PTE Reading collocations can make a big difference to your accuracy, especially in Fill in the Blanks questions. Instead of learning individual words, learning words that commonly appear together can help you predict the correct answer and understand sentences more quickly. In this guide, you will learn useful collocations for PTE Reading, how to recognise them in questions, and how to use them to improve your reading score.
Why Are Collocations Important in PTE Reading?
A collocation is a pair or group of words that native English speakers commonly use together. PTE Reading tasks often require you to identify the most natural word combination. A strong knowledge of collocations can help you:
- Improve Fill in the Blanks accuracy
- Read passages more efficiently
- Increase vocabulary naturally
- Understand academic texts better
- Avoid common grammar and vocabulary mistakes
Collocations List
Noun + Noun
- economic growth
- health care
- energy consumption
- government policy
- education system
- research findings
- climate change
Verb + Adverb
- increase significantly
- rise dramatically
- grow rapidly
- improve considerably
- decline gradually
- decrease substantially
- fluctuated slightly
Adverb + Adjective
- highly effective
- extremely important
- particularly useful
- significantly different
- closely related
- widely available
- deeply concerned
Adjective + Noun
- Academic achievement
- Critical thinking
- Environmental concerns
- Long-term effects
- Scientific evidence
- Significant impact
- Sustainable development
Verb + Adjective
- Become successful
- Feel confident
- Keep calm
- Remain active
- Stay healthy
- Grow stronger
- Look attractive
Adjective + Adjective + Noun
- Strong economic growth
- Significant scientific evidence
- Rapid technological advancement
- Sustainable economic development
- Global environmental concerns
- Long-term professional development
- Effective public policy
- High-quality education
Collocations Sentences
- The research findings indicate that regular exercise improves concentration.
- Housing prices rose dramatically during the past decade.
- The price of agricultural products fluctuated slightly throughout the year.
- Online learning can be a highly effective method of education.
- Education and employment opportunities are closely related.
- Universities should encourage students to develop critical thinking skills.
- Renewable energy is essential for achieving sustainable development.
- A balanced diet and regular exercise help people stay healthy.
- Candidates should keep calm when they encounter difficult questions.
- The country has experienced strong economic growth over the past few years.
- Rapid technological advancement has transformed the modern workplace.
⭐ PTE Tip
When learning these, memorize the whole chunk, not just the individual words:
- make a decision → not do a decision
- conduct research → not make research
- significant impact → not significant influence in every context
- strong economic growth → a natural academic combination
- closely related → very common in PTE academic texts
- sustainable development → extremely common academic vocabulary
PTE Reading Collocations Practice Questions
1. The government plans to ______ new policies to reduce pollution.
a) make
b) introduce
c) create
d) build
2. Researchers have ______ significant progress in cancer treatment.
a) reached
b) achieved
c) done
d) taken
3. Students should ______ attention to the teacher’s instructions.
a) make
b) give
c) pay
d) keep
4. The company is facing ______ competition in the global market.
a) strong
b) powerful
c) hard
d) big
5. Scientists ______ research to discover new medicines.
a) conduct
b) make
c) create
d) perform
6. Social media has a ______ impact on young people.
a) major
b) tall
c) large
d) wide
7. The team finally ______ a solution to the problem.
a) arrived
b) reached
c) came
d) achieved
8. Employees are encouraged to ______ responsibility for their work.
a) do
b) make
c) take
d) keep
9. The report provides ______ evidence to support the theory.
a) powerful
b) strong
c) high
d) deep
10. It is important to ______ a healthy lifestyle.
a) lead
b) drive
c) follow
d) keep
Answer Key
- b) introduce
- b) achieved
- c) pay
- a) strong
- a) conduct
- a) major
- b) reached
- c) take
- b) strong
- a) lead
FAQ: PTE Collocations
1. Why are collocations important for PTE?
Collocations are important because PTE tests your ability to understand context and natural word combinations. Knowing common collocations can help you identify the correct answer more quickly, particularly in Reading Fill in the Blanks.
2. How can collocations help in PTE Fill in the Blanks?
Look at the words before and after the blank. Sometimes the surrounding words form a familiar collocation.
Example:
The country has experienced ______ economic growth.
✅ The natural combination is: strong economic growth.
3. Should I memorize individual words or complete collocations?
You should memorize complete word combinations.
Instead of learning:
significant = important
learn:
significant impact
significant increase
significant difference
significant change
4. Are collocations useful for PTE Writing?
Yes. Collocations can make your writing more natural, precise, and academic.
For example:
Technology has a significant impact on education.
Governments should promote sustainable development.
Universities should develop students’ critical thinking skills.
5. How many collocations should I learn for PTE?
There is no fixed number, but it is better to learn high-frequency academic collocations rather than memorize hundreds of random combinations.
A good starting target is 100–200 common PTE collocations, followed by regular practice in Fill in the Blanks.
6. Can collocations improve my PTE score?
Yes, learning collocations can support your performance, especially in Reading Fill in the Blanks and vocabulary-based tasks. However, collocations alone cannot guarantee a high score. You should combine them with grammar, vocabulary, reading strategies, and regular practice.
7. Where can I learn more about PTE collocations?
You can learn more about academic collocations through Pearson PTE’s Academic Collocation List. It provides useful examples of words that commonly occur together and can help you build vocabulary for PTE Reading and Fill in the Blanks.