PTE Core Listening Test 2
PTE Core Listening Test 2 is a premium, timed set of 16 PTE Core listening questions, 2 of them extra PTE Academic questions, with natural neural-voice audio across every listening task type. Every objective question is scored the moment you finish, and the review shows your answer next to the correct one; the Summarize Spoken Text response is expert scored.
Unlock this test16 questions · 40 minThis is one of 8 PTE Core listening tests on PTEMock. For every listening task type explained, with tips, see PTE listening practice. All 40 Core tests, with the official format, are on the PTE Core practice test page, and the PTE Core score chart shows the CLB level each skill score converts to.
What's in this test
| Write from Dictation | 3 questions | Instant |
| Multiple Choice, Multiple Answers | 2 questions | Instant |
| Listening: Fill in the Blanks | 2 questions | Instant |
| Highlight Correct Summary (PTE Academic task) | 2 questions | Instant |
| Multiple Choice, Single Answer | 2 questions | Instant |
| Select Missing Word | 2 questions | Instant |
| Highlight Incorrect Words | 2 questions | Instant |
| Summarize Spoken Text | 1 question | expert scored |
Topics in PTE Core Listening Test 2
What each passage, recording and prompt is about, in the order the tasks appear.
- Summarize Spoken Text: Coral bleaching and loss of food source
- Multiple Choice, Multiple Answers: Industrial Revolution; Sleep science
- Listening: Fill in the Blanks: Volcanoes; Demand-pull vs cost-push inflation
- Highlight Correct Summary (PTE Academic task): Honeybees; Renewable energy
- Multiple Choice, Single Answer: Endangered languages; Loss aversion
- Highlight Incorrect Words: Building materials and architectural change; Human migration throughout history
Sample questions from PTE Core Listening Test 2
Two questions taken from this test, so you can see its level before you start. Answers are not shown here; your review shows them when you finish.
What does loss aversion describe?
- A.The tendency to value gains more than equivalent losses.
- B.The tendency to feel losses more strongly than equivalent gains.
- C.The preference for taking risks whenever possible.
- D.The inability to remember past financial decisions.
In the real exam the audio plays once. The correct answer is shown in your review when you finish the test.
Which paragraph best summarises the recording?
- A.The speaker explains that honeybees are essential for pollinating many crops, but their populations are declining because of pesticides, habitat loss, and disease, which threatens food production and ecosystems unless protective action is taken.
- B.The speaker describes how honeybees produce honey commercially and argues that beekeeping has become a profitable industry despite recent challenges facing rural farmers.
- C.The speaker focuses on the structure of a beehive and the different roles that worker bees, drones, and queens perform within their complex social colonies.
- D.The speaker claims that bee populations are increasing rapidly and that pollination is no longer a concern for modern agricultural systems.
In the real exam the audio plays once. The correct answer is shown in your review when you finish the test.
How hard is PTE Core Listening Test 2?
Compared with the other 7 PTE Core listening tests on PTEMock, PTE Core Listening Test 2 is about average. It ranks 6th of 8, where 1st is the easiest, but the 8 are close together on these measures, so it sits near the group average.
| Measure | This test | Average of 8 |
|---|---|---|
| Speaking speed in the recordings | 132 words/min | 134 words/min |
| Transcript reading level | 12.9 | 12.5 |
| Long words (3+ syllables) | 23% | 22% |
| Total audio | 6 min 56 s | |
| Write from Dictation sentence length | 9.7 words |
How this is measured: Speaking speed comes from the actual length of every audio clip; reading level and long words are measured on the transcripts. It compares the material itself, not how other candidates scored.
For a step up, PTE Core Listening Test 5 is the next hardest. To warm up first, PTE Core Listening Test 4 is the next easiest.
How PTE Core Listening Test 2 is scored
Listening questions are scored instantly and objectively the moment you finish, no waiting and no email required. You get your band score plus a per-question breakdown showing exactly which items you missed and why. Summarize Spoken Text is the exception: it is expert scored on content, form, grammar, vocabulary and spelling, and included in your report.