PTE Academic assesses listening, reading, speaking and writing all via computer in a single 3 hour test session.

To complete a PTE Academic test, you will need to attend a secure Pearson test centre. You will use a computer and headset to listen to, read and respond to questions.

During the three-hour test session there will be three main parts to the test: speaking and writing (together), listening and reading. There are twenty different question formats, ranging from multiple choice through to essay writing and interpreting information.

PTE Academic assesses real-life, academic content, so you will hear excerpts from lectures and view graphs and charts. You will hear a range of accents in the test, from British and American to non-native speakers, so you will be exposed to the type of accents you will encounter in everyday life.

PART 1: SPEAKING & WRITING (77 – 93 minutes)

• Personal Introduction
• Read aloud
• Repeat sentence
• Describe image
• Re-tell lecture
• Answer short question
• One sentence
• Paragraph
• Essay (20mins)

PART 2: READING (32 – 41 minutes)

• Multiple choice questions (x2)
• Re-order paragraphs
• Fill in the blanks (x2)

A ten minute break is optional

PART 3: LISTENING (45 – 57 minutes)

• Summarize spoken text
• Multiple choice x2
• Fill the blanks
• Highlight the correct summary
• Select missing word
• Highlight incorrect words
• Write from dictation