Duolingo English Test Scoring Explained: How to Improve Your Score

The Duolingo English Test (DET) uses a unique AI-driven scoring system designed to evaluate your English proficiency in a fast, adaptive, and fair way. Unlike traditional tests that rely on human graders for written and spoken responses, DET uses automated scoring models, ensuring unbiased, consistent, and data-backed results.

In this guide, we’ll break down:

• How your DET score is calculated
• What subscores mean and why they matter
• How AI evaluates your writing and speaking responses
• The role of the Rasch Model in test fairness
• How DET’s proctoring system affects your results
• Actionable strategies to maximize your score

Let’s dive in.

1. DET Score Breakdown: What Your Score Means

The DET overall score ranges from 10 to 160 in 5-point increments and is aligned with the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). Your final score isn’t just a simple average of your responses—it’s calculated based on adaptive testing and AI evaluation metrics.

What Are Subscores?

The DET evaluates four key language areas, each receiving its own subscore:

• Conversation (Speaking & Listening) – Measures how well you understand spoken English and respond naturally in conversation.
• Comprehension (Reading & Listening) – Assesses your ability to read and understand different types of texts and spoken prompts.
• Production (Speaking & Writing) – Evaluates how well you can form structured, fluent, and grammatically sound spoken and written responses.
• Literacy (Reading & Writing) – Examines your ability to read complex texts and express ideas clearly in writing.

How Your Final Score Is Calculated

Your overall DET score is not simply an average of these subscores. Instead, the test adapts to your skill level using the Rasch Model, a statistical approach used to ensure that difficulty levels are fair and scores are accurate across all test-takers.

2. The Rasch Model: Why Your Score Is More Accurate Than You Think

The Rasch Model is a powerful algorithm used in adaptive testing to make sure that each test-taker receives a fair and personalized evaluation. Here’s how it works:

• The difficulty of each question adjusts based on your previous answers. If you answer a question correctly, the next one will be more challenging; if you get it wrong, the next question will be slightly easier.
• Instead of measuring how many answers you got right, the Rasch Model evaluates how difficult the questions were that you answered correctly.
• This means that two test-takers with the same number of correct answers may get different scores depending on the difficulty level of the questions they answered correctly.

Why This Matters:

• It ensures fairness—your score reflects your actual ability level, not just how well you performed on random questions.
• It prevents memorization-based success—since each test is different, you can’t rely on repeated questions or sample answers.
• It allows for shorter, more efficient testing—since DET adapts quickly, you don’t need a long test to determine your proficiency.

How Proctor Shadowing Boosts Duolingo English Test Security and Team Collaboration

3. AI Scoring: How Writing and Speaking Are Evaluated

The Duolingo English Test AI scoring system is trained using millions of human-rated responses to mimic expert grading. The AI does more than just check for grammar mistakes—it analyzes multiple linguistic features to assess fluency, complexity, and relevance.

How AI Evaluates Writing

The AI considers the following key areas when scoring your writing responses:

How AI Evaluates Speaking

For the spoken responses, the AI listens for fluency, pronunciation, and coherence, focusing on:

4. How the DET Proctoring System Affects Your Score

What Is the AI Proctor?

The Duolingo English Test is remotely proctored using AI monitoring and human review to ensure that every test-taker follows the rules.

Here’s what AI proctoring tracks:

✅ Eye movement: Looking away from the screen too often can flag your test for review.
✅ Background noise: Any talking, whispering, or outside noise can result in test invalidation.
✅ Device usage: Switching tabs, opening another window, or using an external device is not allowed.
✅ Breaks & interruptions: You must remain in front of your screen with no distractions for the full test.

What Happens If Your Test Is Flagged?

If AI detects suspicious behavior, your test will be sent for manual review.

• If the review confirms a violation, your test may be invalidated.
• If you believe your test was unfairly flagged, you can appeal the decision within 72 hours.

5. Common Mistakes That Lower Your DET Score

Even if you have strong English skills, small mistakes can significantly lower your Duolingo English Test score. Here’s a breakdown of the most common pitfalls and how to avoid them:

A. Writing Section Mistakes

🚫 Off-topic responses – AI will penalize you if your response doesn’t directly answer the question.
✅ Fix it: Before writing, underline key words in the prompt to stay focused.

🚫 Short, undeveloped answers – One-sentence responses score poorly.
✅ Fix it: Expand with details, reasons, and examples.

🚫 Simple, repetitive vocabulary – Using only basic words weakens your score.
✅ Fix it: Replace common words with richer synonyms (e.g., use “beneficial” instead of “good”).

🚫 Choppy sentence structures – Too many short, disconnected sentences make your response sound unnatural.
✅ Fix it: Use complex sentence structures like:
"Although I enjoy traveling, I find that long flights can be exhausting, especially when I have multiple layovers."

B. Speaking Section Mistakes

🚫 Hesitations and long pauses – AI detects unnatural speaking patterns.
✅ Fix it: Practice shadowing exercises (imitating native speakers) to reduce pauses.

🚫 Monotone speech – AI prefers natural intonation and stress on important words.
✅ Fix it: Emphasize key words in a sentence, like “I definitely think traveling is exciting because it exposes us to new cultures.”

🚫 Going off-topic in longer responses – The more off-track you go, the lower your score.
✅ Fix it: Stick to Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How in your answers.

🚫 Speaking too fast or too slow – AI penalizes unnatural pacing.
✅ Fix it: Aim for a steady, conversational pace. Don’t rush, but don’t drag either.

C. Listening & Reading Mistakes

🚫 Skipping words when reading aloud – If you misread words, AI lowers your accuracy score.
✅ Fix it: Read at a natural speed, and practice re-reading sentences aloud before the test.

🚫 Guessing instead of listening carefully – If you misinterpret the meaning, your comprehension score drops.
✅ Fix it: Take notes while listening to capture key points.

🚫 Mispronouncing words – AI lowers fluency scores for unclear pronunciation.
✅ Fix it: Record yourself speaking and compare it to native speakers.

6. Why Choose DET Study?

🔹 Realistic DET practice tests – Simulate the real exam.
🔹 AI-powered feedback – Identify your strengths and weaknesses.
🔹 Detailed performance tracking – See your score improve over time.
🔹 Personalized study plans – Tailored strategies to boost your score.

🚀 Get started with DET Study today and take your DET performance to the next level!