AHPRA Accepted English Tests and Scores From April 2026

AHPRA accepts five English tests, every one of them at a test centre, and the score table you are judged against depends on when you sat.

The cutover was 23 April 2026. If your two sittings fall either side of it, each is measured by a different table, which is the sort of rule that quietly invalidates a plan built on the wrong page.

If speaking is the component you are short in, SpeakShark is free with three AI conversation sessions a day and no card, each capped at five minutes and four turns.

In this guide: the five tests · the current score table · the date split · the TOEFL booking trap · the OET difference · validity · what to practise · what we could not verify · how we researched this · FAQ

Key takeaways

• Five accepted tests, all restricted to a test centre sitting.
• The minimum scores changed on 23 April 2026, and the old table still governs earlier sittings.
• If your two sittings straddle the date, each is judged by its own table.
• TOEFL must be booked as "Taking TOEFL for Australia" or the result may not be usable.
• Any profession version of OET is accepted, which is the opposite of the UK rule.

The five accepted tests

AHPRA's list, with its own delivery restrictions attached:

Read the right hand column as a pattern rather than five separate facts. Every accepted route is a supervised centre sitting. AHPRA does note that one computer-based test at a test centre has a remote proctored element which National Boards assessed as acceptable, but the general position is clear enough to plan around.

AHPRA also notes that the Medical Board of Australia accepts certain profession-specific tests for its own registration purposes, so doctors have an additional route that the common list does not show.

The score table from 23 April 2026

These are the minimums for tests taken on or after 23 April 2026.

Two things in that table are easy to skim past.

OET has no overall score. The column is not applicable, so there is nothing to average against. Four components, four separate bars.

Speaking is the highest bar on three of the six rows. Cambridge C1 Advanced asks 194 for speaking against 175 for listening. PTE Academic asks 76 for speaking against 58 for listening. That is an 18 point gap on Cambridge and 18 on PTE, in the component people practise least because it is the one you cannot revise silently.

Each test also carries a floor for combining across two sittings, lower than the pass score but not absent. On IELTS Academic no component in either sitting may sit below 6.5. On PTE Academic the floors are 53 listening, 54 reading, 60 writing and 66 speaking. On TOEFL iBT they are 19, 19, 23 and 22. On OET they are 320 listening, 340 reading, 350 writing and 350 speaking.

Combining is capped at two sittings in a 12-month period, and most tests require you to be tested in all four components in each sitting.

The date split and the straddle rule

This is the part that turns a valid pair of certificates into an invalid application.

AHPRA sets out three cases plainly:

• Test taken on or before 22 April 2026: the old minimum scores in Table 1 apply.
• Test taken on or after 23 April 2026: the new minimum scores in Table 2 apply.
• First test on or before 22 April 2026 and second on or after 23 April 2026: the first must meet Table 1 and the second must meet Table 2.

There is no averaging across the boundary and no choosing the friendlier table. Each certificate is judged by the rules in force on the day you sat.

AHPRA explains why the numbers moved, and the reason is worth knowing because it means the change was not arbitrary:

In August 2025, the Department of Home Affairs published changes to the English language tests approved for migration purposes. These changes reflected recent score concordance research published by test providers. National Boards approved changes to the minimum scores required for registration purposes in consideration of that.

So the registration numbers followed the migration numbers, which followed the test providers' own concordance work. If you are dealing with both a visa and a registration, that alignment is in your favour, but it also means older guidance on either side is now describing pre-2026 arithmetic.

This is the same shape as the trap in the English test for an Australian visa, where the general pages and one visa subclass use different cutoff dates entirely.

The TOEFL booking trap

Some traps happen on test day. This one happens at checkout.

To ensure your TOEFL iBT result is valid for Australian registration purposes, you must select 'Taking TOEFL for Australia' when registering for your test. TOEFL iBT Australia is the test currently accepted by National Boards for registration purposes.

The consequence is disproportionate to the size of the mistake. You sit a real exam, you get a real score, and it may not be usable for the purpose you sat it for. Nothing about test day tells you anything is wrong.

The same registration selection appears on Australia's visa side, which we cover in the English test for an Australian visa. If you are doing both, make the selection once and check it twice.

The OET difference between Australia and the UK

Here is a clean example of why you cannot carry a rule across borders.

AHPRA's table says any profession-specific OET test can be accepted.

The UK's NMC says the opposite: all applicants should choose the Nursing examination from the list of OET Professions versions. We cover that in the NMC OET grades.

Same exam, same profession versions, two regulators, two rules. A nurse who sat the Medicine version could be fine in Australia and short of the requirement in the UK. Nothing about the certificate changes; only the page you are being read against does.

The lesson generalises, and it is the same one behind the two separate UK visa test lists and Canada naming a specific version of each test.

How long a result lasts

Generally two years before the date you lodge your application for registration.

AHPRA allows exceptions. Results older than two years can be accepted in certain circumstances, including where, since the test was obtained, you have been continuously working. The revised standard widened those grounds to include continuously working in appropriate roles in recognised countries.

That widening is one of several changes in the revised standard, which also lowered the writing component, added Cambridge, and removed South Africa from the recognised country list from 18 March 2026. We set the whole list out in what changed in the AHPRA English requirements.

And the condition that catches nurses: the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia publishes its own English language skills standard, described by AHPRA as aligned with the common standard but with elements tailored for registered nurses, enrolled nurses and midwives. If you are a nurse or a midwife, the common table above is not automatically your table.

What to actually practise

Speaking carries the highest bar on several of these tests, and it is the only component that cannot be improved silently.

1. Speak daily, unscripted. Every one of the five tests scores speaking on its own. Free methods to raise fluency and a 30 day plan to improve speaking cover the habit.
2. Look at the speaking number before you choose a test. PTE Academic asks 76 for speaking against 58 for listening; Cambridge C1 Advanced asks 194 against 175. If speaking is your weakest component, the test you pick changes how far you have to travel.
3. If you are taking PTE, its speaking tasks are unusual and worth rehearsing individually: read aloud, repeat sentence, describe image, retell lecture and answer short question. If your score came back low, why PTE speaking scores come back low covers the usual causes.
4. If you are taking OET, it is built around clinical tasks: OET speaking criteria and role play cards.
5. Fix clarity rather than accent, because automated scoring on PTE and TOEFL is unforgiving about hesitation and restarts. Six pronunciation fixes in fourteen days and reducing mother tongue influence target that.
6. Get a baseline before booking. Test your English speaking level free. Start a free session and make it daily.

What we could not verify

We have not reproduced Table 1, the scores for tests taken on or before 22 April 2026. It lives in AHPRA's transition arrangements policy document, and anyone with an older certificate should read it there rather than in a summary.

We did not verify which single test has the accepted remote proctored element. AHPRA refers to one without naming it in the passage we read.

We have not set out the four pathway conditions. The test pathway is only one of four, and the others are in the registration standard itself. AHPRA publishes a pathway selection tool for working out which applies to you.

We did not verify the NMBA's own score table. AHPRA describes it as aligned rather than identical, so nurses and midwives should read the NMBA page directly.

How we researched this guide

The five accepted tests with their delivery restrictions, the Table 2 minimum scores and combining floors, the two sitting cap in a 12-month period, the three date cases including the straddle rule, the reason National Boards changed the numbers, the TOEFL registration selection, the any profession OET line and the two year validity rule with its exceptions all come from AHPRA's accepted English language tests page, read directly.

The revised standard changes and the NMBA carve-out come from AHPRA's English language skills standard page and its FAQ.

We quoted the TOEFL selection and the Home Affairs concordance explanation rather than paraphrasing, because one turns on the exact name of a booking option and the other explains why every number on this page moved in 2026.

Regulator score tables move, and this one moved four months ago. Open AHPRA's page, and the NMBA's if you are a nurse or midwife, before you book.

Practise speaking, from SpeakShark

SpeakShark is an AI English speaking practice app, and it is our pick for the test pathway because of what the table above shows. Speaking carries the highest component bar on several of these tests, and it is the one component that does not improve while you read. You talk, the AI answers what you actually said, and you get speaking feedback while the conversation is still going. The free tier gives basic feedback; the detailed pronunciation and grammar breakdown is on Premium.

Start free with three sessions a day and no card, each free session capped at five minutes and four turns. Paid sessions run ten minutes with unlimited turns. Limits are on the pricing page, and how it works walks through a full session.

We are a speaking improvement tool. We are not an exam preparation provider, not a regulator, and we are not affiliated with AHPRA, the NMBA, the IELTS partners, OET, Cambridge, Pearson, ETS or any exam board. For test format, booking and official practice material, go to the exam body directly, and for what registration requires, read ahpra.gov.au and your own National Board's website. Use SpeakShark to make your spoken English stronger, and use official material to learn the test.

• Site: speakshark.com
• Support: speaksharksupport@gmail.com
• Free tier: 3 AI conversation sessions per day, no card

Sources

• AHPRA, accepted English language tests: the five accepted tests, the delivery restrictions, Table 2 scores and floors, the date cases and straddle rule, the TOEFL registration selection, the any profession OET line and the validity rule
• AHPRA, English language skills registration standard: the four pathways, the pathway selection tool and the nursing and midwifery carve-out
• AHPRA, English language skills FAQ: the revised standard's list of changes and the NMBA explanation
• OET, the test: the profession-specific versions that AHPRA and the NMC treat differently

FAQ