PTE Writing: Practice Questions - 19 | Practice Tests for PTE PDF Download

Summarize Written Text

You need to summarize the passage given below. In the exam, you will have 10 minutes to complete this task. Your response will be assessed on how well you capture the essential points of the passage and the clarity of your writing.
You can draft your answer on paper, and then check your response by clicking the "View Answer" button.

Q1: Social life is an outflow and meeting of personality, which means that its end is the meeting of character, temperament and sensibility, in which our thoughts and feelings, and sense perceptions are brought into play. This aspect is realised as much in large parties composed of casual acquaintances or even strangers, as in intimate meetings of old friends. I am not one of those who hold cocktail parties in contempt, looking upon them as barren places for gathering, because of the strangers one has to meet them; which is no argument, for even our most intimate friends must at one time have been strangers to us. These large gatherings will be only what we make of them.

But they do offer more immediate enjoyment. In them, one can see the external expression of social life in appearance and behaviour - where one can admire beauty, hear voices remarkable either for sweetness or refinement, look on elegance of clothes. What is more, these parties are schools for training in sociability, for in them we have to treat strangers as friends. So, in them we see social sympathy in widest commonalty. We show a natural human instinct of getting pleasure and happiness out of other human beings.

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Q2: Research in education has, in recent years, turned its attention to the problem of assessing a student's progress as accurately as possible. Only when this is done, can a meaningful course of study be laid down and a student helped to recognise his difficulties and overcome them. There have been remarkable advances in analysing the process of learning and in framing tests and maintaining week to week records which provide the teacher with valuable information about the progress of his class and of each individual in it. But, despite all the new thinking on this subject, there is still no acceptable alternative to the examination. Whether it be at the end of term, or the year, or at the end of a school course or for the purpose of choosing candidates for a course of study and training, the only practicable way of measuring a student's performance or of assessing his potential is by an examination, supplemented where necessary, by recommendation, interview and other devices.

The most unfortunate byproduct of the examination system has been the proliferation of study notes, guides to passing examination, model answers, hints for writing essays and similar travesties of education. For one, these 'notes' promote the habit of rote learning. For the other, they are priced more highly than the poems of Wordsworth or the plays of Shakespeare, although they are not worth the paper they are printed on. The sooner we find a way to dispense with these, the better it is for the student community and the system at large.

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Write Essay

You will have 20 minutes to plan, write and revise an essay about the topic below. Carefully read the statement below and write an essay in response. A sample essay is available for you to review by clicking on the "View Answer" button.
Your essay will be evaluated based on how effectively you develop your position, organize your ideas, provide supporting details, and adhere to the conventions of standard written English. Aim for a word count between 200-300 words.

Q1:  As we progress both in numbers and in economic terms, there is always a demand for land to be developed for housing and industry. At the same time, conservationists and environmentalists want more land to be left in its natural condition.
What type of land use policy would you recommend? Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer.

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