PTE Exam 2023 - Test Dates, Full Form, Registration, Eligibility, Syllabus, Preparation

PTE Academic

The skill and capability to communicate efficiently and effectively is the key to success in an academic setting for a university or college student in an environment where English is the main language of communication. The main aim of the Pearson Test of English Academic (PTE Academic) is to accurately measure the Listening, Reading, Writing, and Speaking skills of a student who wishes to pursue education in institutions where English is the language of instruction.

The PTE test is for those students whose native language is not English and they are required to demonstrate their English language skills and abilities to institutions in English-speaking nations. The test accurately determines and measures a student’s English language proficiency so that they can be successful in courses and academic subject matters in institutions where the course of instruction is English. Educational institutions use the PTE Academic’s results to decide about an applicant’s ability to communicate in the English language at the time of admission.

Pearson’s, a leading educational company in the world, is responsible for developing the PTE Academic test used for assessing a test taker’s ability to listen, speak, read, and write in English. The test development team which develops the PTE Academic Test is based in several countries like the United Kingdom, the United States, and Australia.

The PTE Academic test is made as per guidelines and by the Council of Europe’s Common European Frame of Reference (CEF or CEFR; Council of Europe, 2001) where CEF or CEFR is the well-accepted standard of performance in the testing of language. The PTE Academic test items are internationally accepted and ensure that the test measures the student's ability to communicate in academic English at the international level.

The PTE Academic test measures all four English language skills of the candidate such as Listening, Speaking, Writing & Reading and it lasts for three hours. The test also includes an untimed introduction and an optional break of up to 10 minutes.

Other than that, the test consists of three main parts. A general introduction and specific instructions about what is expected in each part of the test is given. Each part further contain sections.

The following three parts are a part of the test:

Part 1: Speaking and writing

This part consists of six sections and lasts for 77-93 minutes. It tests your speaking and writing abilities.

Part 2: Reading

This part of PTE test consists of MCQs, re-ordering paragraphs, reading in form of fill-in-the-blanks & reading and writing questions. The part lasts for 30-41 minutes and it tests your reading abilities in English.

Part 3: Listening

This part of PTE test consists of two sections and lasts for 43-58 minutes. It tests your listening skills in the English language. Other than that, PTE Academic test is an integrated skills test and a few items in part 1, 2, and 3 also test your writing skills.

Scoring

All parts of the PTE Academic test are machine-scored. Therefore, scoring is such that scores on some items depend on correctness while on other items they depend on correctness, formal aspects, and the quality of student’s response.