced by the tone.

Recording voice: US English.

Original practice recording.

Choose one option

A. compromiseB. larger roomC. perfect solutionD. compromisingE. silent compromise

Show transcriptShow answer and explanation

Short practice talk

How Do You Answer Select Missing Word Step by Step?

Read the screen as the item opens, follow the speaker's topic, tone and direction, listen hardest to the last sentence before the beep, then eliminate options that break the meaning or the grammar. The method mirrors Pearson's own description of the skill, predicting what a speaker will say from context clues. Eight steps cover one item from screen to Next.

1. Read the on-screen text as the item opens, starting with the instruction line.
2. Note a few keywords on the noteboard as you listen, enough to hold the topic.
3. Track the topic direction of the argument, whether it moves to a cause, a contrast or a result.
4. Listen for discourse markers such as "however", "therefore" or "so", which tell you where the ending is heading.
5. Read the speaker's tone: a positive tone points to an achievement or benefit, a negative one to a problem or cost.
6. Focus on the final sentence, the one that leads into the beep, and remove options that fail the grammar fit with it.
7. Use elimination on the rest and choose the option that completes the meaning.
8. Use the time before Next to confirm, then move on.

What Are Common Select Missing Word Mistakes to Avoid?

The common mistakes are drifting off before the end of the recording, choosing an option because it repeats a word you heard, and ignoring grammar. Each one has a direct fix, set out in this list.

• Lost focus: attention drops before the beep, so hold your focus through the final sentence.
• Echo words: an option repeats a word from the talk but not its point, so test meaning, not sound.
• Grammar mismatch: an option can't follow the words before the beep, so read it into the sentence.
• Overthinking: second-guessing a sound first choice after the audio ends, so change it only for a clear reason.
• A blank answer: leaving it empty wastes a free chance, since a wrong answer costs nothing; if you missed the audio, pick the option closest to the recording's overall theme.
• A missed collocation: a verb-noun pair goes unnoticed, so ask which option sounds natural with the word before it.

How Do You Practice Select Missing Word?

Strong Select Missing Word practice means pausing academic talks just before a sentence ends, predicting the last words, then checking your prediction against the options. Build a short practice loop around that prediction practice. Predict, choose, check, and note which of the clue types you missed: topic direction, grammar fit or collocation.

Play each practice recording once at normal speed, without replaying or slowing it, because the test plays it only once. Create a free account to practice with scored Listening items.

How Do You Practice Select Missing Word with Answers?

Practice items with answers help most when each answer explains the clue that rules out every wrong option, not just which option is right. Use those answer explanations for a clue review of your practice questions: tally which clue you missed each time. Our PTE listening tips suggest where to find talks to work with.

Why Does Collocation Knowledge Help in Select Missing Word?

Many endings complete a fixed word pairing, so knowing common collocations lets you pick the ending even when you miss part of the last sentence. Verb-noun pairs such as "raise awareness" show how word pairings narrow the options. Build a list from our page on PTE collocations.

How Is Select Missing Word Different from Highlight Incorrect Words?

Select Missing Word asks you to predict an ending you never hear, while Highlight Incorrect Words asks you to catch words on screen that differ from what you hear. Only Highlight Incorrect Words carries negative marking of the two, so prediction here costs nothing when it's wrong. The Highlight Incorrect Words page covers its rules.

How Does Select Missing Word Fit Into PTE Listening?

It's the sixth of eight question types in PTE Academic Listening and the fifth of seven in PTE Core, between Multiple Choice, Single Answer and Highlight Incorrect Words. Pearson scores it 1 or 0, like Multiple Choice, Single Answer, inside a Listening section of 31-39 minutes in PTE Academic. Our PTE Listening section guide walks through all eight tasks.

Is Select Missing Word the Same in PTE Academic and PTE Core?

Yes on Pearson's pages: both PTE Academic and PTE Core list a 20-70 second recording, scored correct or incorrect, that affects listening only, with 1-2 items in each test. Its task position differs, task 6 in Academic and task 5 in Core. Our comparison of PTE Academic vs PTE Core covers the wider differences.

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