PTE Academic

For a university or college student to succeed academically in a context where English is the primary language of communication, one must possess the aptitude and capacity to communicate effectively and efficiently. 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, Canada, 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 two hours.

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 are given. Each part further contains sections.

The following three parts are a part of the test:

Part 1: Speaking and Writing

This part consists of seven sections and lasts for 54-67 minutes. It tests your speaking and writing skills, using English you might hear in an academic environment.

Part 2: Reading

This part of the test is 29–30 minutes long and it contains five different question types. Because PTE Academic is an integrated skills test, one item type ('Reading and Writing: Fill in the blanks') also assesses writing skills.

Part 3: Listening

This part of the test is 30–43 minutes long and it contains eight different question types.

The questions are based on audio or video clips, which begin to play automatically. You hear each audio or video clip once. You are allowed to take notes.

Scoring

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