The five-step guide to preparing for PTE Academic
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, what to prep for, and what to expect.
1. Know your target score
To understand your preparation needs for PTE Academic, 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. The Scored Practice Test Score Report also 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 guide to scoring to see an estimate of how your scores on these tests map to the PTE Academic scores.
2. Know the test format
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:
- Understand quantity How many parts are included in the test? How many questions?
- Understand instructions What task needs to be completed for each question type? How are responses recorded?
- Length and timing How long does each part of PTE Academic last? How much time is allowed for each question type?
- Layout How is each question presented on screen?
- Question types What tasks need to be completed? What skills are assessed? How are responses scored
3. Understand how the test is scored
All questions in PTE Academic are 100% machine-scored, which means that every single one of our tests is marked accurately, consistently, and fairly.
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.
- Formal aspects refer to the form of your response: for example, whether it is over or significantly under the word limit for a particular item type.
- The quality of your response is represented in the enabling skills. For example, if you are asked to verbally re-tell a lecture, your response will be scored on skills such as oral fluency and pronunciation.
As well as scoring your overall performance, we break down your scores for:
- Communicative skills – speaking, writing, reading, and listening
- Enabling skills – grammar, oral fluency, pronunciation, spelling, vocabulary, and written discourse
Questions testing communicative skills test either specific sub-skills or a combination of them, such as reading & speaking; or speaking & listening. Each question contributes to the score for that particular communicative skill.
Questions that contribute to enabling skills give you an indicator of your strength on these skills but aren’t used for admissions purposes.
Pearson’s Official Guide to PTE Academic offers in-depth expert guidance in support of your test and how to maximise 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 enabling skills.
4. Consider a PTE or English language course
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.
Practice, practice, practice!
Make the most of those spare minutes to practice your skills:
- Complete short, 5-10 minute practice activities each day to maintain and build your knowledge.
- Practice speaking English at your home, school or workplace.
- Join English-speaking groups. They offer the opportunity to practice both speaking and listening skills.
- Take every opportunity to write in English. For example, sending emails to friends or contacts, or keeping a journal.
- Read widely from sources like newspapers, magazines, academic journals, and books.
- Listen to English-speaking media, like television (use English subtitles if available) and radio broadcasts.
- Observe native speakers and listen to the language used in different contexts.
- Try our test tips guide for extra support
5. Tips for test day
Make the most of those spare minutes to practice your skills:
Before the test
- Make sure you have the correct documentation and ID to take with you to the test center.
- Allow yourself plenty of time to reach the test center.
During the test
- Read all test instructions carefully.
- Use correct punctuation for writing tasks: full stops, capital letters, commas, etc.
- Answer the question. If the question asks you to write or speak about sport, write or speak about ‘sport’ NOT ‘science’.
- Keep strictly within the word limit you are given for writing tasks.
- Respond quickly and keep speaking during speaking tasks. The microphone will close after three seconds of silence and will stop recording.
- Do not spend too much time on a single question.
- Spend any remaining time available to check your answers.
Practice on Portal
