Duolingo English Test
The Duolingo English Test (DET) is a one-hour, fully online English proficiency exam accepted by more than five thousand universities worldwide. At $59, it costs significantly less than IELTS or TOEFL and can be taken from home at any time, with results available within forty-eight hours. It is accepted by universities in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and a growing number of other countries.
Test format
Adaptive test — 45 minutes (graded)
The main section is adaptive: the difficulty of each question adjusts based on your previous answers, so the test ends as soon as the scoring engine is confident in your result rather than after a fixed number of questions. Questions appear across four types without a fixed sequence.
Read and Select
Identify real English words from a set that includes invented words.
Fill in the Blanks
Complete sentences with the missing word.
Read and Complete
Complete a short passage with missing words.
Interactive Listening
Listen to a conversation and respond to questions.
Interactive Speaking
Respond to prompts from an AI character in spoken English.
Writing and speaking sample — 10 minutes (shared)
After the adaptive section, you write a short response to a prompt and record a spoken response. These are sent to universities alongside your score so admissions offices can evaluate your English directly. They are now also graded and contribute to your overall score.
Scoring
DET scores range from 10 to 160, reported as a single overall number alongside four subscores: Literacy, Comprehension, Conversation and Production. Universities typically publish a minimum overall score requirement; the subscores give admissions offices additional detail about where your strengths and weaknesses lie.
C1 – C2 (Advanced)
Most competitive universities
B2 (Upper-intermediate)
Typical undergraduate minimum
B1 – B2
Language programmes and foundation courses
Below B1
Pre-sessional English may be required
What this practice test covers
Our DET practice simulates the three written question types from the adaptive section: Read and Select, Fill in the Blanks and Read and Complete. These test the reading and literacy skills that underpin much of the overall score. Interactive Listening and Interactive Speaking require audio and microphone capabilities and are not included.
The score you receive is an estimate based on your performance on these three sections. It gives you a meaningful benchmark but will differ from your official DET score, which factors in all question types through the full adaptive algorithm.
Practice the test
DET Practice Test
40 questions across Read and Select, Fill in the Blanks and Read and Complete. 25 minutes. Estimated score on the 10–160 scale.
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