Pearson PTE Policies

If you are under 18 years of age, please be sure to read these terms and conditions with your parent or guardian and ask questions about things you do not understand. 

These Terms and Conditions apply to your use of this website, its features and contents (“the Site”). Please read these Terms and Conditions carefully before using and/or registering on the Site because by accessing or using the Site or any mobile versions of it or by linking to it, you signify that you have read, understood and agreed to be bound by these Terms and Conditions. These Terms and Conditions are a legally binding agreement between you and us. 

You are responsible for bringing these terms to the attention of anyone who may read material on this Site as a result of your access to it. 

We reserve the right, at our sole discretion, to change, add or delete portions of the Terms and Conditions at any time. If we do this, we will post the changes to these Terms and Conditions on this page and will indicate at the top of this page the date these terms were last revised. 

We may send registered users and subscribers an email notifying you of the change. Your continued use of the Site after any such change whether or not you received an email from us notifying you of any changes, constitutes your acceptance of the new Terms and Conditions. If you do not agree to abide by these or any future Terms and Conditions, please do not use or access (or continue to use or access) the Site. 

We reserve the right, at our sole discretion, to make any changes to the Site and levels of service offered and to terminate access at any time. You must not use data mining, robots, scraping or similar data gathering or extraction methods on any part of this Site without our express prior written consent. 

Please note that the usage and purchase terms and privacy policies of various Pearson products and services within this Site or linked to this Site may be subject to more specific terms and policies. Please check those terms and policies frequently to determine the terms applicable to such Pearson products and services. If there is a conflict between those more specific terms and conditions and these Terms and Conditions, then the more specific terms and conditions will apply.

Proprietary rights in content; limited licence 

All materials on or available through this Site is the copyright of Pearson Education Limited and its licensors, unless otherwise stated. All rights are reserved. 

Users are not entitled to modify the content of this Site or reproduce, republish, distribute, transmit, link, frame or deep-link it on any other website without the express permission of Pearson. Users may not distribute, transmit, reproduce or publish by electronic or any other means any part of the data or any material generated by or through the site without the prior written permission of Pearson. Users may not create a database in electronic or structured manual form by systematically downloading and storing all or any of the content. All other rights reserved. 

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The use of any trademark on our Site does not imply any affiliation with or endorsement of our Site by such owners. 

Purchase terms and tax information 

Please refer to the Purchase Terms and Tax Information for the terms, conditions and policies applicable to your purchase of any products, services from us or our affiliated entities. A link to them will appear when you start the ordering process. By ordering products or services through the Site, you agree to be bound by and accept the Purchase Terms and Tax Information. The Purchase Terms and Tax Information are subject to change from time to time in our (or our affiliated entities') sole discretion so you should review them each time you make a purchase. 

Registration data and account security 

When you register for any services offered on the Site requiring registration, you are asked to provide specific information as set out in the registration form (“Registration Details”). You must provide accurate Registration Details and update your Registration Details as necessary so that they maintain their accuracy. You must keep your password and identification details secure and you are fully responsible for all use of your account and for any actions that take place using your account. 

You must not allow others to use your Registration Details or account, and you are solely responsible for maintaining the confidentiality and security of your account. You agree to notify Pearson immediately of any unauthorised use of your Registration Details or account. Pearson will not be liable for any losses arising out of the unauthorised use of your Registration Details and/or account and you agree to indemnify and hold harmless Pearson or any associated companies, agents, affiliates and/or licensors, as applicable, for unauthorised uses of your account. 

Privacy 

Registration Details or other information you provide to us as part of our registration process will be treated in accordance with our Privacy Notice, which forms part of these terms and conditions. 

User conduct 

The Site and all its features, whether or not requiring password registration or payment, is available for your personal, non-commercial use only. You represent and warrant and agree that no materials of any kind submitted to the Site, including if you registered with us through your account, or otherwise posted, transmitted or shared by you will violate or infringe upon the rights of any third party, including copyright, trademark, privacy, publicity or other personal or proprietary rights or contain libellous, defamatory or otherwise harmful material. 

You may not use the Site or any of its features for any illegal or unauthorised purpose. You agree to abide by all applicable local, state, national and international laws and regulations and are solely responsible for all your acts or omissions and for all those that occur under your account. 

By submitting any material to us you agree to abide by the following rules. Pearson reserves the right but does not have an obligation to monitor materials or any information which is posted on any part of the Site, any bulletin boards, discussion forums or any tools available on the Site allowing you to post comments, material, views, reviews or comment on material posted by you, us or others or to interact with others or materials in any way (“the Interactive Areas”) and on any part of the Site requiring registration or subscription allowing you to do any of the above. 

We also have the right, but no obligation, at any time to delete, remove, or suspend the whole or any part of the materials on this Site or any content posted on them including in any Interactive Areas and areas requiring registration or subscription without notice and without incurring any liability. No part of our Site is meant for you to post third-party copyrighted content. That includes the Interactive Areas including those requiring registration and/or subscription. And it means third party copyright content such as songs, film clips, an episode of a TV programme, parts of books, news articles, illustrations, photos or music videos. 

If you find objectionable or offensive material please let us know as soon as possible via the report abuse button or by emailing reportabuse@pearson.com. 

The views, statements and opinions expressed in any of the Interactive Areas in any form are those of the individual contributors or advertisers and not the statements and opinions of Pearson or its affiliated entities. 

By posting your comments or materials on the Interactive Areas, you grant us and our affiliated entities a non-exclusive, perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free, world-wide licence to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, translate, publish, make available, distribute, include in other works, sub-license and display any content you submit to us in any format now known or later developed. By submitting material you acknowledge that you waive any moral rights you may have in it. 

If you do not want to grant us these rights, please do not submit your comments or materials to us. 

You may use the Interactive Areas only to post content that is proper and appropriate to such areas and you must not do any of the following: 

1. dvertise, promote or offer to sell any goods or services even if you are acting for a charity or non-profit organisation; 

2. post, transmit unsolicited promotional material “junk” mail or “spam”, pyramid schemes; 

3. harvest or collect email addresses or other contact information or use automated scripts to collect information from or otherwise interact with the Site; 

4. reveal any confidential or sensitive information; 

5. reveal any personal information on other persons (for example, email address, telephone number or postal address, credit card numbers, social security numbers); 

6. post or link to any content that we deem unlawful, defamatory, obscene, threatening, offensive, fraudulent, harmful or otherwise objectionable (this includes but is not limited to text, graphics, video, programs or audio); 

7. post content which you do not have permission to use, in particular, material that contains the intellectual property rights of third parties; 

8. upload, post share or otherwise make available any material that contains software viruses, computer codes, worms, trojans or any other components with harmful or contaminating effects to any user or equipment; 

9. imply that any statements you make are endorsed by us; 

10. delete any author attributions, legal notices or proprietary designations or labels in any content that is posted; 

11. falsify the origin or source of content that is posted; 

12. contribute content with the intention of committing or promoting an illegal act; 

13. use inappropriate (e.g. vulgar or offensive) language or user names; 

14. impersonate any living person or purport to represent any organisation; 

15. use or attempt to use another’s account, service or system without authorisation, register for more than one account or register on behalf of another individual, group or entity; 

16. reformat or frame any portion of the web pages that are part of the Site, deep link into it without permission. 

Please bear in mind that we will identify you with content you submitted and may release that information to a court or other official if ordered to do so. 

We may refuse to grant you a username that impersonates someone else, is or may be protected by trademark or other intellectual property rights, is vulgar, offensive or otherwise inappropriate, as determined by us in our sole discretion. 

We do not undertake to keep or make available any material that you or anyone else has contributed to the Site for any length of time or at all. We may delete, archive, make unavailable, modify or comment on any material, and close or suspend any discussion topic at any time without notice.

You may not use the words “Pearson”, “Pearson Test of English” or any other trademark used on the Site or belonging to us or our affiliated entities, in particular in any meta-tags or other “hidden text”, in each case without our express prior written consent. 

Disclaimers 

Although we try to ensure that the information we provide on this Site is correct, it is provided on an 'as is' basis, without warranties of any kind. No warranty, express or implied, is given that any of the content of this Site is accurate, complete or up to date. Pearson does not accept any liability for any error or omission of any content on this Site, including content provided by us or any affiliated entities or by any users or other third parties. 

Any and all representations and warranties whether express or implied, including implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose or non-infringement, whether implied by statute, common law, custom, trade usage, course of dealing or otherwise are excluded to the fullest extent permitted by law. We do not exclude any liability in respect of death or personal injury caused by our negligence, liability for our fraud, or any other liability that we cannot exclude by law. 

We cannot guarantee and do not promise any specific results from use of the Site. 

Use of this Site and any content on any part of it whether requiring registration and/or subscription or not is at your own risk. Pearson will not be liable to any users of this Site (whether registered users, subscribers or not) and any third parties for any claims or losses of any nature including, but not limited to, loss of profits, direct, indirect, special or consequential damages arising from a user’s or third party's use or inability to use this Site or any part of it, including any loss of data or lost profits or wasted time of management or employees even if Pearson is aware of or has been advised of the possibility of such damages. 

Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained herein, Pearson’s liability to you for any cause whatsoever, and regardless of the form of the action, will at all times be limited to the amount paid, if any, by you to us. 

Pearson accepts no responsibility for the content on any website to which a hypertext link from this Site exists or for any use of personal data by the third party operating such a website. The links are provided 'as is' with no warranty, express or implied, for the information provided within them. 

All authors or providers of a link into this Site should note that Pearson does not necessarily read, check or edit the content from such links and Pearson accepts such material linked to its Site purely on the basis of an understanding that Pearson is a distributor (not a publisher) of such material and by linking to this Site, the author or provider of the link gives an implied warranty that he/she/it will indemnify Pearson in the event of any action arising as a result of such material appearing on or via this Site. All persons accessing this Site are also put on notice of such fact. 

While Pearson makes all reasonable attempts to exclude viruses or other code with contaminating or disruptive properties from the Site, it cannot ensure such exclusion and no liability is accepted for viruses and any computer code/software. You are recommended to take all appropriate safeguards before downloading information from this Site. 

Information transmitted via this Site will pass over public telecommunications networks. Pearson makes no representation or warranty that the operation of this Site will be uninterrupted or error free and disclaims all liability in this respect. The Site may be temporarily unavailable from time to time for maintenance or other reasons. 

Indemnity 

You agree to hold harmless, indemnify, and at our request defend, Pearson, its parents, subsidiaries and other affiliated entities and their respective owners, officers, managers, agents and employees from and against any third party claim arising from or in any way related to your material, your use of, conduct on the Site, including any liability or expense arising from all claims, liabilities, losses, damages (actual and consequential), suits, judgments, litigation costs, expenses and lawyers fees, for every kind and nature. In such a case, we will provide you with written notice of such claim, suit or action to the address you registered with us. 

Termination 

Pearson may immediately suspend or terminate your access to the Site without notice if any breach of these Terms and Conditions of use by you is brought to our attention. 

If you breach these Terms and Conditions and we take no action, we will not be deemed to have waived any of our rights and may still use any rights and remedies that were open to us when you broke them. 

Your registration may be terminated and your profile and any content or information that you have posted on the Site may be deleted at any time. We may prohibit you from using or accessing the Site for any reason, at any time in our sole discretion, with or without notice. These Terms and Conditions shall apply to any use of the Site, also after your registration was terminated. 

We reserve the right to deactivate user accounts and user names that have been inactive for more than 180 consecutive calendar days. 

Governing law; venue and jurisdiction 

By visiting or using the Site you agree that these Terms and Conditions are governed by and shall be interpreted in accordance with English law. The courts of England and Wales have exclusive jurisdiction over any dispute between you and us, irrespective of whether or not you are a registered user/subscriber and irrespective of the type of dispute. You agree not to commence or prosecute any action against us other than in the courts of England and Wales and you hereby consent to, and waive all defences of lack of personal jurisdiction and forum non conveniens with respect to, venue and jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales. 

Notwithstanding this, you agree that we shall still be allowed to apply for injunctive remedies (or an equivalent type of urgent legal relief) in any jurisdiction. 

Pearson makes efforts to ensure that its publications, advertising and offers on this Site fully meet the requirements of English law and foreign laws of any country where it is intended for such content to be viewed. In the event that a foreign country's law may not be fully complied with, then Pearson shall be deemed not to be directing such content to that particular country. 

These Terms and Conditions constitute the entire agreement between you and Pearson. Pearson shall be entitled to enforce this agreement on its own behalf and on behalf of and for the benefit of its affiliated entities. Apart from Pearson's affiliated entities who shall be entitled to enforce the terms of this agreement in the same way as Pearson, nothing in this agreement shall confer on any third party any right or benefit under the provisions of the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999. 

Pearson Education Limited is a registered company in England and Wales whose registered office is at 80 Strand, London, WC2R 0RL, United Kingdom, company Registration number 872828, VAT Number GB278 5371 21. 

Our “affiliated entities” mean other Pearson Education group companies which are under common control with Pearson Education Limited by Pearson Plc. 

What identification (ID) do I need to bring with me on test day?

Please check the ID policy to see what forms of ID are accepted for your test. A passport is the preferred form of ID in most countries.

Please make sure that your ID will be valid on the date of your test, and that the spelling of your name is identical to the name you give on your test booking. If your passport has expired, or if your name does not match our records, you will be turned away from the test centre.

We cannot give you a refund if you are turned away from the test centre due to an invalid ID.

How do I pay for my test?

You will be asked to pay for your test when you make your booking. You should make sure that you pay in the currency of the country in which you intend to take the test. For example, if you are in India but intend to take the test in Australia, your payment should be in Australian Dollars.

If you do not pay in the correct currency, your registration or request for service will not be processed and your payment will be rejected or returned to you.

Pay with a voucher

If you have a voucher you may apply it to the test fee. However, you may not use it to pay a rescheduling fee. Vouchers can only be used before the expiry date and cannot be replaced or extended.

How to reschedule or cancel  

If your plans change, you may reschedule or cancel your test booking at any time. 

Sign in to your myPTE account and follow the instructions to ‘reschedule’ or ‘cancel’ your test on your account dashboard, under the booking information. You will then receive an email confirming the change or cancellation.  

Fees and refunds  

You may be charged a fee, depending on how close to the test booking you reschedule or cancel your test.  

Rescheduling policy  

Please note that the day of your test is not included in these policy timeframes.   

14 days or more before your test date: you can reschedule your test at no additional cost  

8-13 days before your test date: you will be charged 50% of the rescheduled test fee  

7 days or fewer before your test date: you will be charged in full for the new test booking.  

Cancellation policy  

Please note that the day of your test is not included in these policy timeframes.  

14 days or more before your test date: you will receive a full refund  

8-13 days before your test date: you will be eligible for a 50% refund of the original test fee  

7 days or less before your test date: you will not be eligible for any refund.   

Any refund you are eligible for will be credited back to the original credit/debit card or bank account you used to book the test. If you paid with a voucher, we will issue you with a new voucher with any deductions for late cancellation.  

For full details on fees and refunds, please check our Test Taker Handbook.  

Rescheduling a test due to a medical or family emergency 

If you are unable to attend the test center on the day of your test because of illness or a family emergency, Pearson may agree to a one-off reschedule, free of charge.   

Please fill in our Emergency Reschedule form within 14 calendar days of your scheduled test date, and attach any evidence to support your claim. We review and accept evidence at our discretion and we will contact you if we require any additional information. There is no automatic right to reschedule or obtain a refund for free if you cannot sit a test for medical or family reasons.   

Rescheduling a test because PTE has canceled my booking  

On occasion, we may need to reschedule your test booking for unforeseen or unavoidable reasons – for example, because your test center is affected by severe weather. In this situation, we will help you to reschedule your test at the next convenient time, or at an alternative test center – or we will provide a refund if necessary.  

For full details on our rescheduling or cancelation policies, please check our Test Taker Handbook. 

Purpose of PTE Academic Malpractice Policy

The purpose of this document is to provide guidance on how Pearson will respond to cases of suspected malpractice and maladministration for delivery of the PTE qualification.

In order to maintain the integrity of the PTE qualification and results, we investigate all allegations and suspicion of malpractice and maladministration. Any instances proven to have taken place through our investigations may result in:

• penalties imposed on those found to be responsible, including revocation (cancellation) of test scores.
• debarment from delivering the PTE qualification for test centers and staff.

• permanent disqualification for test takers from sitting for the PTE qualification.

   

Malpractice and maladministration

We use the term ‘malpractice’, which includes maladministration, to mean any act, practice, default or neglect, whether intentional (malpractice) or unintentional (maladministration), which compromises the validity or integrity of the PTE qualification or results, or the reputation and credibility of the qualification or Pearson. This includes, but is not limited to, the following:

For test centers and test administrators of test center and online tests:

• Failure to implement the requirements for the conduct of the test, as detailed in relevant Policies and Procedures and Exam Sponsor Procedures.
• Failure of the test center to have, on staff, trained and certified test administrators.
• Failure to properly monitor test administration.
• Failure to utilise required hardware and up-to-date software.
• Failure to cooperate with security monitoring such as on-site audits and integrity shops.
• Failure to aid the Pearson security team with investigations.
• Test administrator aiding test takers in answering questions or cheating.

For test takers:

• Breach of any of the Test Taker Rules, as set out in the PTE Test Taker Handbooks, including but not limited to:
  • bringing unauthorised items in the test room.
  • writing on whiteboard before test starts.
  • accessing locker during a break.
  • accessing phone during a break.
  • leaving the test center during a break.
  • talking to other test takers in the test room.
  • talking to other test takers during a break.
  • allowing someone else to take the test on your behalf.
  • requesting an accommodation dishonestly, including the use of false medical evidence.
• Additional rules are applicable to PTE Academic Online or any other remotely proctored PTE test. These are set out on page 15 of the PTE Academic Online Test Taker Handbook. Examples of breaches include:
  • allowing other people in the room.

  • using equipment which is not permitted (e.g., Bluetooth connections or

    unauthorised software).

  • leaving the webcam view or partially leaning offscreen.

  • failure to cooperate with proctor requests or warnings.

     

Procedures in place to prevent malpractice

Pearson takes all reasonable steps to prevent the occurrence of any malpractice in the development, delivery, and award of the PTE.

Candidates are responsible for taking steps to prevent malpractice. These include but are not limited to:

• ensuring that the terms and conditions are read and understood prior to booking the test.
• ensuring that information received from PTE relating to the test process is read and understood prior to taking the test.
• following the verbal and written information provided on test day relating to the required conditions under which the test is conducted. This includes warnings about the presence of prohibited materials and devices during the test and access to restricted resources.
• being aware of the actions that constitute malpractice and the sanctions that can be imposed on those who commit malpractice.

• being aware of the sanctions relating to passing on or receiving confidential assessment materials, even if the information was not requested. If a candidate receives confidential information, they must report it to Pearson immediately.

   

How to report malpractice and maladministration

Please report any suspicion of malpractice and or maladministration by filling out and submitting the Test Security form.

Investigation for malpractice and maladministration

Our security team will investigate any circumstances of alleged malpractice or maladministration.

Enforcement actions

In instances where we have evidence which points to malpractice or maladministration having taken place, in order to protect the integrity of the PTE qualification, we will take additional enforcement action where appropriate, and we will inform those found to have committed malpractice of the reason for the action being taken. There is a range of potential enforcement actions open to Pearson, and the Pearson Security Team will choose an action that it deems proportionate to the scope of malpractice or maladministration, such as:

• revoking a test taker’s score.
• banning a test taker from taking the test again.
• taking action against the responsible test administrator.
• suspending the test center until we are satisfied the corrective action plan has been completed by test center, or
• taking action against the test center including in some cases revoking the test center’s contract in whole or in part.

In any case where malpractice is suspected, Pearson have the discretionary right to apply a sanction.

Appeals

If a test taker wishes to appeal a malpractice decision, please refer to the Appeals section.

Pearson aims to accommodate test takers with special requirements or special needs as much as we are able to.

We constantly review and expand the accommodations we can offer as part of our commitment to inclusion and equal access for all test takers.

What accommodations are available?

All our test centers comply with local disability laws.

In addition, the following test accommodations are currently available to test takers who are able to demonstrate their requirements using valid medical evidence:

• Separate room
• Wheelchair access
• Additional equipment: e.g. lamp, magnifying glass
• Adjustable workstation and chair
• Adjustable monitor brightness
• A 10 minute break
• Extra time (25%) – currently available in some locations only

If you have a hand injury that prevents the palm vein scan, please contact us before booking the test. Otherwise you will be turned away from the test center and will lose your test fee.

What evidence do we require?

An accommodation for extra time, a break, or a separate room will only be granted if you provide medical evidence that meets the following criteria:

• A letter or certificate from a licensed medical practitioner, written when you were aged 12 or older. You are encouraged to submit the most recent documentation available to you.
• The letter should include the medical practitioner’s name, title, credentials and details of their practice. It must be on an official letterhead with date and signature.
• The letter must show that you have a disability that has a substantial and long-term adverse effect that requires an extra accommodation. The letter should also include full details of your learning difficulty and official assessments that have been carried out.
• You should include any documentation related to the tests that confirm your condition.

• The letter needs to be written in English. If you require a translation, you will have to work with a professional translator and you will have to enclose evidence of their professional qualification.

   

How to request an accommodation

1. Please let us know if you have a special request when you create your myPTE account.
2. Once you have completed your account, we will ask you to fill out a request form and to attach any valid medical evidence.
3. Our Customer Support teams will review your request and contact you to book your test.
4. You need to submit the form at least six weeks before booking your chosen test so that there is time to process and make arrangements for your request.
5. If further documents are needed as part of the application, the review of your request may take longer than 6 weeks.

If you are unsure if you are eligible for an accommodation, please contact us. We may request further evidence to inform our decision. It is your responsibility to submit valid evidence to support your request. We reserve the right to verify evidence and in the case of malpractice revoke your score or ban you from taking future tests.

Comfort aids

Test takers can bring comfort aids into the test room, provided they are checked by the Test Administrator. These do not have to be requested in advance. Test takers must provide his or her own comfort aids.

Comfort aids include:

• Eyeglasses
• Hearing aids
• Neck braces or collars (worn by people with neck injuries)
• Tissues
• Cough drops (must be unwrapped)
• Pillow for supporting neck, back, or injured limbs
• Sweater, sweatshirt or blazer (if the item has pockets and you do not want to remove the item for inspection, you will be asked to show that the pockets are empty)

• Insulin pump attached to a person’s body