Your main challenge is keeping your eyes aligned with the audio. Follow the transcript continuously and click only when you confirm that the spoken word differs from the written word.
Current scoring
Highlight Incorrect Words appears in Academic and Core Listening. Pearson’s Academic page states that correct selections earn one point and wrong selections lose one point, with a minimum of zero for the item. The task contributes to listening and reading. Pearson Academic Listening format Pearson Core Listening format
Track without taking notes
Move the cursor along the line as the recording progresses. Do not pause mentally on one uncertain word, because losing alignment can create several later mistakes.
Watch content words closely: nouns, main verbs, adjectives and adverbs often carry detectable differences. Small grammar words can also change, so continue following every word.
Original exercise
Written transcript:
The research station was built near the coast so scientists could observe seasonal changes in marine life. During winter, strong winds sometimes prevent boats from leaving the harbour, but remote instruments continue collecting useful data.
Hidden audio script: Ask another person or a text-to-speech tool to read this once while you look only at the written transcript.
The research station was built near the coast so scientists could observe seasonal changes in marine life. During winter, strong storms sometimes prevent boats from leaving the harbour, but remote instruments continue collecting valuable data.
Select: winds and useful in the written transcript.
The recording replaces winds with storms and useful with valuable. Do not select seasonal, boats or remote, which match exactly.
Control uncertain clicks
If two words are close in sound, use the sentence meaning only as supporting evidence. This task asks for differences, so a written word can be logical and still differ from the audio. Conversely, an unusual phrase is not automatically wrong if the speaker says it.
After practice, classify mistakes as lost place, sound confusion, delayed click or unnecessary guess. Use shorter passages to repair tracking, then increase length.
Compare negative marking with PTE Listening Multiple Answers. Browse Highlight Incorrect Words practice.
Check the whole word, including endings
Listen through the end of each word. “develop” versus “developed” and “economy” versus “economic” may begin alike but differ in grammar and meaning. Click only after the mismatch becomes clear, then return your attention to the current spoken word.
Do not click because pronunciation differs from your accent. The task tests whether the spoken and written words match, not whether the voice sounds familiar.
