Highlight Incorrect Words PTE: 7 Tips to Master the task!

The highlight incorrect words PTE task is from the listening module. You need to listen and identify the difference between recording and transcript. This task requires test takers full attention, as well as the ability to listen actively in a noisy environment. They also need to be familiar with knowledge of English stress patterns/accents, phonemes, plus, time management skills. It is always good to develop these skills through practice.

Our article will talk about the

• Highlight incorrect words section 
• Useful tips to help you get the highest score 
• Sample practice questions to improve your performance

About Highlight Incorrect Words PTE Task

The highlight incorrect words part in PTE tests your listening and reading skills at the same time. An audio transcript will be displayed on the screen. When it plays, the examinees should listen and highlight the words that differ from what they hear.

Mostly 2 to 3 questions are asked in the section; each audio lasts 30 -90 seconds. You will get 10 seconds before the speaker starts speaking to prepare yourself. Note that the audio recording is played automatically and only once. 

There is a negative marking for this task. Getting a score around 65 or 75 is considered a good passing score.

How do I select incorrect words?

To select incorrect words, you must follow the transcript with a cursor as you listen to the audio, keeping a steady rhythm. While reading along, look for any incorrect words in the text. If you find one, click the left button on the mouse to select it. 

Your selected word will be highlighted in yellow. In case you decide to change, deselect it by left clicking on the word once again.

As the highlight incorrect words task is fast paced, you should use the above strategic process to complete it smoothly.

Note: A single click is enough to highlight your desired answer. So do not double-click.

7 Useful tips to Ace PTE Listening Highlight Incorrect Words

Here are some useful tips that help you score high in PTE Highlight incorrect words task:

1. Quickly Skim the Text

You will have 10 seconds before the recording starts. Use it wisely to understand the content. Have a quick glance through the text to get familiar with the topic. Try to remember the words that are difficult to pronounce. This will help you pick the correct answer.

2. Focus on Cursor’s Place and Your Hand Movement

Before the test starts, keep your hand on the mouse and make sure the cursor is placed at the first word. 

While listening, make sure you are able to catch the speaker’s pace. Move your cursor along with the text, pointing to each word mentioned in the audio. When you hear the difference, click on the incorrect one immediately. Don’t avoid it thinking you can come back later. Continue moving the cursor with the audio until its duration ends.

3. Don’t fall behind the audio

Don’t lag behind the audio. It cannot recover the missing information and might affect your chance to understand the remaining speech.

If you are following slowly, miss hearing a few words? Don’t stop, jump to the part the speaker is talking about and forget what you missed. Keep moving your cursor till the end of the content.

4. Don’t Take Note

Note-taking skill is not required in this task. It’s unnecessary! To find the incorrect words, you just need to move the cursor along the transcript while you listen. Pay attention to every word while listening.

5. Stick To Your Answer

Though reviewing your answer is a helpful tactic in most tasks, it’s not in this part. In this task, it will create more confusion for you. So, it is better to trust your first answer.

You should change your selection only when you are sure about the mistake, otherwise, don’t do that.

6. Don’t Make Random Guess

This section has negative marking. So, if you make random guesses, the computer will give negative scores, leading to a zero score in this task. So, don’t make random guesses, you always try to choose the right one instead.

However, there are certain logical cases where you can make a guess. If the speech accent is too hard for you to listen to, you can use your logical guess and pick only 1 or 2 answers.

Pro tip: Read the transcript and try to understand the content. It will assist you to find words that make no sense in the context. Focus on keywords such as verbs, nouns, adjectives, and adverbs.

7. Practice

Along with the above useful tips, practice is a must to master this section. Continuous practice will help you to familiarize yourself with question types and identify where improvements are needed to achieve better results.

It is important to find a reliable practice source. If you’re looking for one, use Kanan International- an online platform with numerous mock tests, detailed  feedback and valuable tips to enhance your score. 

We have given a few practice questions below. Use it to assess your performance.

Practice Questions

1. You will hear a recording. Below is a transcription of the recording. Some words in the transcription differ from what the speaker said. Please click on the words that are different.

Transcript

My general morning routine - wake up, let's just say generally that’s somewhere between 7:30 and 8:30. I’m terrible at waking up early, but for me that's early and then I will meditate first thing for 15 20 minutes, usually just replaying a sound or a word and then brew tea, sit down, turn on music which is usually Pandora station, like I’m listening to a lot of Brazilian just kinda chill samba or bossanova stuff right now which puts me in a pretty good state. Do the five-minute journal, then exercise if I have the time clocked out that morning, which is usually just a series of sort of mobility exercises like overhead squat type movements. Then get into the creative stuff like I mentioned up until lunch, which is usually going to be some type of writing podcast material whatever that might be, some type of creative synthesis and then ...

2. You will hear a recording. Below is a transcription of the recording. Some words in the transcription differ from what the speaker said. Please click on the words that are different.

Transcript

We have to answer yes to these three questions, these are my important questions that all patients have to answer yes to. Number one, food needs to be anti-inflammatory. So if we’re eating foods that are causing inflammation - excessive inflammation - That’s going to cause our body to break down excessively fast, it’s going to create pain. It’s going to put stress on our Adrenal glands, not a good thing - it’s going to break our body down faster. Next it has to be nutrient rich. This is very important right, outside of macronutrients we have micronutrients - vitamins, minerals, water so we have to make sure the things we’re eating are nutrient dense.

3. You will hear a recording. Below is a transcription of the recording. Some words in the transcription differ from what the speaker said. Please click on the words that are different.

Lot of people are afraid of fat, and I wanna kind go a little bit further beyond what fats really are from a biochemical slash organic chemistry level. If we break it down a little bit, I think people will be less afraid of what they are and will see the benefits. So when we're dealing with fats we have things known as indefensible fatty acids (EFA’s), again they’re essential because we can't live without them. So if that's really important which again some of these fatty acids are, they’re essential to life then why are we isolating them? Number two is we have essential amino acids, these are essential proteins right. And then we have, no - nothing known as essential carbohydrate. There's nothing that’s essential in the carbohydrate world. Again, carbohydrates for most people depending on what your immunity level will be a good thing.

Answers

Instructions: Words that differ from the audio are highlighted in yellow.

1. My general morning routine - wake up, let's just say generally that’s somewhere between 7:30 and 8:30. I’m terrible at waking up early, but for me that's early and then I will meditate
first thing for 15 20 minutes, usually just replaying a sound or a word and then brew tea, sit down, turn on music which is usually Pandora station, like I’m listening to a lot of Brazilian just kinda chill samba or bossanova stuff right now which puts me in a pretty good state. Do the five-minute journal, then exercise if I have the time clocked out that morning, which is usually just a series of sort of mobility exercises like overhead squat type movements. Then get into the creative stuff like I mentioned up until lunch, which is usually going to be some type of writing podcast material whatever that might be, some type of creative synthesis and then ...

Correct Answers: ideally, 6:30, 7:30, repeating, mood, blocked, related

2. We have to answer yes to these three questions, these are my important questions that all patients have to answer yes to. Number one, food needs to be anti-inflammatory. So if we’re eating foods that are causing inflammation - excessive inflammation - That’s going to cause our body to break down excessively fast, it’s going to create pain. It’s going to put stress on our Adrenal glands, not a good thing - it’s going to break our body down faster. Next it has to be nutrient rich. This is very important right, outside of macronutrients we have micronutrients - vitamins, minerals, water so we have to make sure the things we’re eating are nutrient dense.

Correct Answers: essential, driving, dense, foods

3. Lot of people are afraid of fat, and I wanna kind go a little bit further beyond what fats really are from a biochemical slash organic chemistry level. If we break it down a little bit, I think people will be less afraid of what they are and will see the benefits. So when we're dealing with fats we have things known as indefensible fatty acids (EFA’s), again they’re essential because we can't live without them. So if that's really important which again some of these fatty acids are, they’re essential to life then why are we isolating them? Number two is we have essential amino acids, these are essential proteins right. And then we have, no - nothing known as essential carbohydrate. There's nothing that’s essential in the carbohydrate world. Again, carbohydrates for most people depending on what your immunity level will be a good thing.
Correct Answers: deeper,  essential,  demonizing, activity

 Conclusion

Hence this is about the PTE Listening Highlight Incorrect words task. If you are looking for proper in-depth guidance, contact Kanan International. You can consult our tutors online and offline mode for personalized advice and to start your PTE preparation immediately.