The Duolingo English Test is a future leading proficiency English test for higher education admissions because it’s fast, convenient, trusted, and affordable. Nevertheless, the test’s currently still new to test-takers nowadays as it’s just six years old compared to the IELTS or TOEFL.
This article shares the Duolingo English Test structure to help you better understand the test in order to prepare it more efficiently. Besides, once you completely comprehend the test structure, you will likely get the DET Ready faster.
Let’s explore everything step by step.
1. Test length
You will need 1 hour of free time to take the Duolingo English Test. You also need to keep your testing environment completely private and uninterrupted; if anyone enters your testing environment during the test, your DET result will be uncertified.
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Free feel to check the following articles to ensure your DET success.
The Duolingo English Test is a computer adaptive test; it means that the question difficulty changes for each test session and test-taker. Thus, there are several differences compared to other English proficiency tests such as IELTS, TOEFL.
a. Only one section
You will take the DET in one section, which lasts for 1 hour as you already learned. Besides, the same question will not appear one after another, which means you will not know what question types you need to answer next.
b. Varying difficulty
If you read the official guide from the Duolingo website, you will know there are three different levels in the Duolingo English Test. The question level depends on your performance during the test; if you perform well, the question will getting harder and harder, so you can achieve higher scores. As a result, you may see easy or difficult questions-that is normal.
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c. Adaptive length
Some test-takers may have more questions than other because the grading engine simply needs more information to evaluate your English proficiency; so there is no fixed number of questions. However, you can expect the test ends around 1 hour regardless of the number of questions you may take.
d. Unique experience
Even you take the 10th test, you will never see the same questions because the Duolingo English Test built an extremely large pool of questions, from which the test questions draw. In other words, you will always see new questions in the DET which creates unique experience.
3. How the test is set up
Once you start the test, there are three main sections you need to go through.
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a. Introduction and onboarding ~ 5 minutes
In this step, you check to ensure your computer’s camera, speakers, and microphone are working properly because you are prohibited using external equipment, especially things cover your ears.
Next step, you submit your government-issued photo ID and review all the test rules before getting started. We strongly suggest you check all the rules carefully and follow them until the end of your test to ensure your DET results are certified.
b. Adaptive test ~ 45 minutes
There are two major question categories in the DET, including Question types with correct answers and Open response question types.
Question types with correct answers: Read and Complete, Read and Select, Listen and Select, Listen and Type, Read Aloud, and Interactive Reading (Complete the Sentences, Complete the Passage, Highlight the Answer, Identify the Idea, and Title the Passage).
Open response question types: Write About the Photo, Speak About the Photo, Read Then Write, Read Then Speak, Listen Then Speak, and Writing Sample.
Below is the question frequency, all the questions will appear randomly and change their levels based on your performance.
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c. Writing Sample and Speaking Sample ~ 10 minutes
This is the most special part in our view. Why? Because when you share your DET certified result with any universities, they will be able to review your Writing Sample and Speaking Sample. Even though the Speaking Sample is an unscored question, but you should try your best as the institutions will review your results.
In the DET Practice Platform, we offer thousands of practicing questions and instant feedback to help you identify your own mistakes. Specifically, after submitting your answer, you will know all mistakes in question types with correct answers.
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Regarding open response question types, we evaluate your Speaking and Writing answers based on several grading elements that the DET also assesses your proficiency, including Fluency, Lexical Sophistication, Lexical Diversity, Grammatical Accuracy, and Acoustic Features (Pronunciation). You can review video sample feedback here.
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Go to the DET Practice Platform, create your FREE account, and experience all features to advance your Duolingo English Test scores.
