Two first sentences in PTE Reorder Paragraphs: which one opens?
In most Reorder Paragraphs items one box is clearly the opener: every other box starts with "However", "This" or "They". The hard items give you two boxes that both read like a topic sentence, and learners pick whichever sounds more "introductory".
Two openers are almost never equal. One of them needs something from the other: a noun it assumes you know, a topic it narrows, a claim it illustrates. So the rule is simple: the sentence the other one depends on goes first.
X Farmers in one flood-prone deltasets the scene grow vegetables on floating raftsintroduced of woven water weed that rise and fall with the river. Y Each raftassumes rafts can carry a crop of okra or gourds for a full season.
- → Y has no pronoun, connector or "the", so it passes a quick scan. But "Each raft" only makes sense once you know there are rafts.
- → Y first: which rafts? X first, then Y: nothing is missing. Y depends on X, so X opens.
The rest of this sheet gives you four tests that knock out false openers, the dependency test for real ties, three worked examples and a check of your own.
Premium sheet · 4 more sections
- How to identify the first sentence: four independence tests
- PTE Reorder Paragraphs examples with two possible openers
- Reorder Paragraphs tips and tricks for tied openers
- Your turn: pick the first sentence
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Questions
FAQ
How do I find the first sentence in PTE Reorder Paragraphs?+
Find the box that makes sense with nothing before it: no pronoun pointing back, no "the" for something not yet introduced, no connector such as however or also, and no relative time such as later.
What if two sentences both look like the first sentence?+
Read each one first in turn. The sentence that the other explains, narrows or gives an example of is the opener.
Is a sentence with a date always the first sentence?+
No. An anchored date means the box can open, not that it must. If it illustrates a general claim in another box, the claim opens.
Do I lose all the marks if I choose the wrong first sentence?+
No. Credit is given for each correctly ordered adjacent pair (PTE Academic Score Guide, July 2025, p. 40), so a wrong opener with the chain intact keeps most of the marks.
Sources
- PTE Academic Score Guide for Test Takers (July 2025): p. 40, Part 2 Reading: Reorder Paragraph, 2–3 items, partial credit for each correctly ordered adjacent pair
- PTE Core Score Guide for Test Takers (January 2026): p. 35, Part 2 Reading: Reorder Paragraph, 2–3 items, partial credit for each correctly ordered adjacent pair
- BandLadder practice set: Academic Perspectives on Homework: /pte-practice/reorder-paragraphs/academic-perspectives-on-homework, question 2
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