PTE Score for Australia: Complete Visa and University Guide (2026)

Overview: PTE score for every Australian visa in one table

Australia accepts PTE Academic (not PTE Core) for every skilled, graduate, employer-sponsored and student visa that requires an English test, and it is accepted for university entry across Australia. The exact score depends on the visa you are applying for and the number of English points you want to claim. For tests taken on or after 7 August 2025:

The per-visa detail, the per-skill cut scores, exemptions and the university-by-university list are in the rest of this guide. Every number is cross-checked with an official source, linked at the point of use. For how the two tests compare, see PTE vs IELTS for Australian PR.

Do I need PTE Academic or PTE Core for Australia?

For Australia you take PTE Academic. The Department of Home Affairs accepts PTE Academic on its list of approved English tests for every visa category that requires proof of English, and Australian universities accept it for entry. Pearson states that PTE Academic is accepted by all Australian universities. PTE Core is Pearson's test built for Canadian immigration (IRCC); Home Affairs does not list it as an accepted test for any visa.

For tests taken from 7 August 2025, Home Affairs accepts only tests taken at a secure test centre, from this list: Cambridge C1 Advanced, CELPIP General, IELTS Academic and IELTS General Training (including One Skill Retake), LANGUAGECERT Academic, the Michigan English Test, OET, PTE Academic and TOEFL iBT. At-home or online versions are not accepted, and some universities, such as ANU, also exclude at-home tests. It surprises people that CELPIP, a Canadian test, is on the list while PTE Core is not.

If you are weighing both destinations, see PTE Core vs PTE Academic. For everyone in this guide, the answer is PTE Academic.

What PTE score do I need for Australia PR (the per-skill cut scores)

From 7 August 2025, the Department of Home Affairs stopped using the same minimum in every skill (the old 50 / 65 / 79 in each component) and switched to different per-skill minimums for each of the three English bands. This matters because a single low sub-score can now cost you 10 or 20 skilled-migration points even if your overall is strong.

For PTE tests taken on or before 6 August 2025, the legacy rule still applies: 50 / 65 / 79 in each skill for Competent / Proficient / Superior. Home Affairs says those legacy results may remain valid for up to three years, depending on the visa, which means 6 August 2028 at the latest. (Source: Department of Home Affairs, English language test scores.)

For a deeper walk-through with worked point-scoring examples, see our dedicated PTE for Australia PR page.

PR per-skill in detail: which skill trips up most candidates

Home Affairs is clear that PTE Academic changed in August 2025 and that the new scores are different from the old ones, so do not read 69 against the old 79 as “easier”. What matters is where each cut sits against your own skills:

• Speaking is the hardest cut by a wide margin. Superior requires 88 and Proficient 76, the highest bar in both bands. Speaking 88 is in the C2 range of Pearson's CEFR alignment (Score Guide p.11); most non-native candidates cap out well below this without weeks of Describe Image and Retell Lecture drills. Our Describe Image practice is the single highest-leverage lift for Speaking.
• Writing 85 for Superior is the second squeeze. The essay and Summarize Written Text tasks now need to be near-flawless in grammar and vocabulary range. Templates alone will not carry you to 85: Pearson's Score Guide gives a 0 for Content to responses that rely on significant amounts of pre-prepared or memorised material.
• Listening 69 and Reading 70 for Superior are the lower numbers in that band. Write from Dictation scores in both Listening and Writing, which makes it the most efficient single drill in the whole test. Our Write from Dictation practice is where most candidates recover the fastest.
• At the Proficient band, Speaking 76 and Writing 69 are still the two most-missed sub-scores. If you are targeting 10 English points, drill Speaking and Writing before Reading and Listening.
• At the Competent threshold, the four cuts (47 / 48 / 51 / 54) sit close together. The trap is a single sub-score, usually Speaking, below its specific floor.

Aim two to three points above each cut, not exactly at it. Per the Score Guide, a speaking response that scores 0 for Content earns no points for that task at all, so one Describe Image where you froze can cost more than you expect.

How our test-takers measure up against the new cut scores

We checked 1,561 fully answered PTE Academic mock tests taken by 909 people on PTE Mocks between 6 July and 27 September 2026 against the per-skill cut scores above. The share of tests that reached each skill's cut:

The pattern is stark. Of the tests that missed Competent English, 97% were short in Speaking and 70% in Writing, against 33% in Listening and 27% in Reading. And when exactly one skill stood between a test and the Competent band, that skill was Speaking 331 times out of 362.

Mock scores are our AI's estimate, not Pearson results, and our test-takers are practisers, many early in their preparation, so the absolute percentages run low. Read the relative pattern instead: for most people chasing Australian points, Speaking decides the band, and Writing is the second gate. That is where the next four weeks of practice should go.

Skilled visa subclasses side-by-side

Every points-tested skilled visa uses the same three English bands. What differs is which band you need to hold, and which band gives you points. Here is the full comparison:

Bottom line: Competent English gets you in the door for every points-tested skilled visa. If you are on 189, 190 or 491 and want a competitive EOI in the 2026 selection climate, you almost certainly need Proficient or Superior to gather the 10 or 20 points that move you up the queue. Book your test with the points target in mind, not just the minimum entry gate.

State nomination for the 190 and the state-nominated 491 is run by each state or territory government under its own priorities, separately from the Home Affairs invitation rounds, so check your state nomination criteria for any English score above Competent.

How many PR points does your PTE score add?

English is one of the few points items you can still change after you apply for a skills assessment, so it is worth doing the maths. On the Home Affairs points table, Competent English earns 0, Proficient 10 and Superior 20.

A worked example, using only points Home Affairs publishes: a single applicant aged 28 with a recognised bachelor degree and no other points items has 30 points for age, 15 for the degree and 10 for being single. That is 55 with Competent English, 65 with Proficient and 75 with Superior. The points test pass mark for the 189, 190 and 491 is 65, so on these points alone this applicant could not be invited with Competent English.

Now compare that with real invitations. In the 4 June 2026 SkillSelect round, Home Affairs invited 10,000 applicants for the 189 visa, and the lowest points invited for occupations such as Midwife and Occupational Therapist were 75, with Nurse Practitioner at 80 and several science occupations higher still. For that example applicant, only Superior English reaches the lowest score invited for those occupations, and applicants tied on that score were invited in order of the date they reached it.

Two traps worth knowing:

• The 70 trap. A flat 70 in every skill clears Competent English but earns 0 points, because Proficient needs Speaking 76. Writing 70 clears the Proficient Writing cut of 69; Speaking 70 is 6 short of the Speaking cut of 76.
• Your partner's English counts too. A partner who applies with you and has Competent English adds 5 points, or 10 if they are also under 45 with a suitable skills assessment in an occupation on the same list as yours. Being single, or having a partner who is an Australian citizen or permanent resident, also earns 10.

Invitation cut-offs change every round, so check the latest on the Home Affairs SkillSelect invitation rounds page before you plan around a number.

Temporary Graduate visa (subclass 485): what PTE score you need

For the Temporary Graduate visa (subclass 485, both the Post-Higher Education Work stream and the Post-Vocational Education Work stream), for tests taken on or after 7 August 2025 you need PTE Academic overall 55 with at least Listening 40, Reading 42, Writing 41 and Speaking 39. This is the equivalent of IELTS overall 6.5 with at least 5.5 in each band. For tests taken on or before 6 August 2025, the legacy minimum is overall 57 with at least Listening 43, Reading 48, Writing 51 and Speaking 42. Because the test must be in the 12 months before you apply, a result from on or before 6 August 2025 is now too old for a new application.

The timing rule is strict: you must have taken the test in the 12 months immediately before the day you apply. Holders of a valid passport from the UK, the USA, Canada, New Zealand or the Republic of Ireland are exempt from providing English evidence. Holders of a Hong Kong or British National (Overseas) passport have a lower bar: overall 47 with at least Listening 33, Reading 36, Writing 29 and Speaking 24. (Source: Department of Home Affairs, Temporary Graduate visa (subclass 485); LIN 25/089.)

485 is often the first Australian visa most international students actually apply for. Some students call it the TR visa. The per-skill floors catch candidates who never took PTE seriously as a student: a common trap is a Writing sub-score below 41 from a fast, unpolished essay, and the 12-month window means an old student-visa result will not do. If you are still on your Student 500 and planning to move to 485, take a scored mock now rather than closer to graduation.

Student Visa (subclass 500): why there is no single PTE score

Two different numbers apply to a Student visa (subclass 500), and people mix them up constantly. The first is the Home Affairs minimum for the visa itself. The second is your education provider's admission requirement, which is usually higher and is what actually gets you a place.

For tests taken on or after 7 August 2025, the Home Affairs minimums are PTE Academic overall 47; 39 if your course is accompanied by at least 10 weeks of ELICOS, or you are doing a foundation or pathway program; and 31 with at least 20 weeks of ELICOS. The test must have been taken within the two years before you lodge (or before a decision, if you are at the Streamlined Evidence level and Home Affairs asks for evidence). For tests taken on or before 6 August 2025, the minimums are overall 50, or 42 with at least 10 weeks of ELICOS or a foundation or pathway program, or 36 with at least 20 weeks of ELICOS; because of the two-year rule, those older results run out by 6 August 2027 at the latest. Whether you must attach English evidence depends on your evidence level, which Home Affairs' Document Checklist Tool shows you. That evidence level comes from the Simplified Student Visa Framework (SSVF), which combines your country of citizenship with your education provider, and Home Affairs can still ask for English evidence while it processes your application, even if the checklist says you do not need to attach it. Verify your specific situation on Home Affairs Student 500 English language requirements. The minimums are set in LIN 25/090.

For the overwhelming majority of applicants, the number to hit is the university's number, not the Home Affairs number. Home Affairs does not say that a score above the minimum helps the visa itself: it publishes only minimums, and its Genuine Student factors do not mention English test scores. The next section lists university requirements.

PTE score for every major Australian university

These are the largest and most-applied-to Australian universities. Every one accepts PTE Academic. Scores below are the standard direct-entry PTE Academic requirement for a bachelor's programme. Postgraduate coursework is often the same or higher; health, teaching and law programmes are higher still. Pearson's Score Guide says undergraduate degrees typically need a minimum of 51 to 60 and postgraduate degrees 57 to 67. Always verify on the university's own English requirements page before applying.

Rows re-verified on 27 September 2026: Sydney, ANU, UNSW, UQ and UWA, and the Melbourne and Adelaide University rows were corrected the same day. The other rows were last checked on 21 July 2026, and universities change their requirements between intakes, so confirm on the university's own page before you book. Several universities, including ANU and UQ, also exclude at-home or online versions of the test.

The pattern is clear: PTE Academic overall 58 with no skill below 50 covers the largest group of Australian universities. The Group of Eight research universities (Melbourne, Sydney, ANU, UNSW, Monash, UQ, UWA and Adelaide) are mostly tighter: the five we re-checked all sit at 64 overall, with per-skill floors of 54 to 60. Melbourne (its Level 1 bachelor degrees, including Arts, Commerce and Science) and Adelaide University (the Commerce, Business, IT and Science bachelor degrees we checked), both checked on 27 September 2026, ask for 64 overall with 60 in each skill; Monash starts at 58 overall with no skill below 50. Health, teaching and law programmes at every university push higher, and nursing graduates will also need to meet the AHPRA registration standard in the next section before they can practise. Teaching shows how high the bar can go: UNSW's Bachelor of Education (Secondary) and Master of Teaching ask for PTE 73 overall with at least 65 in Reading and Writing and 79 in Listening and Speaking, so high Listening and Speaking sub-scores are the gate there.

PTE score for common professional registrations

Once you are in Australia, some professions require English registration separately from your visa. Even Australian citizens can be asked to show English for professional registration if their qualification was taught in a non-English-speaking country.

Confirm the exact current standard on the specific board's website: professional English rules change more often than immigration rules, as AHPRA's April 2026 change shows.

How old can your PTE result be for each visa?

A PTE Score Report is valid for two years from your test date, but Home Affairs sets its own age limit for each visa, and they are not the same:

In short, PTE score validity for Australia is 3 years for skilled visas, 2 years for the Student visa, and 12 months for the 485 and Functional English. The same Pearson handbook says scores should be assigned within two years of taking your test, so send your result to Home Affairs before then; if you ticked Home Affairs when you booked, Pearson sends it automatically. Only tests taken at a secure test centre count. If your result is close to the end of its window, book your test so that the result will still be inside the window on the day you are invited (189, 190 and 491) or the day you apply (other visas), not the day you get your skills assessment. For the full rules, see our PTE score validity guide.

Functional and Vocational English, and the Training visa (407)

Two lower English levels appear on Home Affairs pages, mostly for family members and training visas:

• Functional English: PTE Academic overall 24 for tests from 7 August 2025, from a test taken within the last 12 months. The Training visa (subclass 407) requires Functional English.
• Vocational English: PTE Academic Listening 33, Reading 36, Writing 29 and Speaking 24 for tests from 7 August 2025.

Holders of a valid passport from the UK, the USA, Canada, New Zealand or the Republic of Ireland can usually show English through their passport instead. Home Affairs is explicit that PTE Academic keeps the same name as the pre-August 2025 test but that the test and scores are different, so use the current table for any test taken after that date. Sources: the Home Affairs Functional English and Vocational English pages.

How to hit your Australia PTE target

The right prep intensity depends entirely on which cut you are chasing. These are our rough estimates, not Pearson figures:

• Competent (L 47 / R 48 / W 51 / S 54, PR minimum entry): three to six weeks of focused practice for most applicants with intermediate English. A single free scored mock tells you if you are already there. If Speaking or Writing sit below the cut, drill those two before touching Reading or Listening.
• Proficient (L 58 / R 59 / W 69 / S 76, 10 PR points, most universities): six to ten weeks of daily practice. The two most-missed sub-scores are Writing 69 and Speaking 76. Our PTE 65+ strategy is the roadmap.
• Superior (L 69 / R 70 / W 85 / S 88, 20 PR points): two to four months of structured preparation for most non-native applicants. Speaking 88 and Writing 85 are the two ceilings; the PTE 79+ strategy lays out the plan.

Two anchor drills carry disproportionate weight for every band: Describe Image (scored on Content, Pronunciation and Oral Fluency) and Write from Dictation (Listening + Writing on the same task). Combined with a solid PTE vocabulary base and a weekly full-length scored mock, steady practice moves the number: in our retake data from 101 repeat test-takers, the average best mock score ended up 13 points above the average first mock (52 to 65).

Quick reference: PTE score for Australia at a glance

This is our PTE score chart for Australia: the PTE score requirements for each visa covered in this guide. The most-asked facts from this guide, condensed into one table. All figures are PTE Academic, for tests taken on or after 7 August 2025 unless stated.