Your overall score in the Pearson Test of English Academic is the total score points earned from all tasks. It is a combination of the scores for content, form and enabling skills. It is not the average of the scores achieved in each communicative skill (Listening, Reading, Speaking and Writing), unlike the IELTS overall band score which is equivalent to the mean score of all skills.
If you’re wondering what’s the average score achieved by test takers, that’ll be hard to answer. Candidates have various target scores, depending on the purpose for taking the exam. There is no estimated PTE Academic average score computed based on a statistical sample of actual scores earned.
PTE Academic and CEF Average Tasks
The Council of Europe (2001) created a six-level framework called the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEF) which serves as a benchmark for language ability. The CEF is used as a standard reference by employers, universities, and candidates in reading scores achieved in any language qualification exam.
Shown in this table is the equivalent PTE Academic Scores that a test taker must achieve to successfully function in the easiest, average and most difficult tasks of each CEF Level.
| CEF Level | User Classification | Easiest | Average | Most Difficult |
| C2 | Proficient User | 80 | 85 | NA |
| C1 | 67 | 76 | 84 | |
| B2 | Independent User | 51 | 59 | 75 |
| B1 | 36 | 43 | 58 | |
| A2 | Basic User | 24 | 30 | 42 |
Listen to this Episode of the EasyPTE Podcast:
Click ‘Play’ below to hear the episode. When you’re done, subscribe using the links to the right to get access to all our episodes! Or simply search for ‘EasyPTE’ wherever you get your podcasts.
