This September 2026 plan is a revision schedule, not a prediction of future exam questions. No topic list can guarantee what you will receive. Use current task rules, original prompts and an error log so your skills transfer to unfamiliar material.
Pearson’s current format pages remain the controlling references for Academic and Core task lists. Academic includes the speaking tasks added from 7 August 2025, while Pearson states that the 2025 update did not change Core. Pearson Academic updates Pearson Core test format
17 to 20 September: confirm the exact task
Choose Academic or Core. For every task, write down the response type, official time or word range where one applies, and what a complete answer must do. Use short untimed sets to practise the method.
- Speaking: identify content before worrying about speed.
- Writing: check purpose, form and word range.
- Reading: explain why each selected answer fits.
- Listening: note main ideas and exact-word errors separately.
21 to 24 September: target two recurring errors
Select evidence from your work, not a vague weakness such as “listening”. Examples include losing plural endings in dictation, clicking weak options in multiple-answer items, or listing image labels without an overview.
Complete small daily sets. After each set, record the error cause and one change for the next attempt. Use PTE Speaking Templates as structures, not memorised scripts.
25 to 27 September: mix tasks and add timing
Alternate task types so you must recognise the required response. Use official limits only where Pearson gives them. A timer you set for untimed items is a pacing exercise, not an official per-question limit.
Three-day rotation:
- 25 September: two image descriptions, five repeat sentences and one written summary.
- 26 September: two reading gap passages, one listening summary and dictation.
- 27 September: one Academic essay or Core email, followed by mixed selection tasks.
Review each set before moving on. Choose fewer questions if you need more time to understand an error.
28 to 30 September: prove consistency
Complete two realistic mixed sessions on different days. Compare error patterns, not only totals. If a strategy works once but collapses in the second session, simplify it. If your exam is within seven days, start here after one short diagnostic and target only the two clearest errors.
Use this untimed component drill: turn the figures 12 and 19 per cent into one accurate comparison; ask a partner or text-to-speech tool to play the hidden sentence “The committee requested clearer evidence before approving the plan” once; then expand this supplied idea into a short paragraph before summarising it: reliable public services require both broad access and consistent maintenance. This drill checks individual processes only. It does not reproduce a timed mixed set or provide enough evidence for a readiness decision.
Keep the day before your test light. Review instructions, identification and logistics through official sources. Do not cram copied answers to supposed future questions.
A 30-minute fallback session
When time is limited:
- Spend 10 minutes on one weak task.
- Spend 10 minutes checking every response.
- Spend 10 minutes repeating only the errors with new content.
This creates a complete learning loop. Thirty minutes of answer-only practice does not.
Start with the question hub, selecting your exam and one priority skill. For guidance on evaluating free material, read Free PTE Practice.
Checkpoint card for 24 and 28 September
At each checkpoint, record three numbers from fresh work: completed responses, responses that met the instruction and repeated errors. For example, “8 of 10 dictations complete; 6 exact; plural endings missed four times” gives you a next action. “Listening was bad” does not.
Compare the same error on similarly sized, similarly difficult fresh sets and record errors per relevant opportunity. Continue when that rate falls. If it stays flat across two sessions, inspect the drill, task difficulty and review method before deciding whether to replace it. If your test is after September, keep the sequence and remove the calendar dates rather than searching for a new prediction file.