Why fluent English speakers don’t always get a perfect score

Being an experienced English speaker does not guarantee you a high score

It can come as a surprise to test takers, who consider themselves to be fluent in English, that they can score less well in an English test than they expect.

Dr. Alistair Van Moere, a member of Pearson’s Technical Advisory Group, explains that it’s not unusual for people who have recently learned English to score higher than those that have spoken English for a long time. This happens on all high-stakes tests, not just on PTE Academic, as fluent speakers are often not prepared to do the test. PTE Academic contains question types that a fluent English speaker may not have done for a long time, for example, writing an essay.

This is why all test takers, including fluent English speakers, should prepare before test day.