Is It True That PTE Concordance Table Has Changed? Know The Truth

PTE Academic

December 31,2020

With news all around about changes in PTE scores, test-takers are left to deal with many confusions that are scaring them even more. You might also come across this and start panicking if you have recently taken the PTE Exam and plan to study or settle abroad.

Many questions are popping up in everyone's mind, like:

I have recently taken my PTE Exam; will my score be valid?
Will there be a change to my PTE Score as per the new concordance report?

And so on. In this blog, we will discuss in detail about the PTE Concordance report.

All about the new PTE Concordance table:

Well, the Pearson did not intend to confuse anybody with this announcement. As the scores from different test serve the same purpose, It carried out a study to compare the IELTS and PTE score to set a new level of comparison between two English skill level tests. And how the scores of both the tests can be linked to each other. And simultaneously fulfil the requirement of the institutions.

Yes, Pearson has decided to make some changes in comparison table when linking the PTE Score to the IELTS bands. But that does not change anything about the PTE Exam - neither the scoring criteria nor the requirement by various universities nor the visa requirements for UK, New Zealand and Australia. Moreover, Pearson has justrecommended these changes after a detailed study. But these have not been approved by the government or the educational institutions yet.

There is no change to the PTE Exam. You are still assessed based on the communicative skills and enabling skills and awarded a score from the range of 10-90. If you have received your PTE result in recent times, do not worry, your results are valid like before.

Pearson has only updated the score ranges against the IELTS bands.

How will this new concordance table for PTE effect then? This will make minimal changes to the mid-range scores set by universities for academic admissions purpose.

Your PTE Exam score will remain the same, but the score range against the IELTS band will change.

Let's have a look at the table:

Here you can see the effect clearly. Earlier if you needed to achieve a high score in PTE equivalent to 8 IELTS bands; you had only to score 79 or 79+. But as per the new proposed concordance table, you need to grab a score of 84+ in the PTE Exam.

Whereas, the low-range scores for the IELTS band requirement will reduce. For example, earlier to get 6.5 bands you were supposed to get a score of 58 in the PTE Exam, but now you will get 6.5 bands on scoring 56. Likewise, 46 for six bands unlike earlier where you must score 50 or 50+ score in PTE.

What does Pearson have to say about it?

Pearson has clarified saying that "we reassure that there are no changes to PTE, it's scoring and requirement by the universities. We have changed the way how IELTS relates to the PTE Exam. We have started informing the government and the institutions about our research, and they are most likely to consider it."

Individual experts have also confirmed the same. And they are waiting to see whether there will be changes to the visa application requirements. Also, they have recommended checking with the relevant department on any changes.

For assurance, if you check for the immigration purpose then on the Federal Register of Legislation you will find that the requirement is still 65+ in the PTE Exam in all the four sections.

Conclusion:

The Pearson has made this study to assure the level of proficiency in the English language. Takeaways from the new concordance study:

No changes to the PTE Exam and its format.
No change in the validity of the PTE Score.
No change in the requirement by universities or for visas.
Mid-range score comparison between the IELTS bands and PTE Score changed.
The new concordance table is not effective yet.

If you plan to take the PTE Exam or have taken it recently or your exam date is nearing; do not fear the new concordance table. Prepare yourselves with the experts, stay updated with the latest news about the concordance table or PTE Exam; stay tuned to PTE Tutorials.