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.
Glossary term
Negative Marking
Negative marking is the deduction of one point for each wrong selection on exactly three PTE item types: Multiple Choice, Multiple Answers in Reading, the same item in Listening, and Highlight Incorrect Words. Correct selections earn a point each, wrong ones lose a point each, and the item’s score cannot fall below zero. Every other PTE item has no deduction.
Invisible on the report. Pearson’s score guide states the rule in the scoring tables for the three items: “1 each correct response, −1 each incorrect response, 0 minimum score”.
How the arithmetic works
Suppose three options are correct. Tick all three: three points. Tick two of them and one wrong one: two minus one, one point. Tick one right and two wrong: minus one, floored to zero. The floor means a bad item can never take points from the rest of the test, but a single careless tick can halve an item, and two can empty it.
Because a correct tick and a wrong tick cancel, an option you cannot point to in the passage or the audio is worth less than nothing on average. That is the whole strategy: the tick needs evidence.
Why it is only three items
The three items are the ones where you choose how many selections to make. On single-answer items and blanks there is one answer per slot, so guessing costs nothing and Pearson scores them without deduction. On the multiple-answer items and Highlight Incorrect Words, deduction stops the strategy of selecting everything.
On Highlight Incorrect Words the trap is clicking words that look unusual rather than words you heard differently. The audio does not wait, so the discipline is a reflex click on a real mismatch, then a review after the audio to remove any highlight you did not actually hear.
The numbers that matter
| Reading: Multiple Choice, Multiple Answers | +1 per correct option, −1 per wrong option, item minimum 0; Academic 2–3 items, Core 1–2 |
|---|---|
| Listening: Multiple Choice, Multiple Answers | Same rule; Academic 2–3 items, Core 1–2 |
| Highlight Incorrect Words | +1 per correct word clicked, −1 per wrong click, minimum 0; Academic 2–3, Core 1–2 |
| Every other item | No deduction. Wrong answers and blanks both score 0 |
Worked example
A learner ticks four options because each sounds like something the passage said. Two are correct, two reverse a detail. Two minus two: zero. The two sure ticks alone would have scored two.
What it shows: On these three items, restraint is the score.
Frequently asked questions
Does PTE have negative marking?
Only on three item types: Multiple Choice Multiple Answers in Reading and in Listening, and Highlight Incorrect Words. Each wrong selection deducts one point, with the item floored at zero. No other PTE item deducts marks.
Can negative marking make my score negative?
No. Each item’s score has a minimum of zero, so deductions can only remove points earned on that item, never points from elsewhere in the test.
Should I leave multiple-answer questions blank if unsure?
Tick the options you can evidence and leave the rest unticked. Leaving the whole item blank forgoes the points for the options you were sure of; ticking unsure options risks cancelling them.
Related terms
More PTE terms
AI ScoringAppropriacyCEFRCLB (Canadian Language Benchmarks)Communicative SkillsCompetent, Proficient and Superior EnglishConcordance (PTE to IELTS)ContentDevelopment, Structure and CoherenceEmail ConventionsEnhanced PTE Academic (August 2025)Erasable NoteboardExpress EntryFormGeneral Linguistic RangeGrammarGSE (Global Scale of English)Human ReviewIntegrated TaskMock TestmyPTEOne Skill RetakeOral FluencyPersonal IntroductionPronunciationPTE CorePTE HomeReschedule and Cancellation PolicyRescoreScore BandScore Report CodeScore ValiditySELT (Secure English Language Test)Sending ScoresShared Clock (Reading and Listening)Skills ProfileSpellingThree-Second Silence RuleUKVIURN (Unique Reference Number)Vocabulary