PTE Core practice test: free and paid options, with a set of our own

Pearson offers a free PTE Core practice start, and a paid Scored Practice Test for 35.99 USD that uses the same format and scoring engine as the real 2-hour test. It is one-time use, so save it for close to test day. Below are the free tools, the paid ones and a six-question set of our own with answers.

A good practice test copies the real one, so start with what the real one holds. Pearson describes PTE Core like this:

Those times are ranges, and Pearson explains why:

The 19 question types and how many of each you meet

This table follows Pearson's Score Guide. The count is the number of questions of that type in one test. Practise every type, but give the most time to the ones with the highest counts and to your weakest skill.

Where Pearson's own pages disagree

Pearson's pages do not all give the same numbers. We use the Score Guide, which is the most detailed. Here are the differences, so you are not surprised if you see them.

Our reading: the Score Guide's list of 19 types adds up to seven, five and seven (7 + 5 + 7 = 19), and the format pages agree on seven, five and seven. Use that list when you practise. We cannot tell why the preparation page says nine and eight.

Pearson gives you four free things for PTE Core. First, a free tier of its AI practice:

• You can complete the following items in the free version of Official PTE Core AI Practice:
• 1 Speaking and Writing diagnostic.
• 1 Reading and Listening diagnostic.
• Several Reading and Listening questions.

Second, Smart Prep, which you open in your myPTE account. For PTE Core Pearson lists these free items:

• A full Guided Practice Test.
• Sectional Guided Practice Tests.
• Video courses split by skill.
• Test tip documents.

Third, the help page for PTE Core mentions a free online course, an offline practice test and a tips guide:

Fourth, the Score Guide. It tells you how every question type is marked, and that is worth reading before you practise:

One warning from Pearson. Do not practise PTE Core with Academic material:

The Test Tips PDF also points to the offline practice test:

• Use the PTE Core Test Tips resource in conjunction with PTE Core Offline Practice Test for even more practice.

Our PTE Core tips and study plans page turns Pearson's tips into a plan.

Pearson sells a Scored Practice Test, AI practice, an Official Guide and a preparation course. This is what its own pages say about each.

Limits you should know before you buy

• A Scored Practice Test. These Practice Tests are one-time use only.
• Individual practice questions can be repeated throughout your access period. Each full-length mock test and sectional test can only be taken once.
• After purchase, you will have access to the Official Guide to PTE Core for 24 months.

In plain words: every full mock test is a one-shot, so do not waste one on a tired Sunday evening with the phone next to you. Pearson also says which should come first:

Our reading: that is the right order. Use the practice product for training, and keep the Scored Practice Test as the single check you save for the end. Pearson's own wording is that the practice product is for “practicing and improving” and the scored test is “best taken close to test day”.

This set is ours. It uses everyday English like the real test, but none of it comes from a test owner. Read the notice once, then answer questions one to three, then four to six. Set a timer for ten minutes for all six.

Notice. Notice, Fairview Community Library. From Monday 3 March the library will open at 9 a.m. instead of 8 a.m. on weekdays while new shelves are fitted. Saturday hours do not change. The children's section will move to the upstairs reading room until the end of the month. Members with books due back during the work can return them to the box outside the main door. No late fees will be charged for those days.

• Question 1 (one answer). Why will the library open later on weekdays? A. Staff are on holiday. B. New shelves are being fitted. C. The children's section is closing. D. Saturday hours are changing.
• Question 2 (choose all that are true). A. Saturday hours stay the same. B. The children's section moves upstairs. C. Books can be returned to a box outside. D. Members will pay late fees on those days. E. The library is closed on weekdays. Wrong choices can cost you marks, so do not tick one you are unsure of.
• Question 3 (fill the gap). Members with books due ____ the work can use the box outside the door. A. during B. while C. since D. for.
• Question 4 (put in order). A. Since she moved in, her classes have grown from six students to twenty. B. Amara started teaching yoga in her garden three years ago. C. Last year she rented a small studio near the station. D. At first, only her neighbours came to the garden.
• Question 5 (dictation). Ask someone to read this sentence once at a normal pace, or use your phone's read-aloud tool. Type it from memory: The museum closes at five on Sundays.
• Question 6 (dictation). Same method, one listen only: Please remember to bring your own bags.

Answer key

• 1. B. The notice says the library opens later "while new shelves are fitted". Staff and the children's section are not given as the reason.
• 2. A, B and C. The notice says Saturday hours do not change, the children's section moves upstairs and a box is outside the main door. D is false because no late fees will be charged. E is false because the library still opens, just later.
• 3. A, during. "The work" is a noun phrase, so you need a preposition, and "during" is the one that says when: the books fall due at some point in the period of the work. "While" needs a clause with a verb, "since" points back from now, and "for" needs a length of time such as "for two weeks".
• 4. B, D, C, A. B is the opening sentence because it starts the story and links back to nothing. D follows with "At first". C moves to a later time. A closes with "Since she moved in", which needs the studio in C.
• 5. Check the third-person s on "closes" and the plural s on "Sundays". The Score Guide gives a point for each word spelled correctly, so check that every word is present and spelled right.
• 6. Check the plural s on "bags" and that "own" is not dropped. Short words are the ones people forget to type.

How to use the result: if you missed question 2, you are reading for words instead of meaning. If you missed question 4, practise spotting linking words such as "at first" and "since she moved in". If you missed 5 or 6, practise dictation with short sentences and check plurals every time.

Pearson shows no time to answer for individual Reading questions. The format page lists it as follows for each Reading question type, and gives only a time range (27–37 minutes) for the whole part:

Our reading: with no per-question time shown, a clock of your own is what keeps practice honest. These steps are ours. They suit someone studying alone with Pearson's free and paid tools.

1. Do one diagnostic first, cold, with no preparation. It tells you which part is weakest.
2. Practise by part, not only by question type. Use a clock set to the part's time range, and keep to it.
3. Record every speaking answer on your phone and listen back the next day. Check that you kept talking and that every word was clear.
4. Keep a mistake log with three columns: question type, what you did, what you will do next time. Review it before each new session.
5. Repeat your two weakest question types more often than the rest. Do not only practise the ones you like.
6. Save the one-shot tests, the full mock and the Scored Practice Test, for the final stretch. Take them in one sitting, with headphones, in a quiet room, at the time of day your real test is booked.
7. After a full test, do not just look at the total. Look at each skill separately and decide what to work on in the next two sessions.

Which practice for which job

Pearson reports PTE Core on a scale for each skill, and the total is not what you hand in:

That changes how you use practice scores. Track Listening, Reading, Speaking and Writing on four separate lines. The skill with the lowest line is the one that costs you most. To see what a skill score means in CLB terms, use our PTE Core score chart, and for Express Entry see CLB for Express Entry. A practice score is an estimate, so aim a little above the level you need.

• Memorising answers. Pearson's scoring rules treat memorised material as irrelevant, and Pearson's own tips tell you not to do it. Practise building an answer each time instead.
• Practising with Academic material. The two tests use different content: Pearson says the preparation materials for PTE Academic are based on academic English content, whereas PTE Core is based on everyday English content.
• Practising without the clock. Untimed practice makes you slow on the day. Time every speaking task and every writing task.
• Skipping speaking practice because it feels awkward. Pearson says PTE Core is scored by a computer, with no human examiner interacting with you, so there is no examiner to be shy in front of. Record yourself and listen.
• Using a one-shot test too early. If you use a full mock on day one, you cannot use it again as a final check.

This page is not immigration advice. IRCC and Pearson set the rules, and their own pages decide.

Common questions