Pearson is enhancing scoring for two PTE Academic speaking question types. Everything you need to be aware of is provided here, along with answers to frequently asked questions.
How Pearson is improving PTE Academic scoring process
Pearson is improving the scoring method for two spoken question types, ‘Describe Image’ and ‘Retell Lecture’. Human experts will now double-check students’ automated scores. Student will not notice any difference when taking the test, and they don’t need to change the way they prepare.
How are these questions scored?
Describe Image and Retell Lecture are both speaking tasks that are scored on three aspects:
️🎯 Content (0 – 5)
️🎯 Oral Fluency (0 – 5)
️🎯 Pronunciation (0 – 5)
All three aspects are currently machine-scored. From 4 November 2024, the Content aspect will also be checked by a human expert.
Why is the process changing?
Combining AI with human expertise is the best way to make sure test takers benefit from a reliable and fair assessment. Human experts have always been involved in the scoring process, from training the AI to checking live responses. They are simply extending this so that the content of these two speaking tasks will always be reviewed by a person.
These checks will include reviewing whether a response is original (said using your own words) or clearly pre-prepared using a template. Their scoring systems are already designed to automatically detect template use. Now, for these two speaking tasks, a human examiner will also review this aspect of the response, using information provided by these systems. Only genuine, original responses will produce a valid score.
By improving the reliability and accuracy of our automated scoring systems using an additional layer of human expertise, they are making PTE Academic an even fairer test of English.
Frequently Asked Questions (Scoring Enhancements)
No. The test format stays the same, and so does the duration of the test.
The human expert doesn't know anything about who wrote the response. They can't see your picture or your details. They will only check the response and nothing else.
No. The human expert rater will only consider the content aspect of your response. The other two aspects (Oral Fluency and Pronunciation) will continue to be scored by AI only. That means you can continue to be sure that your accent will not be judged by anyone.
No. PTE scores typically take 2 days to arrive. This will not change.
This change only applies to PTE Academic (including PTE Academic UKVI).
Only two question types - Describe Image and Retell Lecture - are included, and it is only the Content element of these two question types that will get a human review.
All question are AI-scored, and currently humans only review any exceptions or anomalies that the AI cannot confidently score. The double scoring method will apply to only two question types, and means that a human expert will always check the content scores given by the AI before the final scores are confirmed.
There is nothing that test takers need to do differently, and all the current preparation resources are still accurate. Simply provide authentic responses to each question in the test to maximise your score.
They have recently launched Smart Prep, their new preparation area within myPTE. This provides a range of preparation materials designed to help you understand and confidently answer all the questions types.
They have also created specific test tip documents for the Describe Image and Retell Lecture questions, which include some sample answers. You can download them here:
