PTE Core Syllabus 2025

The Pearson Test of English (PTE) Core is a computer-based assessment designed to evaluate everyday English proficiency across four key skills: Speaking, Writing, Reading, and Listening. Unlike PTE Academic, which focuses on academic English, PTE Core evaluates real-world language proficiency. With recent updates in 2025, the exam now includes real-life tasks such as email writing and situational responses, ensuring that test-takers are well-prepared for practical communication challenges. This article provides a detailed breakdown of the PTE Core syllabus, covering each section’s components, expectations, and assessment criteria.

PTE Core Syllabus Overview:

The PTE Core syllabus primarily checks your practical English language proficiency across four key skills: Speaking, Writing, Reading, and Listening. The language exam covers a variety of linguistic components, including grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, fluency, comprehension, and coherence. 

Test Format Overview

The PTE Core test is divided into three main sections:

• Speaking & Writing: This section lasts between 54 to 67 minutes and assesses both spoken and written English skills. Tasks include personal introductions, reading aloud, repeating sentences, describing images, responding to a situation, answering short questions, summarizing written texts, and essay writing.
• Reading: Spanning approximately 30 minutes, this section evaluates your ability to comprehend reading passages through various question types such as multiple-choice questions, re-ordering paragraphs, and filling in blanks.  
• Listening: This section is designed to assess listening skills through tasks like summarizing spoken texts, multiple-choice questions, filling in blanks, highlighting incorrect words, and writing from dictation.
  

The PTE Core syllabus primarily assesses practical English language proficiency across four key skills: Speaking, Writing, Reading, and Listening. The exam covers a range of linguistic components, including grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, fluency, comprehension, and coherence.

Read Further: PTE Core Test Format

Breakdown of the PTE Core Syllabus:

1. English Language Proficiency

• General English comprehension (everyday conversations, emails, instructions).
• Ability to express ideas clearly in spoken and written formats.
• Understanding and responding to real-life situations in English.
  

2. Grammar

• Sentence structure (simple, compound, and complex sentences).
• Subject-verb agreement.
• Tenses (present, past, future, continuous, perfect).
• Articles, prepositions, conjunctions.
• Active and passive voice.
• Modals (can, could, may, might, must, shall, should, will, would).
  

3. Vocabulary

• Everyday vocabulary for communication in social and workplace settings.
• Academic and formal vocabulary for professional contexts.
• Synonyms and antonyms.
• Collocations (common word pairings, e.g., "make a decision," "strong possibility").
• Phrasal verbs and idioms.
  

4. Pronunciation & Fluency

• Correct pronunciation of words.
• Intonation and stress patterns.
• Natural speech rhythm and clarity.
• Speaking without unnatural pauses or hesitation.
  

5. Writing Skills

• Summarization skills (ability to condense information accurately).
• Email writing (formal and semi-formal tone, clarity, and conciseness).
• Proper sentence structuring and logical flow.
• Coherence and cohesion in responses.
  

6. Reading Skills

• Skimming and scanning texts quickly.
• Identifying main ideas and supporting details.
• Understanding logical relationships within texts (cause-effect, contrast,
• sequence).Sentence completion and paragraph ordering skills.
  

7. Listening Skills

• Identifying key details and main ideas in spoken English.
• Understanding different accents and speech speeds.
• Following conversations and identifying important points.
• Spelling words correctly in dictation-based tasks.

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Indepth PTE Core Syllabus 2025:

1. Speaking Section

The speaking section of the PTE Core assessment assesses your ability to communicate with confidence in English. This section contains tasks that test pronunciation fluency and the ability to communicate ideas effectively in different situations. You will be required to read aloud, repeat sentences, describe images, respond to everyday situations, and answer short questions. The goal is to evaluate how well you can articulate thoughts and maintain natural speech flow in real-world conversations.

The speaking test has 5 sections as given below:

Read Aloud

• Task: Read a short text displayed on the screen.
• Expectation: Speak clearly with proper pronunciation, fluency, and natural rhythm.

Repeat Sentence

• Task: Listen to a short sentence and repeat it exactly as heard.
• Expectation: Maintain accuracy, pronunciation, and fluency without missing words.

Describe Image

• Task: Describe an image (graph, chart, diagram, or picture) in detail.
• Expectation: Provide key information with a structured response using proper vocabulary.

Respond to a Situation (New in PTE Core)

• Task: Listen to a scenario and respond appropriately (e.g., answering a query, giving advice).
• Expectation: Speak naturally, staying relevant to the situation with good fluency.

Answer Short Questions

• Task: Listen to a question and provide a short, direct answer.
• Expectation: Quickly understand and respond with correct information.
  

PTE Core speaking syllabus:

Total Duration: 27–33 minutes

2. Writing Section

The Writing section in PTE Core evaluates your ability to convey information in a structured and grammatically correct manner. This section includes summarizing written text and composing an email, which reflects real-world writing tasks. You will need to demonstrate clarity, coherence, appropriate tone, and correct grammar while presenting your responses concisely. Strong vocabulary, sentence structuring, and logical organization of ideas are key to excelling in this section.

Summarize Written Text (25-50 words in PTE Core)

• Task: Read a passage and summarize it in one sentence.
• Expectation: Cover the main idea concisely using proper grammar and sentence structure.

Write Email (New in PTE Core, replaces "Write Essay")

• Task: Write a formal or semi-formal email based on given instructions.
• Expectation: Use correct format, appropriate tone, and include key details.
  

PTE Core writing syllabus:

Total Duration: 22–28 minutes

3. Reading Section

The Reading section in PTE Core measures your ability to comprehend written texts and interpret information accurately. You will encounter various question types, such as filling in the blanks, multiple-choice questions, and paragraph reordering. This section tests your understanding of vocabulary, sentence structure, and the logical flow of ideas within a text. The ability to quickly extract key details and grasp the overall meaning is essential for success.

PTE Core reading syllabus:

Total Duration: 29–32 minutes

Reading & Writing: Fill in the Blanks

• Task: Fill missing words in a passage by selecting from a dropdown list.
• Expectation: Use grammar, context, and vocabulary knowledge to choose the right words.

Multiple Choice, Multiple Answers

• Task: Read a passage and select all correct answer choices.
• Expectation: Identify key details and understand complex ideas.
  

Reorder Paragraphs

• Task: Arrange given sentences in a logical sequence to form a coherent paragraph.
• Expectation: Recognize logical connections and proper paragraph structure.
  

Fill in the Blanks

• Task: Select the correct words to complete missing parts of a passage.
• Expectation: Understand sentence structure and vocabulary usage.
  

Multiple Choice, Single Answer

• Task: Choose one correct answer from multiple options based on a reading passage.
• Expectation: Identify the main idea or key details accurately.
  

Tasks Asked & What is Assessed

4. Listening Section

The Listening section of PTE Core assesses how well you can understand spoken English in different accents and contexts. You will listen to various audio clips and answer questions based on what you hear. Tasks include summarizing spoken text, filling in the blanks, identifying incorrect words, and responding to multiple-choice questions. This section tests your ability to recognize key information, grasp main ideas, and accurately interpret spoken language in real-world scenarios.

Summarize Spoken Text (20-30 words in PTE Core, previously 50-70 words)

• Task: Listen to an audio clip and write a short summary.
• Expectation: Capture key points concisely with correct grammar and coherence.
  

Multiple Choice, Multiple Answers

• Task: Listen to an audio and select all correct answers.
• Expectation: Identify important details and main ideas.
  

Fill in the Blanks

• Task: Listen to a recording and type the missing words in a transcript.
• Expectation: Spell words correctly and choose words that fit the context.
  

Highlight Correct Summary (Removed in PTE Core)

• Task: Previously required selecting the best summary of an audio clip.
• Expectation: No longer tested in PTE Core.
  

Multiple Choice, Single Answer

• Task: Listen to an audio and choose the one correct answer.
• Expectation: Identify key details or main ideas from the recording.
  

Select Missing Word

• Task: Listen to an audio where the last word is missing and choose the correct option.
• Expectation: Predict the most logical word based on context.
  

Highlight Incorrect Words

• Task: Identify words in a transcript that are different from the spoken audio.
• Expectation: Listen carefully and spot discrepancies.
  

Write from Dictation

• Task: Listen to a short sentence and type it exactly as heard.
• Expectation: Spell correctly and maintain sentence accuracy.
  

PTE core listening syllabus:

Total Duration: 30–34 minutes

Preparation Resources

There are many free PTE core preparation materials provided by Pearsons to help candidates familiarize themselves with the test format and question types:

• Skill-Specific Preparation: Dedicated resources for Speaking, Writing, Reading, and Listening are available, providing targeted practice for each skill.
• Test Taker Handbook: This comprehensive guide covers everything from test preparation tips to what to expect on test day. It's an essential resource for all test takers.
• Official Guide to PTE Academic: For those seeking an in-depth understanding, this guide offers a step-by-step approach, practice questions with model answers, study plans, and a glossary of PTE terms. 
  

PTE Core vs. PTE Academic – Focus Areas

PTE Core → More practical, real-world communication skills (email writing, responding to everyday situations).
PTE Academic → More academic-based language skills (essay writing, academic vocabulary).

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FAQs

Q. What’s the difference between PTE Academic and PTE Core syllabus?

A. PTE Academic focuses on academic English (essays, complex reading passages, research-based tasks), while PTE Core assesses everyday communication skills needed for work, social, and real-life situations.

Q. How is the PTE Core syllabus structured?

A. The exam is divided into four sections:
Speaking (27–33 mins) – Tests fluency, pronunciation, and real-world communication.
Writing (22–28 mins) – Assesses summarization skills and email writing.
Reading (29–32 mins) – Evaluates comprehension, vocabulary, and text organization.
Listening (30–34 mins) – Measures understanding of spoken English in various accents.

Q. What skills are tested in PTE Core?

A. The exam evaluates grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, fluency, comprehension, coherence, and logical structuring of responses across four sections.

Q. What are the new updates in the PTE Core 2025 syllabus?

A. Key updates include:
"Write Email" replaces essay writing in the Writing section.
"Respond to a Situation" added to the Speaking section.
"Highlight Correct Summary" removed from the Listening section.

Must Read: PTE Core Score Chart