PTE Test Format

The PTE test structure is as follows:

Section Question Format Time
Introduction   1 – 2 minutes
PART 1: SPEAKING &WRITING
  • Personal Introduction
  • Read aloud
  • Repeat sentence
  • Describe image
  • Re-tell lecture
  • Answer short question
  • Summarise written text (one sentence)
  • Summarise written text (paragraph)
  • Essay (20mins)
 77 – 93 minutes
PART 2: READING
  • Multiple choice questions (x2)
  • Re-order paragraphs
  • Fill in the blanks (x2)
 32 – 41 minutes
BREAK A ten minute break is optional. 10 minutes
PART 3: LISTENING
  • Summarise spoken text
  • Multiple choice (x2)
  • Fill the blanks
  • Highlight the correct summary
  • Select missing word
  • Highlight incorrect words
  • Write from dictation
 45 – 57 minutes

Scoring Pattern

The PTE test is scored against the Global Scale of English, giving you an accurate snapshot of the performance of the test-taker on a scale of 10 - 90. Detailed score reports show the overall test-taker performance as well as their ability on sub-skills and enabling skills. Join a coaching centre and work hard to attain good PTE scores.

Item scoring

All items in PTE Academic are machine-scored. Scores for some item types are based on correctness alone, while others are based on correctness, formal aspects and the quality of the response.

Formal aspects refer to the form of the response: for example, whether it is over or under the word limit for a particular item type. The quality of the response is represented in the enabling skills. For example, in the item type Re-tell lecture, the response is scored on skills such as oral fluency and pronunciation.

Scores for item types assessing speaking and writing skills are generated by automated scoring systems. There are two types of scoring: Correct or Incorrect.

Some item types are scored as either correct or incorrect. If a response is correct, a score of 1 is given, but if it is incorrect, no score points are awarded.