As more U.S. colleges and universities accept the Duolingo English Test — a computer-adaptive English proficiency exam — prospective international students have more options in the admissions process.
Kichemy Dorcena, a first-generation student at Berea College in Kentucky, says he chose the Duolingo English Test over similar assessments because of its availability in Haiti, his native country.
“I was living in the capital of Haiti, where armed gangs control more than 80% of it,” Dorcena says. “As a result, reaching one of the only two test centers in the country was nearly impossible.”
But with the DET, all he needed was a laptop, “a quiet space and a good internet connection.”
Luis von Ahn, CEO and co-founder of Duolingo, says English proficiency assessments should test English and “not a candidate’s geography or finances.”
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The DET costs significantly less than comparable tests — $70 — and he says the language learning platform makes AI-driven security investments to allow the test to be taken by anyone “regardless of where they are in the world.”
How to Access the Duolingo English Test
The test can be taken online any time and anywhere in less than an hour.
Daniel Doerr, director of international admissions at the University of Colorado Boulder, says English proficiency exams exams for college admissions are traditionally held in designated testing centers, but a recent push for increased accessibility has led to a variety of online options.
“Along these lines, Duolingo offers an affordable online exam that is increasingly accepted by colleges and universities, while TOEFL and IELTS implemented their own at-home exams as well,” he says, referring to the Test of English as a Foreign Language and the International English Language Testing System.
When Elaine Zhu was applying to college, her city in Indonesia still had heavily imposed COVID-19 lockdowns and social distancing. She says DET’s accessibility and lower cost were key reasons she chose it over its counterparts.
“The Duolingo English Test had a clear structure and instructions, which made it easy to complete on your own,” says Zhu, who is studying cybersecurity and criminal justice at Northeastern University in Massachusetts. “I was able to complete it in less than an hour in the comfort of my own home.”
In comparison, the TOEFL and IELTS, also popular English proficiency exams, take two to three hours to complete and are traditionally administered in testing centers or through online proctoring. TOEFL costs $270 in the U.S. and IELTS costs $280 to $340, depending on where the test-taker is based.
“TOEFL, IELTS and most recently Duolingo are part of the college admission process,” says Juan-Camilo Tamayo, a higher education consultant and founder of JCT4Education, a higher education admissions consultancy in Florida. “I have seen and recommended to my students the three exams, and there is one key factor when I recommend Duolingo: access.”
Tamayo says at least 70% of the students his consultancy works with take Duolingo when applying to U.S. colleges.
What the Duolingo English Test Covers
Like the TOEFL and IETLS, the DET focuses on reading, listening, speaking and writing, with TOEFL recently becoming adaptive for reading and listening sections. However, one difference is that the DET is entirely adaptive, meaning that the question difficulty adjusts to the specific test-taker based on skill level indicated during the test and depends on whether the previous question was answered correctly.
“It tailors the difficulty of questions to the test-taker’s skill level and also allows more flexibility compared to other tests’ fixed format,” Zhu says. “Although I’ve only taken a TOEFL practice test rather than an official one, I found that the DET was less stressful and time-consuming, making it more representative of a student’s English language skills.”
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Rather than long reading and writing prompts, Duolingo has short questions that measure the same skills. Some of the question types include responding to two-stage writing prompts, filling in blank words in a passage, and describing an image aloud or in writing, says Jennifer Dewar, senior director of strategic engagement for the Duolingo English Test.
The test also has an ungraded portion that consists of a video interview and writing sample. Exam results include an overall proficiency score on a 160-point scale and subscores of integrated skills, von Ahn notes.
Results are ready within two days and can be sent immediately to an unlimited number of schools at no additional cost. Results for IELTS take one to five days for computer-administered tests and TOEFL takes three days.
Which Schools Accept the Duolingo English Test
More than 6,000 institutions use Duolingo as part of their admissions process, von Ahn says.
Dewar says students and colleges benefit from the normalization of accessible, digital testing and adds that digital testing is here to stay. “Universities have had the opportunity to study the DET for several admissions cycles now, and they are concluding that the DET should be an option for students alongside traditional tests.”
Angus Bowers, a communication consultant on the career and communication team for Graduate Student Programs & Services at Duke University in North Carolina, says the university’s Pratt School of Engineering prefers the DET for admissions.
“We find it tests actual language skills and not test-taking skills,” Bowers says. “It also makes testing fairer for all. Since we started accepting the DET, we’ve been able to reach the many talented students who can’t afford or don’t have access to other tests.”
While many colleges accept the Duolingo English Test, prospective international students should be aware that some schools, such as Georgia State University, either don’t or no longer accept it. Policies vary by institution, and some schools have updated or limited its use in recent admissions cycles.
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In some cases, the test may be accepted only as a supplement to exams like the TOEFL or IELTS in light of concerns about remote testing conditions, potential security issues and whether the DET format fully reflects academic English proficiency.
“All high-stakes assessments face integrity risks. What matters is how those risks are addressed,” Dewar wrote in an email, noting that Duolingo “uses a layered, digital-first security model that combines adaptive delivery, AI-based detection and 1:1 human review.”
“We’re seeing growing appreciation across the industry for the security advantages of remote testing: the ability to monitor test conditions in real time, flag anomalies instantly and eliminate the vulnerabilities that come with large, in-person testing centers. The DET’s widespread adoption, including by all Ivy League institutions and thousands of universities worldwide, reflects that confidence.”
International students should research their university choices to see which language tests are required.
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Duolingo English Test for U.S. College Admissions originally appeared on usnews.com