PTE in A Nutshell

PTE in A Nutshell

ACADEMIC TEST FORMAT 2022 VERSION

Pearson Test of English Academic was launched in 2009. PTE Academic is a breakless 2-hour long, COMPUTER BASED English language assessment taken to test the ability of an aspiring student, who is basically planning to go for further studies Undergrad/graduate courses in English speaking countries like Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Canada, and the USA with more than 70 other leading countries in Asia, Europe, South America, and Africa.  This test is also taken by others who are planning to migrate or work in these countries, especially the UK and Australia.

 The test assesses an individual’s communicative skills of Reading, Writing, Listening and Speaking skills through questions using everyday communication context and material. Unlike other English tests, the PTE test provides the test takers with feedbacks on enabling/supporting skills in the form of Oral Fluency, Grammar, Vocabulary, Written Discourse, Pronunciation and Spelling, thereby making it even more precise and reliable for the universities to admit the most deserving candidates. The band/marks for the PTE test ranges from 10-90 (A1-C2) based on GSE & CEFR (Global Scale of English & Common European Framework Reference). The validity of PTE Academic is 2 years for studies, however, it has a lifetime validity of the permanent residence (PR) applicants.

 Some salient features of PTE Academic are put in the given table to understand it more conveniently.

 

Test Mode	Test Duration	No of  Questions	Results processing	Test Frequency	Test Cost Varies
Computer-based  (Online Test)	2 hours (single session)	20	48 hours	Round the Year (2-3 shifts in case)	US$ 170 (Nepal) US$ 198.3 (India) AU$ 375 (Aus.) AU $ 385 (UKVI)

 

The sections of the PTE test details are separately tabulated below for the convenience of the new test takers. Alike, IELTS and TOEFL, each of the communicative skill test reports depend on one another while converting the raw score to the test report. Therefore, it is wise to equally focus on all the communicative skills.

Part 1 Speaking and Writing (approx. 54–67 minutes)

SN	Item type	Time	No of Items	Scoring	Communicative Skills Scored	Traits Scored (These are the supporting constructs of the test skills)
1	Personal Intro	55 secs	1	Partial Credit	Speaking	1. Content 2. Pronunciation 3. Oral fluency
2	Read aloud	30-40 secs	6-7	Partial credit	Reading and speaking	1. Content 2. Pronunciation 3. Oral fluency Content: Each replacement, omission, or insertion of a word counts as one error. Maximum score: depends on the length of the item prompt Pronunciation/Oral fluency: 5 Native-like; 4 Advanced; 3 Good; 2 Intermediate; 1 Intrusive; 0 Non-English
3	Repeat sentence	15 secs	10-12	Partial credit	Listening and speaking	1.Content2. Pronunciation3. Oral fluency Content: Errors = replacements, omissions and insertions only Hesitations, filled or unfilled pauses, leading or trailing material are ignored in the scoring of content 3 All words in the response from the prompt in the correct sequence 2 At least 50% of words in the response from the prompt in the correct sequence 1 Less than 50% of words in the response from the prompt in the correct sequence 0 Almost nothing from the prompt in the response Note: Pronunciation/Oral fluency= Same as Read Aloud
4	Describe image	50 secs	3-4	Partial credit	Speaking	1. Content, 2. Pronunciation, 3. Oral fluency Content: 5 Describes all elements of the image and their relationships, possible development and conclusion or implications 4 Describes all the key elements of the image and their relations, referring to their implications or conclusions 3 Deals with most key elements of the image and refers to their implications or conclusions 2 Deals with only one key element in the image and refers to an implication or conclusion. Shows basic understanding of several core elements of the image 1 Describes some basic elements of the image, but does not make clear their interrelations or implications 0 Mentions some disjointed elements of the presentation Note: Pronunciation/Oral fluency= Same as Read Aloud/Repeat Sentence
5	Re-tell lecture	140 secs	1-2	Partial credit	Listening and speaking	Content: 5 Re-tells all points of the presentation and describes characters, aspects and actions, their relationships, the underlying development, implications and conclusions 4 Describes all key points of the presentation and their relations, referring to their implications and conclusions 3 Deals with most points in the presentation and refers to their implications and conclusions 10 2 Deals with only one key point and refers to an implication or conclusion. Shows basic understanding of several core elements of the presentation 1 Describes some basic elements of the presentation but does not make clear their interrelations or implications 0 Mentions some disjointed elements of the presentation Oral fluency: 5 Native-like; 4 Advanced; 3 Good; 2 Intermediate; 1 Limited; 0 Disfluent; Note: Pronunciation=Same as Read Aloud/Repeat Sentence
6	Answer short question	20 secs	5-6	Correct/ incorrect	Listening and speaking	Vocabulary 1= Appropriate word choice in response 0= Inappropriate word choice in response
7	Summarize written text	10 minutes	1-2	Partial credit	Reading and writing	1.Form, 2. Grammar, 3. Vocabulary Form: 1 Is written in one, single, complete sentence; 0 Not written in one single, complete sentence or contains fewer than 5 or more than 75 words. Summary is written in capital letters. Content: 2 Provides a good summary of the text. All relevant aspects mentioned; 1 Provides a fair summary of the text but misses one or two aspects; 0 Omits or misrepresents the main aspects of the text Grammar: 2 Has correct grammatical structure; 1 Contains grammatical errors but with no hindrance to communication; 0 Has defective grammatical structure which could hinder communication Vocabulary: 2 Has appropriate choice of words; 1 Contains lexical errors but with no hindrances to communication; 0 Has defective word choice which could hinder communication
8	Write essay	20 minutes	1-2	Partial credit	Writing	Content; form; development, structure, coherence; grammar; general linguistic range; vocabulary range; spelling Content: 3 Adequately deals with the prompt; 2 Deals with the prompt but does not deal with one minor aspect; 1 Deals with the prompt but omits a major aspect or more than one minor aspect; 0 Does not deal properly with the prompt; Form: 2 Length is between 200 and 300 words; 1 Length is between 120 and 199 or between 301 and 380 words; 0 Length is less than 120 or more than 380 words. Essay is written in capital letters, contains no punctuation or only consists of bullet points or very short sentences Development, structure and coherence: 2 Shows good development and logical structure; 1 Is incidentally less well structured, and some elements or paragraphs are poorly linked; 0 Lacks coherence and mainly consists of lists or loose elements Grammar: 2 Shows consistent grammatical control of complex language. Errors are rare and difficult to spot. 1 Shows a relatively high degree of grammatical control. No mistakes which would lead to misunderstandings 0 Contains mainly simple structures and/or several basic mistakes General linguistic range: 2 Exhibits smooth mastery of a wide range of language to formulate thoughts precisely, give emphasis, differentiate and eliminate ambiguity. No sign that the test taker is restricted in what they want to communicate; 1 Sufficient range of language to provide clear descriptions, express viewpoints and develop arguments; 0 Contains mainly basic language and lacks precision Vocabulary range: 2 Good command of a broad lexical repertoire, idiomatic expressions and colloquialisms; 1 Shows a good range of vocabulary for matters connected to general academic topics. Lexical shortcomings lead to circumlocution or some imprecision; 0 Contains mainly basic vocabulary insufficient to deal with the topic at the required level Spelling: 2 Correct spelling; 1 One spelling error 0 More than one spelling error
Total questions                            28-36

Part 2 Reading (approximately 29–30 minutes)

In this section, the time varies according to the length of the text. So the test takers have got to be extra cautious and practice regularly for some weeks to complete this task comfortably within or before the given time limit.

SN	Item type	Text Length	No of Items	Scoring	Communicative Skills Scored
1	Reading and writing: Fill in the blanks	300 words	5-6	Partial credit (for each correctly completed blank)	Reading and writing:1= Each correctly completed blank; 0 =Minimum score
2	Multiple-choice, choose multiple answers	300 words	1-2	Partial credit (for each correct response. Points deducted for incorrect options chosen	Reading 1= Each correct response; - 1= Each incorrect response; 0 =Minimum score
3	Re-order paragraphs	150 words each	2-3	Partial credit (for each correctly ordered, adjacent pair)	Reading 1= Each pair of correct adjacent textboxes; 0= Minimum score
4	Reading: Fill in the blanks	80 words	4-5	Partial credit (for each correctly completed blank)	Reading 1 Each correctly completed blank; 0 Minimum score
5	Multiple-choice, choose single answer	300 words	1-2	Correct/ incorrect	Reading 1 Each correctly completed blank; 0 Minimum score
Total questions		Total 1130 words	13-18

Part 3 Listening (approx. 30–43 minutes)

SN	Item type	Time for prompts	No of Items	Scoring & Communicative skills	Traits Scored For summarizing Spoken text only
1	Summarize spoken text	2+(10 minutes for writing)	1-2	Partial credit and Listening & Writing	1. Content, 2. Form, 3. Grammar, 4. Vocabulary, 5. Spelling Content: 2=Provides a good summary of the text. All relevant aspects are mentioned. 1= Provides a fair summary of the text, but one or two aspects are missing 0= Omits or misrepresents the main aspects Form: 2= Contains 50-70 words 1= Contains 40-49 words or 71-100 words 0= Contains less than 40 words or more than 100 words. Summary is written in capital letters, contains no punctuation or consists only of bullet points or very short sentences. Grammar: 2 Correct grammatical structures 1 Contains grammatical errors with no hindrance to communication 0 Defective grammatical structure which could hinder communications Vocabulary: 2 Appropriate choice of words 1 Some lexical errors but with no hindrance to communication 0 Defective word choice which could hinder communication Spelling: 2 Correct spelling 1 One spelling error 0 More than one spelling errors
2	Multiple-choice, choose multiple answers	40-90 secs	1-2	Partial credit (for each correct response. Points deducted for incorrect options chosen)  Listening 1= Each correct response - 1 Each incorrect response; 0 =Minimum score
3	Fill in the blanks	30-60 secs	2-3	Partial credit (for each correct work spelled correctly Listening & writing 1= Each correct word spelled correctly; 0= Minimum score
4	Highlight correct summary	30-90 secs	1-2	Correct/incorrect Listening and reading 1= Correct response; 0= Incorrect response
5	Multiple-choice, choose single answer	30-60 secs	1-2	Correct/ incorrect Listening 1= Correct response; 0= Incorrect response
6	Select missing word	20-70 secs	1-2	Correct/incorrect Listening 1= Correct response; 0= Incorrect response
7	Highlight incorrect words	15-50 secs	2-3	Partial credit (For each word. Points deducted for incorrect options chosen) Listening and reading 1 Each correct word - 1 Each incorrect word 0 Minimum score
8	Write from dictation	3-5 secs	3-4	Partial credit (for each word spelled correctly) Listening and writing 1 Each correct word spelled correctly 0 Each incorrect or misspelled word
Total Questions			12-20

Please note: Unlike in the past, the new PTE test report does not show the enabling skills. However, there is going to be important feedback for your further improvement in the required area of language skills.

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