DET vs IELTS vs TOEFL

It varies by institution and often by programme, but many undergraduate courses ask for 105-120 and competitive or postgraduate ones frequently want 120 and above. Treat those as orientation only and read the minimum on the specific programme page, since a department can set its bar higher than the university's general statement.

The DET. There are no fixed sessions: you buy a test and take it at home whenever you are ready within 21 days, and results arrive in 2 days. IELTS and TOEFL iBT are booked for a set date — at a test centre or, for TOEFL, as the Home Edition. All three scores stay valid for 2 years from the test date, so if your application is more than two years away, timing matters more than the choice of test.

Because each test maker publishes its own alignment to the CEFR, which makes it common ground between scales that are otherwise shaped differently. On Duolingo's alignment B2 is DET 100–125 and C1 is DET 130–150. Like every mapping on this page it is an approximation — an institution asking for "C1" will still state the exact DET number it wants.

No. Comparison tables put DET 120 at roughly IELTS 6.5–7.0, and "roughly" is doing real work — the two tests measure overlapping but not identical things on differently shaped scales. Universities publish their own DET minimums rather than converting from IELTS, so use a conversion to orient yourself and the programme page for the actual requirement.

The DET or TOEFL iBT. In both you speak to a computer and your answers are recorded for scoring, whereas IELTS uses a live examiner. The DET compresses into about an hour what IELTS spreads over nearly three, so the time pressure per task is higher, and its speaking tasks are recorded alone with no interviewer to react to you — easier for some people, harder for others.

Many do, and the list has grown substantially — but not all. Acceptance is per-institution and often per-programme, and some departments accept the DET for one course and not another. Always check the specific programme page rather than a general university statement or a third-party list; our list of universities that accept the DET is a starting point.

A DET score of 100–125 corresponds roughly to a TOEFL iBT range of 60–93, and 130–150 to about 94–109. TOEFL is longer and more academically framed; the DET is shorter, adaptive, and taken at home. As with IELTS, the mapping is approximate and the institution's published requirement is what actually governs.

Whichever ones your institutions accept, then whichever suits how you perform. The DET is cheaper and faster to schedule and to receive results from. IELTS and TOEFL are accepted more universally and have longer track records. If all three are accepted, the practical questions are cost, how soon you need the result, and whether you do better under a compressed adaptive format or a longer conventional one.

Comparisons published by Duolingo are based on their own concordance research. Tables you find elsewhere, including this one, are approximations assembled to help you orient. No conversion table is accepted as a substitute for the test an institution actually asks for — you cannot convert a DET score into an IELTS score for admissions purposes.

All three test reading, writing, listening and speaking, but they package them differently. The DET mixes all four into one adaptive hour and reports four integrated subscores on top of the four skills. IELTS runs four separate papers, with speaking as a live interview. TOEFL iBT has four timed sections — Reading, Listening, Writing and Speaking — adding up to roughly 90 minutes. On cost, the DET at $70 USD is typically the cheapest of the three.

The DET: results typically arrive in 2 days, or about 12 hours with Duolingo's paid Faster Results option. TOEFL iBT scores appear in your ETS account three days after the test, and IELTS takes from about 3 to 13 days depending on the format. If you are working to an application deadline, that difference is often the deciding factor.

No. Comparison tables help you orient on the scale, but no institution accepts a converted score in place of the test it asked for. If a programme requires IELTS, you have to sit IELTS.

Visa acceptance is set by governments and changes independently of what universities accept, so a programme accepting the DET does not mean the visa route does. Check the current requirement on the relevant government site rather than any third-party summary, including this one.

The Duolingo English Test, at $70 USD, is typically the least expensive of the three, and the gap widens if you end up sitting more than once. It also needs no test-centre booking, which removes travel cost.

Yes, subject to Duolingo's limit of three tests in any 30-day period. Institutions generally accept your best score, though some ask to see all attempts — check before assuming.