Score tool
PTE Core to CLB converter
Enter your Listening, Reading, Speaking and Writing scores. The tool returns the Canadian Language Benchmark for each skill, the lowest of the four (the number IRCC cares about) and the gap to CLB 7 and CLB 9.
The official PTE Core to CLB table
This is the alignment IRCC publishes and Pearson prints in its score guide. Each skill has its own column because the bands are not the same width: a 78 is CLB 9 in Reading but only CLB 7 in Writing.
| CLB | Listening | Reading | Speaking | Writing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CLB 10 | 89–90 | 88–90 | 89–90 | 90–90 |
| CLB 9 | 82–88 | 78–87 | 84–88 | 88–89 |
| CLB 8 | 71–81 | 69–77 | 76–83 | 79–87 |
| CLB 7 | 60–70 | 60–68 | 68–75 | 69–78 |
| CLB 6 | 50–59 | 51–59 | 59–67 | 60–68 |
| CLB 5 | 39–49 | 42–50 | 51–58 | 51–59 |
| CLB 4 | 28–38 | 33–41 | 42–50 | 41–50 |
| CLB 3 | 18–27 | 24–32 | 34–41 | 32–40 |
Source: Pearson PTE Core Score Guide, Jan 2024 (v1), p. 9, matching the IRCC language-testing page. Scores below the CLB 3 row have no benchmark. Check the IRCC site for the current table before you submit anything.
How IRCC reads your four scores
When you enter PTE Core results in an Express Entry profile you type four numbers, one per skill. The system looks each one up in the table above and records a CLB for Listening, a CLB for Reading, a CLB for Speaking and a CLB for Writing. From that point on, the raw PTE Core scores are never used again. Every rule that follows, the minimum for a programme, the points in the Comprehensive Ranking System, the thresholds in skill transferability, is written in CLB.
Two consequences fall out of that. First, a score of 60 in Listening and a score of 70 in Listening are the same thing to IRCC: both are CLB 7. Moving from 60 to 70 feels like progress, and in your preparation it is, but it changes nothing on the application until you cross 71 and reach CLB 8. The bands are steps, not a slope. Second, the lowest of your four CLBs often decides what you are eligible for. The Federal Skilled Worker Program requires at least CLB 7 in all four abilities; a 90 in Speaking does not compensate for a 59 in Listening. That is why the calculator reports your lowest skill first.
Why the overall score does not matter
Your score report carries an overall score on the same 10 to 90 scale. Pearson calculates it from every scored response in the test, and it is a fair summary of your English. IRCC does not ask for it, has no table that converts it, and no field in the profile accepts it. The overall figure is useful for one thing only: comparing one of your attempts with another. If you are deciding whether to retake, ignore it and look at the four skill scores, because a retake is worth doing only if it can lift the weakest skill across its next CLB line.
This also matters when you read advice online. People often say they "got 80 in PTE Core" as if that were one number. For immigration purposes there is no such thing; there is an 80 in Listening (CLB 8), an 80 in Reading (CLB 9), an 80 in Speaking (CLB 8) and an 80 in Writing (CLB 8). Ask which skill, or the number means little.
Common CLB targets
These are the benchmarks people most often aim for. Programme rules change and provinces set their own, so treat this as orientation and confirm the current requirement on the IRCC or provincial site before you book a test.
| Goal | Typical benchmark | What it means in PTE Core |
|---|---|---|
| Federal Skilled Worker minimum | CLB 7 in all four | L 60, R 60, S 68, W 69 |
| Canadian Experience Class, TEER 0 or 1 job | CLB 7 in all four | L 60, R 60, S 68, W 69 |
| Canadian Experience Class, TEER 2 or 3 job | CLB 5 in all four | L 39, R 42, S 51, W 51 |
| Full CRS language points, strong skill-transferability combinations | CLB 9 in all four | L 82, R 78, S 84, W 88 |
| Maximum CRS language points | CLB 10 in all four | L 89, R 88, S 89, W 90 |
| Citizenship (ages 18 to 54) | CLB 4 in Speaking and Listening | S 42, L 28 |
| Provincial nominee streams | Varies, commonly CLB 4 to CLB 7 | Check the stream's own page |
The CLB 9 line is the one worth planning around if you are in Express Entry. It is where the language points per skill jump (from 23 to 31 without a spouse) and where the skill-transferability factors reach their larger values when combined with education or foreign work experience. Use the CRS language points calculator to see the exact effect of each skill on your total.
Using the result
- Find the skill with the lowest CLB. That is your ceiling for programme eligibility and usually the cheapest place to gain points.
- Read the gap row for your target. A gap of one to five points is a retake-after-focused-practice situation. A gap of fifteen or more points is a change-how-you-prepare situation.
- Match the gap to the tasks that feed that skill. Writing, for example, is fed by Summarize Written Text, Write Email, Summarize Spoken Text, Write from Dictation and the fill-in-the-blanks tasks. The task-by-skill page lists every pairing.
- Retake only when practice scores sit above the line. A test that lands on 67 in Speaking when you need 68 is the most expensive single point in the process.
Three things people get wrong
- Rounding. There is no rounding. 87 in Writing is CLB 8, not "almost 9". The next line is 88.
- Mixing tests. IRCC takes all four skills from one test sitting. You cannot pair the Speaking score from one attempt with the Writing score from another, and you cannot combine PTE Core with IELTS or CELPIP results.
- Expiry. Results must be less than two years old both when you submit the Express Entry profile and when you apply for permanent residence. A test taken early, before you are ready to enter the pool, can expire while you wait.
This page describes how the published tables work. It is not immigration advice, and only IRCC can tell you how a rule applies to your file.