[PTE Major Update 2025] New Task Types, Human Scoring & IELTS Alignment

From 7 August 2025, PTE Academic and PTE Academic UKVI will undergo significant structural changes aimed at better assessing real-world English proficiency and aligning more closely with the CEFR framework.

Whether you’re applying for university, skilled migration, or a Graduate 485 visa – this reform marks a major shift in how candidates will be tested and scored.

What’s Changing? A More Practical, Performance-Based PTE

To reflect real-life communication needs, two scenario-based speaking tasks will be added:

• Summarise Group Discussion (SGD): You’ll listen to a 2-minute academic group discussion and then have 10 seconds to prepare a 2-minute spoken summary covering all viewpoints.
• Respond to a Situation (RTS): You’ll be presented with a scenario (e.g., group project issue, assignment extension) and must respond appropriately, showing natural tone and logic.

With these additions, PTE now includes 22 task types, making speaking assessment more dynamic and contextualised.

Human Scoring Expanded – No More Template-Based Shortcuts

The days of relying on memorised templates are numbered.

From August 2025, seven task types will be partially or fully reviewed by human raters, focusing on content quality, logic, and coherence:

• Describe Image
• Retell Lecture
• SGD (new)
• RTS (new)
• Summarise Written Text
• Summarise Spoken Text
• Write Essay

Pearson has released a new alignment between PTE and IELTS scores. The most striking changes include:

This re-mapping means that aiming for IELTS 7.0+ equivalents now requires a much stronger performance in speaking and writing, especially for test-takers targeting migration, 485 visas, or professional registration.

Scoring Reform: Say Goodbye to Double Credit Tasks

PTE’s unique “cross-skill scoring” model is being partially phased out. Key changes include:

• Read Aloud now contributes only to speaking, not to reading.
• Write Essay receives a broader content score scale (0–6), meaning more emphasis on depth and development of arguments.

Total test length has also been revised:

• Speaking & Writing: 76–84 minutes
• Reading: 23–30 minutes
• Listening: 31–39 minutes

Expect increased question counts in reading and listening – and allocate extra time for essay writing and new speaking tasks.

Final Thoughts: New Era, New Strategy

This update signals a shift from standardised response patterns toward authentic language use under pressure.

For strong candidates, this is a chance to shine. But for those overly reliant on shortcuts and memorised structures, scoring well may become significantly harder.

If you have any questions or would like professional assistance, please feel free to contact us at Riverwood Migration (Email: [email protected]). We are committed to providing transparent, expert migration services to help you achieve your dream of moving to Australia.