The PTE Academic now has human raters!  I learned this in a webinar hosted by Pearson’s Jarrad Merlo. Moving forward, a human rater (or more than one?) will check all test taker responses to the “describe Image” and “retell lecture” questions.

Human raters will only grade responses in terms of content.  Other features (pronunciation, etc) will still be graded entirely by AI.

Previously, human raters were only used when the AI scoring engine determined that responses were anomalous.

This change seems to be part of an effort to reduce the use of “templated responses,” a term that Jarrad used at least 37 times in the presentation.

The last part of the webinar discussed what is meant by “templated responses” in the context of the PTE, but I had to teach someone how to take (some other) test, so I missed it.

Below are some images, taken from the presentation, that demonstrate how this works. You can catch a replay of the webinar right here.

I’m scheduled to take the PTE Academic Test on November 21 in Seoul. Let me know if there is anything I should keep an eye out for. I’ll take the test at the “Herald Test Center” in Gangnam, which I have never been to.

A few notes about the registration process:

1. This test center offers the PTE-A four days a week, three times each day.
2. There are two places to take the PTE in Seoul. The other is the Pearson Professional Center, where I took the PTE-Core last month.
3. It took about five minutes to complete the registration process.
4. I checked, and saw that there is no late booking fee in Korea. That’s nice. Just note that booking is halted 24 hours before the scheduled test time.
5. The fee in Korea is 286,000 KRW, or about $204 USD. That makes it a little bit cheaper than the TOEFL (which costs $220 USD) and the IELTS (which costs 299,000 KRW). That said, I think the British Council has a November/December sale on right now, so you can take the IELTS for 279,000 KRW.

Big thanks to Pearson for providing a test voucher.

There are three more tests I would like to take before the end of 2024. But time moves at an unimaginable speed.

I spotted a couple of interesting comments about the PTE in the transcript of Pearson’s Nine Month Trading Update conference call (which happened at the end of October).  They suggest that PTE test volumes may be flat or slightly up on the year.  They also suggest that the PTE may be taking market share from competitors in the English testing market.

During the call, a fellow from Goldman Sachs asked: “could you give some colour on PTE revenues and volumes in Q3?”

The response from Pearson was:

“On PTE, you will remember that volumes were down when we disclosed those at the half year. Revenue was down very slightly. In Q3, it did return to growth and so that indication I had given that it was likely to be down for the full year, it could be flatter, maybe even slightly up.”

More interestingly, a representative of Citigroup asked: “I would love some extra detail on whether you think you are taking share within the PTE, specifically talking about PTE, but whether you are taking share within the English language proficiency testing market.”

The response from Pearson was:

“…on the PTE topic that you asked about, Tom, again, without naming names, if you go and look at some of the competitive players in the space they will talk to you about meaningful late teens, 20% percentage reductions in testing volumes. That is what they’re seeing in the market overall. So the fact that actually Gio and the team delivered growth in PTE in the quarter in that kind of a market context, of course implies that we are taking share, and of course implies that we are executing in a very intense and focused way, which you can expect us to continue to do in the context of a market that is indeed subject to some of these policies in different countries. And we understand that market very well.”

I read that the PTE test turned 15 years old last week. The folks at Pearson have accomplished quite a lot since the launch of the test. They’ve played a part in the breaking up of old testing monopolies and have catapulted the PTE from an annual test volume of zero to about 1.2 million, according to the firm’s most recent annual report. By my math, that makes it the second biggest test in its category.

I’m probably the last person who should be writing about the success of the PTE, since I’ve been paying attention only for the past five years. But a few things come to mind when seeking to account for what has happened. The following list is mostly for the benefit of other test makers who are trying to catch up.

Said things are:

1. Pearson is really good at government relations. Over the past 15 years, the company has enjoyed an enormous amount of success getting its tests accepted by the Canadian, Australian and UK governments. None of the other IELTS competitors come close. ETS’s TOEFL has actually lost governments in the same time frame.

2. The PTE benefits from so-called “perceived easiness.” When I ask students why they took the PTE or some other non-legacy test, their response usually includes some variation of “it’s easier than XYZ.” Are the non-legacy tests actually easier? Probably not. Do these students have any idea what items on legacy tests actually look like? Definitely not. Why do they think the tests are easier? Good marketing, I suppose. It probably has something to do with positive user experience and test taker stress levels as well. This is controversial, but it is a big big factor.

3. The PTE is not a fee-generating machine. Unlike the legacy test makers, Pearson doesn’t charge onerous fees for sending scores to institutions. It also includes generous rescheduling and cancellation policies (both things can be done without any fee at all more than two weeks before test day). Late booking fees are reasonable.

4. PTE results come very quickly, usually within 48 hours. When I started teaching 15 years ago, students didn’t really care about getting results quickly. They took responsibility for their deadlines, and scheduled language tests well in advance. But today’s students are different.

5. Pearson is not a student placement agency. This makes it easier for the company to build relationships with agents in key markets like India.

There are more factors (a whole post could be written about differing approaches to at-home testing) but I will leave it at that.

In case you are curious, this is what a PTE-Core score report looks like. I think the design is fairly clean and modern.

I appreciate that the score report doesn’t contain any personal information, like my home address. That sort of information probably isn’t useful in a downloadable report, and the report is easier to share on social media when it is omitted.

My account on Pearson’s website also contains a “skills profile” based on my performance on the test. The information it contains could be useful for re-testers who want to narrow the focus of future test prep.

I took the PTE Core from Pearson! As I mentioned in an earlier post, this is a new test from Pearson used for permanent residency and citizenship applications.  As usual, I must type a few notes while the test is still fresh in my mind:

1. I took this test at the “Pearson Professional Center” near Seoul City Hall.  Like most test centers in Korea, this is a very nice facility.  It is clean and modern and there is no noise from outside.  The staff speak Korean and English. My registration process was orderly.  Earplugs were provided.  The headset mic was not the noise canceling type, but a separate pair of noise canceling earmuffs was provided for use during non-speaking parts of the test.  Tall dividers between terminals helped a bit too (but see below).  I wish everyone could take their tests at such a nice test center.  How much do test center conditions affect scores on this and other tests?  I couldn’t take pictures inside the center, but I will post a few snapshots from outside an in the hallway in a gallery below.
2. I was given a locker to store my belongings.  I noticed that locker number 4 was labeled 3b.  Locker number 13 was labeled 12b. Cute
3. I counted about nine people in the room with me, all of whom were taking the PTE-A. I chatted with the test center staff afterward, and learned that demand for the PTE-A is way, way up in Korea.  I was told, though, that the PTE-Core is taken only once in a while.
4. A Chinese national was at the test center to take the GMAT.  Remember those stories of Chinese citizens flying to Korea to take tests?  Apparently this test center gets PTE test-takers from all over the world.
5. Security is tight:  my palms were scanned seven times before I began the test, and once afterward.  I was photographed, my signature was confirmed and I was quizzed on the spelling of my name.
6. I was handed a test taker rules sheet for the PTE-A as I waited.  When I brought this to the attention of the staff, I was handed a PTE-Home rules sheet.  Indeed, it seems the PTE-Core is not frequently taken.
7. This was my first time taking a test in a full test center since before the pandemic.  I must admit that the noise from other test takers sometimes made it hard to focus.  My recommendation to test takers (both PTE-A and Core) might be to dawdle while reading the untimed instructions at the beginning of the test, which could create an opportunity to answer the final speaking questions without any distractions.  That’s what I did.
8. The test content is mostly general English, but with a few academic English items. You can go through the Pearson website to get an idea of what the test contains. As I mentioned in an earlier post, like the PTE this test contains a numerous and varied items. This differentiates it from some older tests that focus on fewer and longer items.
9. The test seems to closely resemble the prep materials provided on the Pearson website. I didn’t notice any glaring differences.  Test takers should go through everything that the Pearson website contains.  That said, I wish there was more to review.
10. A few things are worth remembering if you are helping someone prepare for this test.  First up: all of the “describe the image” questions I got were about charts and graphs.  I was expecting to mostly describe pictures, since that is what Pearson’s practice test includes.  I wasn’t totally thrown off my game, though, since the “learn about” pages for the test on Pearson’s website include graph-based questions.
11. Second: There is a penalty for exceeding the word count range stated in the writing questions.  Sometimes that penalty means you get a score of zero.  I knew about this penalty because I had read Pearson’s prep materials.  But the penalty is not mentioned during the test.  Had I not read those materials I would have significantly exceeded the stated word count range every single time.  Staying below the limit is hard, and must be a part of any practice regimen.
12. Third:  the listening section contains some audio snippets that seem to be taken from news broadcasts and other real-world sources.  They have a ton of background noise and sub-par audio, as you might expect.  The practice materials from Pearson don’t seem to represent this; the ones I listened to all had perfectly clear audio.
13. For a test used solely for immigration to Canada, there is a heckuva lot of British accented speech here.  And I also heard one particular verb that I am certain 9/10 Canadians have never used in the given context.
14. I spotted two (possibly three) grammar/language use errors in test items.  I suppose that is a consequence of generating items with AI.
15. My score was reported in about one hour.  No kidding.  I’ll post a copy of my score report a bit later.  I received a score of 90, which equates to a CLB of 10.

This Wednesday I’ll take Pearson’s PTE Core Test.  Let me know if there is anything I should keep an eye out for, or if there is anything specific you want to know about the test.

As most readers probably know, PTE Core is a fairly new test (booking opened in January of this year) and is accepted by the Canadian government for permanent residency and citizenship applications.  It is not currently used for any other purposes.

Since the test is outside of my usual wheelhouse of testing for academic admissions, I’m not particularly knowledgeable regarding its structure and item types.  As far as I know, it’s a three-part test, taking just under two hours to complete. Befitting its intended use, the test focuses on general rather than academic tasks.  And like other Pearson products, it seems to contain numerous and varied short tasks, rather than a small number of long tasks.  Tomorrow I’ll dig into some of the practice materials.

According to the test’s website, scores from the test have been mapped to CLB levels 3 through 10.  Scoring is done by AI.

Since the test is used exclusively for immigration purposes, it can only be taken at test centers.  There are two test centers in Seoul offering the test, and one in Busan. I’m happy to have a good reason to go into the city, as in my daily life I rarely venture further afield than the magazine rack at the Doksan Public Library.

My thanks to Pearson for providing a test voucher.