PTE General - PTE General

PTE General

PTE General (formerly known as the London Tests of English) are international English language exams for speakers of English as a foreign language (EFL). It is developed by Pearson Language Tests and administered by Edexcel, the exams are accredited by QCA, the Qualification and Curriculum Authority. In some countries (Poland, Greece) the oral interview is assessed by locally trained assessors, whereas in other countries (France, Italy) they are entirely graded in London.

PTE General are theme-based exams designed to test how well a learner can communicate in authentic and realistic situations, and not on how well they remember formal vocabulary and structures. For this reason, the tests use real-life scenarios rather than grammatical exercises. They test the four skills: reading, writing, listening and speaking. There are six levels which are mapped to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. The Framework was developed by the Council of Europe to enable language learners, teachers, universities or potential employers to compare and relate language qualifications by level.

CEFR level PTE General Exam time
C2 Proficient Level 5 2h55
C1 Advanced Level 4 2h30
B2 Upper Intermediate Level 3 2h
B1 Intermediate Level 2 1h35
A2 Elementary Level 1 1h30
A1 Foundation Level A1 1h15

Reading, writing, listening and speaking are tested at all levels. The alignment of the London Tests of English to the CEFR has been established by mapping the test specifications to the CEFR descriptors. This mapping process was submitted to an external audit by University of Westminster. Work is in progress to further improve the robustness of the alignment on the basis of empirical data. Levels 4 and 5 of the PTE General are accepted for entrance to universities in the UK and by a variety of international companies.

London Tests of English have been formally accredited by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA).

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