-PTE-

PTE is one of the world’s leading providers of secure English language tests

Each year, tens of thousands of people trust PTE to help them prove their English proficiency for study, work, or migration – and to open doors to new careers, experiences, and possibilities.

Where can PTE can take you?

PTE Academic is accepted by 3,000+ institutions worldwide, including Oxford University, Harvard Business School, and Yale. It is also accepted by the Australian, UK, and New Zealand governments for visa purposes.

Achieve your score goal with expert support from our four self-study, digital preparation resources. Then, choose whether to buy as a bundle or individually.

How PTE Academic works

PTE Academic is taken on a computer in a secure and friendly test center environment. It tests your skills in speaking and writing, reading, and listening.

• Taken in a test center

• Computer-based with headset

• Two hours long

• Assesses real-life English

• 20 question types

• Single test session

The three parts of the test

There are 20 different question types in the test, ranging from multiple choice through to essay writing. Make sure you review the different question formats ahead of your test, as each part has different types of questions.

Part 1: Speaking & Writing

This part of the test is 54–67 minutes long and it contains seven different question types. It is the longest section of the test. You will be tested on your speaking and writing skills, using English you might hear in an academic environment.

1. Personal Introduction 

2. Read Aloud 

3. Repeat Sentence 

4. Describe Image 

5. Re-tell Lecture 

6. Answer Short Question. 

7. Summarize Written Text 8. Essay

You will have 25 seconds to read the prompt and prepare your response, and then 30 seconds to record your response. You are only able to record your answer once.

Part 2: Reading

This part of the test is 29–30 minutes long and it contains five different question types. Because PTE Academic is an integrated skills test, one item type ('Reading and Writing: Fill in the blanks') also assesses writing skills.

1. Reading & Writing: Fill in the Blanks

2. Multiple Choice, Multiple Answer

3. Re-order Paragraphs

4. Fill in the Blanks

5. Multiple Choice, Single Answer

Task : - Text appears on-screen with several gaps. Drag words from a box below to fill the gaps.

Prompt Length :- Text up to 300 words

Skills Assessed :- Reading and writing

Time to Answer :- Not applicable

Part 3: Listening

This part of the test is 30–43 minutes long and it contains eight different question types.

The questions are based on audio or video clips, which begin to play automatically. You hear each audio or video clip once. You are allowed to take notes.

1. Summarize Spoken Text

2. Multiple Choice, Multiple Answers

3. Fill in the Blanks

4. Highlight Correct Summary

5. Multiple Choice, Single Answer

6. Select Missing Word

7. Highlight Incorrect Words

8. Write from Dictation

Task. :- After listening to a recording, write a 50–70 word summary.

Prompt Length :- 60–90 seconds

Skills Assessed :- Listening and writing

Time to Answer :- Not applicable

Listening and Reading

Your answer booklets for Listening Part A and for Reading Part A are marked by trained OET Assessors. These answer booklets are assigned to OET Assessors at random to avoid any conflict of interest. Your answer booklets for Reading and Listening Parts B and C are computer scanned and automatically scored.

Listening and Reading Assessors use a detailed marking guide which sets out which answers receive marks and how the marks are counted. Assessors use this guide to decide for each question whether you have provided enough correct information to be given the mark or marks available. Assessors are monitored for accuracy and consistency, and your Part A answers are marked by at least two different assessors.

Writing and Speaking

Your performances on the Writing and Speaking sub-tests are each rated by at least two trained Assessors. Audio files and scripts are assigned to Assessors at random to avoid any conflict of interest. Your test-day Interlocutor is not involved in the assessment process.

Writing and Speaking Assessors are monitored for accuracy and consistency, and the scores they award are adjusted to take into account any leniency or severity. If two Assessors award different scores to your performance, your script and/or audio file will be referred to at least one other senior Assessor not previously involved in your assessment.

For the Writing sub-test, each Assessor scores your performance according to six criteria: Purpose, Content, Conciseness & Clarity, Genre & Style, Organisation & Layout, and Language. Each criterion is assigned a band score from 0 to 7, except Purpose, which has a band score of 0 to 3. A score of 350 (previously grade B) for Writing requires a high level of performance on all six criteria.

For the Speaking sub-test, each Assessor scores your performance according to nine criteria. The four linguistically-oriented criteria are Intelligibility, Fluency, Appropriateness of Language, and Resources of Grammar and Expression. They are assessed on a scale from 0 to 6. Clinical communication criteria include Indicators of Relationship Building, Indicators of Understanding & Incorporating the Patient’s Perspective, Indicators of Providing Structure, Indicators for Information Gathering and Indicators for Information Giving. They are assessed on a scale from 0 to 3. A high level of performance on all nine criteria is required in order to achieve a score of 350 (previously grade B) on the speaking test.