G'day, how are you going? Today, I'm gonna be touching on the recent change of Pearson's English (PTE) score concordance. I was genuinely surprised and disappointed with the fact that they seem to have cunningly modified the concordance. How could they compare the PTE with the IELTS in the first place? They are completely different English test in terms of format, marking criteria, question types as well as marking methods. Let's discuss this a bit. Have a look at this updated English score concordance:
First of all, the reason why I should say this change has cunningly been done is that below IELTS6.5 has now been slightly lower than the original, which reflects the potential increase in the number of prospective international students. I do understand it is a dead-cert Aus university market and revenue coming from international students will sooner or later be surging right after the eradication of COVID-19, and reopening the international border, which is a good news for sure. But nonetheless, for those seeking to live in Australia indefinitely, this change will significantly affect the current trend of immigration. In particular, for those wanting to get 20 points for English proficiency as a purpose of immigration, the IELTS 8.0 equalising the PTE 84 (formally 79) kills their hope.
I don't really understand how they could even guesstimate the PTE and the IELTS score concordance. They are entirely different English test. For instance, in terms of how they are gonna give you a mark in speaking and writing, the IETLS is, as you know, a human rating system, which examiners are gonna evaluate candidates' performance. On the other hand, the PTE speaking and writing's marking are both operationalised by an AI (Artificial Intelligence) amassed a huge amount of data based on the past candidates' submitted performance. So, I reckon this system is really cool and rather less subjective than human-led marking. This is fine! But the thing is why Pearson does not use the below range for the official English score concordance.
This is also gonna likely be changed to a new version sooner or later. This is, by the way, understandable in terms of how the IELTS and the PTE score could be compared discreetly. That is, having a certain range against the IELTS score is more sensible than just having the exact or definite number like 65 (=IELTS7.0). Instead of saying 65, ranging from 65 to 72 is more appropriate, right? This sort of ranging score concordance should be used for immigration and university entrance requirements.
So, what I wanna emphasise is that I can't technically urge Pearson to stop this time's change for English score concordance, but I sincerely hope that Australian Government Department of Home Affairs will not adopt this new concordance anytime soon. The IELTS 8.0 being the equivalent of 84/90 in the PTE isn't really a good estimate. My suggestion is that at least Pearson should have a range of the score relative to the one in the IELTS. Something like the range from 79 to 84 (Originally 79 to 82) does make sense to me. So, "Superior English" should be like this range. What do you think? Please share your comment.
By the way, I've been teaching the PTE exam more than a year, and I'm pretty much confident that everyone being eager to smash this test could improve their scores as quickly as possible if they take my PTE program. I personally got one of the easiest methods for you guys to master. Please leave your comments or don't hesitate to contact me via email with regard to my program regardless of your nationality, purposes or whatever.
Thanks for reading today! Have a great weekend.