IELTS VS PTE

In this post, we will discuss the differences between IELTS and PTE (IELTS vs PTE) and give you tips to help you prepare for your exam.

Both IELTS and PTE are Internationally standardized and recognized English Proficiency tests. IELTS and PTE both assess your English proficiency in four different skills, namely Listening, Reading, Speaking, and Writing. IELTS and PTE both test the English Proficiency of the people in four skills; Listening, Reading Writing, and Speaking.

Both the test does the same task of evaluating the English Skills of people of Non-native English Speaking countries, yet there are distinct differences between them. This blog will discuss the differences in detail.

IELTS

IELTS is a widely accepted internationally standardized English Language Proficiency Test for Non-Native English Speakers who wish to study, work or migrate to any country where English is the native language. IELTS stands for International English Language Testing System and has more than 3 million test-takers/students annually, and IELTS scores are widely accepted and recognized by more than 11,000 academic institutions, companies, professional bodies, and governmental organizations worldwide. It is accepted in more than 140 countries.

IELTS is jointly owned by Cambridge English Language Assessment, British Council, and IDP: IELTS Australia. British Council and IDP are known to organize the tests all around the world, Similarly,  in the context of Nepal, both British Council and IDP organize the tests.

IELTS has two specific test types; IELTS Academic and IELTS General Training. IELTS tests a test taker’s/students English Proficiency in 4 skills: Reading, Listening, Speaking, and Writing.

Learn More: IELTS – Everything you Need to Know

PTE

PTE is also an English Language Proficiency Test for non-native English speakers who wish to study, work or migrate to any country where English is the native language. PTE (Pearson Test of English) is a globally recognized English Proficiency Test that is Fully computerized. The PTE scores are accepted in more than 3000 institutions worldwide including many native English Speaking Countries and Non-Native English Speaking Countries.

PTE is owned by Pearson PLC Group and it is responsible for organizing the tests. There are more than 400+ PTE global test centers and frequent test date availability all over the world.

PTE assesses a test taker’s/students English skills in 4 categories; Listening, Reading, Speaking, and Writing. The PTE test conducts PTE Speaking and PTE Writing tests together as one section, making PTE have 3 test sections in the test format.

Learn More: PTE – Everything you need to know

Testing Authority

Testing Authority simply means the organization approved to carry out the official tests/ examinations.

The Testing Authority of IELTS is with Cambridge English Language Assessment, British Council, and IDP: IELTS Australia. But the IELTS tests are only conducted through British Council and IDP: IELTS Australia.

The testing Authority of PTE lies with Pearson PLC Group and thus the group conducts the PTE tests.

How is the test conducted?

IELTS tests were paper-based for a long time and only in these few recent years, the computer-delivered test was introduced to the world. Now, IELTS gives two options to the test takers/students either Paper-based IELTS or Computer-delivered IELTS. But no matter which IELTS test you choose, the speaking test will be taken in person. The test takers who chose Computer Delivered test will also have to take a physical Speaking test, sitting face to face with the examiner.

The PTE tests however are fully computer-based. The test taker/students will sit in front of a computer and give the entire test getting assessed for all; Speaking, Reading, Writing, and Listening skills. PTE doesn’t give a choice to their test takers; they do not provide Paper-based PTE and thus all the test takers of PTE give a computer-delivered test. Even the PTE test is assessed by Computer through the AI developed and the PTE Computer Algorithms.

Test Format

The test format of the IELTS and PTE vastly differ despite both being English Proficiency Tests. The test format of both PTE and IELTS is briefly explained here,

IELTS Test Format

IELTS provides two globally accepted test types; IELTS Academic and IELTS General Training. IELTS Academic befits the test takers who are applying for universities and professional institutions while IELTS General Training is fit for the applicants of below degree level education, migration, and employment. However, the test format remains similar differing only in difficulty level in the Reading and Writing parts of the test.

The test is conducted in 2 hours 45 minutes. Listening, Reading, Writing, and Speaking in the same order. The Speaking test can be taken on the very same day or later according to the local test arrangements.

IELTS Listening: It will be conducted within 30 minutes, there will be 4 recordings played where native English speakers will be talking. Based on the recording the test takers will have to answer the question asked. The question types the test takers will face during the IELTS Listening test are:

• Multiple Choice (Single Answer or Multiple Answers)
• Matching
• Plan, Map, Diagram Labelling
• Form, Note, Table, Flowchart, Summary Completion
• Sentence Completion
• Short Answer Question.

IELTS Reading: It will be conducted within 60 minutes, there will be 3 passages to read in the IELTS Reading. Based on the texts, the test taker must answer all the questions after reading the texts. The questions types of the IELTS Reading are:

• Multiple Choice (Single Answer or Multiple Answers)
• Identifying Information
• Identifying Writer’s Views/Claims
• Matching Information
• Matching Heading
• Matching Features
• Matching Sentence Ending
• Sentence Completion
• Summary, Notes, Table, Flow-Chart Completion
• Diagram Label Completion
• Short Answer Question

IELTS Writing: It will be conducted within 60 minutes; the test takers are to complete 2 tasks. The IELTS Writing tests are named task 1 and task 2. The task will differ according to the test type they choose.

Academic IELTS Writing-

• Summarising visual information; Table, Chart, Process, Graph, or Map
• Essay

General Training IELTS Writing-

• Letter
• Essay

IELTS Speaking: It will be conducted within 11-14 minutes. The test taker will be assessed by the examiner during the test and the test is divided into three parts. The IELTS Speaking parts are:

• Introduction and Interview
• Long Turn (Elocution)
• Discussion

PTE Test Format

PTE provides PTE Academic which is globally accepted by many universities all over the world. This test is a fully computerized test allowing the test takers/students to give all the skill tests; Reading, Writing, Listening and Speaking. The test-takers will be taking all their skills tests through a computer including the speaking test, unlike IELTS. Even the test is assessed by Computer Algorithms and AI.

The distinct part of PTE is that PTE is an integrated test, meaning the test is set in such a way that a section of the test can contain questions that will assess other skills. For example, the reading section has questions that can assess your writing skills. These types of questions will be present in all sections assessing different skills. The test structure of PTE is much more complex than that of IELTS but after understanding the format, the test is relatively easier than IELTS.

Although, PTE tests all 4 English Skills: PTE Reading, PTE Writing, PTE Listening, and PTE Speaking, it has only three test sections. The Writing and Speaking tests are combined into a single section, thus the PTE has three sections:

• Speaking and Writing
• Reading
• Listening

The test will be conducted within 2 hours and 15 minutes.

PTE Speaking and Writing: It will mostly focus on assessing the test takers’ speaking and writing skills.  This section will also assess reading and listening skills with a few of the questions, this section of the test is 54-67 minutes. The 7 question types of PTE Speaking and Writing are:

• Read Aloud
• Repeat Sentence
• Describe Image
• Re-tell Lecture
• Answer Short Question
• Summarize Written Text
• Essay

PTE Reading:  It will mostly focus on assessing the test taker’s reading skills and will also assess your writing skills. This test section of PTE is about 29-30 minutes long. There are 5 different question types in PTE Reading, they are:

• Reading and Writing: Fill in the Blanks
• Multiple Choice, Multiple Answers
• Re-order Paragraph
• Fill in the Blanks
• Multiple Choice, Single Answer

PTE Listening: It will mostly focus on assessing the test taker’s listening skills and will also assess your writing and reading skills. This test will be conducted within 30-43 minutes and will contain 8 different question types. The question types of PTE Listening are as follows:

• Summarize the Spoken Text
• Multiple Choice, Multiple Answer
• Fill in the Blanks
• Highlight Correct Summary
• Multiple Choice, Single Answer
• Select Missing Words
• Highlight Incorrect Words
• Writing from Dictation

Scoring

Despite IELTS and PTE being both English Proficiency Tests, both the tests differ from one another in many aspects including the test format. The tests scoring methods also differ, one of the most talked-about differences, between PTE and IELTS is that PTE uses Negative scoring.

IELTS Scoring

The test takers are given a band score, the highest band score will be 9. At first, all the test takers will be scored for each skill section, meaning each skill test will receive a band score. Finally, all bands of each skill section will be added and an average overall band score is produced. The average band of all skill sections is the final band score the test taker will receive.

The test takers are assessed by trained professional examiners; the examiners will grade you accurately following the defined test criteria.

PTE Scoring

The test takers are given PTE Scores, which are a scale defined by PTE. The test-takers/students will receive scores on a scale from  10-90. The test is integrated, thus, the testing criteria cannot be the same for every test. The test will be first scored for every question, and then they will be converted to the given scale.

The test is assessed by the computers, PTE has developed automated software for test assessment. The PTE scores are accurate, consistent, and unbiased. The test assessment uses partial scoring and negative scoring in some questions of the test.

IELTS And PTE Score Comparison

Results

IELTS paper-based test results will be available 13 days from the test date.

IELTS computer-delivered test results will be available 4-5 days after the test date.

PTE Academic results will be available within 2 days.

Test results validation

Both PTE and IELTS results will be valid for 2 years from the day you receive your results. The test scores can be used for 2 years from the day the test taker receives the test results.

Which test is more affordable?

Both IELTS and PTE tests charge a reasonable price for their tests and charge similar rates. IELTS cost NRS 25,300 and PTE cost about USD 180. The charge in a descriptive way will be:

Considering the USD rate on the day this blog was written, IELTS was slightly cheaper. IELTS gives a fixed rate of NRS 25,300 but PTE does not. Thus, if the Exchange rate of USD in Nepal is higher, PTE would be expensive. More or less the prices of both the tests are very similar.

Differences between IELTS and PTE (IELTS vs PTE )in Brief

The general differences between IELTS and PTE are shown in a table here,

IELTS vs PTE Test format in Brief

Here, IELTS and PTE Test format is shown in a table.

IELTS

PTE 

Few other Differences between PTE and IELTS 

• During the PTE test, the test takers cannot skip the questions and come back to them later. The PTE test takers must do one question after another, if they skip the question they cannot come back to it later, and they’ll miss the chance to answer them. In the IELTS test, they have the freedom to choose which questions in each skill section. For Example, if the test takers want to do Task 2 before Task 1 in IELTS Writing, they can. They can skip questions and come back to them later.
• The Scores of IELTS are an average of all band scores of all skill sections, while this method does not apply to the PTE test.
• PTE is an integrated test, and test-takers can obtain scores for a skill from different skill sections, unlike IELTS, which involves each skill being evaluated separately.

• In IELTS, the test taker will attain scores for skills from each skill section but as PTE is an integrated test, the test takers can attain scores for a skill from different skill sections.
• Currently, in Nepal, there are 18 IELTS test centers spread in 7 major cities of the country and there are only 5 PTE test centers in the country, most of them centered in the Kathmandu Valley.
• IELTS test dates are easily available in Nepal due to the availability of many test centers and more than 10 test dates per month. The IELTS test takers can book a test for a date within a week of the day of booking. But the PTE test takers cannot do the same, there are only 5 test centers available and far fewer dates. Sometimes, the test taker might need to wait months for the test date from the day of booking.

PTE and IELTS are both excellent English Proficiency Test options. There are thousands of test-takers/students choosing either of the tests to get their assessment. All have different reasons for choosing either of the tests, and it is totally dependent on your choice. You can choose either PTE or IELTS for your English Proficiency Assessment.

We hope, with this blog “IELTS vs PTE”,  we made it easier for you to choose between these two Tests. If you have queries regarding IELTS and PTE, you can comment your queries on this blog or directly contact or visit Gurubaa.