PTE Re-order paragraphs
PTE Re-order paragraphs is part of the PTE Reading task, in this article we will provide you a brief guide on how to approach this question the right way. For exercise, please visit our quiz page to practice.
Overview
When you start attempting this question your first goal should be to identify the leading paragraph. This is often easy to do as the leading paragraph has some unique characteristics. First of all, the leading paragraph introduces a concept or theme of the whole text. It is independent and can stand alone as a sentence, which means it does not require other paragraphs or sentences to complete its meaning.
Once you have found the leading paragraph, you should look for the next paragraph. There are two things to consider. First, the second paragraph should add information to what the first paragraph introduced. Second, the paragraph should have a link with something in the previous paragraph. For example, if the first paragraph talks about the general concept of Global Warming, the second paragraph can discuss a specific incident related to it.
You should then repeat the same process for subsequent paragraphs. Ask yourself these questions?
Which information is missing in this paragraph? Which paragraph contains that information?
These questions will guide you to correct paragraphs.
Once you have arranged all paragraphs in the right order, make sure you read them again. Sometimes by proof reading you will feel that some paragraphs can be arranged in a different sequence. Do it and see how it impacts the meaning of the whole text.
At times you will be confused between different paragraphs. In that case you should put each paragraph in the position one by one and see how it effects the order of other paragraphs and the meaning of the text.
1. How you are scored
Partial credit:
1 Each pair of correct adjacent text box
0 Minimum score
2. Read the full text
You are given jumbled text and need to reorder them in a paragraph that makes logical sense. Most of the sentences given will have a structure and a chronology i.e. sequence of events that happen one after the other. Your goal is to simply identify this.
Read all the text boxes quickly before you start re-ordering them, and use the keywords to form an overall idea of what the original text is about.
3. Find the topic sentence first
1) Covers Main idea
Start with the first sentence as this is the most easily to identify. It is usually a clear statement about the topic, and all the other sentences are related in some way to this sentence. This is the sentence that will have the overall topic idea/statement within it.
2) Independent sentence
The first sentence can stand alone; it does not begin with a linker or a pronoun that refers to something or someone (e.g., ‘he’ or ‘this’), nor does it depend on any other sentences given there (so it should not begin with therefore, besides, hence etc.).
Note any paragraphs that begin with conjunctions such as However, Nevertheless, But, Also, Furthermore, Therefore, Whereas, Similarly, Alternatively, and so on. Such sentences do not usually go first. Additionally, those paragraphs that refer back to text in a previous paragraph and contain pronouns referring to someone (e.g., he, she, his, her, himself, herself, them, they, themselves, those) or something (it), they cannot be the leading sentences. Any other clues that related to sequences (Another, firstly, secondly, finally, next, subsequent, following, in addition, too) should be noted as they will probably not be the first sentence.
In summary, first sentence is the independent sentence
- not starting with discourse markers
- not starting with individual pronouns

3) Article
Even articles can help you identify the first sentence to some extent. Sentences that contain definite article “the” are almost never the first sentence except some phrases as below.

“The” is a definite article, whereas “A” and “An” are indefinite articles. “The” is used to denote something or someone specific or when the person or thing that has been introduced already. “A” or “An” are used while introducing something for the first time and also for stating general facts.
For example
a) A man and a woman are sitting opposite me.
b) The man is American, but I think the woman is British.
In the second sentence. “the” has been used along with “man” and “women” because they have already been introduced to readers in the first sentence. Hence, the correct order is a) b).
4. Order of idea
Below are some reorder techniques to follow, which can help you to arrange sentences in logical order.
- Past – Present
- Problem – Solution
- Idea – Example
- Question – Answer
- Full Name – Partial Name
We are going to explain “Full name – Partial name” strategy here in detail. If there are two sentences, one covers the full name of a person whereas another refers the same person by the partial name, or simply refer the person by “he, she, him, her, etc.” we would know the sentence with full name should come first.
For example
a) Additives could reduce the noise but none effectively got rid of it, until Midgley realised that adding lead to petrol solved the problem completely.
b) Thomas Midgley started his career working on a major problem of the day, called engine knock where fuel burnt in an uncontrolled explosion.
Following Full Name- Partial Name strategy, we will know the correct sequence should be b) a).
Practice
a) There had already been some legislation to prevent such abuses – such as various Factory Act to prevent the exploitation of child workers.
b) These markets had become rapidly dominated by powerful enterprises who were able to act in their own interests, against the interests of both workers and consumers.
c) Mill was able to see an expanded role for the State in such legislation to protect us against powerful interests.
d) Markets may be good at encouraging innovation and following trends, but they were no good at ensuring social equality.
e) He was able to argue that the State was the only organ that was genuinely capable of responding to social needs and social interests, unlike markets.
Explanation
First, you need to find the independent/starting sentence, which is the sentence that doesn’t contain any discourse markers and proper nouns.
With that being said, let’s look at which sentence(s) can or can’t be considered as independent /starting sentence.
a) contains “prevent such abuses”, b) contains “These markets”, c) contains “such legislation” e) contains proper noun “he was able to”. Hence we can rule out all of aforementioned sentences and starting sentence is d)
we can see in a), it mentions “there had been some legislation to prevent such abuses”, from which we can extrapolate the sentence before a) must have mentioned some type of abuses. After reading through all sentences, it is clear that b) is the only sentence that covers some sort of abuses “enterprises are against the interests of both workers and consumers.” Hence it should be b) a)
so d) b) a)
Finally, we have c) and e) left, as mentioned above, the sentence with full name should come before those with partial name and “he” or “she”, hence we can conclude that e) should come after c) even without reading the content thoroughly (although we don’t recommend test takers to skip any sentence for Paragraph Reorders).
Hence the answer is d) b) a) c) e)
Latest PTE Re-order paragraphs repeated questions
Below is a list of real exam questions for PTE Re-order paragraphs. For full content and answer, please subscribe to our PTE Exam Question bank
a) For example, if an airplane were to travel westward with the sun, 24 hr would elapse as it circled the globe, but it would still be the same day for those in the airplane while it would be one day later for those on the ground below them.
b) International date line, imaginary line on the earth’s surface, generally following the 180° meridian of longitude, where, by international agreement, travellers change dates.
c) The apparent paradox is resolved by requiring that the traveller crossing the date line change his date, thus bringing the travellers into agreement when they meet.
d) The same problem would arise if two travellers journeyed in opposite directions to a point on the opposite side of the earth, 180° of longitude distant.
e) The date line is necessary to avoid a confusion that would otherwise result.
a) “We’re seeing core consumers under a lot of pressure,” Duke said at an event in New York. “There’s no doubt that rising fuel prices are having an impact.”
b) Wal-Mart shoppers, many of whom live paycheck to paycheck, typically shop in bulk at the beginning of the month when their paychecks come in.
c) Lately, they’re “running out of money” at a faster clip, he said.
d) Wal-Mart’s core shoppers are running out of money much faster than a year ago due to rising gasoline prices, and the retail giant is worried, CEO Mike Duke said Wednesday.
Australian immigration policy
a) We took even more than our share of refugees on a population-weighted basic.
b) Australia used to have a generous immigration policy for refugees fleeing violence and conflict.
c) At the same time, a raft of changes was introduced to alter Australia’s migration law and policy.
d) The rate of refugee arrivals has indeed slowed; but, as some argue, at the expense of our human rights reputation.
e) With the election of a new administration, all refugees were subject to detention while waiting for a decision on their application.
a) Particularly moving pieces highlight social inequality and starvation in Britain, while others explore his ground-breaking views on the slave and opium trades – Marx believed Western powers relied on these and would stop at nothing to protect their interests.
b) Karl Marx is arguably the most famous political philosopher of all time, but he was also one of the great foreign correspondents of the nineteenth century.
c) During his 11 years writing for the New York Tribune (their collaboration began in 1852), Marx tackled an abundance of topics, from issues of class and the state to world affairs.
d) Above all, Marx’s fresh perspective on nineteenth-century events encouraged his readers to think, and his writing is surprisingly relevant today.
a) He suggests the country’s computer services industry can simply outsource research to foreign universities if the capability is not available locally.
b) Innovation in India is as much due to entrepreneurialism as it is to IT skills, says Arun Maria, chairman of Boston Consulting Group in India.
c) Indian businessmen have used IT to create new business models that enable them to provide services in a more cost-effective way. This is not something that necessarily requires expensive technical research.
d) “This way, I will have access to the best scientists in the world without having to produce them myself,” says Mr Maria.
Time Management for employees
a) Because of great demand, more and more employees are putting themselves into limit.
b) They go to work very early, from 7:00 am to 8:00 am.
c) And they went home very late, some even overwork.
d) Many managers find the employee’s performance column is decreasing.
e) They (managers) should avoid this phenomenon, because this is not good for the company.
Answer: above is the correct order
a) So companies investing well grow, enriching themselves and shareholders alike, and ensure competitiveness; companies investing poorly shrink, resulting, perhaps, in the replacement of management.
b) The top executives of the large, mature, publicly held companies hold the conventional view when they stop to think of the equity owners’ welfare.
c) They assume that the stock market automatically penalizes any corporation that invests its resources poorly.
d) In short, stock market performance and the company’s financial performance are inexorably linked.
e) They assume that they’re using their shareholders’ resources efficiently if the company’s performance-especially ROE and earnings per share- is good and if the shareholders don’t rebel.
a) People generally believe that using a search engine is the equivalent of talking to a priest or a rabbi, “says Larry Ponemon, head of the Ponemon Institute, a privacy think-tank. “The public in general doesn’t seem to fully understand how their privacy may be at risk.
b) However, that may be changing.
c) This presents a challenge to internet search companies, which have built a multi-billiondollar industry out of targeted advertising based on the information users reveal about themselves online.
d) Although it says the system is designed to filter out any scandalous or potentially compromising queries, the fact that even a fraction of searches can be seen by visitors to the world’s biggest search company is likely to come as a shock to internet users who think of web browsing as a private affair.
e) Over the past year, a series of privacy gaffes and government attempts to gain access to internet users’ online histories have, along with consolidation among online search and advertising groups, thrust the issue of the issues of internet privacy into the spotlight.
f) In the lobby of an internet search engine company’s headquarters in California, computer screens display lists of the words being entered into the company’s search engine.
a) Others, however, believe that the fossil evidence suggests that, at various stages in the history of life, evolution progressed rapidly, in spurts, and that major changes occurred at these points.
b) An evolving group may have reached a stage at which it had an advantage over other groups and was able to exploit new niches in nature. Climate change may also have produced a “spurt”, as might the extinction of other groups or species, leaving many niches vacant.
c) Today, many years later, many believe that evolution has progressed at the same steady rate and that the absence of transitional forms can be explained by Darwin’s argument that there are huge gaps in the fossil record and that transition usually occurred in one restricted locality.
d) Paleontologists still argue about the origins of major groups, though new fossil finds since Darwin’s time have cleared up many of the disparities in the fossil record. Even during Darwin’s lifetime, some transitional forms were found.
Educational Media Service
a) The Filming Coordinator draws on 20 years experience of filming around these locations, and has knowledge of the needs of crews and the requirements of the owners of locations.
b) Educational Media Services runs a Filming Coordinating service which acts as a starting point for film companies wishing to use the University as a location, and provides advice and support for those parts of the University which receive requests to act as location for commercial filming.
c) As part of the service, based on knowledge of the University year, he will also advise on the likely availability of rooms.
d) Oxford University has a vast collection of buildings and rooms dating from the 11th century to the present day, and designed by architects such as Wren and Cockerell, Arne Jacobsen and Norman Foster.
a) They would walk a while and then stop and look around to see where she was.
b) Depending on how she was doing, they would either wait or go on.
c) Sometimes the matriarch even fed Babyl.
d) Elephant expert Iain Douglas-Hamilton told me that this female elephant, Babyl, had been crippled for years, but the other members of the herd never left her behind.
e) While watching elephants in the Samburu National Reserve in northern Kenya, I noticed one that walked very slowly.
Green technology developers
a) Early rails were used on horse drawn wagonways, originally with wooden rails, but from the 1760s using strap-iron rails, which consisted of thin strips of cast iron fixed onto wooden rails.
b) These were superseded by cast iron rails that were flanged (i.e. ‘L’ shaped) and with the wagon wheels flat.
c) An early proponent of this design was Benjamin Outram. His partner William Jessop preferred the use of “edge rails” in 1789 where the wheels were flanged and, over time, it was realised that this combination worked better.
d) The first steel rails were made in 1857 by Robert Forester Mushet, who laid them at Derby station in England. Steel is a much stronger material, which steadily replaced iron for use on railway rail and allowed much longer lengths of rails to be rolled.
e) However, the long-term expense involved in frequent maintenance outweighed any savings.
f) These rails were too fragile to carry heavy loads, but because the initial construction cost was less, this method was sometimes used to quickly build an inexpensive rail line.