PTE · Respond to a Situation

Community Volunteering Initiatives: PTE Respond to a Situation practice questions

5 original Respond to a Situation questions. Question 1 is free to record, play back and compare with a sample answer right here; log in free to practise the rest in the BandLadder app.
  • 5 questions
  • Question 1 free, no login
  • PTE Academic and PTE Core
1

Food Bank Shift Rescheduling

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Read and listen to the situation below. You have 10 seconds to prepare (20 in PTE Core), then 40 seconds to say what you would say. Answer as fully as you can.

You volunteer at a local food bank every Saturday morning. This weekend, you have to attend a mandatory university workshop on research methods. You want to ask the volunteer coordinator if you can swap your shift to Sunday afternoon instead. What would you say to the coordinator?

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Questions 2–5

Read and listen to the situation below. You have 10 seconds to prepare (20 in PTE Core), then 40 seconds to say what you would say. Answer as fully as you can.

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2

Campus Garden Tool Request

You are leading a student volunteer group that maintains the university vegetable garden. You need extra hand tools and gardening gloves for five new recruits joining this Wednesday. You visit the campus facilities officer to ask to borrow these items. What would you say to the facilities officer?

3

Youth Mentoring Schedule Conflict

You volunteer as an after-school tutor for secondary school pupils on Thursday evenings. Your university tutor has just rescheduled an important laboratory test to this Thursday at five o'clock. You need to phone the mentoring organiser to apologise and explain why you cannot attend. What would you say to the organiser?

4

Neighbourhood Litter Pick Recruitment

Your local residents' committee is organising a park clean-up this Saturday, but very few people have signed up. You bump into your neighbour, who often walks their dog in the park, and you want to persuade them to join the volunteer group for two hours. What would you say to your neighbour?

5

Declining Extra Library Volunteering

You volunteer at the community library every Tuesday afternoon. The head librarian asks if you can take on an additional shift on Friday to help reorganise the children's section. You must decline politely because you have an assignment deadline that evening. What would you say to the librarian?

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