Comparison
PTE Core and PTE Academic side by side: who accepts each, the 19 versus 22 tasks, the scales that differ, timing, results and how to choose.
The route decides: IRCC accepts Core and not Academic for Canadian immigration and citizenship; Australian and UK visas and almost all universities accept Academic and not Core. The two tests share the scale, the scoring approach and most tasks, so preparation transfers, but a score on one is not a score on the other.
| Category | PTE Core | PTE Academic | Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Made for | PTE CoreMigration and work routes; general English content. | PTE AcademicStudy, plus Australian and (as UKVI) UK visas; academic content. | AdvantageDepends |
| Canada | PTE CoreAccepted by IRCC for economic immigration and citizenship. | PTE AcademicNot accepted by IRCC. Accepted by most institutions for study permits. | AdvantageDepends |
| Australia and UK | PTE CoreNot accepted for Australian or UK visas. | PTE AcademicAccepted by Home Affairs (per-skill minimums); UKVI version is a UK SELT. | AdvantageDepends |
| Task types | PTE Core19, including Write Email; no Retell Lecture, Summarize Group Discussion, Write Essay or Highlight Correct Summary. | PTE Academic22 since August 2025, including Respond to a Situation and Summarize Group Discussion. | AdvantageDepends |
| Length | PTE CoreUp to 2 hours: Speaking and Writing 50–65 min, Reading 27–37, Listening 22–37. | PTE AcademicAbout 2 hours: Speaking and Writing 76–84 min, Reading 23–30, Listening 31–39. | AdvantagePTE Core |
| Summaries | PTE CoreSummarize Written Text 25–50 words, any sentence count; Summarize Spoken Text 20–30 words in 8 minutes. | PTE AcademicSummarize Written Text one sentence of 5–75 words; Summarize Spoken Text 50–70 words in 10 minutes. | AdvantageDepends |
| Respond to a Situation | PTE Core2–4 items, 20 s preparation, scored on Appropriacy 0–3, Fluency, Pronunciation. | PTE Academic2–3 items, 10 s preparation, scored on Content 0–6, Oral fluency, Pronunciation. | AdvantageDepends |
| Scale and scoring | PTE Core10–90 Global Scale of English; automated scoring; own score guide (January 2026). | PTE AcademicSame 10–90 scale and scoring approach; own score guide (2025). | AdvantageDepends |
| Results and validity | PTE CoreTypically 2 business days, max 5; valid 2 years; citizenship results never expire. | PTE AcademicTypically 48 hours, max 5 business days; valid 2 years (Australian visas read tests from the 3 years before application). | AdvantageDepends |
This is not a choice between an easier and a harder test. It is decided by who will read the score. IRCC accepts PTE Core for economic immigration and citizenship and does not accept PTE Academic for those purposes. Australian visa authorities accept PTE Academic and not PTE Core. UK visas need the UKVI version of PTE Academic, or PTE Home for family routes. Universities almost everywhere accept PTE Academic; a few also list Core, but Academic is the safe assumption for study.
So: Canadian permanent residence or citizenship, take Core. Study anywhere, or an Australian or UK visa, take Academic. A candidate doing both, for example a Canadian study permit followed by immigration, may need both over time.
The scale, the scoring approach and most of the tasks. Both tests report an overall and four communicative skills from 10 to 90 on the Global Scale of English, both are scored automatically with trait scales published in their score guides, and both share Read Aloud, Repeat Sentence, Describe Image, Answer Short Question, all five reading tasks, and six of the listening tasks including Write From Dictation.
Preparation therefore transfers. A learner who has trained Repeat Sentence, dictation, the blanks and the multiple-choice items for one test has trained them for the other. The task index shows which tasks appear in Core and the Academic index which appear in Academic.
Core has no essay; it has Write Email, 50–120 words in nine minutes, scored on seven traits including Email conventions. Core has no Retell Lecture, no Summarize Group Discussion and no Highlight Correct Summary. Its summaries are shorter and looser: Summarize Written Text is 25–50 words with no single-sentence rule, and Summarize Spoken Text is 20–30 words in eight minutes. Its Describe Image uses everyday images with a 0–5 Content scale and 3–4 items rather than Academic’s 5–6.
Respond to a Situation exists in both but is scored differently: Core gives 20 seconds of preparation and scores Appropriacy, fluency and pronunciation with no Content trait; Academic gives 10 seconds and scores Content, Oral fluency and Pronunciation with register judged inside Content.
The 2025 Academic score guide changed several credits that Core kept. In Academic, Read Aloud counts towards Speaking only; in Core it counts towards Reading and Speaking. Answer Short Question is Listening only in Academic and Listening and Speaking in Core. The dropdown reading blanks feed Reading only in Academic and Reading and Writing in Core, and the same is true of Listening Fill in the Blanks.
For a Core candidate this means Writing, usually the CLB ceiling, is fed by more items than in Academic, which is useful: the blanks and dictation are the most trainable items in the test.
IRCC converts each PTE Core skill to a Canadian Language Benchmark level on its own row of the equivalency chart and never averages; the lowest skill sets the profile. The Core score chart has the full table. Australia’s Department of Home Affairs reads PTE Academic skill by skill against per-skill minimums for each English level since 7 August 2025. UK visas read a UKVI PTE Academic against the CEFR level the route requires. Universities usually read an overall with a per-skill floor.
In every case the per-skill scores matter more than the overall, which is why both tests reward finding the weakest skill on a mock and working the tasks that feed it.
Three questions settle it.
Which tasks appear in each test, with the differences that matter.
| Task | PTE Core | PTE Academic |
|---|---|---|
| Read Aloud | PTE Core 6–7 · Reading and Speaking | PTE Academic 6–7 · Speaking only |
| Repeat Sentence | PTE Core 10–12 | PTE Academic 10–12 |
| Describe Image | PTE Core 3–4 · everyday images · Content 0–5 | PTE Academic 5–6 · charts and maps · Content 0–6 |
| Retell Lecture | PTE Core not in Core | PTE Academic 2–3 |
| Respond to a Situation | PTE Core 2–4 · 20 s prep · Appropriacy | PTE Academic 2–3 · 10 s prep · Content |
| Answer Short Question | PTE Core 5–6 · Listening and Speaking | PTE Academic 5–6 · Listening only |
| Summarize Group Discussion | PTE Core not in Core | PTE Academic 2–3 |
| Summarize Written Text | PTE Core 1–2 · 25–50 words | PTE Academic 2 · one sentence, 5–75 words |
| Write Essay | PTE Core not in Core | PTE Academic 1 · 200–300 words |
| Write Email | PTE Core 2–3 · 50–120 words | PTE Academic not in Academic |
| Reading tasks | PTE Core all five | PTE Academic all five |
| Summarize Spoken Text | PTE Core 1–2 · 20–30 words · 8 min | PTE Academic 1 · 50–70 words · 10 min |
| Highlight Correct Summary | PTE Core not in Core | PTE Academic 2–3 |
| Other listening tasks | PTE Core MCQs, blanks, Select Missing Word, Highlight Incorrect Words, Write From Dictation | PTE Academic the same set |
It is shorter, uses everyday content, has 19 tasks instead of 22 and shorter summaries. The scale and the scoring approach are the same, and IRCC reads each skill against a CLB threshold, so the required scores can still be demanding.
No. IRCC accepts PTE Core, IELTS General Training and CELPIP-General for Express Entry and citizenship. PTE Academic is accepted by Canadian institutions for study, not by IRCC for immigration.
No. Australian visas require PTE Academic, read skill by skill against the Department of Home Affairs minimums. UK visas require PTE Academic UKVI or PTE Home.
Both report on the 10–90 Global Scale of English, but they are different tests with different score guides and are accepted for different purposes. A score on one is not converted to the other.
Yes, in most of it. Read Aloud, Repeat Sentence, Describe Image, Answer Short Question, the five reading tasks and six listening tasks including Write From Dictation are shared. Core adds Write Email; Academic adds the essay, Retell Lecture, Summarize Group Discussion and Highlight Correct Summary.
