AI Scoring
Every item is scored automatically, human experts review the long tasks, and the marking follows published descriptors you can read. Preparing against those descriptors is the whole strategy.
View termReference
PTE glossary
Plain-English definitions of the PTE terms that affect your score and your prep — from scoring traits to results and test types.
Appropriacy
Did you do the right social thing, politely, for this listener, with the specifics of the situation? That is the whole trait, and a memorised all-purpose answer is exactly what its zero describes.
View termCEFR
Six levels from beginner to mastery. When a requirement says B2 or C1, find out which exact PTE score that institution or visa route treats as that level; the mapping is theirs to define.
View termCLB (Canadian Language Benchmarks)
Four scores, four conversions, and the lowest one is your level. One weak skill drops the whole profile and the points that go with it.
View termCommunicative Skills
Four scores, each from its own set of items, each with its own minimum in most requirements. Your weakest one decides more than your overall.
View termCompetent, Proficient and Superior English
Australia does not ask for an overall any more. Each level is four minimum scores, one per skill, and the test date decides which table applies.
View termConcordance (PTE to IELTS)
The official conversion between PTE and IELTS. It maps ranges, not points: 63–70 is IELTS 7.0, so “IELTS 7.0 or equivalent” means PTE 63 unless the institution says otherwise.
View termContent
Content asks one question: did you cover what was there? A fluent, well-written answer that misses half the source scores low; a plain answer that covers everything scores high.
View termDevelopment, Structure and Coherence
Four paragraphs, one idea each, joined by words that show cause, contrast and consequence. That is what the top bands describe, and a memorised skeleton with nothing developed inside it is what the bottom bands describe.
View termEmail Conventions
Greeting, purpose, close, sign-off, name, each on its own line and each in the right tone for the reader. Miss one or mismatch the tone and the trait drops to 1; leave them out and it is 0.
View termEnhanced PTE Academic (August 2025)
The August 2025 update. Two new speaking tasks, some scales and skill credits changed, and older preparation material that predates it is out of date on those points.
View termErasable Noteboard
You get a wipe-clean booklet. Use it for structure, three words a line, on every task with audio, and ask for a fresh one if it fills.
View termExpress Entry
The Canadian PR pool. Your PTE Core scores become CLB levels, the CLB levels become points, and the lowest skill caps everything. Book Core, not Academic.
View termForm
Form is the word counter. Inside the range, full marks; a little outside, one mark; far outside, zero. It is the cheapest trait to protect and the most common one to lose.
View termGeneral Linguistic Range
Can you say what you mean, including the complicated parts, without going round the houses or repeating yourself? That is range. It is scored on the whole essay, not on individual words.
View termGrammar
Two marks for sentences that are correct, one for errors that do not get in the way of meaning, zero for errors that could. A correct simple sentence beats a broken complex one.
View termGSE (Global Scale of English)
The 10–90 ruler behind every PTE number. Learn where your target sits on it and track practice scores against that exact point, not a band.
View termHuman Review
In Pearson’s live test a person reviews the Content score on seven long tasks. That is Pearson’s process only: EdKnot practice scoring is entirely automated, and no person ever sees or scores a practice response.
View termIntegrated Task
One response, two skill scores. The integrated items are the highest-leverage practice in the test, because every point you gain on them lands twice.
View termMock Test
Sit the whole test once, timed and scored, before you book. It tells you your level, your weakest skill and the tasks behind it, before a real sitting does.
View termmyPTE
The account that runs everything: booking, deadlines, results and score sending. The dates that matter are the 14-day and 7-day marks before your test.
View termNegative Marking
On three items, a wrong tick cancels a right one. Everywhere else, guessing is free. Learn which three and change your behaviour on them only.
View termOne Skill Retake
IELTS allows one skill to be re-sat within 60 days; PTE has no equivalent, so a short PTE skill means a full re-sit. Where the retake is accepted, that can be a factor in which test to book.
View termOral Fluency
Keep going. One restart or one long pause drops a band. A steady answer with a small mistake left in outscores a perfect answer that stops to fix itself.
View termOverall Score
One number for the whole test, on a 10–90 scale, that most requirements quote first. Check the per-skill minimums too, because the overall can be above target while one skill is below it.
View termPartial Credit
Half an answer is worth half the marks on almost every task. Never leave anything blank, never stop halfway through a sentence, and on the three negative-marking tasks tick only what you can prove.
View termPersonal Introduction
Thirty seconds about yourself that are not scored. Use them to hear your own voice through the headset, settle your breathing and check the recording status box, because the next item is scored.
View termPronunciation
Be understood. Clear consonants, full syllables and stress on the right syllable earn the top bands; any accent is fine. Dropped endings and wrong stress are what cost marks.
View termPTE Core
The Canada test. Same scale and scoring engine as Academic, shorter, everyday topics, and read by IRCC skill by skill through CLB levels. Book Core for immigration, Academic for study.
View termPTE Home
The short UK visa test for family routes: speaking and listening, pass or fail, at the level your route needs. Check whether that is A1, A2 or B1 before booking.
View termReschedule and Cancellation Policy
Fourteen days before the test is the last day anything is free. Seven days before is the last day anything is refunded. Diarise both when you book.
View termRescore
A second marking of the whole test, for a fee you get back only if something changes. Because Pearson already had a human review the long tasks, changes are uncommon; a near miss is usually better fixed by a re-sit.
View termScore Band
Your report shows numbers, not bands. Use the common thresholds to set a target, then plan and practise in exact points.
View termScore Report Code
The number that proves your report is real. Institutions check it with Pearson; they do not trust a printout. Send scores officially and keep the code safe.
View termScore Validity
Two years for almost everything, three for Australian visas, forever for Canadian citizenship. Count from the day you sat the test.
View termScoring Traits
A response is not marked once. It is marked several times, once per trait, and the traits are added up. Knowing which traits a task has, and what each scale rewards, is the whole of PTE strategy.
View termSELT (Secure English Language Test)
The Home Office’s approved list. If the test you sat is not on it, booked as the SELT version, it does not count for a UK visa.
View termSending Scores
Pick the institution in myPTE and send. Free, unlimited, verified. Screenshots and PDFs by email are not official and will be sent back.
View termShared Clock (Reading and Listening)
Reading is one clock; Listening after the summary is one clock. Budget per item, move on at the budget, and make sure the highest-value items at the end still have their minutes.
View termSkills Profile
A private diagnosis. Nobody who reads your application sees it, so use it for what it is: a list of what to work on next.
View termSpelling
One spelling error in an Academic essay or summary is a lost mark, two is the whole trait. On dictation and listening blanks, every misspelled word is a lost point. Check spelling before anything else in the final minutes.
View termThree-Second Silence Rule
Start speaking within three seconds of the status box showing Recording, and never stop for three seconds until you are finished. The recorder does not wait.
View termUKVI
For a UK visa you need the UKVI version of the test, booked as such, at an approved centre. The ordinary PTE Academic does not count, whatever the score.
View termURN (Unique Reference Number)
The number the Home Office checks. Copy it exactly from your UKVI report into the application; if your report has no URN, it is not a SELT.
View termVocabulary
Use words you control. The scorer rewards the right word, not the impressive one, and copying the passage’s phrases earns nothing here.
View termTurn the theory into a score
Knowing the terms is the start. Practise each task with AI-scored feedback and a complete mock test to see where your score actually stands.