IELTS, PTE and TOEFL Speaking Scores Compared: What the Official Tables Say

“I need IELTS 7 in speaking. What is that in PTE?” It is one of the most common questions test takers ask. Many websites answer it with confident conversion charts. Most of those charts are copied, out of date, or made up.

The test owners do publish comparison tables, and so do some governments. This article shows only those official tables and explains what they can and cannot tell you.

First: there is no exact conversion

IELTS, PTE Academic™ and the TOEFL iBT® test use different tasks, different scorers and different scales. A comparison table comes from research. Researchers ask the same people to take two tests and look at how their scores line up. The result is an approximate relationship, not a formula.

Both test owners say this plainly:

• ETS says comparison tables “are useful as general guiding tools, but they cannot predict the exact score each individual test taker would receive on two different language tests” (ETS score scale page).
  
• Pearson says concordance studies “provide an approximate relationship between tests” (Pearson 2025 concordance summary).
  

Most importantly, the organisation that reads your score decides what counts as equivalent. A visa office or university may set its own minimum for each test, and those minimums may not match any research table. Always use their published numbers.

IELTS ↔ PTE Academic (Pearson, July 2025)

In 2025 Pearson published a concordance study between the enhanced PTE Academic and IELTS Academic. For the first time it included each skill separately, not just the overall score. Here are the speaking rows:

IELTS Speaking	PTE Academic Speaking
4.5	14–23
5.0	24–38
5.5	39–53
6.0	54–65
6.5	66–75
7.0	76–82
7.5	83–87
8.0	88–89
8.5	90

Source: Pearson concordance summary, July 2025. Note that the speaking ranges are wide at some bands and narrow at others. PTE speaking scores also do not line up with PTE overall scores in the same way, so do not reuse the overall table for speaking.

IELTS ↔ TOEFL iBT (ETS, 2026 scale)

Since 21 January 2026, TOEFL iBT reports scores on a 1–6 scale in half points. ETS publishes a table comparing it with IELTS. The speaking column:

IELTS	TOEFL iBT Speaking (1–6)
9	6
8.5	6
8	6
7.5	5
7	4.5
6.5	4
6	3.5
5.5	3
5	2.5
4.5	2
4	1.5

Source: ETS TOEFL iBT score scale update. ETS says this table builds on an earlier concordance study between the previous TOEFL iBT and IELTS, plus linking research.

Old TOEFL scores (0–30)

If you have an older TOEFL speaking score or see one in a requirement, ETS maps the old 0–30 speaking scale onto the new bands. For example: 28–30 → 6, 25–26 → 5, 20–22 → 4, 16–17 → 3. The full table is in ETS’s score scale update report.

TOEFL and the CEFR

ETS designed the new scale to line up with the CEFR in the same way in every section: 6 = C2, 5–5.5 = C1, 4–4.5 = B2, 3–3.5 = B1, 2–2.5 = A2, 1–1.5 = A1. This helps when a requirement is stated as a CEFR level, as the UK Student visa is (B2 for degree-level study).

PTE ↔ TOEFL: no direct official table

We could not find an official table from Pearson or ETS that compares PTE Academic speaking with TOEFL iBT speaking directly. You could go through IELTS (PTE → IELTS → TOEFL), but each step adds its own uncertainty. Two rough mappings stacked together are rougher still. If a university lists minimums for both tests, use those numbers.

Canada: compare using CLB, not research tables

For Express Entry, IRCC does not use a concordance study. It converts each accepted test to Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) levels with its own tables. For speaking:

CLB	IELTS General Training	PTE Core	CELPIP-General
7	6.0	68–75	7
8	6.5	76–83	8
9	7.0	84–88	9
10+	7.5–9.0	89+	10+

Note that these are IELTS General Training and PTE Core (not IELTS Academic or PTE Academic). For Canadian immigration, only IRCC’s table matters.

Australia: the government sets each minimum

The Australian Department of Home Affairs publishes its own minimum score for each accepted test and each English level (for example “Competent” or “Proficient” English). These are set by regulation, not taken from a research table. Look up your level on Home Affairs’ English language page and the linked level pages.

How to use these tables sensibly

1. Find the official requirement for every test you are considering. That number beats any table.
   
2. Use the tables to compare effort, not to predict. If a university asks for IELTS 6.5 speaking and also accepts TOEFL, the ETS table suggests a similar standard is about 4. Use that to judge whether switching tests makes sense.
   
3. Leave a margin. Every table is approximate, so aim above the minimum.
   
4. Do not convert practice scores and treat them as official. An estimate from a practice tool, converted through a research table, is twice removed from a real result.
   

See where you stand in the test you will take

The most useful number is an estimate in the test you will actually sit. Lingo Copilot has practice areas for IELTS, PTE Academic, PTE Core and TOEFL iBT. Each gives an estimated speaking score on that test’s own scale. Your first full mock for each exam is free. Start on the home page or sign up and take a mock.

Tables reproduced from the sources linked above as of October 2026. Check the latest versions before relying on them. IELTS, PTE Academic and TOEFL iBT are trademarks of their respective owners. Lingo Copilot is not affiliated with them, and our scores are AI estimates for practice, not official scores.