ReadingPTE AcademicPTE Core

PTE Fill in the Blanks (Drag & Drop)

In PTE Reading: Fill in the Blanks you drag words from a box below the passage into the gaps in the text. There are more words offered than gaps, so some are pure distractors. Each correctly filled blank earns a point and there is no negative marking, so every gap should be filled even if you are guessing.

Timing: Untimed within the reading section — budget about 2 minutes per text.
Contributes to: Reading score

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How PTE Fill in the Blanks (Drag & Drop) is scored

One point per correctly placed word (no negative marking)

How to score higher in Fill in the Blanks (Drag & Drop)

1
Place the blanks you are certain about first — every word you use up shrinks the pool for the rest.
2
Use grammar to narrow the options: does the gap need a noun, a verb, an adjective, a preposition?
3
Watch for articles and plurals before the gap ('a ___' cannot take a plural noun).
4
Fill every gap. Distractor words exist, but an empty gap is a guaranteed zero.
5
Read the finished passage back — a misplaced word usually jars immediately.

Repeated Fill in the Blanks (Drag & Drop) passages

Drag-and-drop Fill in the Blanks reuses complete passages, and recognising one is a major time win: answers you have already reasoned out take seconds, leaving more of the pooled reading clock for the questions you have not seen.

Practise the prediction tier under timing and always place every word — the task has no negative marking, and the leftover-word check you build on repeated passages is the same habit that rescues marks on new ones.

How PTE Monster’s prediction tiers rank the bank

Common mistakes in Fill in the Blanks (Drag & Drop)

Working strictly left to right instead of doing the easy gaps first.
Ignoring grammatical clues and matching only on meaning.
Leaving a gap empty because none of the remaining words look right.

Fill in the Blanks (Drag & Drop) — frequently asked questions

What is the difference between the two PTE Reading Fill in the Blanks tasks?

The drag-and-drop version (Reading: Fill in the Blanks) gives you a pool of words to drag into gaps and contributes to the Reading score only. The dropdown version (Reading and Writing: Fill in the Blanks) offers a menu at each gap and contributes to both the Reading and the Writing score.

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