Many students throughout the world prepare for the Duolingo English Exam since it is a widely acknowledged English Proficiency test. Creating a Duolingo English Test preparation and study plan may be difficult due to the uniqueness of the Duolingo English Test and its adaptive system. Hence, you’ll need to study hard for the Duolingo English Test to achieve your target score.
In this article, you will learn various techniques and preparation strategies to ace the Duolingo English Test.
To improve your productivity and efficiency, make sure you arrange your preparation approach in an appropriate and timely manner. The best way to score well on the Duolingo English Test is to have a well-planned study strategy and follow it. Read on for more useful and practical tips to help you ace the DET.
- What is the Duolingo English Test?
- Understanding the Duolingo English Test Exam Format
- 13 Helpful and Proven Tips to Prepare for Duolingo English Test
- Duolingo English Test Exam Day Advice (Before, During, and After)
- How to Create A Study Plan for the Duolingo English Test?
- How to Set Realistic Goals for Your Duolingo English Test?
- Practice Tests and Model Answers for the Duolingo English Test Writing Section
- Additional FAQs — Duolingo English Test Preparation
What is the Duolingo English Test?
The Duolingo English Exam is a computer-based online English language exam that applicants may take at any time. Candidates who need to demonstrate English language competency may take the Duolingo English Test online at any time and even in the comfort of their homes.
It evaluates all of your four language abilities: reading, writing, hearing, and speaking, in the same manner as traditional study abroad examinations such as the Duolingo English Test, IELTS, and PTE.
In this post, we’ll go over everything you need to know about the Duolingo exam and whether or not you should take it.
The nature of the Duolingo English test is adaptive, which means that the test’s difficulty level rises with each correct response, while the following question gets more straightforward if you respond incorrectly. Even though the exam is just around an hour long and has only a few questions, it has the potential to assess a test taker’s abilities swiftly.
You may take the exam from the convenience of your own home; no appointment is necessary, and they can take it whenever and wherever they like. It also includes a new portion in which applicants may record their responses to open-ended questions and take part in a 10-minute video interview.
Understanding the Duolingo English Test Exam Format
In this section, we will expand on the exam format and test components of the Duolingo English Test.
A. Test Pattern and the Adaptive System
The test pattern is about how the exam progresses from question to question. Each question you see on an adaptive exam is dependent on how well you did on the previous ones.
For example, when you correctly answer questions, the test will offer you increasingly harder ones. You’ll continue to see progressively tough questions as long as you keep answering them properly.
If you answer a question poorly, the difficulty level of the questions will decrease until you can answer them right again, and this process will continue until the exam is completed.
Adaptive exams are designed to give you questions that are at the proper degree of difficulty for your ability, allowing you to measure your skill more accurately (and quickly!) than on a regular test.
B. Test Questions
The Duolingo exam is an adaptive test, which means that when more right answers are submitted, the Test gets more challenging, and vice versa.
The exam assesses several parts of the English language, including:
- Read and Complete
- Read and Select
- Listen and Select
- Listen and Type
- Read Aloud
- Write About the Photo
- Read, Then Write
- Speak About the Photo
- Read, Then Speak
- Listen, Then Speak
Following that, the applicants must participate in a video interview in which they may talk about any of the two themes, and the same approach applies to writing.
Within two days of completing the test, you will get a score on a scale of 10 to 160.
Aside from that, colleges that accept Duolingo scores benefit from a considerably broader applicant pool, giving them a more thorough approach to evaluating candidates based on video interviews, writing samples, and their scores.
The duration of the Duolingo English Tests varies from administration to administration; therefore, the test time and the number of items may differ. The following table summarizes the Duolingo exam pattern:
| Test Sections | Language Skills Tested | Test Duration |
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| Adaptive Test |
| 45 minutes |
| Video Interview |
| 10 minutes |
Summary Table of the DET Test Questions
| Question Types | Frequency | Adaptive | Subscore |
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| Read and Complete | 5 to 7 | Yes |
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| Read and Select | 5 to 7 | Yes |
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| Listen and Select | 5 to 7 | Yes |
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| Listen and Type | 5 to 7 | Yes |
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| Read Aloud | 5 to 7 | Yes |
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| Write About the Photo | 3 | No |
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| Read, Then Write | 1 | No |
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| Speak About the Photo | 1 | No |
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| Read, Then Speak | 1 | No |
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| Listen, Then Speak | 1 to 2 | No |
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C. Understanding the Scoring Criteria for the DET Exam
The Duolingo English Test is intended to assess your English language reading, writing, speaking, and listening abilities. The Test is scored using statistical machine learning algorithms based on your replies.
The validity of a Duolingo English Test is two years from the date of purchase.
The competency of each applicant is measured on a scale of 10 to 160 points. The table below shows the Duolingo English test scores description so you can see where you are in terms of English language skills.
D. How is the Duolingo English Test Scored?
Question Types 1 to 5
Test questions for the Read and Complete, Read and Select, Listen and Select, Listen and Type, and Read Aloud are automatically scored using customized techniques tailored to each question type.
These processes compare your answers to the right answers and then assess the similarities and differences. The Duolingo English Test Technical Manual, accessible at englishtest.duolingo.com/research, explains how this works.
The good news is that you’ll get half credit if your response isn’t fully right.
If you submit an inaccurate answer instead of skipping the question, you will not be punished. In Read and Complete, for example, a blank or erroneous answer will result in the same score. You will be punished more for missing a word than for mistyping it in Listen and Type. To put it another way, it is always advisable to attempt to respond to a question.
Question Types 6 to 10
Open response questions such as Write About the Photo, Speak About the Photo, Read Then Write, Read Then Speak, and Listen Then Speak will be graded by a grading engine. The grading engine has been programmed to recognize your English ability in the same way as experienced human raters do.
The following are some of the aspects it assesses:
- the variety and quality of your syntax (grammatical complexity)
- the amount of vocabulary employed (lexical sophistication)
- the variety of word choice (lexical diversity)
- how effectively you respond to the question (task relevance)
- how much you can say or write in a certain amount of time (fluency)
- the speed and pronunciation (acoustic features; this one is for speaking questions only)
Please bear in mind, that although the exam is assessed by computer algorithms, video recordings of your replies will be seen by numerous human proctors.
13 Helpful and Proven Tips to Prepare for Duolingo English Test
Some students are worried about the Duolingo English test difficulty. The fact is that it is simple if you plan ahead of time. The Duolingo English Test measures your ability to communicate effectively in English in real-world scenarios.
Hence, you must study diligently to get the highest possible score and gain admission to the desired university or institution.
The following procedures may assist you in preparing for the exam:
- Pass the Test by improving your overall reading, speaking, writing, and listening skills.
- Duolingo is a language learning program that may assist you in improving your language skills.
- Reading articles written in English may help you enhance your language skills.
- You may discover a variety of free Duolingo English exam preparation tools on the internet. To test your knowledge, you’ll also be given questions to answer. Make the most of them by putting in a lot of practice time.
- For additional clarification, you should take the practice exam provided.
- Practice timed writing essays to improve your writing abilities.
- You may do the speaking practice on your own or with a companion. Make yourself at ease while you talk about yourself and your experiences.
- Create practice questions and put them on the internet to start.
- Learn about news, current events, climate change, the economy, and other important issues. As you read more, you’ll acquire the habit of comprehending sentence context and acquiring new vocabulary. Make a Duolingo English Test vocabulary list and practice it every day.
- You may receive practice questions for the Duolingo English exam on the website. Use it to your advantage and make the most of it.
- On the Duolingo English test website or other legitimate YouTube channels, you may view video tutorials. To familiarize yourself with the framework, read a brief overview of the test experience.
- You may improve your score by reading high-level literature like foreign periodicals and newspapers and working on writing consistently, in addition to Duolingo study materials.
- There are a variety of online Duolingo English exam pdf resources available to aid you adequately in studying for the Duolingo English test. Sample questions and answers in PDF format might help you acquire a feel for the Duolingo test.
How to Prepare for the Duolingo English Test Writing Section?
By now, we’ve covered practically all of the particular tips and tactics for the Duolingo English Test Writing portion.
We would like to share with you some more general ideas for improving your performance in each language skill:
- Don’t give it too much thought. When you adhere to a simple strategy for addressing each duty, things get a lot easier. Don’t go overboard with your creativity. Analyze the task at hand and make it simpler.
- Avoid too complex sentence structures. To demonstrate your understanding, you should undoubtedly utilize pretty complex syntax. Keep your sentences about 10-15 words lengthy to make them easy to read.
- Use various structures or language that you are comfortable with within the sentence to avoid using anything you aren’t sure about. Still, if you discover any faults that you make regularly when studying for the Test, be sure to address them right away and master the relevant principles.
- Spelling, grammar, punctuation, and capitalization should all be correct. Both American and British spelling are accepted in the Duolingo English Test. The Read and Complete question type is the only one that employs just American spelling.
- As much as possible, vary your sentence structure and word choice. You may improve your score by using a more broad, complex vocabulary and grammar.
Write About the Photo
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How to Prepare for the Duolingo English Test Listening Section?
The first of the Duolingo preliminary guidelines is Duolingo Listening. You can earn the best scores in the listening sections by doing the following:
- Listen to a variety of events, such as news, shows, movies, podcasts, lectures, and so on, to have a better understanding of different dialects.
- You’ll hear a lot of British or American accents on the Test, so pay attention to them.
- Learn how to say words in different accents since certain words are pronounced differently in each.
- You may start by viewing the video with subtitles on, which you should remove after you’ve got a decent grasp of the language.
- Lipreading will slow you down, so don’t depend on it to learn.
Listen and Select
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Listen, Then Speak
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How to Prepare for the Duolingo English Test Speaking Section?
The next level in the Duolingo preparation guidelines is Duolingo Speaking.
The Speaking test will evaluate your ability to speak clearly and smoothly on the following topic:
- If you have difficulty speaking in front of a group, practice in front of a mirror.
- When speaking, use the utmost caution when using pronouns and prepositions. Grammatically correct terms should be utilized.
- Be cautious about saying whole sentences since many individuals just say parts of them.
- Hold a conversation with fluent English speakers.
- Instead of trying to emulate an accent, be yourself.
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How to Prepare for the Duolingo English Test Reading Section?
One of the most significant Duolingo preparation recommendations is to focus on reading. Your ability to read and understand written content will be assessed on the Duolingo Reading test.
A comprehension piece will be presented to you, and you will react with questions.
- You have the option of taking daily notes on the articles you read.
- Ensure that you understand the meaning of the majority of the phrases by reading them aloud and seeing if you can make sense of what they are trying to say.
- You may make use of context clues to your advantage.
- To answer comprehension passages, use practice papers or the internet.
Read and Complete
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Read and Select
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Duolingo English Test Exam Day Advice (Before, During, and After)
In this section, we will provide tips that you can do to mentally and physically prepare before and during your DET.
Weeks Before the Test
- As an example of informal research, watch a quick video summary of the Test. Then go to our YouTube channel and playlists for additional educational videos.
- You can take a look at the DET’s Test Readiness page, where you can find the Official Guide for Test Takers. It covers a variety of subjects, including different sorts of questions, scoring, the exam experience, and other related issues.
- Every day, put all of your skills to work to improve your English! The Duolingo Blog offers tips on how to use English in everyday circumstances.
- You have unlimited opportunities to take the free practice test. This will give you a sense of the kind of questions you’ll see on the Test.
Day Before the Test
- Select a quiet and comfortable spot to take the Test. In your setting, there should be adequate light, a comfortable spot to sit, and full privacy.
- Double-check that you have everything you’ll need, including a government-issued picture ID, a computer, and a steady internet connection.
- You may buy the Test ahead of time and then just click “Start Test” when you’re ready.
- Choose a time of day when you will be most productive and creative. You may take the Duolingo English Test at any time and from any location. Some test takers are night owls, while others are early risers.
The Test Day
- Allows at least one hour of uninterrupted time. Make it obvious to anybody in the vicinity that they are not allowed to enter your testing area. You could even build a sign for your front door!
- You will not be able to get a certificate for your Test if you are using headphones. Your face and ears should be seen clearly.
- Carefully read all of the test-taking instructions to ensure that your exam is safe and valid. It will remind you of the rules before you begin the Test.
- Practice your English soon before the Test to help you prepare. Try reading an article in English, speaking out loud to a friend, or watching or listening to a program or podcast in English.
During the Test
- Because each exam is proctored, you must stare at the screen the whole time. It is normal to glance away while you are thinking or distracted but do your best to remain focused on the exam.
- Unlike other examinations, the Duolingo English Test includes just one portion, with a sequence of adaptive questions covering all of your English abilities. You will not have time to finish long reading and writing sections since these tasks are short and predictive.
- Take note of the time limit for each question on the screen, and try to write or say as much as you can before the time runs out.
- You’ll do an ungraded video interview and writing sample after the graded section. These are shared with institutions together with your grades, so do your best to present yourself and your English skills
After Taking the Test
- You’ll be prompted to submit your exam when you’ve completed your writing sample and video interview. Check that your Test has completed uploading entirely before exiting the testing window. When it’s finished, you’ll get a notice.
- Celebrate! You’ve done it! Duolingo will send you your results within two days.
- You may transmit your verified results to as many universities as you wish for free after you get them.
- Which Countries and Universities Accept the Duolingo English Test?
- Does Harvard Accept Duolingo English Test?
- Duolingo English Test Scores for the Top Universities in the United States
- Duolingo English Test Scores for the Top Universities in the UK
- Duolingo English Test Scores for the Top Universities in Canada
- Duolingo English Test Scores for Top Universities in New Zealand
- Duolingo English Test Scores for the Top Universities in Australia
How to Create A Study Plan for the Duolingo English Test?
This requires thorough preparation for the Duolingo English Test. To increase your productivity and efficiency, make sure you prepare your preparation approach properly.
You will do your best on the final Duolingo English Test if you have a well-planned study regimen and follow it.
Identify Your ‘Target Score.’
It’s critical to know what score you’ll need before you begin studying. Some institutions need lesser grades, such as 90 or 110, while others want greater grades, such as 125.
Because there is a significant gap between those scores, you should make sure you have a goal in mind before beginning your Duolingo English Test preparation.
Simply go to the university’s website and click on the “foreign students” section to find out what score you need.
Defining your final objective is a good way to start any kind of plan, but it’s particularly useful for English examinations.
Estimate the Amount of Time You Have to Study
Is it a month? Is it six months? You must know your exam date to design an efficient study strategy.
Most institutions have application deadlines in December or January, so you’ll need to take the Duolingo English Test by mid-October to get your results in time.
Your score will be available online within two days after taking the exam.
It is not a good idea to wait until the last minute since something unexpected may always happen, and you want to allow some space for backup.
Take the DET Practice Test
Before you begin studying, it is critical to assess your strengths and shortcomings.
Taking an authentic Duolingo English Test practice exam from the DET website is the greatest approach to identifying your weak areas.
A diagnostic exam not only helps you determine your strengths and shortcomings but also provides you with a preview of the real Test.
By taking a Duolingo English Test practice exam, you will have a better understanding of what to expect on test day and will not be shocked.
Make a Sell-balanced Study Schedule
To get a score of 110 or 125 or above on the Duolingo English Test, you must concentrate on two areas: test strategy/practice and general fluency.
You cannot afford to disregard any of these. They are both crucial.
You’ll need the following items to make your study plan:
- Ensure that the core of your course incorporates learning methodologies and exam practice.
- Listening to podcasts with various accents, meeting with a native English conversation partner for speaking practice, reading the New York Times or another high-level newspaper, and other strong activities to help you gain confidence are all good ways to enhance your overall fluency.
Make a list of your daily preparation activities, and make sure to incorporate general fluency building and exam preparation each week. If you skip one of them, you’re not going to receive the grade you want.
Find a Study Partner
Preparing for the Duolingo English Test is similar to preparing for a fight.
To win the war, you must have a thorough understanding of the opponent, plan to outwit the enemy, and train incredibly hard to be in the greatest possible form. It is quite beneficial to have a Duolingo English Test partner in crime to succeed on the exam.
You may exchange resources, ask one another questions, and most importantly, inspire each other by having a study partner. Also, try to locate an English-speaking friend who can provide you with comments as you go.
To determine whether you are on the correct route, you will need someone to assist you with your writing and speaking.
How to Set Realistic Goals for Your Duolingo English Test?
We all know how crucial creating goals is for staying on track with your studies. But how do you go about thinking about what you want to achieve?
The majority of smart pupils recommend the Clever goal-setting strategy (S.M.A.R.T.). Your objectives should be Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely, in other words.
Specific
Make your objectives as specific as possible when putting them down. What precisely are you attempting to accomplish?
Saying you wish to “perform well on your forthcoming exam” isn’t enough.
To you, what does “doing well” imply? What is the precise score you must achieve? What are the exact areas that you need to improve to get that score? What is the reason why your score must reach a certain level?
Measurable
You can analyze how well you’re doing and if you need to adjust anything in your study routine to attain your objectives if you can track your progress toward them.
Let’s assume you set a goal of memorizing 200 vocabulary words by the end of the month, which equates to 50 words every week.
Let’s assume a short flashcard quiz after week two reveals that you’ve only recalled 25 words and have forgotten the rest.
You now understand that to accomplish your initial objective, you must raise your commitment to studying for the remaining weeks.
Set goals and deadlines for yourself to track your progress.
Attainable
Set yourself up for success by giving yourself the tools you’ll need to achieve your objectives.
Sign up for a Duolingo English Test online course, talk to a DET Test Prep Expert, read through our test-specific blogs, and receive the aid you need to achieve your objectives.
Realistic
Setting reasonable objectives should drive you to study, but if your goals are utterly unrealistic, they might make your studies seem impossible.
You won’t be able to reach your objective if you haven’t looked at a math question in years and set a goal to do the most difficult calculus problems under timed circumstances within the next week.
Setting a succession of objectives that you know you won’t be able to achieve can demotivate you in the long term.
The tiny victories that come with achieving objectives that you can genuinely achieve, on the other hand, will motivate you to cross the finish line successfully.
Timely
Why do the majority of individuals plan their careers in five- or ten-year increments? Any farther out, and it’s easy to lose sight of your objectives over time.
Your exam preparation objectives should be similar. If you do not establish time restrictions for yourself to study indoors, you will struggle to get started.
On the other hand, if you think that you have three months to attain your goal, you won’t waste days or weeks researching. Setting a deadline for your objectives motivates you to achieve them!
Practice Tests and Model Answers for the Duolingo English Test Writing Section
The Duolingo English Test will present you with a set of tasks designed to evaluate your skills. We’ve outlined a few below but this comprehensive article on Duolingo Practice Tests offers valuable insights, along with practice questions, to ensure you’re thoroughly prepared for the test.
Sample Question #1
Sample Response:
From my standpoint, increasing life expectancy around the world brings both benefits and drawbacks.
One positive impact of this trend is that more people are able to enjoy long working lives. This means that companies reap the benefits of having experienced and knowledgeable workers. Older people also play a vital role in their country’s cultural life as they visit museums, theatres, and art galleries more frequently than younger generations.
On the debit side, a society with a large population of older people faces the high cost of healthcare and pensions. Consequently, young people lose a sizeable chunk of their income in taxes in order to support their elders.
Sample Question #2
Sample Response:
Being a parent is a demanding responsibility. There is no way we can take away our parents’ pain and hard work in raising us. Despite the fact that I am grateful to my parents for their unwavering love and care, there is one aspect of their upbringing that I would change for my own children: the instilling of confidence in them to face the difficulties of a constantly changing world is something I would change.
In order to please my parents, I must focus on one topic. As much as I feel it is important for youngsters to be multi-talented, I also believe that those who are competent in a variety of professions have a better chance in today’s society.
Sample Question #3
Sample Response:
Friendship is basically built on the foundations of trust, honesty, and sharing. A lot of the time, folks gather together to have a good time. After the festivities have concluded, they are never seen or heard from together again. Such people are referred to as “fair-weather pals” in idiomatic terms. As a result of socialization, many individuals form friendships, but only a small number of those connections have the ability to endure a lifetime.
A real affection for the other person results in a desire to keep them in one’s life for an extended period of time. If two people are equally honest and psychologically compatible with one another, their friendship will survive for a longer period of time. Having true and long-lasting friends is also a good luck aspect, in my view, while looking for them.
Sample Question #4
Sample Response:
I remember an instance at my school in which a student was dismissed after being suspected of stealing other students’ notebooks. His given name was Brian. He was a ninth-grade student who was outgoing and pleasant with his classmates. The fact that their notebooks were missing was a source of discontent for several students. Brian was also seen taking a notebook from someone, according to one witness. The instructors and the school launched an investigation, and Brian found himself dealing with a slew of questions from them and the principal. Despite the fact that they had not discovered anything, the teacher began to maintain a careful check on the children. One of the students snuck inside Brian’s drawer, where he was hiding someone’s notepad. That day, the teacher came to the conclusion that Brian had been the victim of a plan devised by a fellow student and that the school had treated him unfairly.
Sample Question #5
Sample Response:
In today’s fast-paced society, I believe that life is impossible without quick forms of transportation such as automobiles and aircraft, which I refer to as “fast modes of transportation.” Pretend you live in a world where there are no personal cars. It would be exceedingly difficult to go to work in this situation. Although public buses are an option, the vast majority of people who go to work use their own automobiles. Travel between distant locations or nations would be impossible if there were no aircraft to transport passengers. There would be no tourists or commerce as a result. The world’s economy will regress to levels last seen during the early days of human civilization. All of the development that has been done around the globe so far is largely due to the transportation infrastructure that connects us to other parts of the world.
Additional FAQs — Duolingo English Test Preparation
Is It Possible to Contest My Results Even if They Were Certified?
No. There are no appeals, re-examinations, or re-scorings available for certified test results.
It is possible to repeat the exam if you are not happy with your results if you pay for a second attempt. However, you should remember that you are only entitled to get two confirmed test results in any given 30-day period. If I have to look down to type, how can I keep eye contact with the screen?
The fact that you are looking at the keyboard to type does not influence the certification decision of the exam.
If you received a notification stating that your Test could not be certified because you looked away from the screen for an excessive amount of time, this means that you looked away for an excessive amount of time while not typing or during a speaking section.
Can I Use Practice Materials from IELTS, TOEFL, or PTE for The Duolingo English Test?
Yes. Using authentic IELTS, TOEFL, or PTE practice resources will help you see how well you perform and can be applied to the Duolingo test too.
What Happens if I Fail the Duolingo English Test?
You can retake the exam if your results were not certified and you did not get the notification that your account had been disabled. You must do it within 21 days of your original purchase date.
However, before retaking the exam, you should analyze and bear in mind the reason(s) why your results were not validated the first time.
You may likely have received notification that your account has been banned; nevertheless, you will not be allowed to repeat the Test. If you believe that anything was done wrong, you have the right to file an appeal.
Can I Still Review My Answers After Responding?
No, since the exam is adaptive, your question will be assessed as soon as you click “Next.”
Remember, each question is based on your previous performance in an adaptive exam. As you properly answer questions, the exam becomes harder. As long as you keep responding properly, you will see tougher questions.
If you answer a question poorly, the questions get easier until you can answer them properly again, and this continues until the exam is over. Hence, you will not be allowed to return.
Can I Take Notes to Prepare my Answers?
No. Part of the Duolingo English Test rules is that no writing materials or paper are allowed. Hence, there will be no taking of notes.
Otherwise, your results will not be verified if you scribble or take notes while taking the Duolingo English Exam, and you will be barred from taking the test again.
