PTE Reading Reorder Paragraphs: 6 Practice Sets with Answers

Try six original PTE Reading Reorder Paragraphs practice sets, then open the answer panels to see why each text box follows the previous one. All six sets and explanations are available without signup.

These are fictional practice texts written for BandLadder, not recalled or official Pearson questions. This page is a self-check exercise: write your letter order in your own notes. It does not drag, automatically mark, store your answer or predict a PTE score.

Start set 1 · Try the later sets · Review your mistakes · Continue platform practice

How to use these practice sets

1. Read all the boxes in a set. The letters identify boxes; they are not the correct sequence.
2. Find a box that introduces the topic without depending on an unexplained “this”, “those” or “she”. Then look for the exact idea each later reference points back to.
3. Write every letter once in your chosen order. For each neighbouring pair, note the clue that connects it.
4. Open that set’s answer panel only after committing to an order. Compare the reasoning, not just the first and last letters.

Reorder Paragraph appears in both PTE Academic and PTE Core Reading. Pearson’s current format pages describe arranging mixed text boxes into their original order, with partial credit when the full order is not correct. Official format sources checked on 5 October 2026: Academic Reading and Core Reading. For the scoring explanation, use our separate Reorder Paragraphs scoring guide.

The sets below practise linking ideas in both everyday and study-style contexts. They are not a complete mock test or a representative test form. Take the time you need on the first attempt; later, repeat a set while explaining its links without looking at the key.

Set 1: A library delivery trial

Follow a problem, a response and its result.

Put all 4 boxes in order. Write your sequence before revealing the explanation.

A. To reach those residents, the library introduced a weekly delivery service run by volunteers.

B. The positive response to the first month of deliveries persuaded the library to continue the service through winter.

C. A town library found that several older residents had stopped borrowing books because they could no longer travel to the building.

D. Before the first delivery, each volunteer received a list of requested titles and the addresses of the readers who had chosen them.

Show set 1 order and explanations

Correct order: C → A → D → B

1. C → A: C introduces the library and the residents who cannot travel. “Those residents” in A points back to this specific group, and the delivery service answers their problem.
2. A → D: A introduces the delivery service. D then describes the preparation required before its first delivery; volunteers and requested books now have a clear context.
3. D → B: D takes place before the first delivery. B reports the response after a month of deliveries, so it follows the preparation and closes the trial with a decision.

Check a tempting mistake: A cannot open the passage: “those residents” needs the group introduced in C. Putting B before D would report a month of results before describing the explicitly earlier first-delivery preparation.

Set 2: Why a surface changed colour

Track an observation and the experiment designed to explain it.

Put all 4 boxes in order. Write your sequence before revealing the explanation.

A. The researchers therefore repeated the exposure test in dry air, keeping the temperature and light unchanged.

B. Because the dry sample retained its colour, they concluded that moisture had contributed to the original change.

C. One possible explanation for this change was moisture in the surrounding air.

D. Researchers testing a new wall coating noticed that it became darker after several days in a humid room.

Show set 2 order and explanations

Correct order: D → C → A → B

1. D → C: D introduces the coating and the darkening observation. “This change” in C refers to that darkening and introduces a possible cause.
2. C → A: C proposes moisture as the cause. “Therefore” in A connects that hypothesis to a new test which changes humidity while holding temperature and light constant.
3. A → B: A introduces the dry-air test. “The dry sample” in B refers to its sample, and the retained colour provides the stated basis for the conclusion.

Check a tempting mistake: A mentions “the exposure test” and begins with a consequence, so it needs earlier context. B is the interpretation of the new test, not the initial observation. This is a fictional experiment, not a scientific claim about real coatings.

Set 3: Booking a community room

Follow an announcement, an objection and a revision.

Put all 4 boxes in order. Write your sequence before revealing the explanation.

A. In response to that concern, the committee added a telephone booking option alongside the website.

B. A community centre announced that all future room reservations would have to be made through a new website.

C. Some regular visitors objected that they had no reliable internet connection and would therefore lose access to the rooms.

D. With both booking methods in place, visitors could choose the route that suited them rather than rely on internet access.

Show set 3 order and explanations

Correct order: B → C → A → D

1. B → C: B introduces the online-only booking rule. C is the objection to that rule, explaining who would be excluded and why.
2. C → A: “That concern” in A refers to the internet-access problem in C. The telephone option is the committee’s response to it.
3. A → D: A introduces the second booking method. “Both booking methods” in D can now refer to the website and telephone, and the sentence explains the effect of the revision.

Check a tempting mistake: D cannot follow B immediately: only one booking method exists at that point. The word “both” requires the telephone alternative introduced in A.

Set 4: A missing date in an archive

Distinguish an initial estimate from later evidence.

Put all 4 boxes in order. Write your sequence before revealing the explanation.

A. That date was challenged when a volunteer found an invoice showing that the sign had been installed in 1926.

B. The archivist consequently revised the catalogue entry to say that the photograph could not have been taken before 1926.

C. An archivist was trying to date an undated photograph of a shopfront.

D. Judging from the style of the sign above the door, she initially suggested that the picture had been taken around 1920.

Show set 4 order and explanations

Correct order: C → D → A → B

1. C → D: C introduces the archivist and the dating problem. “She” in D refers to the archivist, and D supplies her initial estimate.
2. D → A: “That date” in A points to the estimate around 1920 in D. The installation invoice supplies evidence that challenges it.
3. A → B: A establishes when the visible sign was installed. B gives the resulting catalogue revision: a photograph showing that sign cannot predate its installation.

Check a tempting mistake: B is not evidence that the photograph was definitely taken in 1926. It records an earliest possible date. Moving B before A removes the evidence needed for “consequently”.

Set 5: Testing a quieter bus route

Connect comparison groups before reading the result.

Put all 5 boxes in order. Write your sequence before revealing the explanation.

A. The comparison showed lower average noise beside the resurfaced section, although traffic volumes were similar at the two locations.

B. A council wanted to find out whether a new road surface would reduce noise along a busy bus route.

C. To test this, it resurfaced one section and left a nearby section unchanged.

D. After the work was completed, staff measured noise at both sections during the same morning periods.

E. On the basis of that finding, the council decided to extend the trial rather than replace every road surface immediately.

Show set 5 order and explanations

Correct order: B → C → D → A → E

1. B → C: B states the question being investigated. “To test this” in C refers to that question and introduces the two sections.
2. C → D: C establishes a changed section and an unchanged section. D refers to “both sections” and describes measurement after the resurfacing work.
3. D → A: D supplies the measurements. “The comparison” in A reports what comparing those measurements showed.
4. A → E: “That finding” in E refers to the lower average noise reported in A. E closes with the council’s limited next step, rather than claiming a universal result.

Check a tempting mistake: A cannot precede D in this account: the comparison needs the measurements. E is a decision based on a result, not the proposal that starts the investigation. The trial and its outcome are fictional.

Set 6: Returning a borrowed tool

Track two stages of a process and a condition.

Put all 5 boxes in order. Write your sequence before revealing the explanation.

A. If the inspection reveals damage, the assistant records it before closing the loan.

B. Once the loan is closed, the borrower receives a confirmation message and the tool can be assessed for its next use.

C. A neighbourhood tool library uses a two-stage process when a borrowed drill is returned.

D. First, an assistant checks the drill’s identification number against the borrower’s loan record.

E. After confirming that the correct drill has been returned, the assistant inspects it for damage.

Show set 6 order and explanations

Correct order: C → D → E → A → B

1. C → D: C introduces the return process. “First” in D begins its first stage: checking identity against the record.
2. D → E: E explicitly follows confirmation that the correct drill has been returned, which is the purpose of D. It introduces the inspection stage.
3. E → A: “The inspection” in A refers to the inspection introduced in E. A explains what happens if it finds damage, before the loan is closed.
4. A → B: A places any damage record before closure. “Once the loan is closed” in B moves to the final confirmation and the tool’s next use.

Check a tempting mistake: A cannot come before E because its inspection has not yet been introduced. B is a closing stage, so moving it before A would reverse the explicit before/once relationship.

Turn a wrong order into a useful lesson

Write down the first link where your sequence diverged from the explanation. Label the reason: a missing reference, reversed time, a result before its evidence, or an alternative introduced too late. A single wrong placement can break more than one link, so inspect both neighbours of the box you moved.

For example, in set 3, “both booking methods” becomes meaningful only after the telephone option exists. If you placed that box earlier because it sounded like a general statement, your next task is to check quantity words such as both, another and a second. In set 4, the important distinction is between an initial estimate and evidence that changes it; knowing the dates without following that relationship is not enough.

Use this short review note: “I linked ___ to ___ because ___. The stronger link is ___ to ___ because ___.” Close the answer panel and rebuild the sequence once more. Remembering the letters is easy; explaining a connection in your own words shows what you can apply to a new text.

Questions learners ask about Reorder Paragraphs practice

Should I always put the shortest box first?

No. Length is not the reason a box opens a passage. In these sets, the opener supplies context that other boxes depend on. A short box beginning with “that finding” still needs an earlier finding, while a longer sentence may introduce the whole situation.

Does “however” always identify the second box?

No. A contrast can occur anywhere after the idea it contrasts with. Locate that idea first. The same principle applies to therefore, in response and consequently: they signal a relationship, not a fixed position.

Can two boxes share a topic and still be in the wrong order?

Yes. Every box in set 2 concerns the coating, but the hypothesis must precede the test designed to investigate it, and the result must precede the conclusion. Repeated vocabulary helps identify connections; it does not replace checking their direction.

Will this page calculate my Reading score?

No. Compare your order with the revealed key and use the explanations for self-review. Six short practice sets cannot establish an official Reading score, and this page does not send an attempt for automatic evaluation. Registration also does not import answers written in your notes.

What should I try after these sets?

For another Reading task, try our ten PTE fill-in-the-blanks practice passages. For more Reorder Paragraphs, continue in the Reading question bank for the exam you are preparing for.

Continue with the right PTE Reading practice

Create a free BandLadder account to continue practising. Choose your test below so the practice path stays relevant. BandLadder’s PTE library contains 25k+ questions across skills; free practice is limited, and full library access requires a paid plan. The six sets on this page remain available without signup.

Continue PTE Academic Reading →

Continue PTE Core Reading →

Check current plans and access details before buying. In the Reading question bank, choose Reorder Paragraphs to continue this task type.