Are you bewildered by the PTE Academic scoring system? While it may be confusing at first, it is essential to understand the PTE score guide to see how well you performed in the test.
Understanding the scoring system helps you prepare efficiently for the exam. It also allows you to manage your time wisely during the actual test so that you can get the highest possible score.
Let’s go into further detail with this PTE Academic guide:
PTE Academic Scoring
PTE Academic checks all items using an automated system. How exactly does it measure your answers?
Traits
Your responses will be checked based on the following traits:
- Correctness – based on the content of your answer (factual)
- Formal aspects – determined by the form of your answer (within the word limit)
- Response quality – used in the enabling skills such as pronunciation and oral fluency
Points
Each response will be marked as:
- Correct – Correct responses earn 1 (one) point.
- Incorrect – Incorrect answers are marked 0 (zero).
- Partial Credit – If you provide correct responses, you’ll earn the maximum points for each item. If they are partially correct, you’ll earn points but lower than the maximum.
Item Type
PTE Academic has 20 item types that are designed to measure your language proficiency. These include re-tell lectures, writing essays, and re-ordering paragraphs.
Keep in mind that the item type influences the number of points earned. For example, you can get 2 points for the “summarize spoken text” item, but only 1 point for a “fill in the blank” item.
PTE Academic Score Report
When you get your PTE Academic scorecard, you will see an overall score broken down by skill set. But what do all those numbers and colors mean?
Overall Score Calculation
The overall score is based on your performance in all test items. If you study well, it’s possible to get the highest score (90 points). At the very least, you can avoid getting the lowest mark (10 points).
This exam evaluates how well you communicate in the target language, so a high overall PTE score shows that you are fluent in English.
Your language proficiency hinges on the following skills, which are checked by PTE Academic:
Communicative Skills
This refers to the core competencies in language: writing, reading, speaking, and listening. You can garner anywhere from 10 to 90 points per communicative skill.
Each communicative skill may include a specific subskill. Sometimes, an item will assess two skills together (listening and speaking).
All the facts required to answer the questions are available in the passage, so you don’t have to memorize them beforehand.
Enabling Skills
Your PTE test score will also reflect how well you do in the enabling skills. For each enabling skill, you can potentially earn anywhere from 10 up to 90 points.
- Spelling – needs to be accurate.
- Grammar – correct sentence order and structure
- Written discourse – organized and clear ideas
- Vocabulary – appropriate word choice
- Pronunciation – easy to understand by a native speaker.
- Oral fluency – natural flow and smooth pacing
What can pull your score down? You may not earn full points if you commit errors, omit important details, or hesitate too often. So it pays to be detail-oriented and confident during the test.
Conclusion
Hopefully, this information gives a better idea of how the scoring works. Remember, following the PTE Academic score guide instructions is crucial because PTE grading occurs automatically through a computer. Good luck!
