PTE Write Essay: Sample Answer, 7 Criteria, and Revisions

In PTE Academic Write Essay, you have 20 minutes to write a 200 to 300 word argumentative essay. Memorized filler sentences rarely hold up when the prompt asks for a specific evaluation of a policy or trend. Instead, you need direct topic relevance, strict word-count control, logical paragraph progression, and clean grammar and spelling. This guide walks through a complete example.

The question, sample essay, and commentary below are original, AI-assisted teaching examples prepared for Morexam. They are not past Pearson PTE test items, learner submissions, or official scored responses. No official or independently verified score is claimed.

Practice question: congestion charges in cities

Many large cities charge drivers a daily fee to enter the city center during busy hours. Do you think the positive effects of this policy outweigh the negative effects? Support your point of view with reasons and examples from your own experience or observations.

For Write Essay, PTE Academic allows 20 minutes and requires a response between 200 and 300 words. Read the official PTE Academic Score Guide for the seven scoring traits. The sample below illustrates one way to answer this practice question; its structure is an option, not a required template.

Plan the essay before writing

This prompt asks whether the positive effects outweigh the negative effects. Take a clear position in the introduction, develop the main benefits, acknowledge and address a key drawback, and close within the 200–300 word window.

• Introduction: introduce urban congestion fees and state clearly that the benefits outweigh the drawbacks when public transit is available.
• Body paragraph 1 (primary benefits): explain how peak-hour charges reduce traffic volume, shorten bus travel times, and lower local air pollution.
• Body paragraph 2 (drawback and condition): acknowledge the financial burden on shift workers and small businesses, then explain how targeted exemptions and transit investment resolve this concern.
• Conclusion: restate the overall judgment and summarize the key condition.

Keep an eye on your word counter as you write so you do not have to cut or pad whole sentences in the final minute.

Sample answer

Many metropolitan authorities now charge motorists a fee to enter central districts during peak hours. Although this policy increases costs for some commuters, I believe its positive effects outweigh the drawbacks, provided that cities invest the revenue in reliable public transport.

The primary benefit of a congestion charge is that it discourages unnecessary solo car trips during rush hour. When drivers face a direct daily fee, many switch to trains, buses, or carpooling. Fewer private vehicles on central roads reduce bottlenecks, which allows public buses and emergency vehicles to move more predictably. For example, after central pricing zones were introduced in major European capitals, average bus speeds in those corridors improved and nitrogen dioxide levels fell noticeably. Cleaner air and more reliable travel times benefit all residents, not only drivers.

Admittedly, a flat daily fee can place an unfair burden on low-income workers and small delivery businesses that have no alternative to driving at fixed hours. If a nurse working early shifts or a local technician carrying heavy tools must pay the charge every day, the policy acts as a regressive tax. However, city governments can mitigate this drawback by offering exemptions for essential service vehicles and discounts for residents within the zone. When authorities dedicate the collected fees to expanding metro lines and adding bus routes, commuters gain a practical, affordable alternative.

In conclusion, peak-hour congestion charges bring substantial environmental and mobility benefits that outweigh their financial drawbacks. As long as municipalities protect essential workers and reinvest the revenue into public transit, pricing central roads is an effective way to manage urban traffic.

How to evaluate this essay across the seven PTE criteria

In Morexam, PTE Write Essay reports show seven raw criterion scores—Content (0–6), Form (0–2), Development, Structure and Coherence (0–6), Grammar (0–2), General Linguistic Range (0–6), Vocabulary Range (0–2), and Spelling (0–2)—for a raw total out of 26. Raw scores are practice diagnostics, not a prediction of an overall 10–90 PTE score. The observations below explain evidence in this sample; they are not a scored Morexam report.

Content (0–6) and Form (0–2)

The essay addresses all parts of the prompt: it evaluates peak-hour city-center fees, weighs positive effects against negative effects, and supports its position with concrete examples. At 269 words, written in standard prose paragraphs without bullet points or all-caps text, it sits comfortably inside the 200–300 word optimal range for full Form credit.

In PTE Academic, a zero in either Content or Form results in a zero for the entire essay, so checking topic relevance and word count is always your first step.

Development, Structure and Coherence (0–6)

Each paragraph has a clear role. The first body paragraph traces a cause-and-effect chain from the daily fee to fewer solo trips, faster buses, and cleaner air. The second body paragraph concedes the equity problem (“Admittedly, a flat daily fee can place an unfair burden...”) before explaining how exemptions and transit funding address it.

Grammar (0–2), General Linguistic Range (0–6), and Vocabulary Range (0–2)

The essay uses conditional and concessive clauses (“Although this policy increases costs...”, “provided that cities invest...”, “As long as municipalities protect...”) to express nuanced judgments rather than simple assertions. Topic-specific collocations such as “peak hours”, “unnecessary solo car trips”, “regressive tax”, and “essential service vehicles” convey precise meanings without awkward, memorized jargon.

Spelling (0–2)

PTE Academic requires consistent spelling within a single national convention (such as US or UK English). Mixing conventions or leaving typographical errors quickly reduces the Spelling score from 2 to 1 or 0. Always reserve two minutes at the end to proofread words such as “authorities”, “unnecessary”, “noticeably”, and “municipalities”.

Sentence revisions: before, after, and why

These separate teaching examples show common issues in PTE Write Essay drafts. The “before” sentences are not quotations from the sample essay above.

1. Replace memorized template filler with a specific claim

Before: Nowadays, congestion charge is a heated debate with many pros and cons in modern society.

After: Charging drivers to enter central districts during rush hour reduces traffic delays, although it raises costs for some commuters.

Why: Generic template openings state no position and add little content value. The revised sentence immediately names the policy, a concrete benefit, and the main trade-off.

2. Fix a sentence fragment and subject-verb agreement

Before: Because there is less cars on the road. Public buses can arrives on time.

After: Because there are fewer cars on the road, public buses can arrive on time.

Why: A subordinate clause starting with “Because” cannot stand alone as a sentence. The revision joins the clauses with a comma, uses “are fewer” for the countable noun “cars”, and uses the base verb “arrive” after the modal “can”.

3. Eliminate wordy repetition to stay within 200–300 words

Before: In my personal opinion, I completely agree and believe that the government should use the money and funds to build more buses and trains.

After: City governments should use the fee revenue to expand bus and rail services.

Why: Removing redundant pairs (“personal opinion”, “agree and believe”, “money and funds”) cuts 11 unnecessary words and makes the recommendation sharper.

Write your own response

1. Set a 20-minute timer and write between 200 and 300 words on the question above without copying the sample.
2. Check that your introduction states whether the positive effects outweigh the negative effects.
3. Verify that your total word count is between 200 and 300 words before submitting.
4. Proofread carefully for spelling consistency and subject-verb agreement.

Open the PTE writing practice workspace, select Write Essay and Custom Topic, then enter the complete question above. The link opens the workspace; it does not insert the question or submit an evaluation. Sign in to save your draft. Creating and saving a draft does not use credits; a new evaluation requires one credit.

Before submitting, you can view the public IELTS Task 2 report example to see how Morexam highlights sentence edits and paragraph feedback. Read how to use Morexam for writing evaluation for the complete workflow, or return to the PTE essay checker overview.

Morexam scores are AI practice estimates, not official Pearson PTE Academic results. Use raw criterion feedback to guide your revisions rather than as a prediction of your test-day score.