The Pearson Test of English Academic is an English Language test designed to assess the readiness of speakers.
A good starting point is to understand your current English proficiency level, and the PTE score you need to achieve.
Our Scored Practice Tests will help you to understand the score you could achieve on the real test; in addition, it shows you individual scores for each of the communicative skills (listening, reading, speaking, and writing), so you can see where you might need to improve your skills to get the score you need.
If you’ve recently taken a different English test like IELTS or TOEFL, head over to our scoring guide to see an estimate of how these test scores compare to PTE Academic scores.
Take time to familiarize yourself with the structure of PTE Academic. Understanding its format and the types of questions you should expect is crucial to getting a better result.
Check out our guide to the test format or explore each part of the test:
Ask yourself the following questions as you familiarize yourself with the test:
All questions in PTE Academic are 100% machine scored, which means that every test is marked accurately, consistently, and fairly. Every test taker is given a score of between 10 and 90, to show their level of English skill.
Scores for some questions are based on whether they are correct, while others are based on correctness, formal aspects, and the quality of the response.
Questions that test 'communicative skills' (speaking, writing, reading, and listening) will test either individual or a combination of skills. For example, a question may test just reading, or it may test reading & speaking at the same time. Each question contributes to the score for that particular communicative skill. These are shown in more detail in your Score Report.
Your scores are compiled in your Score Report and accompanying Skills Profile, which will be shared with you after you complete your exam.
Your Score Report contains the following sections:
Along with your Score Report, you will receive a Skills Profile, which shows how you performed across eight language skill categories, such as 'Short Writing' 'Multiple-skills comprehension', and 'Open Response Speaking and Writing'. Each category has a progress bar to show how well you did.
Each category also offers personalized recommendations to help guide you on how to further improve your English language skills, and help you identify where to focus if you need to work on improving your score.
See the detailed Speaking & Writing guide for more information on the question types.To understand how speaking and writing question types are scored for communicative skills,
See the detailed Reading guide for more information on the question types.
To understand how reading question types are scored for communicative skills,
See the detailed Listening guide for more information on the question types.
To understand how listening question types are scored for communicative skills,
