One point per gap, no deduction
A wrong word scores 0 for that gap and nothing else. An empty gap scores the same 0. Three correct out of four is three points.
Reading - PTE Academic / UKVI, PTE Core
Fill in the Blanks (Drag and Drop)
Fill in the Blanks (Drag and Drop) is a short passage, a shared word bank with more words than gaps, and one point per gap. Four or five items, no per-item timer, no penalty. Here is how the word bank is built to mislead, the order to fill the blanks in, and a two-minute routine.
- 1
- point per correctly placed word
- 3–5
- gaps, more words than gaps
- 4–5
- items per test
- None
- negative marking
The task
Drag-and-drop blanks sit in the Reading part alongside the other reading types, all on one shared clock: about 23–30 minutes in PTE Academic, 27–37 in PTE Core.
| Appears in | PTE Academic / UKVI and PTE Core — Reading part |
|---|---|
| Items per test | 4–5 |
| Text length | Up to about 80 words, 3–5 gaps |
| Word bank | More words than gaps — some are distractors |
| Time | No per-item timer — shared Reading clock |
| Scoring | Partial credit — 1 point per correctly placed word |
| Negative marking | None |
| Skills credited | Reading |
A short passage with gaps and a word bank below
The text is up to about 80 words with three to five gaps. Under it is a box of words, always more than the number of gaps. The extra words are distractors chosen to fit some of the gaps on grammar or on collocation but not both.
You drag a word into each gap
Drag from the bank to the gap. To change a choice, drag the word back or drag another word onto it. Every word used comes out of the bank, so the remaining options narrow as you go.
Next locks the item
No returning to a previous Reading item. Check every gap is filled before clicking Next; an empty gap is a certain zero for that gap.
Four or five items per test
Shorter than the dropdown version and quicker: 90 seconds to two minutes each is the budget.
How one item is scored
Question“The Life Science Institute… achieves [1] in biomedical research by bringing together the world’s leading scientists… to [2] breakthroughs… exploiting the power of a [3] and interdisciplinary approach.” Drag the right words from a six-word bank into three blanks. (Real bank question — shown in the player below.)
Answer
[1] excellence · [2] accelerate · [3] collaborative. The distractors (ambiguity, quit, positive) stay unused in the word bank.
Why it scores
Each blank earns its own point, and the extra distractor words are there to punish guessing by collocation alone.
What loses marks
The reader starts with the first gap, is unsure, and drags in the word that looks most academic. That word was the answer to the third gap. When they reach the third gap it is gone, so they choose a distractor there too. Two wrong from one early guess, and 90 seconds spent moving words back and forth.
How it is scored
Partial credit, one point per correctly placed word, minimum zero. The task counts towards Reading only, in both PTE Academic and PTE Core.
How the word bank is built
Distractors usually match the part of speech of one gap but the wrong collocation, or the right collocation for a nearby word but the wrong part of speech. A bank of six for three gaps means each gap has one right answer and roughly one plausible wrong one.
Skills credited
Reading. Unlike the dropdown version in Core, drag-and-drop blanks do not feed the Writing score in either test.
Because used words leave the bank, filling the blanks you are sure of first shrinks the choice for the ones you are not. Order matters more here than in any other reading item.
How to answer it
The passage is short enough to read in full, and the bank is small enough to classify. Do both before dragging anything.
Read the passage once, gaps and all
Fifteen seconds. Know what the paragraph is about and roughly what each gap needs: a verb, a noun, an adjective, a linking word.
Classify the word bank by part of speech
Glance across the bank and sort it in your head: these are verbs, these are nouns. Now each gap has two or three candidates instead of six.
Fill the gaps you are certain of first
Usually one or two gaps have an obvious collocation: “achieve excellence”, “accelerate breakthroughs”. Place those, and the bank shrinks for the rest.
For the remaining gaps, test each candidate in the sentence
Say the sentence with the candidate in place. Check the word either side of the gap and the sentence’s tense. The one that fits grammar, collocation and meaning is the answer; if two fit, pick the more common phrase.
Check every gap is filled, then Next
Ninety seconds to two minutes is enough. If a gap is still uncertain, place the best remaining candidate rather than leaving it empty.
Common mistakes
| Mistake | Why it costs marks | What to do instead |
|---|---|---|
| Filling gaps in order | Why it costs marksAn early guess uses a word another gap needed, turning one uncertainty into two wrong answers. | What to do insteadFill the certain gaps first, in any order, then the rest from the smaller bank. |
| Choosing by meaning alone | Why it costs marksDistractors are picked to fit the meaning but not the grammar or the collocation. Meaning is the last filter, not the first. | What to do insteadPart of speech, then the words either side of the gap, then meaning. |
| Leaving a gap empty | Why it costs marksNo negative marking means an empty gap is a guaranteed zero where a guess is a free chance. | What to do insteadPlace the best remaining word in every gap before Next. |
| Picking the rarest word | Why it costs marksUnusual words are frequent distractors. The correct word is usually the everyday collocation. | What to do insteadPrefer the phrase you have read many times. |
| Spending three minutes moving words around | Why it costs marksThe Reading clock is shared. A minute lost here is a minute taken from a five-point dropdown passage. | What to do insteadClassify, fill, check, Next. Two minutes. |
How to practise
This task is mostly collocation knowledge under mild time pressure. Practise short timed sets and treat every miss as a phrase to learn.
Do four items against an eight-minute clock
Two minutes each. Practising without the clock hides the habit of second-guessing, which is what costs points in the exam.
For every miss, write the correct phrase in context
The word before, the answer, the word after. Collocation is learned in pairs, not single words. Read the list before the next session.
Practise the classify step alone
Take any word bank and sort it by part of speech in ten seconds. When this is automatic, the task gets faster without any change in vocabulary.
Read for pairs
Ten minutes a day of academic prose, underlining verb-noun and adjective-noun pairs, builds the sense of which word belongs next to which.
Track accuracy per gap type
If verbs are fine and nouns keep missing, the gap is in noun collocations; study those. Most learners have one weak category.
Practice set
12 passages with answers
Items from the EdKnot bank, each with its answer, on one page. Every item opens in the practice player with its timer, recording and scoring.
What 65 and 79 need
Scored per gap across four or five items, so a steady hit rate matters more than any single passage. These are the typical profiles behind each level.
About three of every four gaps correct, with the miss usually a collocation where two options both seemed to fit. Items finished in around two minutes.
Nearly every gap correct, sure gaps filled first, the remaining candidates tested in the sentence, and 90 seconds or less per item.
Frequently asked questions
How is Fill in the Blanks (Drag and Drop) different from the dropdown version?
The drag-and-drop version uses a shorter text of up to about 80 words with one shared word bank containing extra words, has 4–5 items, and counts towards Reading only. The dropdown version uses a longer text with a menu per blank, has 5–6 items, and in PTE Core also counts towards Writing.
Are there extra words in the word bank?
Yes. The word bank always contains more words than there are gaps, so some are distractors that are never used. They are chosen to fit a gap on grammar or on collocation but not both.
Is there negative marking on Fill in the Blanks (Drag and Drop)?
No. There is no negative marking, and you receive one point for each correctly placed word, so fill every gap.
Which blank should I fill first in Drag and Drop?
Fill the gaps you are certain of first. Each word you place leaves the bank, so the remaining gaps have fewer candidates. Filling in order from the first gap risks using a word another gap needed.
How long should I spend on each Drag and Drop item?
There is no per-item timer. The whole Reading part shares one clock, so budget about 90 seconds to two minutes per drag-and-drop item.
Can I change a word after placing it?
Yes, until you click Next: drag a word back to the bank or drop another word onto it. After Next there is no returning to any Reading item.
Part of speech first, collocation second, meaning last. Fill the sure blanks, then the rest.
Practise Fill in the Blanks (Drag and Drop) with the real clock and see the answer the moment you submit.