How PTE Academic scoring works

Integrated skills: one answer, two scores

Pearson calls these integrated skills questions. When a task uses two skills, your score on it counts towards both. So a good Write from Dictation answer lifts your listening and your writing scores. That’s why your skill scores can move together, and why the overall score isn’t a simple average.

Three ways answers are marked

Speaking and writing answers are also scored on traits. Content comes first. If your content scores 0, for example because it’s off-topic or memorised, the answer gets no points at all. Speaking is then scored for pronunciation and oral fluency. Writing can be scored for form (such as word count), grammar, vocabulary and spelling. An essay under 120 words gets nothing.

• Right or wrong: 1 point or 0. For example, Multiple Choice, Single Answer and Highlight Correct Summary.
• Partial credit: a point for each correct part. For example, each gap in Fill in the Blanks, or each correct neighbouring pair in Reorder Paragraph.
• Points off for wrong choices: in Multiple Choice, Multiple Answers and Highlight Incorrect Words you gain 1 for each correct choice and lose 1 for each wrong one. The score for that question can’t go below 0, but guessing can cancel out right answers.

AI and human scoring

All questions are scored by AI. For Describe Image, Retell Lecture, Respond to a Situation, Summarize Group Discussion, Summarize Written Text, Write Essay and Summarize Spoken Text, a human expert also reviews the content before the score is final. Pronunciation and oral fluency are scored by AI only.

PTE and IELTS scores compared

Pearson publishes this comparison of overall scores, updated with research released in July 2025. It’s an estimate, and Pearson warns that predicting one test from another always involves some error. Visa authorities and universities set their own PTE scores, so use theirs.

What scores are typically needed

Pearson says universities typically ask for 36 to 50 for foundation courses, 51 to 60 for undergraduate degrees and 57 to 67 for postgraduate degrees. Many set minimums for each skill too.

For Australian visas, the Department of Home Affairs sets the scores. As of October 2026, competent English from a test taken on or after 7 August 2025 means at least 47 in listening, 48 in reading, 51 in writing and 54 in speaking. Other visas and English levels have different scores, so check the page for yours.

Your scores are valid for two years from your test date, and you can send them to as many organisations as you like for free.