Sample answers · Re-order Paragraphs
PTE Re-order Paragraphs · Reading section
PTE Re-order Paragraphs sample: Band 79 sequencing.
A worked Reorder item: 4 paragraphs on the engineering of the Sydney Opera House, shown as the reader sees them (shuffled) and as they belong (in order). Every paragraph's opener signals, anaphoric references and temporal markers called out. Adjacent-pair scoring math included.
Last verified 17 July 2026 · Written for PTE Academic post-August 2025 format · Verified against Pearson's July 2025 Score Guide.
The passage (as the reader sees it – shuffled)
146 words across 4 paragraphs · inside Pearson's ≤150 word limit for Reorder · shuffled positions [1] to [4] on the left column of the test screen.
The breakthrough came in 1961. Utzon's team realised each shell could be cut from the surface of a single sphere, allowing shared curvature, repeated formwork and standardised precast components. Construction resumed.
Jørn Utzon's 1957 competition sketch of white shells rising from Bennelong Point won on vision, not engineering. The jury saw a form no other entry had proposed, even though the shells had no mathematical description and no obvious way of being built.
By the time the building opened in 1973, Utzon had resigned, costs had grown fifteenfold, and the interiors had been redesigned by others. But the shells stood, and became the most photographed roofline of the twentieth century.
That gap between the drawing and a buildable form consumed the next fourteen years. Every attempt to engineer the freehand shells collapsed under their own weight or exceeded plausible construction budgets by an order of magnitude.
On the real exam these sit in the left column as draggable cards. You drag them one at a time into the right column in the order you think is correct.
The task instruction
The verbatim Pearson task instruction shown before every Reorder item.
Per-paragraph analysis
Why each paragraph goes where it goes.
The correct sequence is derivable from linguistic evidence – opener signals, anaphoric references, temporal markers, and pronoun-antecedent links. It does not depend on knowing the history of the Sydney Opera House. Read each paragraph for what it references, not just what it says.
Position 1: paragraph A (shown as [2] in the shuffled panel)
42 words
Jørn Utzon's 1957 competition sketch of white shells rising from Bennelong Point won on vision, not engineering. The jury saw a form no other entry had proposed, even though the shells had no mathematical description and no obvious way of being built.
Introduces the topic with no back-references
Names "Jørn Utzon" and "1957 competition sketch" in full – no pronouns, no "this", no "that gap", no anaphoric ties. Establishes the tension the rest of the passage resolves: a winning vision that had no obvious way of being built. Openers introduce actors and problems; this paragraph does both.
Position 2: paragraph B (shown as [4] in the shuffled panel)
36 words
That gap between the drawing and a buildable form consumed the next fourteen years. Every attempt to engineer the freehand shells collapsed under their own weight or exceeded plausible construction budgets by an order of magnitude.
"That gap" ties directly back to A's vision-vs-engineering tension
"That gap between the drawing and a buildable form" is a textbook anaphoric reference – "that" points to something already introduced. Only A introduces both a drawing (Utzon's sketch) and a buildable-form problem (no mathematical description, no way of being built). "The next fourteen years" also anchors a timeline that must have a starting point already established.
Position 3: paragraph C (shown as [1] in the shuffled panel)
31 words
The breakthrough came in 1961. Utzon's team realised each shell could be cut from the surface of a single sphere, allowing shared curvature, repeated formwork and standardised precast components. Construction resumed.
Opens with a resolution word ("breakthrough") to a problem B has just posed
"The breakthrough" is definite article + resolution-noun – it presupposes an unresolved problem in the immediately preceding paragraph. Only B poses one (the engineering failures). The date 1961 also sits inside "the next fourteen years" from B (1957 to 1971), fitting the timeline. "Construction resumed" implies construction had been paused, which only B has told us.
Position 4: paragraph D (shown as [3] in the shuffled panel)
37 words
By the time the building opened in 1973, Utzon had resigned, costs had grown fifteenfold, and the interiors had been redesigned by others. But the shells stood, and became the most photographed roofline of the twentieth century.
Final temporal marker + summary pivot – classic closing shape
"By the time the building opened in 1973" is a wrap-up temporal frame – it summarises what happened over the intervening years. "But the shells stood" is a pivot from negatives (resigned, costs grown, interiors redesigned) to a closing image – the most common ending device in academic English. No forward references. Nothing else in the passage could sit after it.
Band 79 answer
The correct order that earns full marks.
Adjacent pairs matched: (A,B), (B,C), (C,D) = 3/3. Raw score: +3. 3/3 – full marks.
The dragged sequence in the right panel: paragraph [2] (A – Utzon's sketch), then [4] (B – the gap), then [1] (C – the breakthrough), then [3] (D – the opening).
Scoring math (adjacent pairs, not overall order)
Reorder scores partial credit from correctly adjacent pairs.
| Candidate order | Pairs in candidate | Matched vs correct | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| Band 79 pick (A-B-C-D, correct order) | (A,B), (B,C), (C,D) | 3 pairs match | 3/3 – full marks |
| A-B-D-C (missed the resolution word in C) | (A,B), (B,D), (D,C) | only (A,B) matches | 1/3 |
| B-A-C-D (put transition-first paragraph on top) | (B,A), (A,C), (C,D) | only (C,D) matches | 1/3 |
| A-C-B-D (swapped the middle two) | (A,C), (C,B), (B,D) | 0 pairs match | 0/3 |
| D-C-B-A (perfectly reversed) | (D,C), (C,B), (B,A) | 0 pairs match – reversed pairs don't count | 0/3 |
The rule: +1 per adjacent pair matched in the correct direction, 0 per pair missed. Reversed pairs (e.g., B-A when correct is A-B) do NOT count. Minimum score is 0. No negative marking.
The Band 79 sequencing strategy
6 steps to derive the correct order from linguistic evidence.
Find the opener first, before touching anything
Openers do two things: introduce named actors in full (not by pronoun) AND set up the topic without depending on any earlier context. Look for the paragraph that could reasonably start an article. Everything else has a tell that it comes later.
Look for anaphoric references ("this", "that", "such", "the")
"That gap", "the breakthrough", "these methods", "such a design" all point backward to something the reader must already know. The paragraph containing the reference goes AFTER the paragraph it refers to. This alone locks in 2 of 3 pairs in most Reorder items.
Look for temporal markers
Dates and time phrases usually appear in order: "in 1957" then "the next fourteen years" then "in 1961" then "by 1973". Underline every date and time phrase, sort them chronologically, and you often have the whole sequence.
Look for pronoun-antecedent pairs
"Utzon's team" (proper noun, C) presupposes that Utzon has been named in full earlier (A introduces him). If a pronoun appears without an antecedent in the same paragraph, its antecedent must be in an earlier one.
Identify the closer last, and only after fixing the opener
Closers wrap: they summarise, they pivot to a memorable image, they reference the whole timeline. "By the time..." clauses, evaluative statements ("the most photographed"), and "But..." pivots are all closer signals. Confirm by checking the paragraph has no forward references.
Budget 90 seconds to 2 minutes per Reorder item
Reading is 22 to 30 minutes for roughly 15 to 20 items across five task types. Reorder is high-value (partial credit from adjacent pairs means even imperfect orders score) but slow. Don't over-invest – if the middle two are ambiguous after 2 minutes, guess and move on.
5 common Reorder Paragraphs mistakes
The failure modes that drag a Band 79 to a Band 60.
| Mistake | What it costs you |
|---|---|
| Choosing the opener based on topic sentence feel, not linguistic evidence | Every paragraph in a well-authored Reorder item is a valid topic sentence in isolation. The opener is the ONE paragraph with no back-references, not the paragraph with the "biggest" idea. |
| Ignoring anaphoric "that" and "the" as pure vocabulary | "That gap", "the breakthrough", "such attempts" are the strongest sequencing signals in the passage. Missing them means missing 2 of the 3 pair scores that separate 3/3 from 1/3. |
| Reversing the whole order because the topic looks like a countdown | Reversed pairs do NOT count in adjacent-pair scoring. D-C-B-A on a passage whose correct order is A-B-C-D scores 0/3, not 3/3. |
| Not using temporal markers (dates) | Every date is a free clue. If the passage has 1957, 1961, and 1973, those paragraphs go in that order. Missing this is the single most avoidable error in Reorder. |
| Spending 4+ minutes trying to nail the middle two paragraphs | Adjacent-pair scoring is partial – even if you swap the middle two, you can still score 1/3 to 2/3 if the opener and closer are locked. Guess after 2 minutes and preserve the section clock. |
FAQ
Re-order Paragraphs, answered.
How is PTE Re-order Paragraphs scored?
Partial credit based on adjacent pairs matched in the correct direction, no negative marking. For a 4-paragraph item there are 3 adjacent pairs; a perfect order scores 3/3. Reversed pairs (e.g., B before A when the correct order is A before B) do NOT count. Empty answers score 0, wrong orders never subtract.
What does "adjacent-pair scoring" actually mean?
If the correct order is A-B-C-D, the correct adjacent pairs are (A,B), (B,C) and (C,D). Your ordering earns +1 for every pair present in it, in that direction. So B-A-C-D contains (B,A), (A,C), and (C,D) – only the last matches, so you score 1/3. C-D-A-B contains (C,D), (D,A), and (A,B) – (C,D) and (A,B) both match, so you score 2/3.
How many Reorder Paragraphs items are on the PTE Academic test?
2 to 3 items per test per Pearson's July 2025 Score Guide. It sits in Part 2 (Reading) alongside both types of Fill in the Blanks, Multiple Choice Multiple Answers, and Multiple Choice Single Answer.
How many paragraphs are in one Reorder item?
Typically 4 or 5 paragraphs, totalling up to 150 words. The whole passage is short – the difficulty comes from the sequencing puzzle, not the length. Every paragraph is 25 to 45 words.
What signals separate the opener from the rest?
Openers introduce actors in full (proper noun, not pronoun), set up a topic or tension, and contain no anaphoric references ("this", "that", "the breakthrough") pointing back to something not yet introduced. Every other paragraph has at least one signal that ties it to a preceding paragraph.
Do reversed pairs count for adjacent-pair scoring?
No. Only pairs in the correct direction count. If the correct order is A-B and your ordering has B-A, that pair scores 0 – not 1. This is why "perfectly reversed" orderings score 0/3, not 3/3.
Should I always drag every paragraph into position?
Yes. Reorder has no negative marking, and the interface treats unmoved paragraphs as "in the original shuffled position", which is unlikely to be correct by chance. Every paragraph you actively place is a chance for +1 in adjacent-pair scoring.
Keep going with Re-order Paragraphs
One pattern, three depths.
You've just read the band 79 worked example. Here's the rest of the loop for this task.
Reusable framework
Re-order Paragraphs template
The reusable answer framework — structure, sentence starters, timing marks — that fits any Re-order Paragraphs prompt.
Read the template →Interactive drill
Practise Re-order Paragraphs
Free interactive drills — do the reps yourself with the model answer revealed after each attempt.
Start the drill →Further reading
Related tools.
- → Reorder Paragraphs template – the reusable 3-anchor method for finding opener, transitions and closer.
- → Reading MCSA sample – the sibling comprehension task with a single correct answer.
- → Reading section overview – all 5 reading task types.
- → Take a free scored mock – real Reorder items with AI scoring.