IELTS vs Duolingo English Test

The Duolingo English Test is taken at home, in about an hour

You take the Duolingo English Test (DET) online with no appointment needed, and your results arrive in 2 days. The whole process lasts one hour. Setup and ID checks take 5 minutes, the scored part takes 45 minutes, and the writing and speaking samples take 10 minutes source: Duolingo.

You need to be alone, with good lighting, no noise and a reliable internet connection. You also need a Windows or Mac computer with a front-facing camera, a microphone and speakers, a phone with a camera, and an ID document source: Duolingo.

The IELTS Academic test takes 2 hours 45 minutes, and its Speaking is a face-to-face interview with an examiner, recorded source: ielts.org source: ielts.org. IELTS test format and timing shows each section.

In some countries, you can take the IELTS Academic test at home with IELTS Online source: ielts.org. Its Speaking test is a video call with an examiner, and it is not accepted for immigration purposes source: ielts.org.

The questions change as you answer

The DET is adaptive. The difficulty of the questions changes with your performance. Some questions may seem easier or harder than others. There is no set number of questions. The test ends once its grading engine is confident in your score, and each test is different source: Duolingo.

Listening and Reading each have 40 questions in IELTS source: ielts.org. Every version of IELTS is built to a comparable level of difficulty source: ielts.org.

So the IELTS format is fixed, and the DET's changes as you answer.

Scores and who accepts them

Duolingo scores run from 10 to 160. Duolingo also publishes its own chart that compares them with IELTS, TOEFL and the CEFR source: Duolingo. IELTS scores run from 0 to 9 source: ielts.org.

The chart is not reprinted here, and this guide gives no equivalence of its own. IELTS band scores explained shows what each IELTS band means.

Acceptance is each organisation's choice, and it can change. Ask for the exact test and score before you book.

See also IELTS vs TOEFL and IELTS vs PTE Academic.

The DET facts come from Duolingo's home page, test readiness and scoring pages, which show no date. The IELTS facts come from ielts.org's Academic test, Speaking format, Ways to take IELTS, IELTS Online, IELTS scoring in detail and How we develop the test pages. All were last checked on 14 October 2026.