Practise Answer Short Question for PTE Core. Open a question and work on your response at your own pace.
PTE Academic version of this page1937 questions · PTE Core
Answer Short Question asks a simple question that needs only one word or a few words in response. Give the smallest answer that is accurate and complete — a longer explanation adds no extra credit and creates more chances to drift from the question.
Answer Short Question has the shortest answer time on PTE Core - a ten-second answer window and no preparation time - but in Core it reaches further than on PTE Academic: the same short answer counts toward both your Listening and Speaking scores, not Listening alone.
You hear a short question, sometimes alongside an image, and answer with a single word or a short phrase. There is no preparation time; you answer as soon as you know it.
PTE Core includes five to six Answer Short Question items.
Pearson does not publish a topic list for the questions. What it does publish is the scoring rule: one point for an appropriate word choice. So the practical skill is recognising what the question is asking for and naming it in a word or two, quickly and clearly enough to be understood.
There is no tone before you answer and no separate preparation window. The recording ends automatically if you pause for three seconds or more, either at the start or mid-answer, so hesitation costs you the chance to finish.
| Detail | PTE Core |
|---|---|
| Items per test | 5-6 |
| Prompt length | 3-9 seconds audio, may include an image |
| Preparation time | None |
| Answer time | 10 seconds; recording stops after 3 seconds of silence |
Answer Short Question is scored correct or incorrect, on a single Vocabulary trait worth one point: one point for an appropriate word choice, zero for an inappropriate one.
In PTE Core, the task counts toward both Listening and Speaking. On PTE Academic the same task type counts toward Listening only - one of the clearer differences between how the two exams attribute the same task to skills.
Extra words do not add marks. A correct one-word answer scores the same as a correct sentence built around that word.
Because the task feeds two skill scores at once, a handful of quick, accurate answers can move both your Listening and Speaking numbers together. For an Express Entry profile that needs Canadian Language Benchmark 7 in every skill, Pearson's PTE Core to CLB tables put that bar at 60 or higher in Listening and 68 or higher in Speaking - a gap Answer Short Question alone will not close, but every correct short answer counts toward it.
Each item is over in seconds, so the approach is about reacting well rather than planning. This is the order we suggest.
Example (written by LexiPTE) - Answer Short Question audio: "What do you call a place where you borrow books?"
Strong answer: "A library." This is short, accurate and answered immediately - exactly what the Vocabulary trait rewards. A longer answer such as "You would go to a library to borrow books" scores the same if correct, so it adds risk without adding credit.
A second example: audio asks, "What is the opposite of empty?" Strong answer: "Full." Adding an explanation such as "It means the opposite of empty, which is full" wastes speaking time within the ten-second window without adding credit.
Because a single point is at stake on each item, small habits decide the result. These are the ones we see most often in practice.
Run through short batches of everyday questions, answering out loud within a second or two each time. Track any category of question - objects, people, places, time - where you consistently hesitate, and drill that category specifically.
Because Answer Short Question also counts toward Listening, review any question you answered incorrectly by listening to it again and checking whether the mistake was in hearing the question or in choosing the word.
Keep a short log of any category where you hesitate, such as measurements or professions, and drill just that category before your next full practice set.
