Reorder Paragraphs

What does Reorder Paragraphs look like?

The screen shows text boxes in a scrambled order, and you rebuild the passage by working out which box comes before which. There is no question to answer and no option to select; the sequence itself is the answer.

• Read every box before moving any of them: Skim all the boxes once before dragging anything, so your sense of the opening and the closing box is based on the whole set rather than the first two you happen to read.
• Every box needs a position: A short passage is split into several boxes, and every one of them needs a place in your final sequence, not just the box you're most confident about.
• Arrange boxes by dragging: You drag a box into its position among the others to build your sequence.
• One passage, one correct order: Unlike multiple choice, there is exactly one fully correct sequence, even though partial credit means an imperfect answer can still score.

This task tests a different skill from the rest of the Reading section: recognising cohesion rather than locating a fact. The boxes are connected by the same devices a paragraph normally uses to hold together, pronouns, repeated ideas and linking words, just displayed out of sequence. The same devices are what an examiner rewards in structure and coherence on the Writing side.

How does the adjacent-pair scoring work?

Reorder Paragraphs does not mark your answer right or wrong as a whole. It awards a point for every pair of boxes that ends up next to each other in the correct relative order, even if that pair as a whole sits in the wrong place in your finished sequence.

Each correct adjacent pair is worth 1 point, and the rule is identical in PTE Academic and PTE Core.

This also means a partial answer is never wasted effort. Even when you cannot commit to a full sequence with confidence, locking in the pairs you are certain about before adjusting the rest protects the points those pairs are worth.

How to solve Reorder Paragraphs step by step

• Find the likely opening: Look for the box that introduces the topic without depending on an earlier reference. It rarely starts with a pronoun or a phrase like ‘this approach’.
• Build linked pairs first: Match pronouns, repeated nouns and connecting words, however, as a result, this change, to the box that best explains them. Pairs are easier to spot than the full sequence in one pass.
• Chain the pairs into one sequence: Once you have two or three pairs, check where they overlap and merge them into a single chain that covers every box.
• Check time order and cause and effect: Read the finished sequence once more for chronology, and confirm that a stated cause appears before its effect or conclusion.
• Re-examine any box you couldn't place confidently: If one box still doesn't fit anywhere cleanly, revisit your assumed opening box, a wrong opening choice is the most common reason the rest of the chain refuses to line up.

A worked Reorder Paragraphs example

Notice how the working ruled out alternative orders, not just confirmed one: C could only follow D because of the weight reference, and A could only come last because ‘these two advantages’ needs both D and C to have already appeared. Checking what a box's wording depends on is what makes an order unique instead of merely plausible.

What mistakes cost the most points in this task?

After each practice attempt, compare your order with the correct one box by box rather than only checking whether you got full marks. Note which linking device you missed, a pronoun, a time marker, a cause-and-effect phrase, so you know which cue to look for first next time.