DET Essentials and Diagnostic

Before you practise a single question, you need a clear picture of the test itself: what happens in the hour, how the computer chooses your questions, what each question type asks you to do and how long you have, and what the scorer rewards. Candidates who sit down with that picture lose fewer marks to surprises. This chapter gives you the whole Duolingo English Test (DET) in a few pages, then how it is scored, how its scores compare with the CEFR and IELTS, what the scores mean for study abroad, the rules of the at-home test, and the ten mistakes that cost our students the most time, money and marks. It ends with a diagnostic check that tells you where to start in each skill.

The test in one sitting

The DET is taken online, at home, on your own computer, and lasts about one hour. Duolingo's official guide divides the hour into three parts: about 5 minutes of setup (your ID, your room and your cameras are checked), about 45 minutes of graded questions, and about 10 minutes for the Writing Sample and the Speaking Sample at the end. There is no test centre, no fixed date and no break. You book when you are ready and take the test when you choose, within 21 days of buying it.

Unlike IELTS, PTE or TOEFL, the DET does not have a Reading section, then a Listening section, and so on. The question types are mixed through the hour: you might answer a set of Read and Select words, then type sentences you hear, then describe a photo. Each question type feeds one subscore (a few feed two), and the computer adds them up into four subscores: Reading, Listening, Writing and Speaking. The content is international and mostly everyday or academic: campus conversations, short articles on science, history and society, photos of real-life scenes, and questions about your own experience and opinions.

The table lists every question type in the 2026 test, grouped by the subscore it counts towards. Times and numbers of items are those in Duolingo's official Question Guide 2026; because the test is adaptive, the exact number of items varies from one candidate to the next.

How the adaptive design works

Most of the DET is adaptive: the computer chooses each new question from your answers so far.

• Get questions right and the next ones get harder. Get them wrong and they get easier. The test is trying to find the level at which you are right about half the time, as quickly as possible.
• Adaptive question types: Read and Select, Fill in the Blanks, Read and Complete, Listen and Type, Interactive Reading, Interactive Listening and Interactive Speaking.
• Not adaptive: Write About the Photo, Interactive Writing, Speak About the Photo, Read, Then Speak, and the two Samples. Everyone gets the same kind of task; what changes is how well you do it.
• Your score is not a count of right answers. A candidate who gets 60 per cent of very hard words right scores higher than one who gets 90 per cent of easy words right. So the number you got wrong tells you nothing on its own.

What each question type feels like

Reading

Read and Select is fast: five seconds a word, one word at a time. The fake words look and sound English (plimber, reckage), so the task tests whether you really know the spelling of real words, not whether you can guess. Fill in the Blanks and Read and Complete test spelling and grammar together: He has finish___ must be finished, and one wrong letter loses the word. Interactive Reading is the longest task: you read the first half of a passage choosing words for gaps, choose the sentence that joins the two halves, highlight answers in the text, and choose the main idea and the best title.

Listening

In Listen and Type you may play each sentence up to three times, and you must type every word, with correct spelling and punctuation. Interactive Listening puts you in a conversation: first you hear the situation and complete three or four sentences about it (here spelling is not scored, but the idea must be right), then you choose your reply at each turn of the conversation, and each of those turns plays once only. Finally you have 75 seconds to write a summary of the whole conversation.

Writing

You type every answer, with no spell check. Write About the Photo gives you one minute per photo; the best answers are one or two accurate, detailed sentences. Interactive Writing needs a clear position, reasons and an example in five minutes, then a short, direct answer to the follow-up question in three. The Writing Sample is a five-minute answer about your experience or opinion, and the universities you send your results to can read it.

Speaking

You have one recording for each task and cannot record again. Speak About the Photo and Read, Then Speak give you 20 seconds to prepare and up to 90 seconds to speak; strong candidates use most of the time. In Interactive Speaking a friendly animated character asks questions and you hear each one once; the timer starts when the question ends, and you have 35 seconds. The Speaking Sample is three minutes, recorded on video, and the video is sent to the universities you choose.

How the DET is scored

Your results give one overall score and four subscores: Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing. Every score is on a scale from 10 to 160 in steps of 5.

• The overall score is the average of the four subscores, rounded up to the next score ending in 0 or 5. An average of 106.25 becomes 110; an average of exactly 105 stays 105.
• One weak subscore pulls the overall down. Every 5 points you gain in your weakest skill raises the average by 1.25, exactly as much as 5 points in your best skill. The weak skill is usually much easier to raise.
• Writing is scored on four criteria: content, discourse coherence (how clearly your ideas connect), grammar and lexis (vocabulary). Speaking is scored on six: content, discourse coherence, fluency, grammar, lexis and pronunciation.
• Some question types count for two skills. In Summarize the Conversation, whether your summary gets the content right counts for Listening, and how well you write it counts for Writing.

If Writing had been 105 instead of 100, the average would be 111.25, which rounds up to an overall of 115. Five points in one subscore moved the overall by five. Because every subscore ends in 0 or 5, the average often falls between two reported scores (106.25, 107.5, 108.75); any such average goes up to the next score ending in 0 or 5, never down.

The combined subscores

Your results also show four combined subscores. Each is the average of two subscores, and some universities set a minimum for one of them.

The DET, the CEFR and IELTS

Universities often state requirements as an IELTS band or a CEFR level, and many accept the DET as well. Duolingo publishes this concordance in its Scoring Guide 2026. Use it to understand a requirement, not to replace one: if the university gives its own DET score, that score is the one that counts.

So the CEFR borders are: B1 from 60, B2 from 100, C1 from 130, C2 from 155. A university that asks for "IELTS 6.5 or equivalent" is likely to ask for a DET score of about 120, but it may choose a different figure, so look for the DET line in the requirement.

What the scores mean for FLC students

University entry

Duolingo says the DET is accepted by thousands of institutions in more than 100 countries, including many universities and colleges in the USA, Canada, the UK and Europe. But acceptance is decided school by school, and often programme by programme: a university may accept the DET for undergraduate courses but not for some postgraduate ones, or not at all. The ranges below are what our counsellors typically see in 2026; they are a planning guide, not a rule. Many universities ask for about 105–120 overall.

United States

Many US colleges and universities accept the DET for admission. The university decides whether your English is good enough and issues your Form I-20; there is no separate English-test score for the F-1 student visa itself. Be ready to answer the visa officer's questions in clear, confident English at your interview.

Canada

Many Canadian colleges and universities accept the DET for admission, each with its own score. For IRCC's own language requirements, however (the language requirement for a post-graduation work permit, permanent residence through Express Entry, and citizenship), the DET is not accepted. As of November 2026, the English tests IRCC accepts for these are CELPIP-General, IELTS General Training and PTE Core (in French, TEF Canada and TCF Canada).

United Kingdom

The DET is not a Secure English Language Test (SELT) approved by the Home Office. For a degree-level course, a UK university can assess your English itself and issue your Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies (CAS) on the basis of a DET score, if it accepts the DET for that course. For courses below degree level, and for work, family and most other UK visas, you need a SELT, so the DET will not do.

Europe and Australia

Universities in Ireland, Germany, the Netherlands, France and elsewhere decide for themselves; many accept the DET, often stated as a DET score or a CEFR level (usually B2 or C1), and some do not. Check each university's page, and check the student-visa rules of that country separately with your FLC counsellor. Some Australian universities accept the DET for admission, but the Department of Home Affairs does not list it among the tests it accepts for visas, and it does not accept tests taken wholly online.

Worked example: one subscore, one intake

Riya has an offer for a Master's in Business Analytics in the USA, conditional on "DET 115 overall, with no subscore below 105". Her results, from a test taken in August 2026, read:

Her friends congratulate her on "120 overall". The university does not: one subscore is below the minimum, so the condition is not met. Her diagnostic showed why. She lost most of her Writing points in the short tasks: her photo descriptions were single, general sentences ("There are many people in the market"), her Interactive Writing stopped after 60 words, and her summaries of conversations missed the main point. She practised a fixed routine (who, what, where and one detail for each photo; position, two reasons and an example for Interactive Writing; one sentence for the problem and one for the solution in each summary). On her next test she reached Writing 115, and her overall rose to 125.

Booking the test

• Buy the test on the official DET website (englishtest.duolingo.com), from your own account. Duolingo's 2026 guides give the price as US$70; check the price in your currency at checkout. Never buy a "discounted" test code from an agent or a social-media seller.
• Take it within 21 days of buying it. Duolingo's official guide says you can buy up to three tests in any 30-day period.
• One person, one account. Results from a second account are not certified. Use your name exactly as it appears in your passport.
• Try the free practice test first. Duolingo offers a free, shorter practice test on its website that you can take more than once. It is the best way to see the screens and the timers before test day. It does not give you a certified score.

At-home test rules

The DET is watched: proctors review the recording of your test before your results are certified. Breaking a rule, even by accident, can mean your results are not certified, with no refund. These are the rules in Duolingo's official guide and test rules in 2026.

Results, score sending and retakes

• Results: Duolingo says certified results are available within two days, after the proctors have reviewed your test; you get an email when they are ready. Its official guide also describes an optional paid Faster Results service (within 12 hours).
• Sending scores: you can send certified results to as many institutions as you like, free, from your account. Institutions see them as soon as you send them.
• The Samples go with your scores. Every institution you send results to can read your Writing Sample and watch the video of your Speaking Sample from that test. Admissions officers do watch them, so treat them as part of your application, not as the end of the test.
• Validity: Duolingo's official guide says certified results are valid for two years. A university may set its own, shorter rule.
• Retakes: you choose which test's results to send. When one subscore is short, a retake prepared properly for that skill is usually the best use of your money. Do not book the next test until your practice in that skill is steadily above the requirement.

The 10 most expensive mistakes Indian candidates make

These come straight from twenty-five years of working with students in Vadodara, Anand, Bharuch and Scarborough. Each one has cost real candidates a retest fee, a missed intake, or both.

1. Using the DET where it is not accepted. Canadian work permits and permanent residence, UK visas below degree level and Australian visas do not accept it, and some universities and courses do not either. Check every course and every visa before you book.
2. Preparing for the old test. Read Aloud and Listen and Select are gone; Interactive Speaking and the scored Samples are in. A month spent on old material is a month lost.
3. Getting "not certified". Earphones, a family member at the door, eyes on the phone, reading under your breath. The test is cancelled and the fee is lost.
4. Bringing the wrong ID or the wrong name. In India, Duolingo's ID rules list the passport; check the current list before you book. An account name that does not match the passport causes trouble later.
5. Treating the Samples as a formality. Both are scored, and the universities you apply to read the Writing Sample and watch the Speaking Sample video. A tired, half-minute answer at the end of the hour is seen by the people deciding on your application.
6. Clicking Yes for words that look familiar. In Read and Select, reckage and vurbal look like real words, but they are misspellings. Clicking Yes for a fake word is marked wrong.
7. Spelling from sound. In Fill in the Blanks, Read and Complete and Listen and Type every letter counts. "Recieve", "untill", a missing -s or a missing -ed each cost a word.
8. Stopping early in Speaking. Twenty-five seconds of a 90-second task gives the scorer very little to reward. Plan three points in the 20 seconds and keep speaking to about 75–90 seconds.
9. Memorised templates. A memorised opening paragraph does not answer the question, and answers must be your own words. Short, specific, natural sentences score better than long learned ones.
10. Aiming at the overall score. "115 overall with no subscore below 105" is two requirements, not one. A Writing score of 100 fails it.

The four FLC levels

This course is built in four levels. Each level has a clear DET target, a clear reason for reaching it, and its own Reading, Listening, Writing and Speaking units. You do not have to start at Level 1. You start where your English is today, and you climb.

Your four subscores are reported separately, and universities often look at each one. Plan by skill, not by average: it is normal to be at Level 3 in Reading and Level 2 in Writing.

What each level looks like

Read the description of the level you think you are at, and the one above it. The "not yet" column is your to-do list.

Study plans

Each plan assumes about 90 minutes a day, six days a week. "Your level" means the starting level the diagnostic gives you; work on each skill at its own level, and move up as soon as a level's units and exercises go well.

Find Your Level: Diagnostic Check

This check takes about an hour. It is not a full test, and it will not give you a DET score. What it will give you is a starting level for each skill, so you spend your study time where it counts instead of repeating what you already know. It is organised by skill (Reading, Listening, Writing, Speaking) so that you can mark it; in the real test the question types are mixed.

Reading

Allow about 15 minutes for Exercises 3–6 together. In Exercise 3, give yourself no more than five seconds a word: cover the list and uncover one word at a time.

Listening

Use your computer's speakers, as on test day. In Exercise 7 you may play each sentence up to three times. In Exercise 8, play the scenario as often as you like, but play each turn of the conversation once only.

Writing

Type your answers if you can: the real test is on a computer, with no spell check. Stop when the timer ends. The scenes in this book are drawings; in the real test you see photographs.

Writing score

Wait ten minutes, then reread your three pieces of writing as if a stranger wrote them. Give 1 point for each statement that is fully true. Be strict: "almost" scores 0.

Speaking

Use your phone's voice recorder. Do not stop the recording or start again: in the real test you have one recording for each task.

Speaking self-rating

Listen to each recording once, all the way through. Better still, ask a friend whose English you trust to listen with you. Give 1 point for each statement that is fully true. Be strict: "almost" scores 0.

Find your starting level

Mark Exercises 3–8 with the keys. Reading is Exercises 3–6 (15 + 6 + 10 + 8 = 39 points). Listening is Exercises 7 and 8: up to 2 points for each Listen and Type sentence (10), 3 for Listen and Complete, 5 for Listen and Respond and 2 for the content of your summary (20 points in all). Writing comes from the Writing score table and Speaking from the self-rating. Write your four totals, then read across: Level 1 Foundation, Level 2 Study Abroad Ready, Level 3 High Scorer, Level 4 Mastery.

* Level 4 in Reading or Listening only if you reached that score and were sure of every answer; a lucky guess is not Level 4.

How to read your result

• Start each skill at its own level. It is normal to begin Reading at Level 3 and Writing at Level 1. The Course Book is designed for exactly this.
• If a score sits on a borderline, take the lower level and move through it quickly. Self-ratings in Writing and Speaking usually run high, so if you are unsure, step down one level.
• Check your target. If you need 115 with no subscore below 105, every skill must reach the top of Level 2 at least, and most should be at Level 3. If you need C1 (DET 130) for a European Master's, your work is in Level 3 and Level 4.
• Look inside each skill. A low Reading total caused mainly by Read and Select and Fill in the Blanks (vocabulary and spelling) is a different problem from one caused by Interactive Reading (understanding a whole passage). Your level's unit tells you which lessons to do first.
• Retake this check after you finish each level, and compare your scores. Then try Duolingo's free practice test again.

Write your starting levels here and turn to the first unit: