All question types and how they are scored | Everything about DET Part 2

In Part 1, everything about Duolingo English Test, we have learned quite a lot about DET. In this part 2, we will share all the question types and how they are scored.    

Let’s get into it.    

6. Understand the test questions  

a. All the question types   

In the Duolingo English Test, there are 12 question types and the Interactive Reading. All of them are scored questions, except for the Speaking sample, the only unscored question. Every question appears with some basic information that you need to pay close attention to, such as:    

Diagram of a question

Are you ready to explore all question types?  

Question type 1: Read and Select

They ask you to select real English word in a given list through reading. One word appears per time. The directions will appear on the screen as the timer begins simultaneously.  Timer: 05 seconds for each word Frequency: 15-18 times Sub-scores: Literacy, Comprehension

Question type 2: Fill in the Blanks

They give you a sentence; you need to fill in the blanks to complete all unfinished words. The directions will appear on the screen as the timer begins simultaneously.  Timer: 20 seconds Frequency: 6-9 times  Sub-scores: Literacy, Comprehension

Question type 3: Read and Complete

They give you a passage; you need to fill in the blanks to complete all unfinished words. The directions will appear on the screen as the timer begins simultaneously.  Timer: 03 minutes Frequency: 3-6 times  Sub-scores: Literacy, Comprehension

Question type 4: Listen and Type

You will listen to a person speaking a statement and write everything you hear. You will hear the statement for the 1st time when the directions appear as the timer begins simultaneously.  You will have two more times to replay the statement. Timer: 01 minute Frequency: 6-9 times Sub-scores: Comprehension, Conversation

Question type 5: Read Aloud

You will read a written statement and speak it aloud into the microphone. The directions will appear on the screen as the timer begins simultaneously.  Timer: 20 seconds   Frequency: 3-6 times Sub-scores: Comprehension, Conversation

Question type 6: Write about The Photo

They show you an image, and you will write a description of the image. You need to write at least one sentence. The directions will appear on the screen as the timer begins simultaneously.  Timer: 01 minute  Frequency: 03 times Sub-scores: Production, Literacy

Question type 7: Speak about The Photo

They show you an image, and you will talk about it for at least 30 seconds. The directions will appear on the screen as the timer begins simultaneously.  Timer: 20 seconds for you to prepare before you have 1,5 minutes to talk.  Frequency: 01 time  Sub-scores: Production, Conversation

Question type 8: Interactive Writing

They show you a written prompt and a follow-up question, and you will answer in writing. The directions will appear on the screen as the timer begins simultaneously.  Timer: 05 minutes for the main question, 03 minutes for the follow-up question. Frequency: 01 set of two questions Sub-scores: Production, Literacy

Question type 9: Read and Speak

They show you a written prompt, and you will speak your answer to the prompt for at least 30 seconds. The directions will appear on the screen as the timer begins simultaneously.  Timer: 20 seconds for you to prepare before you have 1,5 minutes to talk.  Frequency: 01 time  Sub-scores: Conversation, Production

Question type 10: Listen then Speak

You will listen to a prompt and speak your response for at least 03 seconds. You will hear the prompt for the 1st time when the directions appear as the timer begins simultaneously.  You will have two more times to replay the prompt in your 20 seconds preparation.  Timer: 20 seconds for you to prepare before you have 1,5 minutes to talk.  Frequency: 02 times Sub-scores: Conversation, Production

Question type 11: Writing Sample

They ask you to write for 3 to 5 minutes about the given topic.  The direction will appear on the screen, and we have 30 seconds to prepare before the 5 minutes begin.  Your response should be relevant to the topic because you will send the sample answers to the recipients of your results. Timer: 05 minutes Frequency: 01 time  Sub-scores: Literacy, Production

Question type 12: Speaking Sample

They ask you to speak for 1 to 3 minutes about a given topic.  The directions will appear on the screen as the timer begins simultaneously.  This sample will be sent as a video recording to the recipients of your results, so make sure your response is relevant to the topic. Timer: 30 seconds for you to prepare before you have 03 minutes to talk.  Frequency: 01 time Sub-scores: Conversation and Production

Question type 13: Interactive Reading

We have 05 different question types in each set of Interactive Reading. The direction of each question type will appear on the screen after we finish the previous one.  Timer: 07-08 minutes each set.  Frequency: 02 sets Sub-scores: Literacy and Comprehension For detailed information, kindly take a look at this article, "What to know and How to practice Interactive Reading".

Question type 14: Interactive Listening

We have 02 different question types in each set of Interactive Listening. The direction of each question type will appear on the screen after we finish the previous one.  Timer: 5.15 minutes each set.  Frequency: 02 sets Sub-scores: All four sub-scores For detailed information, kindly take a look at this article, "Everything about Interactive Listening".

b. How are the questions scored?

Test-takers are very curious about this question as DET is the first of its kind. All the question types are divided into two large categories for evaluation.

• Question types 1-5, Listen and Respond,  and the Interactive Reading

They call question types 1-4, and Interactive Reading are questions with correct answers. They will assess your performance through special procedures developed to compare your responses and correct responses.

Regarding Listen and Type, you should write numbers in words such as Fifteen and Seventeen when you hear "fifteen" and "seventeen" instead of "15" and "17". Besides, as it is a question with correct answers, you should only write what you hear. For example, when you hear "You've", then you should write "You've" instead of "You have". 

If you want to find out whether you still get a partial score for an entirely correct answer or not, check out this article for detailed information.

Article: Will you get a partial score? 

• Question types 6-12 and Summarize the Conversation

All these question types are open response questions because you need to write or speak to answer a question. They will evaluate your performance based on seven grading aspects.

More importantly, multiple human proctors will check video recordings of your responses to ensure the reliability of your English skills. Therefore, you need to get the test done by yourself without support from others.

A kindly reminder that we have a Practice Platform including thousands of questions and instant feedback to help you identify your mistakes. The instant feedback is built based on some of the same seven grading aspects that DET uses to evaluate your English proficiency, including Grammatical Accuracy, Grammatical Complexity, Lexical sophistication, Lexical diversity, Fluency, Relevance, Coherence and Acoustic features (Pronunciation). 

Furthermore, we have an integrated dictionary, in which you can check a word’s meaning, examples, synonyms, and pronunciation, and you can add them to your Vocab lists for a more convenient review later on.

Check out our Sample feedback from the automatically correcting systems. 

Let’s go to our DET Practice Platform, create a FREE account and start boosting your scores today.