PTE Reading: Multiple Choice and Re-order Paragraphs

The Reading part of PTE Academic has five task types in total. This lesson covers two of them: Multiple Choice, and Re-order Paragraphs. Reading's remaining Fill in the Blanks task types are covered in the next lesson.

Multiple Choice questions in Reading come in two variants, and the instructions always state which one you're facing: single answer questions ask you to choose the one correct option, while multiple answer questions ask you to select every option that applies, with no indication given of how many correct options exist. Reading the instruction line carefully before answering matters, since applying single-answer habits (picking just one option) to a multiple-answer question loses marks even if the one option you picked was correct.

Re-order Paragraphs presents several short text boxes, shown out of their original order, that you must rearrange into a logical sequence. The most reliable strategy is to first identify the paragraph most likely to be the opening: it typically makes a general statement and introduces a topic without referring back to something not yet mentioned (no "this," "these," or "as a result" pointing at prior content). From there, track connecting words and pronoun references -- "this," "however," "as a result," "these changes" -- that reveal which paragraph must logically follow another, working outward from the opening rather than guessing the ending first.

Below is an original passage, presented as three scrambled paragraphs. Practice identifying the correct logical order, then answer the comprehension questions.

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Passage (original, scrambled -- the rise of container shipping):

Paragraph A. As a result, port turnaround times fell sharply and shipping costs per ton dropped so significantly that some economists consider the shipping container one of the most influential inventions in the growth of global trade during the twentieth century.

Paragraph B. Before the 1950s, cargo was loaded onto ships piece by piece, a labor-intensive process known as break-bulk shipping that could keep a vessel in port for over a week while dockworkers manually handled thousands of individual items.

Paragraph C. This inefficiency changed dramatically with the introduction of standardized steel shipping containers, first used commercially in 1956, which allowed goods to be packed once and moved between ship, train, and truck without being unpacked at each stage.