Glossary term

Partial Credit

A scoring approach in which PTE awards marks for the correct parts of a response rather than judging it simply right or wrong. Most PTE items are partial-credit: a summary can earn some content marks, a speaking response some fluency and pronunciation marks, even when imperfect. Three multiple-answer task types combine partial credit with negative marking — Reading Multiple Choice Multiple Answers, Listening Multiple Choice Multiple Answers and Highlight Incorrect Words deduct one mark per wrong selection, though an item's score never falls below zero.