Pearson Test of English (PTE)  Arvostelua 682

At the time of registration, I entered my first and last name correctly, in line with the mandatory fields presented in the system. There was no clear or explicit instruction indicating that all middle names must be included exactly as per the identification document, nor was there any system validation preventing submission in this format. for a whole month I tried with their customer care both on phone and thru mails. Their replies took 10-15 days in average, and their response seems to be detached from what I'm asking. Eventually I gave up and rebooked the exam.

The booking system doesn't provide a separate field for a middle name. However, if you don't include it within the “Given name” field, you will be refused entry to your test without exception. And they are unable to add a middle name on the day regardless of showing your passport as ID that matches the application name (minus the "missing" middle name"). The design of the system is misleading, as it discourages users from including their middle name. It seems like there are many other victims of this dishonest design which seems to aim to trick people into booking twice.

Additionally, the staff member at reception who informed us we could not take the test was condescending and made us feel uncomfortable, without making any effort to assist.

Registration ID: 532884477

I have taken this test three times so far, and each time there has been some kind of error during the exam. Every time I want my score to be reviewed or corrected, I am required to pay a fee just so they can fix mistakes that should not have occurred in the first place.

During my exam, one of the reading passages had incorrect answer options, which I reported at the time. Now I have received a low score in HIW, which is very disappointing. It is truly frustrating that a company like this seems to be taking advantage of test-takers, with no proper accountability or oversight.

Please kindly refund my amount paid online £ 160 for the exam no excuses accepted. Your exceptions will not be accepted as action would be taken against your company if I do not get my full refund in 48 hours.

Mi ero iscritta all' esame B1 di inglese ma non me lo hanno fatto fare perché non gli andava bene il mio computer che è un classico portatile con cui ho sempre fatto tutto. 400 euro buttati al secchio

Update - Hi Pearson team, please share another request to provide my information as the link has expired. Thank you

They seem to be making sure you do not get superior scores.

I did my PTE test and got 90/90/90 and 69 for reading. If they gave me 70 for reading I would have got the superior score and would have helped me in my PR process. I requested a re-score and they reduced my marks even more BUT REFUNDED ME THE RESCORING FEE. But when they reissued the results my reading score was 90 and speaking score had gone down to 60s.

After a month PTE emailed me and issued me a free test, In that test I got 90 - listening / 90 - Speaking/ 71 - reading / 67 for writing (I got 90 for writing last time). - This time also they clearly reduced my marks so i would not get the superior score. Requested a rescoring again just like before they reduced my marks but refunded the rescoring fee.

I am clearly seeing a pattern here where PTE is deliberately trying to keep making me do their exam by not giving me the score I require. This is making my PR process late and clearly has taken a mental toll on me and finally thought to put a review seeking some sort of support from PTE.

I am writing to express my deep dissatisfaction with Pearson VUE’s support regarding my PTE Academic exam scheduling. Due to medical issues, which were duly proven by a medical certificate submitted on March 24th, 2026, the institution accepted my request and provided a voucher code for rescheduling. However, the code provided is returning an error and appears as invalid in the online booking system.
I have been in daily contact with support via phone, email, and forms since last Friday, yet I only receive generic two-business-day deadlines that expire without any resolution. I must emphasize that my situation is extremely urgent, as I have strict deadlines for visa documentation and international course enrollment. I need an immediate solution, as I must schedule the exam this week to avoid missing my international deadlines.

This technical failure with the voucher, combined with the support delay, is jeopardizing my entire international plan and the financial investments I have made. Therefore, I demand that Pearson provides a new valid voucher immediately or issues a full refund of the amount paid. My priority is a functional solution to ensure I do not miss my immigration and academic deadlines.

Registration ID: 530616745
Name: Rafael Bichir Gomes de Lima Lourenço

My friend got an average score of 31 (Listening 25, Reading 32, Speaking 38, and Writing 28). However, the “overall score” shows 28.
They first asked for all the details, like which country, purpose, and industry he would use this exam for. He took the test twice, and on the second attempt his average was 31, but they gave an overall score of 28, saying they use some “internal algorithms” that no one understands.
Now my friend has to take the exam a third time. I think this is unfair and not transparent. It feels like they are just taking money from people without clearly explaining how the scoring works.

Update: Extra info sent. Another friend has average 43, however, it shows 44 overall!! My friend needed 29 for Nz. I will delete this update and change it to 5 star if they fix his overall. He took test twice already.

Awful experience. My wife booked a PTE B1 Home test and due to a discrepancy on her ID was initially refused entry to the test. After much complaining and raising a case, she was thankfully admitted to take the test.

The discrepancy was because we put her Country of Citizenship as 'Hong Kong' - but used her British National Overseas passport to book the test. We apparently should have put UK as Country of Citizenship - if that was the case we wouldn't need to apply for ILR at all!

Since taking the test we have been waiting 2 weeks now for the score. We received no updates during this time, apart from when we have called Pearson ourselves to be told that the case is actually still being reviewed?! So even after taking the test, we may not actually be given our score. This is insane.

We have to submit ILR application now and will not be able to use this test as our proof of B1 qualification. Thank you Pearson for taking our money and causing us so much stress over an arbitrary piece of information that could easily be resolved if you simply communicated with us.

I haven't so far managed to attend one of their tests, but let me cover their so called platforms.

1) The PTE booking platform in terms of UX is rubbish, there is no way a company that charges so much for a test could keep their standards so low.

2) The PTE portal is a joke, there is no coherent navigation. Finding something is a mission, even after you have done it like 5 times previously. It seems like it has been stitched together by a 7 years old.

Nothing in their platform has been thought through, you will be asked to login your credentials countless times as the authentication is not persisted in the browser. The support chat is just glued on top of their website, it doesn't have a clue if you are logged in or not.

After raising an issue with them for paying for the test, they got me back an email saying try again from another device in 24h, so I did and the issue was still there. However they resolved the issue at their end, you know KPIs.

When their platform doesn’t work, the chat agents just default to giving out their toll rate phone numbers. Very convenient, isn’t it? When the problem is clearly on their side, why should you have to pay extra to sort it out over the phone?

Ah and the cherry on top of the cake is when you order learning materials and you pay 100+ bucks, these will appear in your accounts within 5-7 days.

I took the B1 Home exam 3 days ago and it was terrible! I'm currently attending Entry 3 and I got a score high enough to start L1 next year. But the audio recordings were faster than the B1 ones and I couldn't keep up. I don't think that's fair! Next time I'll be taking Trinity College's in-person speaking exam if I don't pass!

I didn’t want to write this, but I genuinely feel stuck and need to share my experience.

I have taken the PTE multiple times because I only need a Competent English score, and I have been very close to achieving it.

What is really difficult to understand is the inconsistency across my results.

In my first test, my Speaking was lower, but in my most recent test it improved. That makes sense with practice.

However, my Writing shows a completely different pattern.
I scored 54 in one test, then just 6 days later it dropped to 31, and in my latest test it went back to 53 again.

It is very hard to believe that my ability could drop and recover so drastically in such a short time, especially when other skills are improving more naturally.

Because of this inconsistency, I am now just a few points away from my goal, but I am unable to move forward.

Each test is expensive, and I am currently not in a position to keep paying for more attempts. This situation is not just frustrating, it is financially stressful.

I am not asking for special treatment, just fairness and consistency in how scores are evaluated.

I genuinely hope someone can review cases like mine more carefully, because right now it feels like I am being held back by something that is not fully in my control.

I am extremely disappointed with my experience with PTE.
I was refused entry to my exam due to a small mistake in my application (incorrect country of citizenship), despite having all my correct identification with me on the day. I brought my valid passport, arrived early, drove 2 hours to the test centre, and took time off work to attend. I did everything right on the exam day itself.
I contacted Pearson immediately after the incident to explain the situation and kindly asked for consideration or flexibility, but I was simply told that I would need to pay the full fee again. I even followed up a second time, explaining that paying another $490 would put me under financial pressure, but there was no compassion or willingness to review my case.
What makes this even more frustrating is that I personally know of a case where a candidate was allowed to reschedule at no cost after forgetting their passport. This makes the process feel inconsistent and unfair.
I fully understand the importance of ID policies, but there should be room for reasonable discretion when a genuine candidate clearly made a minor mistake and made every effort to attend the test correctly.
At the moment, I feel taken advantage of and unsupported. I am now having to work extra hours just to afford booking the test again, which is very stressful.
I hope Pearson can reconsider cases like mine with more fairness and understanding, especially given the high cost of the exam and the impact on candidates.

I purchased a b2 test from them but it keeps getting hang and the website is slow and not worth it. It is better to purchase a subscription of some other app

Very disappointing experience. My PTE account has been locked for 4 days, and I still cannot access the result of the exam that I paid for. I have contacted support many times through chat, phone calls, emails, and even social media, but no one is willing to properly assist or resolve the issue.

I have repeatedly said that I am willing to pay again if needed, but there has been no clear help or urgency from the support team.

Because of this, I cannot access my exam result which is required for my visa application, and my visa deadline is extremely close. It is very stressful and unfair that after paying for an exam, a candidate cannot even access their own result.

This situation is causing serious stress and anxiety. I hope Pearson PTE will take responsibility and improve their support for candidates facing urgent situations.

PTE Number: PTE002643536

I had a very disappointing experience with my PTE test booking and the customer support process.

My test was originally scheduled for 19 February. I registered using my legal full name, exactly as it appears on my official documents. However, when I arrived at the test centre, I was not allowed to take the test due to a name mismatch.

I tried to explain that I am from North Africa, where it is culturally common for a woman’s husband’s last name to sometimes appear informally alongside her name. This name is not part of my legal name, and I registered using my correct legal name. Despite showing additional documents and explaining the cultural difference, I was still refused entry on the day of the exam.

The test centre raised a case and gave me a reference number. The next day, I called customer support and was told that my case would be reviewed. Four days later, I received an email apologising and informing me that I could reschedule the test for free by calling an agent.

When I called to reschedule, the agent was extremely unhelpful. He told me he had rescheduled my test for 5 March, but when I asked whether the name issue had been resolved so I wouldn’t face the same problem again, he simply kept saying “I don’t know.” It honestly felt like speaking to a robot rather than someone trying to help.

After three to four days, I still had not received any confirmation email, so I called again. A different agent then told me that there was no rescheduled booking in the system and that my test had actually been cancelled, and I would simply receive a refund within 24–48 hours.

Because I had biometrics scheduled and urgently needed the test for my application, I had no choice but to book another PTE test myself and pay again, which meant I effectively paid for two tests.

Later, when I called again to check on the refund, another agent told me that the refund would actually take 7–10 days, which was completely different from the 24–48 hours I had been told previously. Now it has been well over 10 days, and I still have not received my refund.

Although the test itself eventually went smoothly when I took the new booking, the overall administration, communication, and customer support were extremely poor. I received conflicting information from multiple agents, no proper follow-up, and I am still waiting for money that I was promised would be refunded.

Overall, this was a very stressful and frustrating experience, especially since the exam was part of an important immigration process. I hope PTE improves its customer support and internal communication so that other candidates do not have to go through the same situation.

Awful customer services, very difficult to get in contact with the appropriate department, some departments you can't even speak to, only via email and they are awful at getting back to you in time and with the correct information. I unfortunately paid to use this company and nearly 2 months later still trying to book my test and still no light at the end of the tunnel. AVOID!!!

I had a very frustrating experience with the booking system of Pearson. Despite many complaints from international candidates regarding the middle name issue, their system still has not been fixed.
When I booked the exam online, my name fields were greyed out, which made me think everything was correct. There was no option to edit the details. I previously took the exam in the Philippines with no issues, so I assumed the system was fine.
However, when I arrived at the test center in Brisbane, I was not allowed to take the exam because my middle name was missing.
This was extremely inconvenient because Brisbane is a 3-hour drive from where I live, and I made sure to arrive early for the exam.
What makes it worse is that:
No one from Pearson contacted me beforehand to inform me about the name issue.
I tried calling customer support multiple times, but no one seemed to know how to fix or edit the personal details.
The only change required was simply adding a middle name, which should be a very easy fix.
Instead, the system makes such a simple correction unnecessarily difficult.
This exam costs around $450, which is not cheap. With that price, candidates should at least expect a system that works properly and support staff who can resolve simple issues.
There are already many problems international candidates deal with, and it is disappointing that Pearson continues to make such a simple fix so inconvenient and confusing.
Very frustrating experience!
PTE ID: PTE001988625

I am writing this to express my deep disappointment regarding the handling of my case. I took my PTE Academic exam on February 16th, and I have been waiting for my results for 17 days.
Two days ago, I posted my situation on Trustpilot, and your team replied publicly stating that I would be contacted via email. However, no one has contacted me. There has been no email, no update, and no resolution. This 'we will contact you' response seems to be just a way to silence my public complaint without actually solving the problem.
My account remains locked due to a 'matching account' issue (I had an account in 2023). I have done my part by taking the exam and paying the fee. Your team's failure to merge my accounts and release my scores after nearly three weeks is unacceptable.
I demand an immediate resolution before this weekend. I need my accounts merged and my February 16th score released today.
My Details:
• Full Name: Rebeen Younis Omer
• PTE ID: PTE004620844
• Exam Date: February 16, 2026
Stop telling me to 'wait.' I have waited 17 days. Please escalate this to a manager immediately.
Regards,
Rebeen Younis Omer

I had a disappointing experience with the PTE exam. The test center was noisy, which made it difficult to concentrate during important sections like speaking and listening. For an exam that is expensive and requires full focus, the environment should be strictly controlled and quiet.
Additionally, I am not confident that my desired score was assessed accurately. There is very little transparency in how the scoring works, especially for speaking and writing sections. It makes candidates feel unsure whether the scores truly reflect their performance.
Another major concern is that if a candidate does not pass one category, they are required to retake the entire exam. This is extremely frustrating and feels like a waste of money and time. Candidates should have the option to retake only the section they did not pass, rather than paying the full exam fee again.
Overall, the high cost combined with these issues makes the experience very discouraging.