The Speaking section of the Pearson Test of English Academic has five tasks:
| Task | Task Description | Length of Time to Respond | |
| 1 | Read aloud | A text appears on screen. Read the text aloud | Will depend on how long is the text |
| 2 | Repeat sentence | After listening to a recording of a sentence, repeat the sentence | 15 seconds |
| 3 | Describe image | An image appears on screen. Describe the image in detail | 40 seconds |
| 4 | Re-tell lecture | After listening to or watching a lecture, re-tell the lecture in your own words | 40 seconds |
| 5 | Answer short question | After listening to a question, answer with a single word or a few words | 10 seconds |
In all the speaking item tasks, a blue bar will appear on the ‘Recording status’ box. You need not to wait until the bar is completed to click ‘Next’.
For the first, second and fifth tasks, you may click ‘Next’ when you are ready to proceed to the next task. The microphone will automatically close after three seconds of silence. Therefore, it is recommended to click ‘Next’ to mark completion of the task. Proceeding to the next task will avoid inclusion of unnecessary noises from the surrounding in your recording, e.g. voices of other candidates. Silence or insignificant noises might lessen your score in Oral Fluency.
Based on testimonies from PTE Academic takers, 40 seconds is not enough to make a sufficient response to the 3rd and 4th tasks. Ideally, a response should be comprised of an introduction, body, and conclusion. Feedback is that it is not easy to construct and state all these elements within this amount of time. After 40 seconds, the microphone will immediately close. You may then click ‘Next’ to move to the next task.
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