Both IELTS and PTE have two common versions: Academic and General training.The academic versions are meant for students planning for an admission into a university. IELTS and PTE have similar test sections of reading ,listening,speaking and writing . But yet there are certain unique features which differentiates them from each other.
An IELTS examiner evaluates the speaking abilities of the candidates by making live conversation, which indeed is recorded in some recording device. But in PTE, there is no live conversation and candidate has to speak to a microphone for getting recorded in a computerized system.
A computer program than evaluates the speaking and rates the test taker. The IELTS being completely paper based uses diagram, graph or chart for the writing section. On the other hand, PTE is totally computer based and thus uses many innovative techniques to test writing capabilities of the candidate.
IELTS has set time for each paper, and candidates can move forwards and backwards whereas PTE has section timings and can move forward only.
PTE is based on complete automated scoring and grades a test taker in the band of 10-90. A 0-9 band is used in the manual scoring pattern of IELTS. The IELTS Test Report Form is posted in 13 calendar days after the test. The PTE Academic scores are available online within five business days.