If you're planning to take the PTE Academic on or after August 7, 2025, it’s important to be aware of the changes to the exam format. These updates are designed to reflect real-world English usage rather than focusing on memorization. Pearson’s new approach aims to assess your practical communication skills, which means the exam will now emphasize speaking tasks that mirror actual conversations. To stay ahead of the curve, you’ll need to adapt your preparation to these changes in tasks, interface, and evaluation methods.
Why These Changes?
Pearson has worked to make the PTE Academic a more accurate representation of everyday language use. Feedback from test-takers revealed that memorized responses and repetitive formats didn’t reflect real-world language skills. As a result, the goal now is to measure your ability to communicate effectively in daily situations rather than relying on rehearsed answers.
What’s New in the PTE Academic?
Here’s what you can expect from the updated exam format:
1. Two New Speaking Tasks
Respond to a Situation: You’ll be given a real-world scenario, such as politely declining a request or offering assistance. This task tests your ability to respond naturally and appropriately in a variety of situations.
Summarize a Group Discussion: After listening to a short group discussion, you’ll need to summarize the key points in 20–30 seconds. This assesses your listening comprehension and ability to express information concisely.
2. “Repeat Sentence” Beep
In the Repeat Sentence task, you will now hear a beep when it’s time to speak. This is designed to remove any guesswork and make sure you know exactly when to begin speaking.
3. User Interface Updates
The exam’s interface has also been updated to make your experience smoother:
Double mic check: A more thorough microphone check ensures better audio quality for speaking tasks.
No keyboard check: The keyboard check has been removed, speeding up the onboarding process.
Circular progress bar: A new circular progress indicator helps you track your progress and manage your time more effectively.
Font size adjustment: You can now adjust the font size to your preference, improving readability.
Audio waveform display: A visual representation of your voice while speaking will help you monitor your response clarity.
4. Changes to Exam Structure & Time
Total questions: 22 questions in total.
Duration: The exam will now take approximately 2 hours and 15 minutes, which is 15 minutes longer than before.
Faster onboarding: With fewer system checks, the process to get started will be faster.
5. Human Evaluation for 7 Tasks
Seven of the exam tasks will now be scored by human evaluators to ensure more accurate and personalized feedback. This change discourages the use of memorized answers, encouraging test-takers to give genuine responses. These tasks include:
Describe Image
Retell Lecture
Respond to a Situation
Summarize Group Discussion
Summarize Written Text
Write Essay
Summarize Spoken Text
How to Prepare Smartly
As the focus of the PTE Academic shifts toward real-world language skills, it’s important to adjust your preparation accordingly. Here are some helpful tips to get ready for the 2025 exam format:
Practice Real-Life Situations: Prepare for tasks like Respond to a Situation by practicing everyday scenarios in English. For example, you could practice politely refusing a request, offering assistance, or giving directions.
Improve Listening and Summarizing Skills: To excel in the Summarize Group Discussion and Summarize Spoken Text tasks, listen to group discussions, podcasts, or talks in English. Then, try summarizing the main points in a clear and concise manner.
Avoid Memorized Responses: While it’s fine to use templates to structure your answers, it’s best not to rely on them too much. Human evaluators are looking for natural, authentic communication. So, focus on speaking clearly and conversationally instead of reciting rehearsed answers.
Familiarize Yourself with the New Interface: Take some time to get used to the new exam format, including the beep system, circular progress bar, and audio waveform. Familiarity with these features will help you focus more on your responses during the exam.
Quick Recap
Two new speaking tasks: Respond to a situation and summarize a group discussion.
Human evaluation for seven tasks: Tasks such as Describe Image and Retell Lecture will now be human-scored.
UI improvements: Features like the beep system, progress bar, and font size adjustment.
Duration: About 2 hours and 15 minutes.
Focus on fluency and natural responses, not just accuracy.
Final Thoughts
The August 2025 updates to the PTE Academic exam represent a significant shift toward assessing real-world communication skills. This change presents an opportunity for you to show how well you can use English in practical situations. By adjusting your study strategy to the new format, focusing on fluency and natural speech, and avoiding over-rehearsed answers, you’ll be well-prepared to tackle the exam.
FAQs
1. Has the PTE scoring system changed?
No, the scoring system remains the same. The 10–90 scale and AI-based scoring will continue to be used.
2. Will these updates affect PTE Core?
No, these updates apply only to the PTE Academic and UKVI Academic exams.
3. Is the test longer now?
Yes, the exam duration has been extended by approximately 15 minutes.
4. Are old prep materials still useful?
Some old prep materials may no longer be accurate, so it’s a good idea to use resources that reflect the new exam format.
5. Are templates banned?
Templates are not banned, but over-relying on them could hurt your score. The human evaluators will be looking for authentic, natural responses, so it’s best to focus on speaking in a conversational way.
Source: PTE Academic New Update 2025
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