PTE academic test has changed. It’s not getting harder and the question types are not changing. From 16th of November 2021, there have been 4 important changes to PTE Academic exam. Before talking about the changes, let’s talk about what has not changed in PTE exam.
What has not changed in the PTE exam
- The test did not get harder.
- The question types were not changed.
- Your score requirements have not changed.
- The difficulty level is the same.
- The tasks are the same.
- Your score requirements are the same.
What has changed in the PTE exam
Based on the in-depth analysis by the team, PTE Academic has been reduced into “2 Hour” test with the very same accurate and reliable results. Which means now you’ve got even more time to focus on the other missions in your life than worrying about PTE tests!
1. The test has become shorter
This is the major change that you need to keep in mind, and it’s not a bad one at all for you. In brief, the test length is reduced from around 3 hours to around 2 hours.
The personal introduction have not change. The speaking and writing section have been reduced to 54-67 minutes. The reading section reduced to 29-30 minutes. The optional break is removed and the listening section will reduce to 30-43 minutes.
So, all up, there is a one-hour decrease in the time provided to complete PTE Academic. And considering the question types aren’t changing and it didn’t not get harder, this is a win for test-takers. The test will still measure your language skills just as reliably, validly and fairly as before.
2. There will be fewer test questions
To decrease the overall time of the test Pearson needed to reduce the number of questions. This is the 2nd change.
- Speaking: You’ll still do the 1 minute personal introduction – no change there. The biggest number of question reductions happens in speaking. You can see that you get the same number of Read Aloud and Repeat Sentences – that’s not changing – but the number of Describe Images reduced to 3 or 4, the number of Retell lectures reduced to 1 or 2, and the number of Answer Short Questions reduced to 5 or 6.
- Writing: So instead of doing 2 or 3 summarize written texts you’ll do only 1 or 2, and the number of essays you write is the same at 1 or 2. All up, the number of speaking and writing questions decreased from 39-48 questions to 28-36 questions in total.
- Reading: There is no change to reading and writing fill in the blanks. Multiple choice multiple answers are decreased from 3-4 questions to only 1-2 questions. Reorder paragraph and fill in the blanks didn’t change. But you need to do 1 or 2 fewer questions in multiple choice, single answer. Overall, the number of reading questions you will do in the 2 hour test is 13-18 questions.
- Listening: Summarize Spoken Text, Multiple Choice Multiple Answers, Highlight Correct Summary, Multiple Choice Single Answer and Select Missing word all reduced by 1 or 2 questions. Fill in the Blanks, Highlight Incorrect Word and Write from Dictation all stay the same. Overall, the number of questions dropped from 15 to 22 to 12 to 20.
3. Some minor changes
- The optional 10-minute break has been removed so that you can get the test done faster. So, remember to visit the restroom and grab a drink before your test!
- Your Overall and Communicative skill scores will still be visible, however enabling skill scores won’t appear any more on score reports
- You will receive test feedback and support to your performance, which you can access only from your MyPTE account.
Summary of the changes
- The two-hour test has all the important features that are accurate, secure and provides fast results.
- Since the test time got shorter, the number of questions will reduce as well from 70-82 to 52-64.
- The optional 10-minute break has been removed so that you can get the test done faster. So, remember to visit the restroom and grab a drink before your test!
- There are no changes to the types of questions within PTE Academic.
- All 20 question types will still feature. Only the frequency of some will be reduced.
- In PTE Academic you won’t get the minimum or a maximum number of questions but a number within the range. So, familiarize yourself with each of the 20 question types presented within the test by taking the PTE Academic online course.
- Your Overall and Communicative skill scores will still be visible, however enabling skill scores won’t appear any more on score reports.
- You will receive test feedback and support to your performance, which you can access only from your MyPTE account.
So, if you are a PTE aspirant and looking to sit for your PTE exam, prepare with the new test format in our portal today! Our systems are New Format Ready! You can also go through the updated PTE Score Guide.
For more Professional PTE Training & Advice, contact us now!
