PTE exam format: task types, timing and sections explained

The PTE is a computer-based, AI-scored English test that runs for about two hours in one sitting. This guide walks through the two PTE products, the four skills they measure, every one of the 20 task types with its prompt length, timing and how many of each you can expect, the order the sections appear in, and the thing that confuses most first-timers: why a single task can score more than one skill at once.

The two PTE products: Academic and Core

Pearson offers two PTE exams, and both are taken at a test centre on a computer with a headset:

• PTE Academic is the university-and-visa test. It is accepted for higher-education admission worldwide and for many student and skilled-migration visas in Australia, the UK, New Zealand and beyond. Its content leans academic, with lectures, charts and longer reading passages.
• PTE Core is the general and workplace-English test, accepted for Canadian economic immigration. It keeps the same four skills and scoring scale but swaps the most academic tasks for everyday, work-style ones such as responding to a situation and writing an email.

Both report an overall score and four skill scores on the 10 to 90 scale. For how those numbers are produced, see how PTE is scored.

The four skills

Every PTE test measures four communicative skills: Speaking, Writing, Reading and Listening. Underneath them sit six enabling skills (pronunciation, oral fluency, grammar, vocabulary, spelling and written discourse) that the tasks draw on. The tasks are grouped into three on-screen parts in this order:

1. Part 1, Speaking and Writing (roughly 54 to 67 minutes)
2. Part 2, Reading (roughly 29 to 30 minutes)
3. Part 3, Listening (roughly 30 to 43 minutes)

There is no scheduled break. The exact number of items varies slightly from test to test, which is why the counts below are given as ranges, exactly as they appear across our mock tests.

PTE Academic task types

PTE Academic has 19 task types across the four skills. Here is the full set, with the prompt length you get, the time you have to answer, and roughly how many of each appear in a test.

PTE Core task types

PTE Core uses the same four-skill structure but a slightly different task mix. It keeps Read Aloud, Repeat Sentence, Describe Image and Answer Short Question, adds two workplace-style speaking tasks, and uses an email task in place of the academic essay.

How integrated tasks work

The single most important thing to understand about the PTE format is that many tasks contribute to more than one skill. Your four reported skill scores are not the tasks sorted neatly by the part you saw them in. They are the result of every task feeding into the skills it actually tests. A few examples:

• Read Aloud appears in the Speaking part but feeds both your Speaking and your Reading score, because you have to read text accurately before you can say it well.
• Write From Dictation appears in the Listening part but feeds both your Listening and your Writing score, since you must hear the sentence and then type it correctly.
• Highlight Incorrect Words and Highlight Correct Summary feed both Listening and Reading.
• Summarize Spoken Text feeds both Listening and Writing.

This is why a single weak enabling skill, say pronunciation, can quietly pull down several task scores at once, and why practising whole, timed tests matters more than drilling one task in isolation.

What to expect on test day

• You sit at a computer in a test centre and speak into a headset microphone. Other candidates may be speaking at the same time.
• The test runs straight through in about two hours with no scheduled break.
• Speaking and Writing come first, then Reading, then Listening.
• Most tasks are timed individually, so pacing matters: you cannot bank unused time from a quick task for a slow one.
• Results are usually available within about 48 hours.

Frequently asked questions

How long is the PTE exam?

Both PTE Academic and PTE Core run for about two hours in a single sitting, with no scheduled break, split across the Speaking and Writing part, the Reading part and the Listening part.

What is the difference between PTE Academic and PTE Core?

PTE Academic is for university study and many student and skilled-migration visas; PTE Core is for general and workplace English and is accepted for Canadian economic immigration. They share the four skills and the 10 to 90 scale but differ in some tasks: Core adds Summarize Group Discussion, Respond to a Situation and Write Email.

How many task types are there?

There are 20 task types in total across the two products and four skills. A single test draws from this fixed set but does not always show every type.

What does an integrated task mean?

It is a task that scores more than one skill at once, such as Read Aloud (Speaking and Reading) or Write From Dictation (Listening and Writing).