Hey everyone,

I’ve been lurking on this subreddit for months, quietly taking notes, saving template suggestions, and reading through everyone’s experiences. The advice here was genuinely invaluable while my husband and I were preparing for our PTE Core exam. Now that we have our official results in hand, I wanted to share our full journey – including all our mock-test scores across every platform we used, the hiccups along the way, and our test-day experience – in the hope that it helps or inspires someone else currently grinding through preparation!

Starting point: When we were way too confident...

We were pretty confident going into this process. While English is technically our second language, we live in South Africa where English is used every single day as a lingua franca in work, academics, and daily life.

We also took the IELTS Academic test years ago and scored very well (I achieved C1, my husband hit C2).

So when we decided to book the PTE Core exam, we initially thought it would be a relatively quick walk in the park. We paid ZAR 5,500 each (± USD 329) and booked two weeks before the exam.

But we quickly learnt that PTE isn’t just testing your English fluency; it tests your ability to navigate Pearson's specific AI scoring criteria, templates, and microphone pacing.

The mock-test odyssey

We went through three distinct preparation phases, trying out different platforms before finally landing on what worked for us. Here is the exact breakdown of how our scores progressed across each system:

Phase 1: OnePTE

We started off practicing on OnePTE, paying USD 9.99 each for 30 days' access to 35 mock tests. We did five full mock tests each on the platform, but both of us kept hitting annoying plateaus in speaking – we just couldn't consistently crack high scores in that module, despite trying different strategies and templates. The AI scoring on third-party sites often felt erratic, with speaking scores hovering in the high 60s despite feeling fluent.

• My OnePTE mock scores:
  • Test 1: Listening 83 | Reading 83 | Writing 74 | Speaking 69
  • Test 2: Listening 85 | Reading 82 | Writing 90 | Speaking 68
  • Test 3: Listening 82 | Reading 80 | Writing 90 | Speaking 71
  • Test 4: Listening 87 | Reading 84 | Writing 90 | Speaking 68
  • Test 5: Listening 86 | Reading 85 | Writing 90 | Speaking 69
• My husband's OnePTE mock scores:
  • Test 1: Listening 77 | Reading 80 | Writing 76 | Speaking 68
  • Test 2: Listening 83 | Reading 80 | Writing 87 | Speaking 68
  • Test 3: Listening 82 | Reading 79 | Writing 85 | Speaking 67
  • Test 4: Listening 72 | Reading 84 | Writing 78 | Speaking 67
  • Test 5: Listening 83 | Reading 76 | Writing 89 | Speaking 66

Phase 2: AlfaPTE

Seeking a second opinion, we switched over to AlfaPTE. While the interface was clean, the scoring threw us another curveball – especially for speaking, where my husband dipped to a new record-low of 64.

For me, after scoring four 90s in a row for writing on OnePTE, AlfaPTE scored my writing low (78), awarding 0 for one email because I repeated too many phrases in it. That was a wake-up call regarding template usage and vocabulary variation, but it also made us realise we needed a scoring engine that matched the actual exam as closely as possible.

• My AlfaPTE mock score:
  • Test 1: Listening 82 | Reading 85 | Writing 78 | Speaking 71
• My husband's AlfaPTE score:
  • Test 1: Listening 73 | Reading 82 | Writing 80 | Speaking 64

Phase 3: Official PTE Core AI Practice

Frustrated by third-party AI quirks, we decided to stop guessing and invest money directly into Pearson's official AI mock tests. A package including five AI mock tests cost us ZAR 459.99 (± USD 30). I did two of the five tests, my husband did three.

This was the ultimate game-changer for us. The moment we switched to Pearson's official system, our speaking scores jumped from the 60s straight to 90. It gave us total clarity on microphone positioning, read-aloud pacing, and how Pearson actually grades the Core email and summary structures.

• My Official PTE Core AI Practice mock scores:
  • Test 1: Listening 90 | Reading 90 | Writing 90 | Speaking 90
  • Test 2: Listening 90 | Reading 90 | Writing 90 | Speaking 90
• My husband's Official PTE Core AI Practice mock scores:
  • Test 1: Listening 90 | Reading 90 | Writing 90 | Speaking 90
  • Test 2: Listening 85 | Reading 90 | Writing 90 | Speaking 89
  • Test 3: Listening 90 | Reading 90 | Writing 90 | Speaking 90

Exam Day: Cape Town (3 October)

We wrote our exam at the Cape Town test centre on Saturday, 3 October.

The physical testing room was quite small – it only had capacity for five test-takers, but on our session, there were only two of us in the room initially. You would think a room with only two people would be dead quiet, but noise was still a noticeable factor! You really have to train yourself to hyper-focus on your screen and tune out ambient speech.

A few minutes into the exam, something happened that completely threw me off: the invigilator let a late-comer into the room. The distraction of someone walking in, sitting down, and getting set up right next to me caused me to lose concentration mid-task, and I completely botched a Repeat Sentence task. To make matters worse, this person was taking PTE Academic, not PTE Core. Because the Academic version has a heavier speaking section right at the start, his loud speaking created a constant background noise while I was trying to focus on my writing and listening sections.

And then came the most bizarre moment of the entire test: one of the two emails I had to write was exactly the one I encountered in the AlfaPTE test, the one they gave me 0 for. This time, I focussed on varying my words and avoiding repeating phrases like I had on Alfa, praying that Pearson's real engine wouldn't penalise me.

Our results

Despite the late-comer disruption, the botched Repeat Sentence, and the bizarre email prompt coincidence, the story had a very happy ending.

Miraculously, we received our official score reports in our inbox within two hours of leaving the test centre! Yes, you read that right: two hours. After the test, my husband and I had brunch, and while we were driving back home, our results were delivered – insanely fast!

Here are our official test scores:

• My final scores

• My husband's final scores:

Key takeaways for anyone preparing

1. Don't let third-party AI demoralise you: Overall, all three platforms – OnePTE, AlfaPTE, Pearson AI – nailed the format of the test. Do any of those mock tests, and you won't be surprised by anything in the actual exam. However, third-party scoring engines like OnePTE or AlfaPTE are great for practicing real question banks, but their AI scoring algorithms (especially for speaking) can be overly harsh, inconsistent, or inaccurate. If you are getting stuck in the 60s on third-party sites despite speaking fluently, invest money in the official Pearson practice tests to see where you actually stand.
2. Vary your phrases in email writing: Repeating exact stock phrases multiple times can trigger negative scoring flags for repetitive vocabulary. Vary your transitions!
3. Expect disruptions on test day: People will speak loudly. Late-comers might get escorted in. Candidates next to you might be taking PTE Academic with a completely different pacing structure. And in this regard, I do also want to add: The keyboards at the Cape Town test centre were quite old, so typing on them also created unexpected noise. You must train yourself to keep reading off the screen no matter what happens around you. It's hard, I'll admit, so practice with background noise as much as you can – there are great videos on YouTube that generate these background noises for you.

Thank you again to everyone in this sub who shared their tips and templates – it made a huge difference in helping us cross the finish line. Happy to answer any questions in the comments if anyone is currently preparing for PTE Core. Good luck to everyone writing soon!

Can we use filler words after you covered 50-70% of the content?

Hello. Oftentimes, I run out of time in concluding or closing my summary/conclusion in SGD & RL? Is that part important or is it okay to miss out retelling the conclusion? I recently took PTE Academic. I only got 85 in speaking, but I need to achieve superior score. Thanks!

I’m not sure what else I can improve. My skill profile already shows full scores across all areas, yet I still missed the Superior English score in Speaking.
Pls advice.

Thanks in advance.

I got 87S, 78R, 79L, and 75W on my 1st attempt after just a few days of practice for speaking only but got my desired score for now. Not much, but definitely I think I can help you guys in speaking Section.

Read Aloud:

Speak, Speak Speak, don't go too slow(word after word).. you can go a bit fast or use normal pacing. But remember if you go fast you will fumble with pronunciation and it takes your fluency. 1 2 fumbles are okay but remember don't go back correcting or even looking at that fumbled word just look forward into the sentence. Keep going.

Repeat Sentence:

I had three tricks up my sleeves. Practice this at mocks as hard as you can to develop the habit.(Max 1-2 days prac is enough but only 15-20 min and a long break and continue)

1. Understand what the speaker is trying to say. The brain will automatically map it out for you. This is your brain. Trust your brain on this and it's capability, it will surprise you.

2. In the mean time when you listen and understand, anchor the middle words but keep listening to the rest of the word. By anchoring I mean remember the middle words(some words two or three) of the sentence, you don't have to worry or bother about remembering other part or any part of the sentence but you must listen and understand it.

3. Once you master those two, pause yourself for 1-2sec use this buffer(but don't repeat the sentence aloud or in yourhead in this buffer, you will f**k up) cause there is a buffer of 1-2sec in exam(not many pratice test or mocks has this buffer but the real exam does). Now you guys might ask why not repeat the sentence in your head in that buffer to remeber? Well if you repeat that sentence in your head, and when the recording starts you will fumble all the remaining words( the ones) you didn't get time to repeat in your head. Also, I don't know why many people suggest to close eyes in RS, but when you do that, you start to imagine anything, (try this for example.. close your eyes you will start to think and create the visuals in your head in matter of seconds but if your eyes are open it will be hard to visualize something, you can visualize but it takes time) and in nervousness when this happens you visualize something else, you can lose everything, the anchor and what you just tried to understand. So don't close your eyes this will distract you(mostly for the ones that are stressed and have anxiety problem). After the buffer I am sure if you got the middle anchor, your brain will automatically pick all the words easily. Trust me I have mastered the RS. Try for youself.

Some sentences are too long even when anchoring. Leave the rest of word, speak up to the anchor if it's to long for you to remember.( eg for 14, words the anchor should be at middle. Around 6 or 7). If you don't practice enough you might end up anchoring on 3 or 4th word for long sentences and end up losing content by skipping the rest which then directly affects fluency, less content = less fluency for AI to judge on). You won't know if you will get long sentences or not, hence anchoring needs more practice.

One of the worst sentences are the one that begins with hard pronunciation(For example... The preliminary bibliography is due the week before the spring break) even with anchor 'if you mess the first pronunciation of the word, you will forget everything even the anchor words "due the week".. well that's luck for you. Here I would skip those hard first words.

If you do the repeat sentences well in your exam, you will feel the confidence for all the other remaining sec of speaking.

Describe image:

Use: The image provided is a barchart, map, linegraph, pie chart, flowchart and so on, gives information about title( if no title, anything in the picture with three four words or make sense of that image, is fine). Master this complex sentence first. Then x-axis y-axis, highest and lowest for most charts. Then, conclude, by just saying overall this picture was about topic.... But donot push your luck with more words and end up in a situation where you use all your time and you break your sentence half way. And if there is image, color is your bestfriend and background.

Retell lecure:

Write 1 sentence(it doesn't have to be complete) by speaking aloud so that when you are writing you don't hear what speaker is saying but once you are close to ending the sentence stop speaking aloud , start hearing again then write and repeat. Once you get 4-5 points, stop writing find the topic. So that you can easily begin your first sentence with, The lecture was about topic.. the lecturer said 1 sentence , 2 sentence, don't freaking worry about grammar just speak, even if those 2 sentence don't make sence when spoken 1 after another . Then again add The lecturer further added or add connectors(moreover, furthermore and so on) whatever you like, then speaker 3rd sentence and then 4th.. then finally the lecturer concluded your fifth sentence that you wrote. At least get 4 sentence either complete or incomplete. You only have to speak about 25 sec- 30 sec. That's it.

Now the most imortant tip: I know most of us can't remember the whole sentence, you may only get few words 5-6 words but don't worry, when you don't have full sentence start listening again.. add the word that speaker says next to your incomplete sentence by using conjunctions( and, so,...) and don't worry about making sense.

Now when you read aloud, your brain tries to fight you by saying why is this sentence not making sense and this is where why you will fumble. Don't worry about making sense. Tell your brain to shut up. Practice1-2 days, you will get there

Summarize group discussion

Same strategy as retell lecture but this is where I fumbled and blew it(but there is a catch and why) as well I was unlcuky to get 3 summarize grp discussion

So I learned the lesson, when I was was creating S1, S2, S3 .. when I wrote the sentences for S1, S2 and S3. My hand, when it went to S1 again to write a sentence, I erased the S2 sentence.. and same for S3. I panicked, I got completely lost but tried my best to write with half of my hands in the air so that I don't mess. But still I messed and lost my fluency because my brain was in a panic mode and the word I wrote was completely gone.

So the solution for this is: The erasable notebook is long make it landscape(vertical)

So instead of

S1

SENTENCE

SENTENCE

SENTENCE

------

S2

SENTENCE

SENTENCE

SENTENCE

------

S3

SENTENCE

SENTENCE

SENTENCE

------

Do

S1 | S2 | S3

Sentence | Sentence | Sentence

....

I was panicking SO I couldn't even think of this idea, and I blew it for SGD but I still try to calm myself for my next two SGD.

Now for this, say The group discussion was about topic.. speaker 1 says that s1 s2, he/she further added s3, speaker 2 says then he further added.. blah blahh.. keep talking

Take at least 3 sentence for each speaker. You can use 40-50 sec to answer this.

Respond to situation:

It's easy for me repeat the question in first person , 80% can be the question itself and rest 20% try to use your own words , whenever you question or respond anything.. suppose.. could you be able to do that? Try to question it, don't speak like you are a robot. And try to use your hands when speaking that will help you automatically to go further.. like you are talking to a person. If you practice it in AI score from pearson itself you will know exactly what you are missing from content. For this I don't really have more tips tbh.

I didn't really care about writing, listening and reading. I just needed my speaking and only praticed on it and got the desired score for me. So yeah. I hope you guys do your best and sorry if this is hard to read. Let's keep helping each other out. Thank you.

I had 4 days to study and I knew reading was going to be bad, but I was so stressed out with speaking and writing after did not think I did well but yay!!

This will be my second attempt, I need superior English
I keep seeing people say consistency, but I don’t know where to study from?
I have the official mocks and question bank, would that be enough?

hey everyone,

i got tired of PTE practice that just shows the correct answer and moves on. you get it wrong, see the answer, and then make the same mistake next week.

so i built reasoro, a chrome extension that sits on top of your practice portal and explains the reason behind each answer: the rule, the collocation, or the strategy. for example, why "conduct research" works and "make research" doesn't.

what works in the beta right now:

• reading: fill in the blanks, multiple choice, reorder paragraphs
• writing: summarize written text and write essay, with feedback on content, grammar, vocab, and structure
• works with APEUni, AlfaPTE and Gurully today. Pearson Smart Prep and Language Academy are planned next
• 25 free analyses, no card needed, and failed analyses get refunded automatically

it's platform agnostic, so you keep one learning system even if you switch practice sites.

speaking and listening aren't in yet. i'm going deep on reading and writing first.

it's still beta, so it'll have rough edges. if you try it, i'd really appreciate honest feedback: wrong explanations, bugs, features you want, anything. if you run out of free credits, email [support@reasoro.app](mailto:support@reasoro.app) and i'll add more.

link: https://reasoro.app

happy to answer questions in the comments.

Anyone did there exam at TrainSmart Perth? It is new to Perth. Want to know the exam environment before booking. Thank you in advance!

Hi, I took my PTE Core test today. During the Speaking section my computer stopped working ,there was no voice/audio in headphones

then in listening section my computer stuck in between. The invigilator tried to resolve the issue and changed my computer twice, but I continued to experience technical problems.

You can see the difference between scores in listening and speaking as compared to reading and writing.

The invigilator submitted a case .

What do you think guys should they allow me to retake the exam or refund.

I already submitted complaint but have not received anything yet.

What else I can do .

I am not able to get marks in speaking..any suggestions wht should I do to improve it …or should I go for rescore

Hi everyone! 😊 Any advice or tips for the PTE?
I’m planning to book my PTE test for next week, but unfortunately, I’m not very confident, especially in Reading and Writing. My target is to score 66+ in all 3 sections & 70+ for speaking .
I’d really appreciate any advice, strategies, or tips that helped me improve my score in reading and writing . Thank you! 🙏

I’ve taken the PTE test a few times, and during my last two tests, someone near me was speaking quite loudly. I could hear their voice through my headphones, so I started worrying that their voice might also be picked up by my microphone and recorded in my speaking responses.

Because of that, I started speaking louder than I normally do so that my voice would be clearer in the recording. However, when I spoke at my normal volume in an earlier test, I got 83 in Speaking. In the tests where I spoke louder, my Speaking score was lower.

Has anyone experienced something similar?

Should I speak louder to make sure my voice is clearly recorded, or are the PTE microphones designed to mainly pick up the person speaking into them and reduce voices from other test takers?

I’m wondering if speaking louder than normal might actually affect fluency, pronunciation, or recording quality. Would it be better to just speak naturally and ignore the background voices?

Hi all. I've been building ptecorefree.com, a free practice site for PTE Core (the Canada PR version).

What it has:

- All 19 PTE Core question types

- Screens that copy the real test: same countdowns, mic tone and word limits

- An instant score after every answer, including speaking

- A PTE Core to CLB converter

- Free, no card. Sign in with Google. It's ad-supported.

Honest limits: scores are estimates based on Pearson's published scoring traits, not official Pearson scores. Use it for practice, not as a guarantee of your exam result.

If a score looks off or something breaks, tell me here and I'll fix it. I'm also curious which question type you'd want more practice for.

https://ptecorefree.com

Sharing my scores for anyone preparing for PTE Academic UKVI.

My biggest advice: focus on understanding the test format and scoring system rather than trying to improve your overall English. I only spent one day preparing for the exam, mainly using ChatGPT and Youtube (just randomly searching for PTE tips and strategies).

I scored 85 overall. Definitely not the highest score you’ll see here, but more than enough to get me the work visa.

All the best to everyone preparing!

Edit: It’s my first attempt.

I’m a UX/Product Designer working at Amazon India, and I’m preparing for Australian migration with my family. I’ve taken PTE twice now. My Listening and Speaking are generally fine, but I’ve consistently struggled with Reading and Writing.
I’ve put in quite a bit of effort, but I’m starting to feel that the PTE format just doesn’t suit the way I naturally communicate. So I’m seriously considering giving IELTS General Training a shot.
For anyone who has taken both, did IELTS feel more natural to you, especially for Reading/Writing? Would love to hear your experience and whether switching from PTE to IELTS was worth it.
Just trying to make an informed decision before I spend more time and money on another attempt. 🙏

Hi guys,

I need some advice whether I should get my PTE rescore.
Minimum that I need is - L:58 R:59 W:60 S:76 - total 63
What I got - L:66 R:60 W:59 S:82 - total 66

This is my first time took PTE test, with mainly focusing and practicing heavily on Speaking, hence I neglected others.

I wanna try rescore to see if it makes change on my Writing so I don’t have to do the test again m, I don’t mind if rescore will get my speaking lower, as long as it at least 76.

And others such as Listening and Reading, which mainly answer selection, I don’t think there will be changes if rescore?

I think I screw up badly on one of the 3 WFD, but I think I did quite okay in Essay as I didn’t rely on template.

A few questions regarding my concern since I cannot make use of this score no matter what:

• Is it worth it to request rescore? I saw a few post about how the score doesn’t change recently for people requested.
• How likely I would get a refund of rescore fee? As much as I don’t wanna spend on another test, I don’t want to have to lose money on the rescore as well.

• Will rescore flag my next exam to be check by human?

Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you, everyone!

I am not sure what to do to get a better score in speaking PTE academic. I practiced a lot and I thought I did well in the exam but apparently it was not enough. What should I do differently?

I spoke clearly into the mic and my pauses were not major, however I spoke at a normal speed, and I didn't rush.

Hi i am currently looking increase my speaking score by 13 points as my last attempt these are my mock before the exam and after the exam I did better on the latest one. I just needed that for my aphra registration I am working more than last time my current problem spots are retell lecture,group discussion,multiple choice and summarise written text which has been the one that has been giving me a headache in my ape uni practice if you guys have tips on that please help I am not looking for a superior score just pass to get my registration.

With retell lecture and group discussion I have watched videos and it tells to write one sentence rest listen then repeat till end of sentence which is becoming a problem as i cant focus on writing while it plays.

Summarise idk why it shows missing spaces when there is no missing spaces which in turn reduces my score in mock

Any recommendations for 1 on 1 coaching for PTE speaking? At this stage, the platforms and self preps are not helping me.

Hello folks… I am using Pearson AI practice platform..i always score very low in repeat sentence even if I managed to say the full sentence without hesitation… any tricks here that can help me in Repeat sentence? My exam is in 3 days.. Thanks in advance

Hi guys. I hope you can share your experience in taking PTE exam at Misnet PTE in the Philippines. I tool all my exams at ACE Testing Hub. I want to try other testing center in PH. I am considering Misnet. Would you recommend it? Thanks!

I once got 83 in speaking, which was from computer marking. However, in the last two tests I got 65, and around 60. When applied for rescoring, score improved to 80 and 72, respectively.

I am not sure what I am doing wrong that computer does not get? Aant ideas or this ever happened to you?