Where PTE students lose the most points, task by task
RealPTE students lose the most points in Write Essay: on average they finish 51 points short of the 90 maximum, across 26 students, and Grammar is the weakest part of it (23/90).
Points lost per task type (90 minus the average AI score), most first
| Task type | Students | Average score | Points short of 90 | Weakest scoring part (average) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Write Essay | 26 | 39 | 51 | Grammar (23) |
| Answer Short Question | 30 | 48 | 42 | Content (48) |
| Summarize Written Text | 35 | 48 | 42 | Content (36) |
| Retell Lecture | 35 | 64 | 26 | Content (48) |
| Respond to a Situation | 34 | 68 | 22 | Content (53) |
| Describe Image | 82 | 71 | 19 | Content (58) |
| Repeat Sentence | 131 | 74 | 16 | Content (62) |
| Read Aloud | 159 | 75 | 15 | Content (73) |
Average score of each scoring part
| Task type | Part | Students | Average (10–90) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Write Essay | Content | 26 | 38 |
| Write Essay | Development | 26 | 38 |
| Write Essay | Form | 26 | 63 |
| Write Essay | Grammar | 26 | 23 |
| Write Essay | Linguistic range | 26 | 39 |
| Write Essay | Spelling | 26 | 46 |
| Write Essay | Vocabulary | 26 | 31 |
| Answer Short Question | Content | 30 | 48 |
| Summarize Written Text | Content | 35 | 36 |
| Summarize Written Text | Form | 35 | 78 |
| Summarize Written Text | Grammar | 35 | 42 |
| Summarize Written Text | Vocabulary | 35 | 65 |
| Retell Lecture | Content | 35 | 48 |
| Retell Lecture | Oral fluency | 35 | 63 |
| Retell Lecture | Pronunciation | 35 | 82 |
| Respond to a Situation | Content | 34 | 53 |
| Respond to a Situation | Oral fluency | 34 | 68 |
| Respond to a Situation | Pronunciation | 34 | 85 |
| Describe Image | Content | 82 | 58 |
| Describe Image | Oral fluency | 82 | 68 |
| Describe Image | Pronunciation | 82 | 87 |
| Repeat Sentence | Content | 131 | 62 |
| Repeat Sentence | Oral fluency | 131 | 83 |
| Repeat Sentence | Pronunciation | 131 | 78 |
| Read Aloud | Content | 159 | 73 |
| Read Aloud | Oral fluency | 159 | 74 |
| Read Aloud | Pronunciation | 158 | 78 |
How this data was collected
- Sample: 224 students · 4,666 attempts · 9 October 2026 to 21 October 2026.
- Every AI-scored attempt in RealPTE practice, by task type.
- Points short of 90 = 90 minus the task's average AI score. Scoring parts are the task's own parts (content, pronunciation, fluency, form, grammar …).
- AI scores are RealPTE's practice estimates on Pearson's 10–90 scale, not official PTE scores; Pearson's own scoring can differ.
- Every figure on this page is based on at least 20 different students; smaller groups are not shown. Only totals are published, never a single student’s results.
- The report is about students’ practice and results. It does not show any test questions or question text.
- Recalculated every week from new practice; the update date above shows the latest run.
Questions students ask
Where do PTE students lose the most points?
In Write Essay: the average RealPTE practice score is 39/90, 51 points short of the maximum.
Which scoring part pulls the score down?
In Write Essay it is Grammar, averaging 23/90. Content usually drops first when a recording is cut short or misses the main points.
Is this how Pearson weights the tasks?
No. This page shows practice scores per task, not how much each task counts in the official overall score; Pearson does not publish exact task weights.
Cite this data
RealPTE practice data, October 2026. “Where PTE Students Lose the Most Points: Gap to 90 by Task (Practice Data)”. https://realpte.com/pte-data/pte-points-lost
You are welcome to quote these figures with a link to this page.
More RealPTE practice data
- The 8 words PTE students misread most in Read Aloud and Repeat Sentence
- Which PTE task type is hardest: average AI score by task
- The 5 most common PTE writing mistakes in grammar, spelling and form
- PTE speaking fluency: how often students pause, task by task
- When PTE practice happens: busiest hours and days by country, in local time
Check your own answers the same way: RealPTE marks every word and pause, free every day.
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