Are you going to give PTE Academic? You may be interested in our PTE Voucher, you can book a slot and practice mock tests at a very discounted rate. Talking about PTE Academic, do you know there is negative marking involved for few questions? Well, now you do!
PTE Academic aims to provide a fair chance to the test taker. This is why the scoring isn't just one credit for right and no credit for wrong. Partial Credit is also there on different questions apart from marking correct and incorrect. The partial credit is the component where negative marking comes into the play for some of the questions but the minimum marks is still going to be zero.
Allow us to explain how all this works. In order to do so, we need to see what are the question where negative marks is a possibility:
Part II: Reading
- Multiple Choice, Choose Multiple Answers
Part III: Listening
- Multiple Choice, Choose Multiple Answers
- Highlight Incorrect Words
As you can see, only three questions have a negative marking so you can choose to answer accordingly. Rest of the questions are either scored as 'Correct, 'Incorrect' or 'Partially Correct'. You can refer to the PTE Academic Scoring Guide if you want to know how other questions are scored.
How the marking takes place?
For these questions, you are awarded a point for each correct answer while points are also deducted for each an incorrect answer.
- Correct: 1 point
- Incorrect: -1 Point
- Minimum Marks: 0
As you can see in the above example: A Reading Multiple Choice, Multiple Answers type question. 2 of the options are correct while one is incorrect. That means 2 points for the correct answers and 1 point in negative for the wrong answer. Total points rewarded: 1 Point.
Let's Consider Some Other Scenarios
- One option is correct and two are wrong: One Point for right while 2 points in minus that means -1 but since the minimum mark is 0, you will end up getting zero.
- All the answers are incorrect: Your marks for the question will be zero.
- Selected options are correct but not selecting all the options: 1 for each correct answers, there is no deduction for leaving answers.
Partial Credit & Negative Marking: The Difference
For all the three question type above, partial credit system works. Except for these questions, partial credit also works for other questions.
- Partial Credit: Points for each correct answers. No points are deducted for incorrect answers or not selected ones.
- Partial Credit With Negative Marking: Points are rewarded for the correct answers. Deduction of points takes place for incorrect answers. No negative marking for not selecting all the right answers. Minimum marks rewarded: 0.
We hope this cleared your confusion about negative marking in PTE Academic Exam. You can practice through our Mock tests because there is nothing like understanding exam concepts practically.
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