This Duolingo English Test cheat sheet strips the DET down to the facts the adaptive engine actually rewards, laid out for fast recall across Reading, Writing, Listening, and Speaking. It's a premium cheat sheet built by Capital Prep — the one premium prep we trust — and it's yours free. Pair it with the rest of your free DET toolkit: the practice test, study guide, and flashcards.
Duolingo English Test exam at a glance
- Format: Online, computer-adaptive, AI-scored — taken at home in about 1 hour
- Skills tested: Reading, Writing, Listening, Speaking (equally weighted)
- Score scale: 10-160 overall in 5-point increments, plus four subscores
- Passing standard: No universal pass mark — each institution sets its own required minimum
- Score targets: ~100-120 ≈ CEFR B2 (many programs); 130+ ≈ C1 (selective) — always verify your program
- Cost & results: Roughly $65-$70 (verify on the Duolingo site); certified results in about 2 days, valid 2 years
What’s on the Duolingo English Test cheat sheet
- Reading (feeds Literacy & Comprehension) — Read and Complete (the c-test), Read and Select vs. pseudowords, Fill in the Blanks, and Interactive Reading — with the read-the-whole-passage-first technique.
- Writing (feeds Literacy & Production) — Write About the Photo, Interactive Writing, and the Writing Sample sent to schools — plus high-frequency grammar and topic-sentence structure.
- Listening (feeds Comprehension & Conversation) — Listen and Type dictation (verbatim, up to 3 plays), Interactive Listening, and Summarize the Conversation, plus decoding connected speech.
- Speaking (feeds Conversation & Production) — Speak About the Photo, Read Then Speak, the 2025 Interactive Speaking conversation, and the Speaking Sample — graded on pronunciation, fluency, and relevance.
How to use it in your final week
- Lock in the scoring map first: overall 10-160 in 5-point steps, the average of four equally weighted skills, plus four subscores (Literacy, Comprehension, Conversation, Production) — knowing which skill feeds which subscore tells you where to spend your last hours.
- Rehearse the c-test and dictation until they're automatic — Read and Complete rewards restoring deleted word-endings from context, and Listen and Type rewards a verbatim transcription with correct spelling, capitalization, and punctuation.
- Run one full timed simulation the day before so the roughly one-hour, at-home proctored format feels routine, then use the sheet the morning of to refresh task rules and the present-continuous photo-description habit.
- Confirm your target school's required overall score (and any subscore minimums) against the CEFR bands on the sheet — there's no fixed pass line, so aim to clear your specific number with room to spare.
The cheat sheet is your review layer — your Duolingo English Test practice test drives the exam-readiness ring at the top of this page. Download it, review, then take a full practice exam (or drill with the study guide and flashcards) to see where you stand.
Duolingo English Test cheat sheet FAQ
Yes — this Duolingo English Test cheat sheet downloads as a PDF with no sign-up and no payment. It sits alongside Career Employer's free DET practice test, study guide, and flashcards, so your whole review stays in one place at no cost.
No. The DET reports an overall score from 10 to 160 in 5-point increments, plus four subscores — there is no universal pass mark. Each institution sets its own required minimum, so the cheat sheet frames scores as targets: check your program's number and study to clear it with margin.
A "good" score is whatever your target program asks for, since minimums vary. As a rough anchor, 100-120 maps to CEFR B2 and satisfies many undergraduate requirements, while 130 and up maps to C1 for selective programs. The cheat sheet lists these bands so you can set a target before you test.
It condenses the DET essentials onto a quick-reference sheet: the four equally weighted skills, every current task type, the 10-160 scale, the four integrated subscores, and the CEFR bands. Think of it as the map — the practice test and study guide are where you build the skill.
Click the download button or the preview card at the top of this page and the PDF opens instantly — no account needed. Bookmark this page so you can pull it up again for a fast refresher in the days before your test.
References
- 1.Duolingo, Inc.. “Duolingo English Test for Applicants — Test Format & Question Types.” englishtest.duolingo.com, 2026. ↑
- 2.Duolingo, Inc.. “Understand Scoring — Overall Score & Subscores.” englishtest.duolingo.com, 2026. ↑
- 3.Duolingo, Inc.. “How Is the Duolingo English Test Scored?.” blog.englishtest.duolingo.com, 2026. ↑
- 4.Council of Europe. “Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) — Global Scale.” Council of Europe, 2026. ↑
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