PTE Core Describe Image can present information that resembles material encountered in daily or workplace life: a service chart, a map, a process, a timetable, or a photograph. The vocabulary job is to turn visible relationships into an organized spoken description. It is not to recite every label or invent a story behind the picture.
Pearson currently gives 25 seconds to study the image and 40 seconds to speak. Use the preparation time to find three things: the image type, its main message, and two supporting features. Then choose words whose strength matches what is actually visible.
Explore the broader PTE Core Vocabulary Practice hub and Exam English hub after practising the method here.
Start with information structure
A useful response path is:
identify → overview → compare → support → conclude
For a bar chart showing commute methods, that could become:
“The bar chart compares how employees at four branches travel to work. Overall, public transport is most common at the central branches, while driving dominates at the two outer locations. North Office has the highest bus-and-train share, at 62%, whereas only 18% of West Office staff use those modes.”
The response identifies the display, announces the main contrast, and selects values that prove it. Listing all eight bars would use time without creating structure.
Choose comparison words from the relationship
Use higher/lower than for a direct comparison, the highest/lowest for an extreme, and similar to when values are genuinely close. Respectively maps two values to two previously named categories:
“Morning and evening attendance reached 240 and 180, respectively.”
Do not use it when the mapping could be unclear. For three branches with values 40, 42, and 79, calling all results similar hides the major gap. A precise version is:
“East and South are comparable at about 40, but North is nearly twice as high.”
Approximately, roughly, just over, just under, and nearly are useful when labels or visual resolution do not support an exact number. Do not turn a clearly printed 47 into “about 50” if exactness is easy.
Describe change without drama
Use neutral verbs—rise, fall, increase, decrease—unless the image supports a stronger shape.
- climb steadily: repeated upward movement at a fairly even rate;
- drop sharply: a large fall over a short interval;
- fluctuate: more than one change of direction;
- level off: earlier movement gives way to relative stability;
- recover: a value rises after an earlier fall;
- peak at: a highest point is reached;
- remain stable: little meaningful movement occurs.
Imagine monthly calls: 420, 430, 425, 690, 440, 435. The value spikes in April because the peak is brief and followed by a return. It does not climb steadily. If values are 420, 480, 535, 600, the steady climb is supported.
Use by for the amount of change and to for the endpoint: “rose by 20 to 75.” Use from...to... for both endpoints. This distinction prevents a common numerical error.
Distinguish rank, share, and count
A chart may show 35 people, 35 percent, or the category ranked 35th. Name the unit.
- accounts for 35% describes a share;
- totals 35 appointments describes a count;
- ranks second describes position;
- a 12-percentage-point gap compares percentages, not a 12% relative increase.
If one share moves from 40% to 50%, the increase is 10 percentage points. Calling it a “10% increase” describes something different. When calculation is unnecessary, simply give the endpoints.
Maps need location and distribution language
For a map, establish orientation and pattern:
- north of, adjacent to, along, between, in the center, on the outskirts;
- clustered, concentrated, dispersed, connected, separated;
- extends from...to..., borders, surrounds, crosses.
Suppose a town map shows clinics mainly beside transit lines, with one facility in the northwest. Say:
“Most clinics are concentrated along the two transit corridors, while the northwest district has only one facility.”
Do not add “because land is cheaper there” unless the image supplies that explanation. A map shows distribution; it may not show cause.
Understanding is only the first step.
Lyra Practice helps you retrieve and use high-value workplace expressions in realistic situations until they feel natural.
Start a practice session →Processes require stage and change vocabulary
For a recycling diagram, identify the start, transformation, and endpoint:
“First, residents place glass in collection bins. The material is then sorted by color, crushed, and heated before being molded into new containers. Finally, the containers return to retailers.”
Then, after, once, before, during, finally establish order. Passive forms are helpful when the process matters more than the actor. Do not force trend verbs onto a process: a bottle is sorted, not “increased.”
If the diagram branches, name the condition: “After inspection, reusable containers return directly to suppliers, whereas damaged ones are crushed.” Whereas marks parallel alternatives; therefore would wrongly imply that one branch causes the other.
Photographs need visible, not imagined, language
Organize a photograph by foreground, middle ground, background, or by people, action, and setting:
“The image shows a community workshop. In the foreground, two people are assembling shelves at a long table. Several labeled boxes are stacked behind them, and a noticeboard is visible on the right.”
Use appears to or seems to when the action is uncertain: “One participant appears to be checking a parts list.” Avoid biography and motive: the picture does not establish that the person is a new employee or feels frustrated.
Worked image: a branch-service table
Imagine a table:
| Branch | Walk-in wait | Phone wait | Resolved first contact |
|---|---|---|---|
| Central | 18 min | 7 min | 82% |
| Lakeside | 9 min | 12 min | 79% |
| Airport | 21 min | 6 min | 91% |
Response:
“The table compares waiting times and first-contact resolution at three service branches. Overall, Airport has the longest walk-in wait, at 21 minutes, but it also records the shortest phone wait and the highest resolution rate, at 91%. Lakeside offers the shortest in-person wait, whereas Central's results are intermediate except for its relatively strong 82% resolution rate. The figures show that a short walk-in wait does not necessarily correspond to the highest first-contact resolution.”
The conclusion is a relationship visible in the table. It does not claim that waiting causes resolution performance.
Worked image: an everyday line graph
Imagine household electricity use from January to June: 410, 405, 390, 315, 300, 302 kilowatt-hours. A note marks insulation installed in March.
“The line graph shows monthly household electricity use during the first half of the year. Consumption remained close to 400 kilowatt-hours through March, then fell sharply to 315 in April and declined more gradually to 300 in May. It was virtually unchanged in June. The largest shift follows the insulation marker, although the chart alone does not establish that insulation caused the reduction.”
The response may mention sequence without converting sequence into proven causation. Follows is safer than was caused by.
Deterministic vocabulary practice
1. Values are 30, 48, 67, 83. Which description fits?
A. fluctuated B. climbed steadily C. recovered
Answer: B. Every interval rises at a similar scale. Fluctuation needs direction changes; recovery needs an earlier loss.
2. A category represents 47 of 100 responses. Which phrase is exact?
A. accounts for 47% B. ranks 47 C. rises by 47%
Answer: A. The number is a share, not a rank or change.
3. A photo shows a person holding a clipboard beside damaged packaging. Which statement stays within evidence?
A. “The angry manager is blaming a supplier.” B. “A person appears to be inspecting damaged boxes.” C. “The company will request compensation.”
Answer: B. The action is cautiously described; identity, emotion, and future action are not visible.
4. A line falls from 80 to 45, then rises to 60. Which word fits the final movement?
Answer: recovered or rebounded. Both encode an earlier fall. Do not say fully recovered, because 60 remains below 80.
A preparation grid for 25 seconds
Write only cues:
TYPE/TOPIC | OVERVIEW | FEATURE 1 | FEATURE 2 | BOUNDARY
For the service table:
table/branches | trade-off | Airport 21/6/91 | Lakeside walk 9 | no cause
For the photograph:
workshop | assembly activity | foreground 2 people | boxes/noticeboard | appears
This prevents both silence and exhaustive listing. It also reserves a boundary cue when the image invites speculation.
Common repairs
- Replace “everything increased” with category-specific comparisons.
- Replace “a massive rise” with an exact endpoint when scale is modest.
- Replace “the chart proves why” with “the chart shows that” unless cause is explicitly supplied.
- Replace a list of labels with an overview and two connected details.
- Replace “around 47” with “47” when the value is printed clearly.
- Replace memorized “It is a very beautiful and informative image” with identification of the actual display.
Final practice
Sketch a timetable with four bus departures, two delayed services, and one cancellation. Give yourself 25 seconds to plan and 40 seconds to describe it. Include the earliest departure, the largest delay, and the practical pattern, but do not invent the reason for cancellation. Then repeat with a simple floor plan and switch from time vocabulary to location vocabulary.
To practise accurate choices in varied contexts, try Lyra Practice.
Final selection drill: describe only what the image proves
Suppose a chart shows bicycle use at 31% in District A, 29% in District B, and 12% in District C. Choose the strongest accurate overview:
- A. “Cycling is identical in A and B and unpopular everywhere else.”
- B. “A and B have broadly similar cycling rates, while C is considerably lower.”
- C. “Cycling collapsed in C because residents dislike exercise.”
Answer: B. Broadly similar respects the two-point difference without falsely calling the values identical. Considerably lower captures the visible gap. Option C invents both a change over time and a cause; neither is shown. This drill captures the central rule: make the relationship precise, but never make the claim stronger than the evidence.
Sources
- PTE Core test format — Pearson PTE
- PTE Core Speaking & Writing format — Pearson PTE
- PTE Core Score Guide — Pearson PTE
Related
- PTE Describe Image bar-chart vocabulary
- PTE Describe Image maps, processes, and photos
- Trajectory vs trend
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