How PTE Reading Is Scored

Correct/incorrect or partial credit, which applies?

Every PTE item uses one of two scoring mechanisms, and the wording is identical across both exams: correct/incorrect items award 1 point if you are right and 0 if you are wrong, with nothing in between. Partial credit items award the maximum points for a fully correct response, some points for a partially correct one, and 0 for an incorrect one. Reading uses both, depending on the task.

• Multiple Choice, Single Answer: Correct/incorrect. There is exactly one right option and no partial credit for a plausible near-miss, full lesson: Multiple Choice, Single Answer.
• Multiple Choice, Multiple Answers: Partial credit with a penalty for wrong selections, covered in detail below.
• Reorder Paragraphs: Partial credit, scored per correctly placed adjacent pair rather than as a single right-or-wrong sequence.
• Fill in the Blanks (both variants): Partial credit, scored per blank, with no penalty for a wrong or empty blank beyond not earning that blank’s point, see Fill in the Blanks: Dropdown and Fill in the Blanks: Drag and Drop.

How does negative marking actually work?

Multiple Choice, Multiple Answers is the one Part 2 Reading task with a real penalty for wrong guesses (Highlight Incorrect Words, an integrated Listening task covered later in this lesson, also deducts for wrong choices). The Score Guide’s own wording for Multiple Choice, Multiple Answers is: “Partial credit (for each correct response. Points deducted for incorrect options chosen).” In practice that means +1 for each option you select that is correct, −1 for each option you select that is wrong, with the item score never allowed to fall below 0. This rule is identical in both PTE Academic (Score Guide p.40) and PTE Core (Score Guide p.35).

A full worked example of the scoring maths, plus practice items, lives in the Multiple Choice, Multiple Answers lesson.

Reorder Paragraphs works differently: you are scored on adjacent pairs, not on a perfect whole sequence. A four-paragraph item has three pairs, so one misplaced box can affect all three. See the worked example in the Reorder Paragraphs lesson.

The pattern to remember: on every Part 2 task except Multiple Choice, Multiple Answers, an uncertain answer costs you nothing extra, so always submit your best guess. (Highlight Incorrect Words, the integrated Listening task covered below, deducts too; it just isn’t part of Part 2.) Multiple Choice, Multiple Answers is the one exception where restraint, adding only what you can justify, is itself part of the skill.

This is worth internalising early, because it changes how you should spend time under pressure. On a Fill in the Blanks item you are running short on, narrowing the gap to two plausible words and picking one is always better than leaving it empty. On a Multiple Choice, Multiple Answers item you are running short on, stopping after your one or two most confident selections protects the points you have already identified, rather than risking them by adding a third option you have not actually checked against the passage.

Which tasks outside Part 2 add to your Reading score?

A few tasks that live outside Part 2 also contribute to your Reading skill score because you have to read a passage before responding. Their scoring mechanics belong to their own section, Summarize Written Text is scored under the Speaking & Writing rules and Highlight Incorrect Words under the Listening rules, but their results also contribute to your Reading score alongside your Part 2 items. Read Aloud is different: it only counts toward Reading in one of the two exams, covered below.

What does your score report actually show you?

The Score Report shared with institutions and immigration authorities contains only your overall score and the four communicative skill scores, Listening, Reading, Speaking, Writing. It does not break Reading down further for that audience. The tasks that feed each skill score, including the integrated ones above, are also what the integrated Writing tasks lesson covers from the Writing side.

You also get a private diagnostic view that institutions do not receive. Its structure can change, so use it for broad self-study patterns. Quote numbers from the official Score Report.