Duolingo English Test syllabus

Online English test of about one hour, scored from 10 to 160. The real test adapts. The practice form on this site is fixed and does not adapt.

Read and Select

15 to 18 words · 5 seconds a word

Adaptive. Contributes to Reading. A blank when time runs out is wrong. British and American spellings can both be real words.

  • Decide whether a word is a real English word or not

Fill in the Blanks

6 to 9 sentences · 20 seconds a sentence

Adaptive. Contributes to Reading. The whole word must be spelled correctly.

  • Read a sentence and type the missing letters of one unfinished word

Read and Complete

3 to 6 passages · 3 minutes a passage

Adaptive. The title, the first sentence and the last sentence are complete, and unfinished words are not next to each other. Each word is scored on its own and contributes to Reading.

  • Complete several unfinished words in a short passage

Listen and Type

6 to 9 sentences · 1 minute a sentence

Adaptive. You may listen up to three times. Scoring is partial credit for how close the typing is. It contributes to Listening.

  • Listen to a sentence of up to about 20 words and type it

Interactive Reading

2 sets of 6 tasks · 7 or 8 minutes a passage

Adaptive. One passage is narrative and one is expository. Highlight the Answer uses partial credit. The other tasks are right or wrong. All of them contribute to Reading. The 2026 teacher scoring guide says a test may include 2 or 3 passages.

  • Complete the Sentences
  • Complete the Passage
  • Highlight the Answer (two questions)
  • Identify the Idea
  • Title the Passage

Interactive Listening

2 sets of 8 to 10 questions, plus a summary · 6 minutes 30 seconds for the questions, then 75 seconds to summarise

Each test includes a student-and-professor conversation and a conversation between students. Listen and Complete is partial credit and is not adaptive. Listen and Respond is right or wrong and is adaptive. The summary is scored like writing; its content also counts toward Listening. The 2026 teacher scoring guide says a test may include 2 or 3 scenarios.

  • Listen and Complete (type the missing parts of 3 or 4 sentences)
  • Listen and Respond (choose the best reply, 5 or 6 turns)
  • Summarize the Conversation

Writing tasks

3 photo descriptions and 1 interactive task in two steps · 1 minute for each photo; about 8 minutes for Interactive Writing

Not adaptive, except that the Interactive Writing follow-up is chosen from what you wrote. Scored on content, discourse coherence, grammar and lexis. Contributes to Writing. On this site you apply those criteria yourself.

  • Write About the Photo
  • Interactive Writing (5 minutes, then a 3-minute follow-up)

Speaking tasks

1 photo description, 1 read-then-speak, and 6 to 8 interactive turns · 20 seconds to prepare and 90 seconds to speak, or 35 seconds a turn

Speak About the Photo and Read, Then Speak are not adaptive. Interactive Speaking is the adaptive speaking task: 6 to 8 questions, 3 or 4 on each of two topics, and each follow-up depends on your answer. You hear each question once. Scored on content, discourse coherence, fluency, grammar, lexis and pronunciation. On this site you apply those criteria yourself.

  • Speak About the Photo
  • Read, Then Speak
  • Interactive Speaking

Writing Sample and Speaking Sample

1 writing sample and 1 speaking sample · About 10 minutes

Not adaptive. These two responses are scored and are also sent to institutions. The writing sample is read; the speaking sample is a video.

  • Writing Sample (up to 5 minutes to write)
  • Speaking Sample (up to 3 minutes to speak)