# PTE scoring guide and marks distribution

PTE marks distribution and how every Academic task is scored: items per test, the skills it feeds, partial credit and negative marking.

## All 22 tasks at a glance

From Pearson's task pages and score guide, compiled task by task. Each task links to its practice questions.

| Task | Part | Items per test | Feeds | How it's scored | Negative marking |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [Read Aloud](/pte/practice/read-aloud) | Speaking & Writing | 6-7 | Speaking | Content, oral fluency, pronunciation | No |
| [Repeat Sentence](/pte/practice/repeat-sentence) | Speaking & Writing | 10-12 | Speaking, Listening | Content, oral fluency, pronunciation | No |
| [Describe Image](/pte/practice/describe-image) | Speaking & Writing | 5-6 | Speaking | Content, oral fluency, pronunciation | No |
| [Re-tell Lecture](/pte/practice/re-tell-lecture) | Speaking & Writing | 2-3 | Speaking, Listening | Content rewards the main points of the lecture, in a sensible order, with the relationships between them made clear. | No |
| [Answer Short Question](/pte/practice/answer-short-question) | Speaking & Writing | 5-6 | Listening | Correct or incorrect, 1 point for a correct response | No |
| [Summarize Group Discussion](/pte/practice/summarize-group-discussion) | Speaking & Writing | 2-3 | Speaking, Listening | Content rewards the main threads of the discussion and how the speakers relate to each other: who proposed what, who disagreed, and what the group settled on. | No |
| [Respond to a Situation](/pte/practice/respond-to-a-situation) | Speaking & Writing | 2-3 | Speaking | Content asks whether your response deals with the situation described: the right speech act, addressed to the right person, with a reason or a solution where the situation calls for one. | No |
| [Summarize Written Text](/pte/practice/summarize-written-text) | Speaking & Writing | 2 | Writing, Reading | Content, form, grammar, vocabulary | No |
| [Write Essay](/pte/practice/write-essay) | Speaking & Writing | 1 | Writing | Content, form, development, structure and coherence, grammar, vocabulary, spelling, general linguistic range | No |
| [Reading & Writing: Fill in the Blanks](/pte/practice/reading-writing-fill-in-the-blanks) | Reading | 5-6 | Reading | Partial credit, one point per correct blank | No |
| [Reading: Multiple Choice, Multiple Answers](/pte/practice/reading-multiple-choice-multiple-answers) | Reading | 2-3 | Reading | +1 per correct option, -1 per incorrect option | Yes |
| [Re-order Paragraphs](/pte/practice/reorder-paragraphs) | Reading | 2-3 | Reading | Partial credit for correctly ordered pairs | No |
| [Reading: Fill in the Blanks](/pte/practice/reading-fill-in-the-blanks) | Reading | 4-5 | Reading | Partial credit, one point per correct blank | No |
| [Reading: Multiple Choice, Single Answer](/pte/practice/reading-multiple-choice-single-answer) | Reading | 2-3 | Reading | Correct or incorrect, no penalty for a wrong answer | No |
| [Summarize Spoken Text](/pte/practice/summarize-spoken-text) | Listening | 1 | Writing, Listening | Content, form, grammar, vocabulary, spelling | No |
| [Listening: Multiple Choice, Multiple Answers](/pte/practice/listening-multiple-choice-multiple-answers) | Listening | 2-3 | Listening | +1 per correct option, -1 per incorrect option | Yes |
| [Listening: Fill in the Blanks](/pte/practice/listening-fill-in-the-blanks) | Listening | 2-3 | Listening | 1 point per correct word spelled correctly | No |
| [Highlight Correct Summary](/pte/practice/highlight-correct-summary) | Listening | 2-3 | Reading, Listening | Correct or incorrect, no penalty | No |
| [Listening: Multiple Choice, Single Answer](/pte/practice/listening-multiple-choice-single-answer) | Listening | 2-3 | Listening | Correct or incorrect, no penalty | No |
| [Select Missing Word](/pte/practice/select-missing-word) | Listening | 1-2 | Listening | Correct or incorrect, no penalty | No |
| [Highlight Incorrect Words](/pte/practice/highlight-incorrect-words) | Listening | 2-3 | Reading, Listening | +1 per correct word, -1 per incorrect word | Yes |
| [Write from Dictation](/pte/practice/write-from-dictation) | Listening | 3-4 | Writing, Listening | 1 point per correct word spelled correctly | No |

*Compiled by Testmigo from Pearson's task pages*

## Marks distribution: which tasks feed each score

Each score is built from several tasks. These are the ones that feed it.

| Score | Tasks that feed it |
| --- | --- |
| Speaking | [Read Aloud](/pte/practice/read-aloud), [Repeat Sentence](/pte/practice/repeat-sentence), [Describe Image](/pte/practice/describe-image), [Re-tell Lecture](/pte/practice/re-tell-lecture), [Summarize Group Discussion](/pte/practice/summarize-group-discussion), [Respond to a Situation](/pte/practice/respond-to-a-situation) |
| Writing | [Summarize Written Text](/pte/practice/summarize-written-text), [Write Essay](/pte/practice/write-essay), [Summarize Spoken Text](/pte/practice/summarize-spoken-text), [Write from Dictation](/pte/practice/write-from-dictation) |
| Reading | [Summarize Written Text](/pte/practice/summarize-written-text), [Reading & Writing: Fill in the Blanks](/pte/practice/reading-writing-fill-in-the-blanks), [Reading: Multiple Choice, Multiple Answers](/pte/practice/reading-multiple-choice-multiple-answers), [Re-order Paragraphs](/pte/practice/reorder-paragraphs), [Reading: Fill in the Blanks](/pte/practice/reading-fill-in-the-blanks), [Reading: Multiple Choice, Single Answer](/pte/practice/reading-multiple-choice-single-answer), [Highlight Correct Summary](/pte/practice/highlight-correct-summary), [Highlight Incorrect Words](/pte/practice/highlight-incorrect-words) |
| Listening | [Repeat Sentence](/pte/practice/repeat-sentence), [Re-tell Lecture](/pte/practice/re-tell-lecture), [Answer Short Question](/pte/practice/answer-short-question), [Summarize Group Discussion](/pte/practice/summarize-group-discussion), [Summarize Spoken Text](/pte/practice/summarize-spoken-text), [Listening: Multiple Choice, Multiple Answers](/pte/practice/listening-multiple-choice-multiple-answers), [Listening: Fill in the Blanks](/pte/practice/listening-fill-in-the-blanks), [Highlight Correct Summary](/pte/practice/highlight-correct-summary), [Listening: Multiple Choice, Single Answer](/pte/practice/listening-multiple-choice-single-answer), [Select Missing Word](/pte/practice/select-missing-word), [Highlight Incorrect Words](/pte/practice/highlight-incorrect-words), [Write from Dictation](/pte/practice/write-from-dictation) |

## Partial credit

Most objective tasks give part marks. Fill in the Blanks scores each blank, Re-order Paragraphs scores each pair of neighbours in the right order, and Write From Dictation scores each word spelled correctly.

## Negative marking

Reading: Multiple Choice, Multiple Answers, Listening: Multiple Choice, Multiple Answers, Highlight Incorrect Words take a point off for each wrong choice or wrongly marked word, down to zero for the item. Only tick or click what you're sure of.

## One task, two scores

8 of the 22 tasks feed two scores. Time on these moves two numbers at once: [Repeat Sentence](/pte/practice/repeat-sentence), [Re-tell Lecture](/pte/practice/re-tell-lecture), [Summarize Group Discussion](/pte/practice/summarize-group-discussion), [Summarize Written Text](/pte/practice/summarize-written-text), [Summarize Spoken Text](/pte/practice/summarize-spoken-text), [Highlight Correct Summary](/pte/practice/highlight-correct-summary) and more.

## PTE scoring questions

### Which PTE tasks have negative marking?

Reading: Multiple Choice, Multiple Answers, Listening: Multiple Choice, Multiple Answers, Highlight Incorrect Words. A wrong answer costs a point, but an item can't score below zero.

### Does each PTE task have a fixed weight?

Per-task percentages aren't in Pearson's score guide we cite, so we don't show them. Figures you see elsewhere are estimates. What Pearson does publish is which skills each task feeds and how it's marked, which is this table.

### Why does one answer change two of my scores?

8 tasks are integrated: they feed two skills at once. Write From Dictation, for example, counts towards Listening and Writing.