Scoring
What the August 2025 PTE Scoring Change Actually Means
Two new Speaking tasks, human review on the essay, and per-skill migration thresholds. Here is what changed and what it means for your target score.
Published July 19, 2026 · 2 min read
On 7 August 2025 the PTE Academic format changed in three ways that matter for anyone preparing right now. Most preparation material online still describes the previous format, which is why so much of what you will read about target scores is now wrong.
Two new Speaking tasks
Respond to a Situation and Summarize Group Discussion were added to Part 1. Both are scored on content, oral fluency and pronunciation like the other spoken tasks, but neither has much published preparation material yet.
Summarize Group Discussion is the longest spoken response in the exam at two minutes, and it asks you to track three separate speakers. Setting up three note columns before the audio starts is most of the technique.
The essay is reviewed by people again
Write Essay returned to human expert review, assessing development, structure, coherence and language use. A memorised template that fills 250 words with scaffolding and little actual argument scores poorly on precisely the traits human reviewers are looking at.
Migration thresholds now differ by skill
This is the change that invalidated the most published advice — though not quite in the way it is usually reported. Australian skilled migration has always assessed each of the four skills against its own threshold; there was never an overall-average provision to abolish. What changed is that the four thresholds stopped being the same number.
Superior English used to mean 79 in every skill. It now means a different minimum in each one, and Speaking asks for considerably more than Listening. So the widely repeated "PTE 79 across the board" is not wrong because averaging ended — it is wrong because a single figure can no longer describe four different requirements.
One important exception: if you sat PTE before 7 August 2025, the old uniform thresholds still apply to that result, provided you apply within its validity period. Check your test date before deciding which table you are reading.
The practical consequence is stark: an applicant scoring 90 in listening, reading and writing but below the threshold in speaking receives zero English points. There is no averaging and no compensation.
Predicted overall
67
- IELTS equivalent
- 7
- CEFR level
- B2
Upper intermediate
Your weakest skill is Speaking. Raising it lifts your overall band faster than improving an already strong skill.
Because your weakest skill determines your level, the fastest route to more points is almost always the skill you have been avoiding — not the one you enjoy practising.
What to do about it
Work out the per-skill thresholds for your actual target before you build a study plan. The Australia PR points calculator checks each skill against its own current minimum, and the requirements page lists the current numbers.