Free PTE essay checker

How this essay checker works

Choose or type a topic, write 200 to 300 words, and press Check my essay. You get an estimated Writing score out of 90, a bar for each of the seven traits Pearson reports, a flag if the essay looks pre-written, and written feedback in three parts: what to improve, what is already working, and specific word and grammar fixes. It is free, it needs no signup, and there is no limit on how many essays you check.

The checker is an AI tutor built for practice. It reads your response against the same trait names and mark ranges Pearson uses, so the breakdown still means the same thing if you show it to a teacher or take it to a study group. What it does not do is predict your official score. Your real Write Essay result comes from Pearson's own scoring, and three of the seven traits are reviewed by a human expert as well as by AI.

Two things decide most of your score before style ever matters. The first is whether the essay answers the question that was actually asked, because Content carries the widest range and a zero for Content wipes out the whole response. The second is length, because Form can do the same thing. Vocabulary, grammar and spelling are worth fixing, but fix them after those two, and only then start polishing.

Each result is generated fresh for the essay in front of it. Nothing you paste is used to train anything, and the feedback is written for that specific response rather than pulled from a bank of stock comments. If the score looks harsh, read the trait bars before the number: they tell you which single trait is holding the estimate down.

How PTE Write Essay is graded

Write Essay is the only essay in PTE Academic. You are given one topic and 20 minutes to write a 200 to 300 word argumentative response. It is scored with partial credit, and the traits feed into your Writing score rather than producing a separate essay mark.

Pearson reports seven traits for Write Essay. All seven are AI-scored, and a human expert also reviews Content, Development, Structure and Coherence, and General Linguistic Range before the task score is confirmed. Those three carry the widest ranges, which is why a checklist that only counts grammar slips misses where most of the marks actually live.

A zero for Content or Form means no score points for the whole response. The Score Guide gives three examples of responses that receive nothing: an essay written on a completely different topic from the question prompt, an essay of fewer than 120 words, and a response that does not deal properly with the prompt because of significant amounts of pre-prepared or memorised material. Pearson classifies pre-prepared and memorised material as an irrelevant response.

Word count is the one trait you can control completely before you write a single sentence, so decide your structure with the count in mind. Four paragraphs of roughly 60 to 75 words each lands you inside the range without having to count at the end.

Sources: Pearson's PTE Academic Write Essay test-taker page, and the PTE Academic Test Taker Score Guide scoring criteria and zero-score rules.

How to read your result

1. The score out of 90. This is a practice estimate, not a forecast. Read it as a direction to work in. The one-line message under the number tells you which way to move next, and the note beneath it explains why an AI estimate cannot be treated as your result.
2. The seven trait bars. Fix the lowest bar first, not the one that annoys you most. A Form score of 1 almost always means the word count is outside 200 to 300, and Form can zero the whole essay, so length comes before style. A Grammar score of 0 with a Content score of 5 means the ideas are fine and the sentences are not.
3. The template flag. It only appears when the essay looks pre-written. When it does appear, rewrite those sentences in your own words about this specific prompt. Do not delete them and hope the flag goes away; the underlying problem is that the content is not about the question.
4. The three feedback tabs. Start with To improve, then work through the word and grammar fixes, then read Strengths so you keep whatever is already working. Change one or two things per draft, check the essay again, and watch which bar moves.

Want a finished model to compare against? Read a sample essay on a similar topic and look at how each paragraph supports its point, then look at your own essay with the same question in mind: does this paragraph prove anything, or does it restate the prompt?

What a 79+ essay looks like next to a 65

Pearson does not publish a conversion from trait marks to a score out of 90, so the honest way to compare a strong answer with a mid-range one is at trait level, using the Score Guide descriptors. In practice the two essays often share the same word count and the same four-paragraph shape. The difference is the depth of support and the range of language used to carry it.

Read the table as the difference between relevant and developed. Both essays answer the question. The stronger one spends its 200 to 300 words proving points with specifics instead of restating the prompt in new words. If you want to see that difference in finished prose rather than in a descriptor table, compare two model answers on topics you find hard and count how many sentences contain an actual example.

Common reasons a PTE essay loses Content marks

Content has the widest range of any Write Essay trait and it is one of the three traits a human expert reviews, so most of the recoverable marks sit here. These are the failures the Score Guide's own descriptors and zero-score examples point to.

• The essay drifts off the prompt. An essay written on a completely different topic from the question prompt scores 0 for Content, and a 0 for Content earns no score points for the response at all.
• Only half the prompt is answered. A prompt that asks you to discuss both views and give your own opinion needs both views and a stated position. Content 3 to 4 is exactly where a relevant essay that does not address the main points adequately lands.
• The prompt is paraphrased instead of answered. The lower Content bands describe responses that rely on generic or repetitive phrasing and on repeating the language of the prompt, while reformulating the issue in your own words is named as a feature of the top band.
• Claims arrive without supporting detail. The lower descriptors cover essays that address the prompt superficially, with few supporting details and only tangential links to the topic. A point with no example or explanation reads as an assertion, not an argument.
• The essay is mostly memorised material. A response that does not deal properly with the prompt because of significant amounts of pre-prepared or memorised material is treated as irrelevant, which is a zero for Content.
• The word count is outside the range. This is a Form failure rather than a Content one, but it belongs on this list because it overrides everything else: fewer than 120 words or more than 380 words scores 0 for Form, and a 0 for Form also earns no score points for the response.
• The conclusion contradicts the introduction. If the opening states a position, the closing has to hold it. Changing your mind in the last paragraph costs Content and Development marks at the same time, because the essay no longer develops one argument.

Sources: PTE Academic Test Taker Score Guide Write Essay Content and Form criteria, and the zero-score rules and examples.

A 20-minute plan for the essay

Twenty minutes is enough for a full-mark essay if you spend the first three minutes thinking rather than typing. The plan below keeps the word count honest and leaves time to check.

1. Minutes 0 to 3: analyse the prompt. Underline the key words, decide which side you are taking, and write down two reasons before you write a sentence. If the prompt says discuss both views, note the second view as well, because skipping it caps Content.
2. Minutes 3 to 16: write four paragraphs. An introduction that states your position, two body paragraphs that each give a reason, an explanation and one specific example, then a conclusion that closes with the consequence of your position rather than repeating the introduction.
3. Minutes 16 to 20: check. Confirm the count is between 200 and 300 words, use one spelling convention throughout rather than mixing British and American spellings, and scan for the two or three grammar slips you know you make.

Use frameworks to organise your ideas, not to supply the ideas themselves. Read the essay templates for structures and the sample essays for finished examples of those structures in use, then write every essay fresh for the prompt in front of you. Do not memorise either the templates or the samples.

28 essay topics test takers report

These topics come up often in test taker reports. Pearson does not publish its question bank, so a topic you practise may not appear in your exam; the value is in rehearsing the argument and the structure, not in guessing the question. Topics that already have a model answer on this site are linked to that answer.

• Online learning vs traditional education
• Social media impact on mental health (youth)
• Climate change solutions / global warming
• AI ethical implications / replacing jobs
• Globalisation and cultural identity loss
• Work from home pros/cons
• Technology addiction in children
• Animal testing for medical research
• Space exploration worth the cost?
• Advertising influence on consumer behavior
• Government responsibility for public health
• Books vs e-books
• Extreme sports should be banned
• Privacy vs national security (surveillance)
• Immigration benefits/drawbacks
• Fast food and health issues
• Celebrity influence on society
• Nuclear energy advantages/disadvantages
• Tourism impact on environment/culture
• Gender equality in workplace/education
• Universities deduct marks for late submissions
• Technology's role in reducing crime
• Euthanasia ethical debate
• Plastic ban effectiveness
• Renewable energy adoption
• Mental health awareness in schools
• Censorship in media
• Driverless cars pros/cons

PTE essay checker FAQ

Sources: Pearson PTE Academic Write Essay test-taker page and the PTE Academic Test Taker Score Guide. Word limits, timings and zero-score rules were checked against Pearson's Write Essay page on 14 October 2026.