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PTE Quiz – Reading – Fill In the Blanks

This section is PTE Reading Fill in the Blanks – Drag and Drop question, check out our PTE Reading FIB-Drag and drop tips to get started.

For this item type you need to choose words from the options below to correctly fill in the gaps in the text.

Absence from work is a costly and (A) ____ problem for any organization. The cost of absenteeism in Australia has been put at 1.8 million hours per day or $1400 million annually. In 2015, a study was (B) ____ in the Prince William Hospital in Brisbane, Australia, where, prior to this time, few active steps (C) ____ been taken to measure, understand or manage the (D)____ of absenteeism.


malicious         occurrence        conducted          had         disruptive        repetition       claimed        has


PTE Reading Fill in the Blanks answers:

A. Disruptive – Blank A has to be an adjective as it is before a noun, we need to choose between malicious and disruptive, malicious means “intending or intended to do harm”, so it is too strong for the context. Therefore the answer is disruptive.

B. Conducted – “Conduct a study” is a collocation

C. Had – “prior to this time” indicates the time period before the year 2015 which was referred at the start of the sentence, so “had” is the correct answer as had done is used to talk about events that happened in the past.

D. Occurrence – “Occurrence of absenteeism” means “frequency of absenteeism”

The coastal hypothesis (A) _____ an economy based on marine mammal hunting, saltwater fishing, shellfish gathering, and the use of watercraft. (B) _____ of the barrier of ice to the east, the Pacific Ocean to the west, and populated areas to the north, there may have been a greater (C) _____ for people to move in a southerly direction.


speed          suggests        recommends           impetus          In spite          Even         Because


PTE Reading Fill in the Blanks answers:

A: Suggests – There are two options, “suggests” or “recommends”,  both words mean put forward consideration, but suggest also means that put one to think that something is the case. The context here is that “the coastal hypothesis” put one to think that an economy based on marine mammal hunting….., thus suggests is more suitable choice

B: Because – There are two options – “Because”  and “In spite” to choose from, it can be clearly seen that the “the barrier of ice to the east, the Pacific Ocean to the west, and populated areas to the north” is the reason why people move in a southerly direction, so “Because” is the correct connector to link cause and effect.

C: Impetus – Option C has to be a noun as it is after the adjective, eliminate all other parts of speech, “impetus” and “speed” are the only nouns available. The correct answer is impetus as it means “something that makes a process or activity happen or happen more quickly”, which indicates more and more people have been moving to the South.

One of the most eminent of psychologists, Clark Hull, (A) ______ that the essence of reasoning lies in the putting together of two ‘behaviour segments’ in some (B) ______ way, never actually performed before, so as to reach a goal. Two followers of Clark Hull, Howard and Tracey Kendler, (C) ______ a test for children that was explicitly based on Clark Hull’s principles. The children were given the task of learning to (D) ______ a machine so as to get a toy. In order to succeed, they had to go through a two-stage sequence.


devised             observe            operate              device             novel            claimed             manufactured


PTE Reading Fill in the Blanks answers:

A. Claim – “someone claimed something” means someone states something

B. Novel – We need to choose an adjective for this blank as it is right before a noun, adj + noun, and we can see that the sentence of “never actually performed before” to further elaborate the “in some ___ way”, it is very clear that novel is the right answer because novel means “the practice would not be considered unusual today”.

C. Devised – The correct answer is devise, devise means “plan or invent a complex procedure, system, or mechanism by careful thought”. In this context, it means two psychologists carefully design a test for children based on Clark Hull’s principles.

D. Operate – “operate a machine” is a collocation

2019-02-24T11:12:17+11:00

3 Comments

  1. Bhawani June 27, 2018 at 3:05 pm - Reply

    where is the answer then ?

    • Avatar photo
      myPTE June 27, 2018 at 6:36 pm - Reply

      Hi Bhawani,

      We allow students at least 24 hours to attempt the quiz, all answers are provided the following day. Please comeback tomorrow to find the answer if you are curious :).

      MYPTE Team

  2. Shiv June 27, 2018 at 7:06 pm - Reply

    Disruptive, conducted, had, occurrence
    suggest, because, impetus
    claimed, novel, devise, operate

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