PTE Academic scores: Pearson's 2025 IELTS table, and why IELTS 7 in speaking takes 76 on PTE

The score report has an overall score and four communicative skills, listening, reading, speaking and writing, all on 10–90. You answer 65 to 75 questions of 22 question types.

The overall is not the average of the four. Pearson's score guide says so in as many words. Some questions test two skills at once, such as listening and speaking or reading and writing, and count towards both. This comparison is ours: the Duolingo English Test says the opposite of its own scale, that its four subscores average to the overall.

Scoring is by machine, trained on human ratings of every speaking and writing question. Humans still score unusual responses the machine cannot read reliably, and some tasks, such as Describe Image and Retell Lecture, always get a human review of content. Results typically arrive within 48 hours.

From Pearson's July 2025 concordance study, 1,522 people who took both tests within 90 days, in official test centres. Overall, then each skill:

IELTS 4.5 · overall 24–30 · listening 26–32 · reading 29–35 · speaking 14–23 · writing 17–28

IELTS 5.0 · overall 31–38 · listening 33–39 · reading 36–41 · speaking 24–38 · writing 29–40

IELTS 5.5 · overall 39–46 · listening 40–46 · reading 42–47 · speaking 39–53 · writing 41–50

IELTS 6.0 · overall 47–54 · listening 47–52 · reading 48–53 · speaking 54–65 · writing 51–59

IELTS 6.5 · overall 55–62 · listening 53–57 · reading 54–58 · speaking 66–75 · writing 60–68

IELTS 7.0 · overall 63–70 · listening 58–63 · reading 59–64 · speaking 76–82 · writing 69–76

IELTS 7.5 · overall 71–78 · listening 64–68 · reading 65–69 · speaking 83–87 · writing 77–84

IELTS 8.0 · overall 79–85 · listening 69–74 · reading 70–74 · speaking 88–89 · writing 85–89

IELTS 8.5 · overall 86–89 · listening 75–80 · reading 75–80 · speaking 90 · writing 90

IELTS 9.0 · overall 90 · listening 81–90 · reading 81–90 · speaking none · writing none

Pearson's own disclaimer applies: the table shows how scores compare, not which tests or scores an institution or visa accepts.

Speaking runs high, listening and reading run low. For IELTS 7.0 the overall range is 63–70, but speaking needs 76–82 and listening only 58–63. Our reading: a PTE speaking score that looks comfortably above a PTE overall requirement can still be the equivalent of a lower IELTS speaking band. If a requirement is set skill by skill in IELTS terms, convert each skill on its own row.

At the top, speaking and writing run out. PTE 90 in speaking or writing corresponds to IELTS 8.5, and the IELTS 9.0 row has no PTE speaking or writing value at all.

The overall row barely moved. Pearson says the 2025 overall values are consistent with its 2020 and 2011 studies, so an older overall conversion is still close; the skill rows are what is new.

Pearson's typical minimums, which it says to check against each institution: 36–50 for foundation courses, 51–60 for undergraduate degrees and 57–67 for postgraduate. Institutions may set only an overall minimum, or add a higher or lower floor on one skill.

PTE Academic is accepted for visas in Australia and New Zealand, and PTE Academic UKVI, the same report with a SELT number, for UK work visas and study below degree level. For Canada the test is PTE Core, explained in our PTE Core guide. Scores are shared digitally with as many institutions as you like, free, and institutions do not accept paper or PDF copies.

How the IELTS bands themselves work is in our IELTS guide. All five tests side by side: IELTS, TOEFL, PTE, Duolingo and TOEIC compared.