Two ways a PTE question earns points
Correct or incorrect: one point for a right answer, nothing for a wrong one. Answer Short Question, Highlight Correct Summary, both Multiple Choice, Single Answer items and Select Missing Word work like this.
Partial credit: you can get full marks, some marks or none. Most items are scored this way. Some partial-credit items count one point per correct blank, word or adjacent pair; Multiple Choice, Multiple Answers and Highlight Incorrect Words also take a point off for each wrong choice, with a floor of zero. The speaking and writing items are scored on several traits instead, and those trait scales are what the rest of this page and the five linked guides explain.
Scales and ranges are from Pearson's PTE Academic Test Taker Score Guide (the post-August-2025 edition, copyright 2025, PDF dated 4 March 2026), read on 4 October 2026. The level descriptions are our own summaries, not Pearson's wording.
The traits Pearson scores
The Score Guide's glossary names the traits as Content; Oral Fluency; Pronunciation; Form; Development, Structure and Coherence; Grammar; General Linguistic Range; and Vocabulary. Spelling is also scored on Write Essay and Summarize Spoken Text. Content is how well your answer deals with the prompt, and form is the formal side, such as staying inside the word limits.
Content and form work as gates. The guide says that when a response gets 0 for either, the whole response gets no points; its examples are an essay on a different topic, an essay under 120 words, and an answer built mainly from memorised material.
You may still see the old "enabling skills" (for example written discourse) in coaching material. Pearson removed them from the Score Report in November 2021 and replaced them with a private Skills Profile (Pearson). The current Score Guide has no trait called written discourse, although one note on Pearson's Write Essay page still uses the phrase; the nearest essay traits in the guide are Development, Structure and Coherence and General Linguistic Range.
| Trait | Scale | Scored on |
|---|---|---|
| Content (word accuracy) | Errors counted; maximum depends on prompt length | Read Aloud |
| Content (word sequence) | 0–3 | Repeat Sentence |
| Content (rated) | 0–6 | Describe Image, Retell Lecture, Summarize Group Discussion, Respond to a Situation, Write Essay |
| Content (summary) | 0–4 | Summarize Written Text, Summarize Spoken Text |
| Pronunciation | 0–5 | Every speaking item except Answer Short Question |
| Oral Fluency | 0–5 | Every speaking item except Answer Short Question |
| Form | 0–1 (Summarize Written Text) or 0–2 (Write Essay, Summarize Spoken Text) | The three written tasks |
| Development, Structure and Coherence | 0–6 | Write Essay |
| General Linguistic Range | 0–6 | Write Essay |
| Grammar | 0–2 | Write Essay, Summarize Written Text, Summarize Spoken Text |
| Vocabulary | 0–1 (Answer Short Question) or 0–2 (written tasks; called Vocabulary Range on Write Essay) | Answer Short Question and the three written tasks |
| Spelling | 0–2 | Write Essay, Summarize Spoken Text |
Know your target? Check where you stand
Take a free AI-scored PTE mock and see your score per skill before you book the real test. Free account, no card.
Take a free scored PTE mock →Which question types feed which skill
The table follows the Score Guide's scoring criteria for all 22 question types. Integrated items count towards both skills listed, so a weak Repeat Sentence costs you in Listening and Speaking. The guide also says the overall score is not an average of the four skill scores.
| Question type | Items per test | Scoring | Skills it feeds |
|---|---|---|---|
| Read Aloud | 6–7 | Partial credit | Speaking |
| Repeat Sentence | 10–12 | Partial credit | Listening, Speaking |
| Describe Image | 5–6 | Partial credit | Speaking |
| Retell Lecture | 2–3 | Partial credit | Listening, Speaking |
| Answer Short Question | 5–6 | Correct/incorrect | Listening |
| Summarize Group Discussion | 2–3 | Partial credit | Listening, Speaking |
| Respond to a Situation | 2–3 | Partial credit | Speaking |
| Summarize Written Text | 2 | Partial credit | Reading, Writing |
| Write Essay | 1 | Partial credit | Writing |
| Reading: Fill in the Blanks (Dropdown) | 5–6 | Partial credit, per blank | Reading |
| Reading: Multiple Choice, Multiple Answers | 2–3 | Partial credit, minus wrong choices | Reading |
| Reorder Paragraph | 2–3 | Partial credit, per adjacent pair | Reading |
| Fill in the Blanks (Drag and Drop) | 4–5 | Partial credit, per blank | Reading |
| Reading: Multiple Choice, Single Answer | 2–3 | Correct/incorrect | Reading |
| Summarize Spoken Text | 1 | Partial credit | Listening, Writing |
| Listening: Multiple Choice, Multiple Answers | 2–3 | Partial credit, minus wrong choices | Listening |
| Fill in the Blanks (Type In) | 2–3 | Partial credit, per correctly spelled word | Listening |
| Highlight Correct Summary | 2–3 | Correct/incorrect | Listening, Reading |
| Listening: Multiple Choice, Single Answer | 2–3 | Correct/incorrect | Listening |
| Select Missing Word | 1–2 | Correct/incorrect | Listening |
| Highlight Incorrect Words | 2–3 | Partial credit, minus wrong choices | Listening, Reading |
| Write from Dictation | 3–4 | Partial credit, per correctly spelled word | Listening, Writing |
What changed in 2025, and what did not
From 7 August 2025 Pearson added two speaking tasks, Respond to a Situation and Summarize Group Discussion, bringing PTE Academic to 22 question types and 65 to 75 questions per test. No item type was removed: Describe Image and Retell Lecture are still in the current guide (Retell Lecture is the current spelling of the older Re-tell Lecture). Pearson's 2025 changes FAQ says content in seven types is now double-marked by AI and a human expert, with a second human resolving disagreements, while pronunciation and fluency remain machine-scored only. On Write Essay a human also reviews Development, Structure and Coherence and General Linguistic Range.
PTE Core is a different test with a different skill map: its Speaking and Writing part has seven types, including Respond to a Situation and Write Email, and no Retell Lecture or Write Essay (Pearson). Pearson publishes a separate Core score guide on its PTE Core scoring page, so do not apply this series to Core.
The per-question guides
Each guide below covers what the task is, Pearson's timings, which skills it feeds and a table per trait: Read Aloud, Repeat Sentence, Describe Image and Retell Lecture, Write Essay and Summarize Written Text.
BandLadder's AI scores practice answers on these same traits so you can see where points go, but only Pearson issues an official PTE score.
Frequently asked questions
What are the scoring traits in PTE Academic?+
Content, form, pronunciation, oral fluency, grammar, vocabulary, spelling, development, structure and coherence, and general linguistic range. Which traits apply depends on the question type.
Is negative marking used in PTE Academic?+
Only on Multiple Choice, Multiple Answers (Reading and Listening) and Highlight Incorrect Words. A wrong choice costs a point, and the item cannot go below zero.
What happens if I get zero for content or form?+
The Score Guide says the whole response then scores nothing, so an off-topic essay or one under 120 words earns no points on any trait.
Are enabling skills still scored in PTE?+
Not as reported scores. Pearson replaced them with a private Skills Profile in November 2021. Traits such as grammar and pronunciation still count inside individual questions.
Does PTE Core use the same scoring criteria?+
No. Core has a different set of question types, including Write Email, and its own score guide, so check Pearson's PTE Core scoring page.
Keep reading
Related
- How the PTE score is calculated
- PTE Academic vs PTE Core
- Free PTE mock test
- PTE to IELTS score converter
- All 711 guides
Verified against the linked official sources on 4 October 2026. Rules change: confirm on the official page before you book or apply.
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