How this instrument works
Pearson, the organization behind the PTE Academic exam, is explicit that there is no formula that derives a PTE score from your performance in some computable way — your score comes from the test itself, scored by Pearson's own automated system. What CAN be looked up is a concordance: a published table mapping bands of the 10-90 PTE scale to their roughly equivalent CEFR level (the Common European Framework used across language education), IELTS band, and TOEFL iBT score range. This tool is exactly that lookup, not a calculation.
One honest caveat worth stating plainly: concordance tables like this get revised periodically as testing organizations recalibrate against fresh data — Pearson itself updated its PTE-to-IELTS concordance based on research published in 2025. The table behind this tool reflects a published PTE score-guide concordance rather than a live feed from Pearson, so treat it as a solid general-purpose guide to roughly where your score lands, not a substitute for checking Pearson's own current official score guide, especially for anything score-sensitive like a university or visa application with a specific IELTS-equivalent requirement.
The lowest PTE band (10-22) intentionally shows no CEFR, IELTS, or TOEFL equivalent, because the source table leaves that band blank — Pearson's concordance simply doesn't extend an equivalence claim that low, rather than this being a gap in how the table was reproduced here.
- Enter your PTE Academic overall score — a whole number from 10 to 90, as reported on your score report.
- Read CEFR level — the approximate Common European Framework band your score corresponds to.
- Read IELTS-equivalent band — the roughly comparable IELTS Academic overall band score.
- Read TOEFL iBT-equivalent — the roughly comparable TOEFL iBT score or score range.
Worked example — a PTE score of 65
A PTE Academic overall score of 65 falls in the table's 59-65 band, which corresponds to CEFR B2 (an upper-intermediate level, commonly the minimum many universities require for admission), an IELTS-equivalent of 6.5, and a TOEFL iBT-equivalent range of 87-96. Someone comparing offers from two universities, one quoting a PTE requirement and the other an IELTS requirement, can use a table like this to sanity-check whether their actual score realistically clears both bars.
The very top of the scale works the same way: a perfect PTE score of 90 sits in the 89-90 band, mapping to CEFR C2 (the highest proficiency level the framework defines), IELTS 8.5, and TOEFL 120 (the maximum possible TOEFL iBT score) — the ceiling of all three scales lining up at the ceiling of the PTE scale, as you'd expect from a well-constructed concordance.
Questions
How is my PTE score converted to an IELTS or TOEFL score?
It isn't converted by a formula — it's looked up in a published concordance table that groups PTE scores into bands and assigns each band a roughly equivalent CEFR level, IELTS band, and TOEFL iBT range. Pearson itself states there's no computable relationship between PTE scoring (which is largely automated, machine-scored) and how IELTS or TOEFL arrive at their scores; the concordance is built from statistical comparison of test-taker performance across the different exams, not a mathematical conversion.
Is this concordance table Pearson's current, official one?
For CEFR and IELTS, yes — Pearson's own official scoring page publishes both, and updated its PTE-to-IELTS concordance based on research published in July 2025. TOEFL is the one exception worth flagging: as of this writing, Pearson's official page states its updated TOEFL relationship is still forthcoming ("over the coming months"), not yet published there. The TOEFL iBT ranges shown here come from an earlier, widely circulated PTE score-guide table rather than Pearson's current official page, so treat the TOEFL figures specifically as the least current part of this tool, and check Pearson's own page directly once they publish an updated TOEFL concordance.
Why does a PTE score of 10-22 show no CEFR, IELTS, or TOEFL equivalent?
Because the source concordance table itself leaves that lowest band blank — it doesn't extend an equivalence claim down to scores in that range. That's reproduced faithfully here as "N/A" rather than guessed at, since inventing a plausible-looking number for a band the original table doesn't cover would be less honest than simply showing there's no published equivalence for it.
Why does a score of 29 map to an IELTS equivalent but not a CEFR or TOEFL one?
That's a disclosed judgment call, not a data gap this tool introduced. The source table's bands read "23-28" and then jump straight to "30-35," leaving score 29 in neither — almost certainly a transcription gap in the original table, since every other band is contiguous. Rather than silently drop score 29 or guess at a boundary, this tool treats 23-29 as one contiguous band, carrying forward that band's published IELTS-equivalent (4.5) while leaving CEFR and TOEFL as "N/A," exactly as the source table shows for that band.
Do universities and visa applications accept PTE in place of IELTS or TOEFL?
Many do, but acceptance and the specific score threshold required vary by institution and program, and change over time — this concordance table is a useful planning reference, not a guarantee that a given PTE score will be accepted wherever an IELTS or TOEFL score is requested. Always confirm the exact accepted score directly with the institution or visa authority rather than relying solely on a general equivalence table.
What does CEFR B2, C1, or C2 actually mean?
CEFR (the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages) describes language proficiency on a six-level scale from A1 (beginner) to C2 (mastery). B2 is generally described as "independent user, upper-intermediate" — able to interact fluently with native speakers and understand complex text; C1 is "proficient user, advanced"; C2 is "proficient user, mastery," close to native-level command of the language. Many university programs set B2 or C1 as their minimum language requirement.