

If you’re new to PTE or to English proficiency tests, the preparation journey can seem overwhelming.
Our five-step guide will help you plan how much to prepare, and what to prepare for.
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.
Want to learn more about scoring? Download our Score Guide for Test Takers.
In addition, Pearson’s Official Guide to PTE Academic offers in-depth expert guidance in support of your test and how to maximize your score (see practice section below).
The drop-down boxes below will help you to understand how the test question types are scored, both for communicative skills and the skills profile.
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, please refer to this table.
See the detailed Reading guide for more information on the question types.
To understand how reading question types are scored for communicative skills, please refer to this table.
See the detailed Listening guide for more information on the question types.
To understand how listening question types are scored for communicative skills, please refer to this table.
Now you know more about the score you need to achieve and how the test works, we recommend exploring our range of free and paid PTE Academic preparation materials. We offer our paid digital preparation resources in bundles to suit different learner needs, offering you both choice and savings on individual items.
The test tips & advice segment of our blog is a great resource for expert guidance on all aspects of test preparation, such as:
If you’re looking for more interactive preparation resources, you might want to consider our range of free online PTE courses. This page also has details on providers of hundreds of other course providers, who offer both online and in-person courses to boost your English skills or knowledge of PTE Academic.
Make the most of those spare minutes to practice your skills:
Make the most of those spare minutes to practice your skills:
Before the test
During the test
Get additional prep with our free online PTE courses, books, and official smartphone app, as well as resources for English language learning, career support, and higher education.
Summary The PTE-A Exam requires an aspirant to study professionally and systematically, instead of wasting time in random practice. Unfortunately, many aspirants expect the desired result with their quantitative practice. You must know that your PTE preparation starts in your mind even before you actually start preparing for the PTE Exam. You must ask yourselves: When you are taking your PTE Exam?, What is your targeted PTE Score? and What is your current level?. Knowing answer to these questions is important as studying for hours together every day alone cannot lead you to success in the PTE Exam. But practicing with a strategic mindset proves helpful.
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