Timing at a glance
| Preparation | About 25 seconds |
|---|---|
| Speaking time | About 40 seconds |
| Silence | Recording stops after a short pause of about 3 seconds |
Timings are approximate and can vary slightly from question to question.
How it's scored
Scored onContentOral FluencyPronunciation
Content looks at how well you describe the main features of the image: the overall topic, the biggest or most important elements, and any clear trend, comparison or conclusion. Oral Fluency and Pronunciation are judged as in the other speaking tasks. A clear, well-ordered description that keeps going for most of the time tends to beat a short one with perfect detail.
Worked example
A practice image we described
Imagine a bar chart titled "Ways students travel to campus", with five bars: walking 35%, bus 28%, cycling 18%, car 12% and train 7%.
A strong approach
"This bar chart shows how students travel to campus. The most common way is walking, at around thirty-five percent, followed by the bus at about twenty-eight percent. Cycling accounts for under a fifth of students, while car and train are the least common, at roughly twelve and seven percent. Overall, most students choose low-cost options such as walking and public transport."
Structure: one-line overview → biggest items → smaller items → one-sentence conclusion.
Common mistakes
- Listing every number on the chart instead of naming the main pattern.
- Stopping after 15 seconds because there seems to be nothing left to say.
- Spending the speaking time on a single small detail.
- Freezing to find the exact figure instead of saying "about" or "roughly".
- Leaving out a final sentence that sums up the image.
Tips
- Use the preparation time to find three things: the topic, the largest or most striking item, and the overall trend.
- Open with a one-sentence overview ("This chart shows…").
- Use approximate language for numbers: about, roughly, just over, nearly half.
- Keep talking at a steady pace until close to the end of the time, then close with "Overall, …".
- Practise across image types (charts, maps, processes, photos) so none of them surprises you.
Describe Image FAQ
No. Cover the main features and the overall message. A clear, complete description of the key points scores better than a rushed list of every number.
Related guides
PTE Practice is an independent practice platform and is not affiliated with, endorsed by or connected to Pearson. Our scores are a calibrated emulation, not official PTE scores.