One reference page for the whole PTE Academic scale — every 10–90 band mapped to CEFR levels and approximate IELTS scores, with per-skill scoring, the August 2025 changes, and where the visa thresholds sit.
PTE Academic bands mapped to CEFR and approximate IELTS — using Pearson's current July 2025 concordance.
| PTE score | CEFR level | Approx. IELTS (overall) | What it means |
|---|---|---|---|
| 85–90 | C2 | ~8.0–9.0 | Mastery — near-native precision and fluency |
| 76–84 | C1 | ~7.5–8.0 | Advanced — effective in academic and professional settings |
| 59–75 | B2 | ~6.5–7.5 | Upper-intermediate — independent user, most uni entry sits here |
| 43–58 | B1 | ~5.5–6.5 | Intermediate — copes with routine work and study contexts |
| 30–42 | A2 | ~4.5–5.5 | Elementary — basic everyday communication |
| 10–29 | A1 | Below 4.5 | Beginner — very limited range |
Two honesty notes. First, the IELTS column uses Pearson's July 2025 concordance — the current one. Older charts (for example, the long-familiar "PTE 65 = IELTS 7.0") give different numbers, so if a website or agent quotes something else, check which version they are using. Second, a concordance is a statistical approximation, not an official equivalence: the university, employer or immigration body you are applying to decides which table it uses. For band-by-band conversion in both directions, use the PTE to IELTS converter or the IELTS to PTE converter.
It is not a percentage, and it is not marks out of 90.
PTE reports on the Global Scale of English (GSE), Pearson's granular proficiency scale running from 10 to 90. It is criterion-referenced: your score reflects demonstrated language ability against fixed descriptors, not your rank against other candidates on the day. That is why there is no "pass mark" — a 58 means the same thing in every sitting.
Your score report shows five numbers: an overall score plus four communicative skills scores (Listening, Reading, Speaking, Writing), each on the same 10–90 scale. The overall score is not a simple average of the four skills — it is computed from your performance across all scored items. Since August 2025, Pearson no longer reports the old "enabling skills" sub-scores (grammar, oral fluency, pronunciation, spelling, vocabulary, written discourse) as separate numbers.
Whether a given number is "good" depends entirely on what you need it for — that question has its own page: what is a good PTE score.
PTE Academic has 22 task types, and 8 of them feed two skills at once.
This is the part most score charts get wrong. Several tasks are integrated — one performance contributes to two skill scores. Here is the accurate map:
| Task | Skills scored |
|---|---|
| Repeat Sentence | Listening + Speaking |
| Re-tell Lecture | Listening + Speaking |
| Summarize Group Discussion | Listening + Speaking |
| Summarize Written Text | Reading + Writing |
| Summarize Spoken Text | Listening + Writing |
| Highlight Correct Summary | Listening + Reading |
| Highlight Incorrect Words | Listening + Reading |
| Write From Dictation | Listening + Writing |
The other 14 tasks each score a single skill — including two that are widely misreported: Read Aloud scores Speaking only (not Reading), and Answer Short Question scores Listening only. Knowing which tasks feed which skill is the fastest way to target a weak section; the full breakdown of all 22 tasks lives on our PTE question types guide, with timings and word limits on the word limits and timings page.
If your score chart predates August 2025, parts of it are out of date.
Pearson updated PTE Academic on 7 August 2025. The headline changes that affect how you read a score chart:
The full changelog is on our August 2025 scoring changes page, and the Australia-specific shift is unpacked in the 65 vs 79 rule change explainer.
Immigration bodies do not use CEFR bands — they set their own per-skill cut-offs.
Australia (skilled migration, since 7 August 2025) uses three per-section tiers on PTE Academic — Competent (L47/R48/W51/S54), Proficient (58/59/69/76, worth 10 points) and Superior (69/70/85/88, worth 20 points). Every section must clear the bar in one test, and note that Superior's real walls are Writing 85 and Speaking 88 — the old "79 in each" shorthand is no longer correct. Full tables and strategy: PTE score for Australia PR and how to get 20 points.
Canada is different in two ways: Express Entry accepts PTE Core, not PTE Academic, and IRCC converts scores to CLB levels per skill, with your lowest skill governing. See the PTE Core to CLB chart or run your numbers through the Core-to-CLB calculator. The two exams are compared in PTE Academic vs PTE Core.
The practical details people check a score chart for.
Once you know your target band on this chart, work backwards from it: the study plan generator builds a schedule from your current and target scores, and you can benchmark yourself today with a free scored mock test.
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