Part 1: Speaking & Writing

You have 30-40 seconds to look at the text before the microphone opens, so you can use this time to break the text up into meaningful chunks, using the punctuation as a guide. This will show you the places where you can make a tiny pause and alter your intonation – going up when you begin reading a chunk and falling a little when you end a chunk.

Using appropriate pausing helps you to read more fluently and give the full meaning of the text. This will improve your score. Look at where the pauses / are indicated in the example:

Photography’s gaze widened during the early years of the twentieth century / and, / as the snapshot camera became increasingly popular, / the making of photographs became increasingly available / to a wide cross-section of the public. / The British people grew accustomed to, / and were hungry for, / the photographic image.

When you read the text, you should stress the words that help to convey meaning, by reading them in a slightly louder voice and adding emphasis to key syllables, e.g., development.

You can also use rising and falling intonation patterns to show how the ideas are linked or are coming to an end.

Look at the patterns in this text; the stressed words are underlined, and the rising and falling intonation is marked by up ⬆️ and down ⬇️ arrows:

The development of easy-to-use statistical software ⬇️ has changed the way statistics is being taught and learned ⬇️ . Students can make transformations of variables ⬆️, create graphs of distributions of variables ⬆️, and select among statistical analyses ⬇️ all at the click of a button ⬇️. However ⬆️, even with these advancements ⬇️, students sometimes find statistics to be an arduous task ⬇️️.

Your score is based on three factors:

Content: Does your response include all the words in the reading text and only these words.

Content is scored by counting the number of correct words in your response. Replacements, insertions and omissions of words will negatively affect your score.

Oral fluency: Does your response show a smooth, effortless and natural rate of speech?

Oral fluency is scored by assessing if your rhythm, phrasing and stress are smooth. The best responses are spoken at a constant and natural rate of speech with appropriate phrasing. Hesitations, repetitions and false starts will negatively affect your score.

Pronunciation: Does your response show you can produce speech sounds in a similar way to most regular English speakers?

Pronunciation is scored by assessing if your speech is easily understandable to most regular English speakers. The best responses contain vowels and consonants pronounced in a fluent-like way, and stress words and phrases correctly. Your response should also be immediately understandable to a regular English speaker.

PTE recognizes regional and national varieties of English pronunciation to the degree that they are understandable to most regular speakers of the language.

Please note:

• This item type affects the scoring of the following: reading, speaking, oral fluency and pronunciation.

• Your listening and writing skills are not tested by this item type.

• For more information download the PTE Core Score Guide.

You will be scored on the correct word sequences that you produce, so the more phrases you understand, the better your reproduction of the sentence will be. For example, there are three phrases in this sentence, separated by /, and each one carries a separate message that has its own meaning:

Next week’s tutorial / on Tuesday / has been canceled.

If you listen for meaningful phrases in the sentence, you will have a better chance of repeating what you hear accurately. 

Make a mental note of the way the speaker uses stress and intonation on the recording. These patterns help to convey the meaning. Remember to speak calmly and clearly, while copying this stress and intonation.

Look at the pattern in this example: the stressed words or syllables are underlined, and the falling intonation is marked by down ⬇️ arrows:

I’m going to attend the briefing ⬇️ for students ⬇️.

Your score is based on three factors:

Content: Does your response include all the words in the reading text and only these words?

Content is scored by counting the number of correct words in your response. Replacements, insertions and omissions of words will negatively affect your score.

Oral fluency: Does your response show a smooth, effortless and natural rate of speech?

Oral fluency is scored by assessing if your rhythm, phrasing and stress are smooth. The best responses are spoken at a constant and natural rate of speech with appropriate phrasing. Hesitations, repetitions and false starts will negatively affect your score.

Pronunciation: Does your response show you can produce speech sounds in a similar way to most regular English speakers?

Pronunciation is scored by assessing if your speech is easily understandable to most regular English speakers. The best responses contain vowels and consonants pronounced in a fluent-like way, and stress words and phrases correctly. Your response should also be immediately understandable to a regular English speaker.

PTE recognizes regional and national varieties of English pronunciation to the degree that they are understandable to most regular speakers of the language.

Please note:

• Partial credit scoring applies. No credit is given for no response or an irrelevant response.

• This question type affects the scoring of the following: listening, speaking, oral fluency and pronunciation.

• Your writing skills are not tested by this question type, and your reading skills are only used to read the instructions.

• For more information download the PTE Core Score Guide.

If you organize what you say, you will get a better score. This is because a well-organized answer is more likely to cover the main information as well as the additional details, and also talk about implications or conclusions based on the information. Look at how this sample description is organized:

Your score is based on three factors:

Content: Does your response accurately and thoroughly describe the image?

Content is scored by assessing if you have addressed all aspects and elements of the image in your response. Your descriptions of relationships, possible developments and conclusions, or implications based on details from the image are also scored. The best responses deal with all parts of the image, contain logical and specific information, and include possible developments, conclusions or implications. Mentioning just a few disjointed ideas will negatively affect your score.

Oral fluency: Does your response demonstrate a smooth, effortless and natural rate of speech? Oral fluency is scored by assessing if your rhythm, phrasing and stress are smooth. The best responses are spoken at a constant and natural rate of speech with appropriate phrasing. Hesitations, repetitions and false starts will negatively affect your score.

Pronunciation: Does your response show you can produce speech sounds in a similar way to most regular English speakers?

Pronunciation is scored by assessing if your speech is easily understandable to most regular English speakers. The best responses contain vowels and consonants pronounced in a fluent-like way, and stress words and phrases correctly. Your response should also be immediately understandable to a regular speaker of the language.

PTE recognizes regional and national varieties of English pronunciation to the degree that they are understandable to most regular English speakers.

Please note:

• Partial credit scoring applies. No credit is given for no response or an irrelevant response.

• This question type affects the scoring of the following: speaking, oral fluency and pronunciation.

• Your listening and writing skills are not tested by this question type, and your reading skills are only used to read the instructions.

• For more information download the PTE Core Score Guide.

You have 20 seconds to prepare, so examine the prompt to decide what main points you will need to convey, and whether you will need to use a formal or informal register.

You only have 40 seconds to speak so make sure you are able to cover everything required by the prompt within the time allotted. Try to speak for the whole 40 seconds if you can. If you repeat ideas, correct yourself, or hesitate, you will use up valuable time and also lose score points. So, keep talking and ignore any mistakes that you make.

Your score is based on three factors:

Appropriacy: Is the language used in your response relevant to and appropriate to the situation in the prompt?

Appropriacy is scored by assessing how relevant and appropriate the language you use is to the situation and to the person(s) you are addressing. You should deliver your response clearly and politely, with either a formal or informal register being used, depending on the situation.

Fluency: Does your response show a smooth, effortless and natural flow of speech?

Oral fluency is scored by assessing if your rhythm, phrasing and stress are smooth. The best responses are spoken at a constant and natural rate of speech with appropriate phrasing. Hesitations, repetitions and false starts will negatively affect your score.

Pronunciation: Does your response show you can produce speech sounds in a similar way to most regular English speakers?

Pronunciation is scored by assessing if your speech is easily understandable to most regular English speakers. The best responses contain vowels and consonants pronounced in a fluent-like way, and stress words and phrases correctly. Your answer should also be immediately understandable to a regular English speaker.

PTE recognizes regional and national varieties of English pronunciation to the degree that they are understandable to most regular English speakers.

Please note:

• Partial credit scoring applies. No credit is given for no answer or an irrelevant answer.

• Your reading and listening skills are only used to read the instructions and to read and listen to the prompt.

• For more information download the PTE Core Score Guide.

You hear a short question and then the recording status box will change to recording. You should start your answer as soon as this happens. If you wait for more than three seconds, the recording will stop and the item status will change to ‘completed’, which means that you have lost your chance to give your answer.

When you have started talking, don’t stop for more than a second or two until you have finished. If you stop for three seconds while speaking, the recording status will change to "Completed" even if you haven’t finished, and you won’t be able to continue answering.

If the status changes to "Completed", you have to click "Next" to move on to the next item. This also applies to speaking item types Read aloud, Repeat Sentence, Describe Image and Re-tell Lecture.

The instructions tell you how to answer the question:

You should keep your response short and accurate because there are no extra marks for additional words.

For example, for this question: "What type of periodical is published on a daily basis?", both these responses would score the same marks:

Your reponse is judged on your ability to understand a question presented in a recording and provide a brief and accurate response.

Your response is scored as either correct or incorrect, based on how appropriate the words you use are.

Please note:

• No credit is given for no response or an incorrect response.

• This question type affects the scoring of the following: listening, speaking and vocabulary.

• Your writing skills are not tested by this question type, and your reading skills are only used to read the instructions.

• For more information download the PTE Core Score Guide.

When you have written your summary, check to make sure you have used one or more complete sentences. Every sentence should start with a capital letter at the beginning and have a full stop at the end.

Remember, your response must be between 25 and 50 words, so check the word count using the ‘Total Word Count’ counter below the response box. If you write fewer than 25 words or more than 50 words, your response will not be scored:

You may wish to write your summary as a single sentence. This means you will need to use a complex or compound sentence to be able to summarize the main point of the passage and also briefly mention the supporting detail.

For example, look at the clause structures used in these summaries to link supporting ideas to the main point:

Your score is based on four factors:

Content: Does your response summarize the main points in the passage?

Content is scored by assessing if you have addressed all the key points in the passage without misrepresenting the purpose or topic. If your summary misinterprets the topic or the purpose of the passage, you will not receive any score points for your summary on any of the four factors.

The best responses clearly summarize the main idea and condense the essential supporting points. They focus on the topic, including only key information and the essential supporting points.

Form: Does your response contain the right number of words?

If your summary contains fewer than 25 words or more than 50 words, you will not receive any score points for your summary on any of the four factors.

Grammar: Does your response show you can use grammar correctly?

Grammar is scored by assessing if the basic structure of your sentence is correct. The best responses usually consist of a main clause and subordinate clause.

Vocabulary: Does your response show you can choose and use words appropriately?

Your vocabulary is scored according to its relevance to the passage and its appropriateness in an academic environment. The appropriate use of synonyms is also scored. The best responses use words from the passage appropriately, demonstrate an understanding of the context and use synonyms effectively to show variety in language use.

Please note:

• Your response is scored as either correct or incorrect based on the appropriateness of the words in your response.

• No credit is given for no response or an incorrect response.

• Your listening and speaking skills are not tested by this question type.

• For more information download the PTE Core Score Guide.

Before you write anything, note key words in the prompt. Find out who the email needs to be addressed to, what the purpose of writing the email is, and what details need to be included in your email. The details you include should be relevant to the three bullet points in the prompt.

Your response is judged on your ability to write an appropriate email on a given topic. Your score is based on seven factors:

Content: Does your response address the topic?

Content is scored by determining if all aspects of the email prompt have been addressed adequately and appropriately in your response. The appropriateness of the details used to support used to support the purpose of your email is also scored. If your email does not address the prompt, you will not receive any score points for your response on any of the seven factors. Your response will be scored zero. The best responses directly address the requirements of the email prompt and provide information that covers all three bullet points.

Email conventions: Does your response use appropriate email conventions?

Email conventions are scored by examining whether they are apparent, appropriate, and have been used correctly in keeping with the format of the task. Your response should include a salutation, an introduction, a conclusion and a farewell.

Form: Does your response meet the length requirement of between 50-120 words?

Form is scored by counting the number of words in your response. You will receive full credit if your email is between 50 and 120 words. If your response is under or over the required length, then there will be a penalty to the score given for Form. If your response is significantly under or over the required length, then you will not received any marks for Form.

Organization: Is your response clear and easy to follow?

Organization is scored by examining if your ideas are presented logically and are clearly organized in your response. Transitions should be used where appropriate to guide the reader of the email through the response. Themes and their related ideas should be organised together, and clearly linked to the overall purpose of the email.

Grammar usage and mechanics: Does your response demonstrate correct grammatical usage and consistent control of standard written English?

Grammar usage and mechanics are scored by examining sentence structure, punctuation, and capitalization. The best responses contain high proportions of grammatically correct complex sentences that clearly communicate the intended meaning.

Vocabulary range: Does your response demonstrate command of a broad vocabulary range?

Vocabulary range is scored according to the variety of words in your response and their appropriateness to the context of the given situation.

Spelling: Does your response demonstrate correct and consistent use of a single spelling convention?

PTE Core recognizes English spelling conventions from the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia. However, one spelling convention should be used consistently in a given response.

Please note:

• Partial credit scoring applies to Write Email. No credit is given for no response or an irrelevant response.

• Your listening and speaking skills are not tested by this question type, and your reading skills are only used to read the instructions and the prompt.

• For more information download the PTE Core Score Guide.