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PTEA
PTEA in Ankara – Are you fully prepared?
PTEA is a fairly new test, but it is becoming very popular. It is computer-based, which means you should be comfortable using the mouse and keyboard. Unlike the others it is adaptive, meaning it adjusts the number and difficulty of questions according to the test taker’s performance. Results are available 5 business days after the test. These factors can add a little pressure for test takers, but with good preparation and the right techniques it is not more difficult than other tests. If you are planning on taking or re-taking the PTEA test, we would love to help you. We have a close relationship with Pearson in Turkey, and have acted as teacher trainers for PTEA in Ankara.
Is PTEA the right test for you?
It is accepted by a growing number of higher level academic institutions around the world. It has been specially designed for non-native English speakers, and the core native English speaking countries all accept it - Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK and the USA. Even the most elite universities accept PTEA, including Harvard, Yale and INSEAD. If you are applying to universities, especially in the USA, PTEA may be an attractive alternative.
Is it good value for money?
PTEA is just as useful as the other tests. It is valid for 2 years for the test date, and it has wide acceptance and credibility. The backing of Pearson is important, as Pearson Education provides a lot of the course material used in English language classes. Because Pearson provide tests for so many different professional certifications, there are test centres in almost every major city in the world. The PTEA test is available for 360 days of the year at over 200 test locations across the globe. Note that not all test centres will have full availability for every test date.
| What is it? | Pearson Test of English - Academic, officiated by Pearson Education Services. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| What is it used for? | Applying to Universities for Degree, Master Degree or Ph.D. studies, or for proof of English ability for career purposes. | |||
| What is in the exam? | Section | Format | Types | Time |
| Speaking & Writing | No Fixed Number of Questions | • Personal Introduction • Read aloud • Repeat sentence • Describe image • Re-tell lecture • Answer short question • Summarize written text • Essay (20mins) | 77 – 93 Minutes | |
| Reading | No Fixed Number of Questions | • Fill in the blanks • Multiple choice questions • Re-order paragraphs • Fill in the blanks • Multiple choice questions | 32-41 Minutes | |
| Writing | Two Tasks | • Summarize spoken text • Multiple choice questions • Fill the blanks • Highlight the correct summary • Multiple choice questions • Select missing word • Highlight incorrect words • Write from dictation | 45-57 Minutes | |
| Total Exam Time | 3 Hours | |||
| How is the test scored? | There are two sections in the Official PTEA Score Report | |
|---|---|---|
| Communicative Skills • Listening • Reading • Speaking • Writing | Listening and Speaking: 3 - All words in the response from the prompt in the correct sequence 2 - At least 50% of words in the response from the prompt in the correct sequence 1 - Less than 50% of words in the response from the prompt in the correct sequence 0 - Almost nothing from the prompt in the response | |
| Listening and Speaking: 5 - Re-tells all points of the presentation and describes characters, aspects and actions, their relationships, the underlying development, implications and conclusions 4 - Describes all key points of the presentation and their relations, referring to their implications and conclusions 3 - Deals with most points in the presentation and refers to their implications and conclusions 2 - Deals with only one key point and refers to an implication or conclusion. Shows basic understanding of several core elements of the presentation 1 - Describes some basic elements of the presentation but does not make clear their interrelations or implications 0 - Mentions some disjointed elements of the presentation | ||
| Reading and Speaking: 5 - Describes all elements of the image and their relationships, possible development and conclusion or implications 4 - Describes all the key elements of the image and their relations, referring to their implications or conclusions 3 - Deals with most key elements of the image and refers to their implications or conclusions 2 - Deals with only one key element in the image and refers to an implication or conclusion. Shows basic understanding of several core elements of the image 1 - Describes some basic elements of the image, but does not make clear their interrelations or implications 0 - Mentions some disjointed elements of the presentation | ||
| Reading and Writing: 2 - Provides a good summary of the text. All relevant aspects mentioned 1 - Provides a fair summary of the text but misses one or two aspects 0 - Omits or misrepresents the main aspects of the text | ||
| Enabling Skills • Grammar • Oral Fluency • Pronunciation • Spelling • Vocabulary • Written Discourse | Grammar: 2 - Has correct grammatical structure 1 - Contains grammatical errors but with no hindrance to communication 0 - Has defective grammatical structure which could hinder communication | |
| Oral fluency: 5 - Native-like 4 - Advanced 3 - Good 2 - Intermediate 1 - Limited 0 - Disfluent | ||
| Pronunciation: 5 - Native-like 4 - Advanced 3 - Good 2 - Intermediate 1 - Intrusive 0 - Non-English | ||
| Spelling: 2 - Correct spelling 1 - One spelling error 0 - More than one spelling error | ||
| Vocabulary: 2 - Has appropriate choice of words 1 - Contains lexical errors but with no hindrance to communication 0 - Has defective word choice which could hinder communication | ||
| The sub-section elements are calculated on a scoring scale from 10 – 90 points, but only apply to the section they are in. The total score is not calculated from the two sections directly, but calculated separately, also out of a maximum of 90. There is no percentile or banding information available, each test is specific to that test taker, with number of questions and difficulty being adaptive during the test. | ||
| What is a good PTEA score? | A good score is whatever the University you have applied to is asking you to achieve, or the employer asks for. It doesn’t matter what other people score, it’s all about you against the test. The PTEA test is designed to be an intensive interactive workout of all of the key elements of English. It is an adaptive test, meaning it adjusts the level of difficulty of each question to your right and wrong answers, and also the number of questions asked. There are twenty different question formats, ranging from multiple choice through to essay writing and interpreting information. PTE Academic assesses real-life, academic content, so you will also hear a range of accents in the test, from British and American to non-native speakers, simulating an every day real life experience. | |
| Excellent Scores | 70-90 | Get more than and you are at approximately the same level as a native English speaker. With a score in this range, any institution or organisation asking you to provide a PTEA score will be satisfied. |
| Good Scores | 55-69 | Most of our students are aiming for a score of 50 or more. It is a solid result demonstrating good all round ability, and accepted by most of the top Universities. |
| Basic Acceptable Scores | 40-54 | If your aim is not academic excellence, but more about getting to a particular country, then a score in this range should enable you to attend a wide range of quite reasonable business schools or universities. |
| Low Scores | 39 or less | No reputable academic institution will accept a score in this range, so really question whether you should accept any offer. It may be worth studying more and taking the test again to improve your score. |
| What are the alternatives? | If the University or employer wants you to pass an exam, there are internationally accepted alternatives in IELTS or TOEFL, and many nationally accepted alternatives. You may also be asked to take a test specific to that institution or organisation. |
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