What is the Duolingo English Test?

Duolingo first introduced the Duolingo English Test at the end of 2016, and it’s continuously making its name more prestigious day in and day out, especially during the most serious COVID-19 period at which most people couldn’t go to the test centres for IELTS, PTE or TOEFL. Regarding IELTS, PTE or TOEFL, you may already hear of them! If we connect the dots, yes, the Duolingo English Test – DET has the same value as IELTS, PTE or TOEFL for admission processes if students want to study abroad. 

The DET is accepted by over 5,100 (updated in August 2024) universities across the globe, including countless prestigious ones such as Yale, Stanford, British Columbia, etc. It has proved its value among other famous English proficiency tests.

The DET advantages

The Duolingo English Test is designed for all students all over the world – convenient, fast, affordable, and trusted. 

• Convenient: No appointments are needed; simply take it from anywhere in the world at any time from your computer or laptop.
• Fast: The DET lasts for around 1 hour, and you receive your results in two days.
• Affordable: It costs only $65 each or $110 a package of two, and you can share your certified results with unlimited universities for no additional cost.
• Trusted: The test is accepted in over 60 countries and over 5,100 institutions around the world. Students can check if their dream universities accept DET here.

How it works

The Duolingo English Test is built on research using artificial intelligence to make it accessible, accurate, and secure for all students. 

• Accessible: Besides being online, the DET is a computer adaptive test. To explain more, it means that the question difficulty changes based on each taker’s performance. If test-takers keep performing well time after time, the test will increase the question difficulty so students can achieve high scores.
• Accurate: The DET evaluates test-takers scores by the grading engine, which is trained to understand language skills the same way that human raters do. With this accurate grading engine, Duolingo is living its mission to support all students across the globe.
• Secure: The Duolingo English Test is accepted worldwide thanks to its security system maintaining the integrity of the test. After test-takers submit their completed tests, multiple human proctors detect all signs of rule breaking. 

How to learn about the test

When test-takers start learning about the DET, it’s completely new to them. There are lots of ways that students can experience all question-type formats in the Duolingo English Test before taking certified tests.

• Read this “Duolingo English Test” article category: Includes all content test-takers need to start preparing for the Duolingo English Test.
• Take 30-minute FREE Practice tests: This 30-minute test is brought to students by the Duolingo English Test official website, and test-takers can take it as many times as they want. At the end of each test, test-takers receive an estimated range of scores. Let’s take a look at this “Latest update on the 45-minute tests” for a better understanding.
• Take a 1-hour FREE Practice test: This 1-hour FREE test offers students all question types, the same length and question order as the certified DET. On top of that, students receive estimated scores for their overall scores, sub-scores, and each question type to help them identify their weaknesses and, of course, improve their scores. Watch this video guide to take your free Full Test.

Challenges in the DET

Even though the DET has so many benefits for test-takers, it also has some challenges that test-takers should know to get the best from the test.

• Strict rules: There are lots of rules to maintain the integrity of the test. One of them is to not look away from the testing screen for two seconds, which is really challenging.
• Short time to answer questions: The DET is truly practical compared to other tests, which makes it a bit more challenging. For example, the IELTS Speaking task 2 and Read then Speak in the DET have the same question format as the following. 

Describe one of your childhood toys that was special to you.   

• What it was;
• Who gave it to you;
• How you played with it;
• And explain why it was special for you.

However, the IELTS Speaking task 2 gives students one minute to prepare and two minutes to speak. Not to mention that test-takers can take keynotes on a piece of paper, while Read then Speak only gives test-takers 20 seconds to prepare and 90 seconds to speak. On top of that, students are not allowed to use outside materials or stationaries such as notebooks, pens, etc.

• Limited preparation materials: Unlike the IELTS, PTE or TOEFL, there are plenty of material sources for test-takers to prepare. Just a few companies focus on providing DET Preparation materials. 

How to prepare for the Duolingo English Test

Here is a five-preparation-step strategy for Beginners to get their desired DET scores. 

• Step 1: Get to know DET’s fundamental information
• Step 2: Understand your current level
• Step 3: Create a detailed study plan and commit to it
• Step 4: Take 1-hour Practice test every week
• Step 5: Utilise all three tests in a 30-day period

Please kindly take a look at our article, “Five-preparation-step strategy” for details.

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To those who are looking for DET practicing materials, the DET Practice Platform offers the following benefits to help students prepare for their Duolingo English Test.

• Thousands of practice questions similar to real ones;
• Instantly detailed feedback for all question types;
• Same grading elements as what the DET uses to evaluate students' scores; 
• At least 15 full tests;
• Three supportive vocab lists;
• An integrated dictionary.

Let's take a look at this sample feedback for a better understanding of how the DET Practice Website - TADE Hub has supported over 20,000 students across the world.

Go to the DET Practice Platform and create your FREE account to experience all the above benefits!