How I Built a Free PTE Core Practice Site for Canada PR Applicants

Why I Built a PTE Core Practice Site

I’m currently on the path to Canadian permanent residency, and like many others I needed to take the PTE Core exam.

While preparing, I ran into a few problems:

• Many practice sites were expensive or had confusing pricing.

• Free resources were scattered and often outdated.

• Very few tools were focused on immigration use cases like CLB and CRS scores.

So I decided to build something I wished existed: a free, AI‑powered PTE Core practice platform.

👉 PTEcorepractice.com ↗

What PTEcorepractice.com Does

PTEcorepractice.com is a practice site focused specifically on PTE Core for Canada PR applicants.

Some key features:

• 800+ real exam–style questions across all modules

• Instant AI scoring and feedback for speaking & writing

• Daily free practice with a simple freemium model

• Built‑in CLB calculator and CRS calculator so you can see how your scores affect immigration points

• Available in both English and Chinese, since many candidates are non‑native English speakers

My goal is to make it easy to:

1. Practice realistically

2. Understand how close you are to your target CLB

3. Plan your PR strategy with more confidence

Tech Stack and Architecture

Under the hood, the project is fairly simple but opinionated:

• Frontend: React

• Hosting: Vercel

• Analytics: Google Analytics for tracking usage and funnels

• Backend services & AI: modern LLM APIs for scoring and feedback

I’m a solo founder / developer, so I tried to keep the architecture:

• Cheap to run

• Fast to iterate

• Easy to monitor (especially for AI scoring issues)

A lot of work went into designing prompting & scoring logic so that:

• Users get consistent scores

• Feedback is short, actionable, and not just “AI-fluff”

Lessons Learned Building a Niche Exam Tool

A few things I’ve learned so far:

• Focusing on one narrow audience (PTE Core + Canada PR) makes product decisions much easier.

• Good UX for non‑technical users matters more than clever engineering.

• Clear explanations like “What CLB 9 means for your CRS score” are just as important as practice questions.

Traffic is still small, but I’m seeing real users come back to practice daily, which is the most encouraging signal for me.

Try It Out / Feedback

If you’re:

• Preparing for PTE Core

• Targeting CLB 9+ for Canadian PR

• Or just curious how an AI‑powered exam practice tool is built

You can try it here:

👉 https://ptecorepractice.com ↗

If you have feedback on:

• The product itself

• The scoring

• Or the tech / architecture

I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments!