The Re-tell Lecture task assesses your listening and speaking skills.
It involves listening to a short lecture lasting 60–90 seconds and then you have 40 seconds to give a spoken summary of the lecture’s main points.
The primary focus of this task is your oral fluency.
It is important to avoid too many pauses, hesitations, and repetitions.
While pronunciation is important too, it is more important that you don’t speak too slowly and over-emphasize the pronunciation of each word. Rather you need to try and speak naturally, as a native speaker would.
Regarding what your summary should contain, don’t forget it is just a summary.
You don’t need to mention every detail, only the main points. A useful question to ask yourself is:
Overall, what was the lecture about?
You also need to be good at note-taking to do well in this task.
Specifically, as you listen to the lecture you need to identify and write down the keywords and phrases that will help you re-tell what you have heard.
Overall, keep these tips in mind:
1. Be ready to start
You must be focused and ready to listen to the lecture as it will begin automatically after just 3 seconds.
2. Notes
Jot down brief notes on the main topic of the lecture. Time savers while note taking include using abbreviations and symbols.
3. Highlight the main points
There will be a 10-second pause once the lecture ends. Look at your notes and underline or circle certain points or words in readiness for your talk.
4. Speak clearly and calmly
You don’t have to shout, of course, but you need to speak loudly and clearly using correct pronunciation for the microphone to pick up everything you say.
Try to take a slow, smooth, deep breath whenever you have a spare few seconds. This will help you to focus and perform better.
5. Silence is not good
If you make a mistake don’t panic — just remember to keep speaking as this task requires you to demonstrate your oral fluency.
6. Practice and more practice
As with other parts of the PTE, if you want to do well in the Re-tell Lecture task you must practice in the weeks and days before your test.
Use your phone to record yourself while talking, then listen and identify your mistakes so you can improve.
