Pearson concordance, July 2025
PTE 87 to IELTS: 8.5
On Pearson's July 2025 concordance table, a PTE Academic overall score of 87 sits in the 86–89 range, which lines up with IELTS Academic 8.5.
Overall band 8.5PTE range 86–89
PTE 87 on each scale
Pearson publishes separate ranges for the overall score and for each skill, so the same number can line up with different bands.
| Overall | IELTS 8.5 (PTE 86–89) |
|---|---|
| Listening | IELTS 9.0 (PTE 81–90) |
| Reading | IELTS 9.0 (PTE 81–90) |
| Speaking | IELTS 7.5 (PTE 83–87) |
| Writing | IELTS 8.0 (PTE 85–89) |
- IELTS 8.5 overall starts at PTE 86.
- IELTS 9.0 overall starts at PTE 90, 3 points above 87.
Source: Pearson, Establishing score concordance between the enhanced PTE Academic and IELTS Academic, summary paper (July 2025), and Understand your PTE Academic score, checked 9 October 2026.
Before you rely on it
A concordance shows how scores on two tests compare. It is approximate, and it does not tell you which tests a university or visa program accepts or what score it asks for: those are set by each institution and government, so check the official requirement for your course or visa.
The full table
| IELTS | PTE Overall | PTE Listening | PTE Reading | PTE Speaking | PTE Writing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4.5 | 24–30 | 26–32 | 29–35 | 14–23 | 17–28 |
| 5.0 | 31–38 | 33–39 | 36–41 | 24–38 | 29–40 |
| 5.5 | 39–46 | 40–46 | 42–47 | 39–53 | 41–50 |
| 6.0 | 47–54 | 47–52 | 48–53 | 54–65 | 51–59 |
| 6.5 | 55–62 | 53–57 | 54–58 | 66–75 | 60–68 |
| 7.0 | 63–70 | 58–63 | 59–64 | 76–82 | 69–76 |
| 7.5 | 71–78 | 64–68 | 65–69 | 83–87 | 77–84 |
| 8.0 | 79–85 | 69–74 | 70–74 | 88–89 | 85–89 |
| 8.5 | 86–89 | 75–80 | 75–80 | 90 | 90 |
| 9.0 | 90 | 81–90 | 81–90 | – | – |