Pearson has announced major PTE Academic updates effective August 7, 2025. The test adds two new speaking tasks, revised scoring, human evaluation, and more questions for a fairer, real-life English assessment. Learn what’s new, why it matters, and how to prepare with updated PTE mock tests and courses at ExamsDojo.com.
Pearson has announced important updates to the PTE Academic and PTE Academic UKVI tests, effective from August 7, 2025. Designed to make the test more authentic, balanced, and reflective of real-life English use, these changes aim to help test-takers like you showcase your skills better. If you're gearing up for the PTE, here’s the inside scoop on what's changing, why it matters, and how you can prepare effectively.
PTE Remains Fast, Fair, and Reliable
Despite the updates, Pearson assures that the core strengths of PTE stay intact:
What’s New Starting August 7, 2025?
1. Introduction of Two New Speaking Tasks
Pearson is introducing two new question types to the Speaking & Writing section to better assess real-world communication:
| Task Type | Description | Skills Tested | Time Limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Summarize Group Discussion | Listen to a 3-minute discussion among three people and summarize the key points verbally. | Listening & Speaking | 3 min audio, 2 min response |
| Respond to a Situation | Listen to and read a brief scenario (up to 60 words), then give a natural spoken response. | Speaking | ~40 seconds |
Tips to succeed:
2. Change in Number of Questions in Some Tasks
The overall number of tasks has increased from 52-64 to 65-75, with extended time in Speaking & Writing section to fit the extra questions. For example:
| Module | Question Type | Old Number of Questions | New Number of Questions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Speaking | Describe Image | 3–4 | 5–6 |
| Retell Lecture | 1–2 | 2–3 | |
| Summarize Group Discussion | 0 | 2–3 | |
| Respond to a Situation | 0 | 2–3 | |
| Writing | Summarize Written Text | 1–2 | 2 |
| Write Essay | 1–2 | 1 | |
| Reading | Multiple choice, choose multiple answers | 1–2 | 2–3 |
| Multiple choice, choose single answer | 1–2 | 2–3 | |
| Listening | Summarize Spoken Text | 1–2 | 1 |
| Multiple choice, choose multiple answers | 1–2 | 2–3 | |
| Highlight Correct Summary | 1–2 | 2–3 | |
| Multiple choice, choose single answer | 1–2 | 2–3 |
This change balances the test by adding more open-response questions, allowing better assessment of your higher-order thinking and communication skills.
3. Changes in Skill Scoring Contribution
From August 2025, some question types will count toward only one communicative skill instead of two. Here's an easy-to-understand table:
| Question Type | Current Scoring | New Scoring |
|---|---|---|
| Read Aloud | Speaking & Reading | Speaking only |
| Answer Short Question | Listening & Speaking | Listening only |
| Fill in the Blanks (Reading & Writing) | Reading & Writing | Reading only |
| Fill in the Blanks (Listening) | Listening & Writing | Listening only |
This change simplifies scoring and helps deliver clearer skill assessments.
4. Expanded Scoring Rubrics for Speaking and Writing
Pearson is improving how they score some extended tasks by using more granular rating scales. For example:
| Task | Old Content Scores | New Content Scores |
|---|---|---|
| Describe Image | 0–5 | 0–6 |
| Retell Lecture | 0–5 | 0–6 |
| Summarize Written Text | 0–2 | 0–4 |
| Write Essay | 0–2 or 0–3 (varies) | Up to 0–6 per trait (Content, Development, Structure, Linguistic Range) |
| Summarize Spoken Text | 0–2 | 0–4 |
This helps differentiate performance levels with greater fairness and precision.
5. Extended Human Scoring
While PTE was mainly AI-scored, from August 2025 onwards, human scorers will review some tasks alongside AI for content accuracy and originality. The seven question types with human double marking are:
Note: Pronunciation and fluency assessments remain fully AI-based, ensuring fairness without accent bias. Human review focuses on content relevance only.
How to Prepare for the New PTE Format
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Conclusion
Starting August 7, 2025, PTE Academic is getting smarter and more reflective of your actual English abilities with added question types, human scoring elements, and more refined assessment criteria. These changes are aimed to benefit test-takers by creating a fairer, more authentic English test.
Make sure you adapt your study plan to include these new tasks and scoring styles for the best results!
Prepare confidently with ExamsDojo.com — offering expert PTE courses and updated practice tests according to the new format.