The Duolingo English Test, task by task
The DET is a short, adaptive English test you take at home in about an hour, now accepted by thousands of institutions. Because it adapts to you, no two test-takers see the same questions — and no practice site can copy it exactly. Here's the honest breakdown of what's on it and how to prepare, for anyone deciding whether the DET is their route.
What it is and who takes it
The DET is an online, at-home admissions test that runs in roughly one hour and is accepted by thousands of universities, colleges and programmes worldwide. It appeals to people who want a cheaper, faster, book-it-this-week alternative to sitting a test centre exam — you need only a computer, a webcam and a quiet room. It runs in three stages: a quick intro and setup, an adaptive graded section (about 45 minutes) that produces your score, and an ungraded video interview plus writing sample (about 10 minutes) that is sent, unscored, to the institutions you choose so an admissions officer can see and hear you in your own words.
What "adaptive" actually means here
Adaptive means the difficulty of your next question adjusts to how you answered thelast one: answer well and the test hands you harder items; struggle and it eases off. That has three consequences worth internalising before test day:
- You cannot go back. Each task is individually timed and, once submitted, it's done — there is no review screen, no flagging, no returning to change an answer.
- Harder items are worth more. Because points scale with difficulty, coasting through easy questions early caps your ceiling. The format quietly rewards taking the early items seriously.
- Your test is not your friend's test. Two people can take the DET the same day and never see the same question set, so "what questions came up" advice is close to useless. Prepare the task types, not a leaked list.
The graded task types
The scored section rotates through a set of short, sharply-timed task types. Each one targets a specific skill, and most reward a mechanical ability you can drill:
| Task type | What you do | Mainly tests |
|---|---|---|
| Read and complete | Fill the missing letters back into a short passage | Reading + spelling |
| Read and select | Pick the real English words out of a list of real and invented words | Vocabulary breadth |
| Listen and type | Type out a spoken sentence exactly (dictation) | Listening + spelling |
| Read aloud | Say a written sentence into the mic | Speaking / pronunciation |
| Listen and select | Hear words and choose the real English ones | Listening + vocabulary |
| Write about the photo | Describe an image in a sentence or two, against the clock | Writing (short) |
| Speak about the photo | Describe an image aloud for a set time | Speaking (short) |
| Interactive reading | Work through a longer passage with several linked question steps | Reading in depth |
| Interactive listening | Follow a longer spoken exchange across linked steps | Listening in depth |
| Writing sample | A longer written response (feeds the ungraded portfolio to institutions) | Extended writing |
| Speaking sample | A longer spoken response (feeds the ungraded portfolio to institutions) | Extended speaking |
Official format, verified July 2026 — see the source below. Because the test is adaptive, the exact count and order of these tasks varies from sitting to sitting; the list above is what the pool draws from, not a fixed running order.
Timing and navigation quirks
Budget about an hour end to end: a brief setup, roughly 45 minutes of adaptive graded tasks, and about 10 minutes for the video interview and writing sample at the end. Two quirks catch first-time takers:
- Every task has its own timer. There is no single clock you can spend as you like across the paper — each item counts down on its own, and running out submits what you have.
- There is no back button, ever. Unlike IELTS or PTE, you never revisit an earlier answer. Answer, commit, move on — and don't let one lost item rattle the next.
How it's scored, and what "good" looks like
The DET reports an overall score from 10 to 160, in 5-point increments, plus foursubscores that show where your strengths sit:
| Subscore | Roughly reflects |
|---|---|
| Literacy | Reading and writing together |
| Comprehension | Reading and listening together |
| Conversation | Listening and speaking together |
| Production | Writing and speaking together |
As a rough anchor, an overall around 120 sits in IELTS 7.0 / CEFR C1territory — but treat that as approximate, not a lookup. Every institution sets its own DET cutoff (and some ask for minimum subscores too), so the number that matters is the one yourprogramme publishes, not a general conversion. Check the specific requirement before you decide the DET clears your bar.
Score scale, subscores and the approximate IELTS/CEFR anchor per Duolingo's official test pages, verified July 2026. Conversions are approximate — confirm the exact cutoff with your institution.
Proctoring: recorded and rule-strict
The DET is remotely proctored and the rules are enforced hard. You must stay on camera and in frame for the whole test, keep your eyes on the screen, and use no notes, no second screen and no outside help. A secondary-camera / mobile-proctoring requirement now applies as well, giving a second angle on your room. Rule violations can void the test — a voided result helps no one, so read the current rules in full before you start and set your room up to satisfy them.
What trips people up
- Rushing the early items. Because harder questions are worth more, blitzing the opening tasks to "save time" lowers your ceiling. Start deliberate; let the test raise the difficulty for you.
- Thin vocabulary on read-and-select. That task rewards genuine word-recognition breadth — you're picking real words out of plausible fakes. Wide reading pays here in a way memorised templates never will.
- Formless photo tasks. Write- and speak-about-the-photo are quick, but a shapeless answer scores badly. Have a tiny structure ready (what it is → key detail → a short inference) so you're never staring at the image.
- Dictation spelling. Listen-and-type is scored on the exact words; a perfectly-heard sentence with a misspelling still drops points. Drill it until typing back short sentences is automatic.
- Proctoring surprises. A phone buzzing, someone walking in, or glancing off-screen can void the whole sitting. Handle the room and the rules before the timer starts, not during.
An honest note before you practise
Because the DET adapts question-by-question, no site — ours included — can reproduce the real thing exactly; the branching difficulty is the test. What genuinely works is drilling each task type under time until the mechanics are automatic, then taking Duolingo's own free official practice test to feel the adaptive rhythm and the proctoring flow. Do both, and nothing on test day is a surprise except the questions themselves — which is the point.
Practise this format
Our Duolingo English Test practice drills the core task types — read-and-complete, read-and-select, listen-and-type and the photo tasks — under realistic timing, so the mechanics are second nature before you pay for a sitting. Pair it with the official practice test for the adaptive feel.
Related guides: which English test to take if you're weighing the DET against IELTS, CELPIP or PTE, andwhen your test result expires so a score doesn't lapse before you can use it.