Lesson 7 of 147 min read
Describe Image
Describe a chart, diagram, photograph or process after a short look. Learn the shared format, different Content scales and a worked example.
What does Describe Image look like in PTE?
The screen shows a single image, most often a bar chart, line graph, pie chart, table, diagram, map or photograph. You get a fixed study period, then the microphone opens and you describe what the image shows.
PTE Academic
PTE Academic includes 5–6 Describe Image items per test.
PTE Core
PTE Core includes 3–4 Describe Image items per test, fewer than Academic.
| Both exams | |
|---|---|
| Preparation time | 25 seconds to study the image |
| Response time | 40 seconds |
| Silence auto-stop | About three seconds |
| Re-record | Not available, one attempt only |
How is Describe Image scored, and why the Content scale differs?
Describe Image scores Speaking only in both exams, on three traits: Content, Pronunciation and Oral Fluency (Fluency in Core). Pronunciation and Fluency use the same familiar 0–5 scale as every other speaking task. Content is where the two exams part ways.
PTE Academic
PTE Academic scores Content on a 0–6 scale. The top band, 6, is a response that “describes the image fully and accurately and expands on the relationships between features… to provide a nuanced interpretation.” The bottom band, 0, covers both an irrelevant response and one that's “relevant to the prompt but too limited to assign a higher score”, either way, a Content 0 ends scoring for that item: Pronunciation and Oral Fluency aren't rated, and the response earns 0 overall rather than a low-but-nonzero score.
PTE Core
PTE Core scores Content on a 0–5 scale, one band narrower than Academic, with its own wording. The top band, 5, is a response that “describes all elements of the image and their relationships, possible development and conclusion or implications.” The bottom band, 0, is reserved for a response that only “mentions some disjointed elements” and (worth noting directly) one that “may not deal properly with the prompt due to significant amounts of pre-prepared/memorized material.” Core's general scoring rule applies here too: a Content 0 gives the response no score points at all.
Both exams penalise pre-prepared, memorised material
The lowest Content band in PTE Core names “pre-prepared/memorized material” directly as a reason a response fails to deal properly with the image. PTE Academic states its own version separately: “responses that contain pre-prepared or memorized material are classified as irrelevant responses”, which, as above, are scored Content 0 with nothing else scored for that item. In both exams, a rehearsed opening line you recycle for every image (“this image shows an interesting trend over time…”) wastes seconds you could spend describing what's actually on screen, and risks tipping the whole response into this zero-scoring category rather than merely losing a band or two. See why scripted answers cost points for how to build a flexible structure instead.
How to approach Describe Image in 25 seconds and 40 seconds
- Identify the image type first: In the first few seconds of preparation, work out what kind of image you're looking at (trend chart, comparison chart, process diagram, map) because that decides the vocabulary and structure you'll use.
- Note the extremes and any turning points: For charts, spot the highest and lowest values, and any point where a trend changes direction. These are the details a strong response mentions specifically rather than describing everything in vague, general terms.
- Structure your 40 seconds: overview, details, closing observation: Open with one sentence naming what the image shows overall, spend the middle on two or three specific details or comparisons, and close with a brief observation about what the data or diagram implies. Linking words that signal this kind of structure; see connectives that signal your logic, fill the response time naturally.
- Describe relationships, not just individual figures: ‘Sales rose from January to March, then fell sharply in April’ shows a relationship between points. Simply reading out each value in turn misses the interpretation both Content scales reward at the top band.
A worked Describe Image example
Practice image: café weekly sales (original chart, not a real exam item)
The image is a bar chart titled ‘Weekly coffee sales, Monday to Sunday’. Sales rise steadily from 120 cups on Monday to a peak of 210 cups on Friday, dip slightly to 190 on Saturday, then fall sharply to 90 on Sunday. Describe the image.
Answer: “This bar chart shows coffee sales over one week at a café. Sales climb steadily through the week, starting at around 120 cups on Monday and reaching a peak of roughly 210 cups on Friday. Saturday stays almost as busy, at about 190 cups, before sales drop sharply to only 90 cups on Sunday. Overall, the chart suggests the café stays busy right through the working week and into Saturday, with only Sunday showing a real fall in trade.”
Content: the response names the chart type and topic, states the overall trend, gives specific figures for the peak and the low points, and closes with an interpretation of what the pattern might mean, the combination of accurate detail and interpretation is what the top Content bands in both exams are looking for.
Pronunciation: the response is built from everyday vocabulary with no unusual technical terms, so the main risk here is rushing the numbers, ‘120’, ‘210’, ‘190’, rather than any single difficult word.
Oral Fluency / Fluency: four clear sentences, each covering one idea, keep the pacing even across the full 40 seconds. A response that crams the whole description into one long run-on sentence, or that trails off before reaching a closing observation, loses Fluency marks even if every figure quoted is correct.
Practice image: a process diagram (original diagram, not a real exam item)
The image is a four-step process diagram titled ‘How tap water is treated’. Step 1: raw water is collected from a reservoir. Step 2: it passes through filtration to remove particles. Step 3: chlorine is added to kill bacteria. Step 4: the treated water is pumped into the local supply network. Describe the image.
Answer: “This diagram shows the four stages of how tap water is treated before it reaches homes. First, raw water is collected from a reservoir. It then passes through a filtration stage, which removes particles from the water. After that, chlorine is added to kill any remaining bacteria. Finally, the treated water is pumped out into the local supply network. Overall, the diagram outlines a straightforward purification process that moves from raw water to a safe, ready-to-use supply.”
Content: a process diagram is scored on the same Content scale as a data chart, but it rewards a different skill, naming every step in the correct order rather than picking out extremes and turning points. This response covers all four stages, in sequence, with the specific action at each one, which is what separates a full description from a vague summary of ‘some sort of purification process’.
Pronunciation: ‘filtration’ and ‘reservoir’ are the two words most likely to trip up an unrehearsed response here, both carry stress on a syllable that isn't the first one, which is where mispronunciation most often creeps in under time pressure.
Oral Fluency / Fluency: sequencing language, ‘first’, ‘then’, ‘after that’, ‘finally’, the same connectives that signal your logic, does double duty in a process description: it organises the content and it gives the response a natural, evenly spaced rhythm, which is exactly why this vocabulary is worth reaching for automatically whenever the image turns out to be a diagram rather than a chart.
What costs the most points in Describe Image?
Running out of things to say before 40 seconds is up
A response that stops at 15 seconds leaves the rest of the response time silent, which both cuts short the Content you could have added and reads as a fluency problem. Practising the overview-details-observation structure gives you somewhere to go even when the image is unfamiliar.
Practise across chart types deliberately, bar charts, line graphs, pie charts, maps, process diagrams and photographs each call for slightly different vocabulary, and the test doesn't tell you in advance which one you'll get.
Continue learning
Related lessons and more practice
Try a full set in Speaking practice. Next in this course: Retell Lecture, a PTE Academic-only task that builds on the same describe-and-interpret skill.
For a reusable structure you can adapt to any image; see Flexible Speaking Structures, and for pacing across all speaking tasks; see the practice routine and test-day lesson.
The Content scales for this task are set out in the PTE Academic Score Guide (p.18) and the PTE Core Score Guide (p.27).