For PTE Describe Image, use the 25 seconds to identify the image type, write its main message, and select the strongest supporting relationships across the image. Then speak through a flexible overview → evidence → wrap sequence instead of reading every label or forcing every visual into one memorized script.

You get 25 seconds. The chart has six lines, twelve labels, and the emotional warmth of a tax form. The wrong move is to read it from left to right. First find the headline—what the image mainly shows—then choose the strongest details that prove it. That gives you a response you can actually say, not a spoken spreadsheet.

Current task format

PTE Academic Describe Image gives you 25 seconds to study the image and 40 seconds to speak. After the tone, you record once. The task contributes to Speaking, and Pearson evaluates Content, Pronunciation, and Oral Fluency.[1]

What happens in the current Describe Image task
Stage What happens Your job
Preparation 25 seconds Find the image type, main message, and useful supporting relationships.
Recording Up to 40 seconds, one attempt Start after the tone, speak clearly, and finish before recording closes.
Evaluation Content, Pronunciation, and Oral Fluency Describe the image accurately in your own words and deliver the response understandably.

All three traits are AI-scored, and Pearson says a human expert also reviews Content before the task score is confirmed. Pearson also states that an irrelevant or unoriginal response receives no credit and that you must use your own words.[1]

Identify image type and main message

Your first decision shrinks the task. A chart asks for patterns and comparisons. A map asks for location and distribution. A process asks for sequence and transformation. A photo asks for setting, dominant action, and meaningful visible detail.

Prioritize the main features and relationships

A label is not automatically important because it exists. A useful detail does at least one job: it proves the headline, establishes a major comparison, covers an important part of the image, or connects two elements.

Weak notes versus speech-trigger notes

Imagine a line chart showing weekly public transport use in four towns from 2021 to 2025.

What “main message” means for different image types
Image type Ask yourself Useful headline direction Do not drift into
Chart What rises, falls, stays stable, leads, or contrasts? “The clearest pattern is…” Reading every value in order
Map How are places distributed, connected, or positioned? “The area is organized around…” Listing place names with no spatial relationship
Process What enters, changes, moves, and leaves? “The process moves from…to…” Starting with the largest icon instead of the first stage
Photo Where is the scene, and what is the dominant visible action? “The image shows…with…” Inventing names, emotions, motives, or events outside the frame
Two ways to use the same preparation time
Data-copying notes Speech-trigger notes
Northport: 42, 48, 55, 61, 68 Northport: strongest rise; becomes highest
Lakeview: 58, 57, 56, 55, 54 Lakeview: slight decline
Hilltown: 31, 36, 42, 47, 52 Hilltown: steady growth
Riverside: 64, 63, 65, 64, 66 Riverside: broadly stable in mid-sixties
Title, axes, five years, four series Headline: growth in Northport and Hilltown; little change elsewhere

Compare or describe trend

Trend language should make the chart easier to understand. Choose the clearest verb that matches the visible movement.

Use approximate language safely

Approximation is useful when the image does not show a perfectly readable value or when the exact number adds little to the main comparison. It is not permission to alter the relationship shown.

Useful language for visible chart relationships
Visible pattern Natural language Example
Consistent upward movement rise steadily; increase gradually “Hilltown rose steadily across the period.”
Large upward movement rise sharply; show strong growth “Northport showed the strongest growth.”
Small downward movement decline slightly; edge down “Lakeview declined slightly.”
Little overall change remain broadly stable; change very little “Riverside remained broadly stable.”
Up-and-down movement fluctuate; vary “The figure fluctuated but ended higher.”

Structure without a rigid template

A useful structure tells you what each sentence must do. A rigid template tells you what to say even when the image disagrees. Keep the first; retire the second before it announces an “upward trend” in a photograph of people boarding a train.

  1. Identify the visual. Name the image type and subject briefly.
  2. Give the headline. State the main pattern, layout, sequence, or action.
  3. Connect the proof. Add the most useful supporting relationships and cover the image’s major parts.
  4. Wrap carefully. Summarize the visible message or make a cautious conclusion supported by the image.
Choose a phrase that preserves the visible value
Phrase Meaning Example
about / around / roughly Close to the stated value “About 50% of residents used public transport.”
approximately A more formal equivalent of “about” “The value was approximately 50%.”
nearly / almost Slightly below the stated value “The figure reached nearly 60%.”
just over Slightly above the stated value “The proportion was just over 60%.”
just under Slightly below the stated value “The total remained just under 40.”

Recover when data are dense

A dense infographic can make every icon and percentage feel urgent. The panic is not proof that you cannot speak English. It usually means you have not yet decided what the image is asking your answer to carry.

  1. Find the subject. Read the title or identify what the visual is about.
  2. Find the dominant relationship. Look for the largest contrast, clearest direction, main stage, or central layout.
  3. Choose supporting evidence. Cover the important parts you can describe accurately, beginning with the detail that best explains the headline.
  4. Prepare your first clause. Give yourself a clear place to start after the tone.

These are not official second-by-second timing slices. They are a decision order. Practise it until the sequence becomes quicker.

Dense-image rescue check

Before the microphone opens, can you confirm these decisions?

Illustrative dense infographic

Suppose an infographic called “How university students travel to campus” contains a large 54% bus figure, a 26% cycling figure, smaller walking and car figures, transport icons, and a small map showing bus stops.

The thinking route stays stable; the language changes
Function Chart Map Process Photo
Identify “The line chart compares…” “The map shows the layout of…” “The diagram illustrates how…” “The photograph shows…”
Headline “Overall, the strongest growth occurred in…” “The area is organized around…” “Overall, the system moves from collection to…” “The main action is concentrated…”
Proof

A chart, map, process, and photo method

This is the main PTE Describe Image practice lab. The timing mirrors the current task, but the chart, map, process, notes, questions, and model responses are original teaching material—not Pearson test items.

Chart practice: weekly public transport use

Weekly public transport use in four towns from 2021 to 2025 Northport rises from 42 percent to 68 percent, Lakeview falls slightly from 58 percent to 54 percent, Hilltown rises from 31 percent to 52 percent, and Riverside remains broadly stable between 63 and 66 percent. Residents using public transport weekly (%) 30 40 50 60 70 2021 2022

Self-review

Do not listen once and decide, “That was bad.” That diagnosis is emotionally efficient and educationally useless. Review the response in separate passes so you can repair one thing at a time.

Pass one: Content

Check the message and evidence

Pass two: Pronunciation

Check whether the key language is understandable

Explore more language-learning guides in PTE Speaking.

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