PTE to IELTS Score Calculator
PTE Academic is scored out of 90 on a continuous scale. IELTS is reported in half bands from 0 to 9. The two tests measure similar things but report them so differently that a score in one says nothing obvious about the other, which is a problem when a university, a professional body or an immigration form asks for one and you sat the other. Pearson publishes a concordance table mapping PTE Academic overall scores onto IELTS bands, and this calculator applies the current one, revised in July 2025. That matters more than it sounds: the revision moved most of the thresholds by two or three points, and a great many conversion charts still quote the superseded 2020 figures. Enter your PTE overall score to see the IELTS band it corresponds to, then set the band you are aiming for to see the PTE score that matches it and how far away you are. Two cautions before you use the number. A concordance is a statistical mapping, not an official conversion, and the organisation you are applying to decides whether it will accept one at all. And this calculator deliberately does not tell you what score any visa or registration requires, because those thresholds change.
This is a statistical concordance published by Pearson, not an official conversion, and no institution is obliged to accept it. Requirements for New Zealand visas are set by Immigration New Zealand and change from time to time, so check the current requirement with them or with the body you are applying to rather than relying on a converted score.
How it works
Pearson maps PTE Academic overall scores onto IELTS bands at ten points along the scale. Each band is reached at a threshold PTE score, and any score at or above that threshold but below the next one falls in that band.
| PTE Academic | IELTS band |
|---|---|
| 90 | 9.0 |
| 86 | 8.5 |
| 79 | 8.0 |
| 71 | 7.5 |
| 63 | 7.0 |
| 55 | 6.5 |
| 47 | 6.0 |
| 39 | 5.5 |
| 31 | 5.0 |
| 24 | 4.5 |
The steps are almost perfectly even: 8 PTE points buys a half band all the way from IELTS 5.0 up to 8.0. It is only at the very top that the scale compresses, with 7 points between 8.0 and 8.5 and just 4 between 8.5 and a perfect 9.0.
Do not use the old table
Pearson revised this concordance in July 2025 to match the updated PTE Academic test, and the change was substantial. The previous table, published in 2020, put IELTS 7.0 at a PTE score of 65 and IELTS 6.5 at 58. The current figures are 63 and 55. A great many third party conversion charts still quote the 2020 numbers, so a score checked against one of those can be understated by two points or more.
The mapping is for the overall score only. Institutions that set a minimum for each of the four skills will look at your individual PTE communicative skills scores, and there is no reliable band-by-band conversion for those.
Worked example
A PTE Academic overall score of 65, aiming for an IELTS 6.5 equivalent.
The threshold for IELTS 7.0 is 63, and 65 clears it, so that is the band it maps to. The target of 6.5 is reached at a PTE score of 55, so the score is 10 points clear of it.
The next band up, IELTS 7.5, needs a PTE score of 71, which is 6 points more than the current score.
What this does not say is whether 65 is enough for any particular purpose. That depends entirely on the requirement set by the university, registration body or visa category you are applying under, and on whether they accept a concordance at all rather than requiring the specific test they named.
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