Free Duolingo English Test practice test — timed, AI-scored 🌐

8 original practice questions written by Myndaq in the Duolingo English Test (DET) style. They are not taken from this mock paper or from official past papers. Try each one, then open the answer.

1. Question 1LiteracyOne or more correct answers

   Read the six sequences below and select every one that is a real English word.

   1. A. brindle
   2. B. gramble
   3. C. quagmire
   4. D. pellucid
   5. E. sprocket
   6. F. dranquil
   Show answer and explanation

   Answer: A, C, D, E

   Brindle (a streaked brown coat colour), quagmire (soft boggy ground, or a difficult situation), pellucid (clear, easy to see through or to understand) and sprocket (a toothed wheel that engages a chain) are all listed English words.

   Gramble is not an English word; it only borrows the shape of gamble and ramble. Dranquil is a near-miss spelling of tranquil with the opening letter changed, a typical trap in this task type, so it must be rejected.

2. Question 2LiteracyType a numeric answer

   How many of these six sequences are real English words? mirth, glunder, obstreperous, ferrule, plandish, kerfuffle. Type your answer as a whole number.

   Show answer and explanation

   Answer: 4

   Mirth (amusement or laughter), obstreperous (noisy and hard to control), ferrule (the metal cap on the end of a stick or umbrella) and kerfuffle (a fuss or commotion) are genuine words, so the count is 4.

   Glunder and plandish are invented sequences that follow ordinary English spelling patterns, which is why they look plausible; neither has any meaning. Answering 6 means trusting the look of a word, and answering 3 usually means rejecting ferrule, which is uncommon but real.

3. Question 3LiteracyOne correct answer

   In the sentence below, one word has been left incomplete. Only its first three letters are shown: e, x, p. Exactly six more letters are missing.

   The panel had been chosen for its exp______ in flood management, so residents came to the meeting expecting clear answers about the new river defences.

   Which word correctly completes the sentence?

   1. A. expertise
   2. B. expedition
   3. C. expression
   4. D. exposition
   Show answer and explanation

   Answer: A

   Expertise means specialist knowledge or skill, which is exactly what a panel on flood management would be chosen for. It is also the only option of the right length: exp plus e-r-t-i-s-e is the six missing letters.

   Expedition, expression and exposition each need seven letters after exp, so they do not fit the blank, and none of them makes sense as the reason a panel was selected: an expedition is a journey, an expression is a way of putting something, and an exposition is a detailed explanation or a public display.

4. Question 4ComprehensionOne correct answer

   When the town of Ardwell moved its Saturday market from the riverside car park to the cobbled square behind the old mill, the traders expected to lose customers. The square is smaller, and there is nowhere close by to leave a car.

   The first two months were difficult. By the end of the summer, though, takings across the market were about a fifth higher than in the same period a year earlier. Shoppers who arrived on foot stayed longer, and several told the traders they now treated the trip as an afternoon out rather than an errand. Two cafés on the square extended their opening hours, and a bookshop that had been thinking of closing took on a weekend assistant.

   What does the passage suggest about the effect of the move?

   1. A. The move worked because the new site offered more parking than the old one.
   2. B. The move eventually helped trade, in part because shoppers spent longer at the market.
   3. C. Takings fell steadily for the whole year after the market was moved.
   4. D. The cafés on the square campaigned against the move and lost customers because of it.
   Show answer and explanation

   Answer: B

   The passage reports a hard start followed by takings about a fifth higher by the end of the summer, and it links that to shoppers arriving on foot and staying longer. That is the recovery described in option B.

   Option A reverses the text, which says there is nowhere close by to leave a car. Option C contradicts the rise in takings and ignores the phrase the first two months. Option D invents a campaign: the cafés are mentioned only because they extended their hours, which points the other way.

5. Question 5ComprehensionOne correct answer

   Marisol keeps a notebook for every plant on her balcony. Beside each entry she writes the date she sowed the seed, the weather that week, and one line about how the plant looks. She almost never turns back to the old pages. When a neighbour asked why she bothered, she said that having to write the line forces her to look at the plant properly, which she would otherwise forget to do.

   According to the passage, why does Marisol keep the notebook?

   1. A. So that she can compare this year's plants with the ones she grew before.
   2. B. Because she cannot otherwise remember which seeds she sowed.
   3. C. Because the act of writing makes her observe each plant closely.
   4. D. Because her neighbour asked her to record the weather on the balcony.
   Show answer and explanation

   Answer: C

   Marisol's own explanation is quoted at the end: writing the line forces her to look at the plant properly. The value of the notebook is in the writing, not in the record it leaves, so option C states her reason.

   Option A is ruled out by the sentence saying she almost never turns back to the old pages. Option D reverses the neighbour's role, which is only to ask a question. Option B is the tempting one, but what she says she would forget is to look at the plant properly, not which seeds she planted.

6. Question 6ConversationOne correct answer

   You are speaking to an admissions officer on a video call. She says: We have your transcript, but the reference letter has not reached us yet. Could you follow that up?

   Which reply is the most appropriate and natural response?

   1. A. No, I sent it already, so this is your problem to sort out.
   2. B. Relax, it will turn up somewhere sooner or later.
   3. C. Yes, the transcript was slow to arrive too, because the department office was closed all last week.
   4. D. Of course. I will email my professor today and ask her to send it straight to your office.
   Show answer and explanation

   Answer: D

   The officer makes a polite request for action, so a good reply accepts it and says what will be done. Option D does both in one sentence, in a register that suits a formal call.

   Option A refuses the request and shifts blame, which is rude in this setting. Option B is far too casual for an admissions officer and commits to nothing. Option C is grammatical but evasive: it comments on the delay and never agrees to chase the letter, which is what the officer asked for.

7. Question 7ProductionOne correct answer

   Writing task: Describe a place where you find it easy to concentrate, and explain why. Write at least 50 words.

   Which response best meets the requirements of this task?

   1. A. I concentrate very easily. It is good and it is important. Concentration is important for every student in the world today, and everybody should try hard to have it in their life and in their studies.
   2. B. The reading room on the top floor of my city library suits me best. It has no clock and no music, and the windows face a quiet courtyard, so nothing pulls my attention away. The long wooden desks give me space to spread out my notes, and the staff never mind if I stay until closing time. I go there whenever I have something difficult to finish.
   3. C. My favourite food is rice with fish, which my grandmother cooks on Sundays. She learned the recipe from her mother, and the whole family comes to eat it together in her kitchen by the window.
   4. D. The kitchen table at home. Quiet. Big. Near the window. Good light in the morning. No noise. Very nice place for me. I like it.
   Show answer and explanation

   Answer: B

   The task asks for a named place and reasons, in at least 50 words. Option B names the place, gives four concrete reasons (no clock, no music, a quiet view, desk space) and runs well past 50 words in connected sentences, so it satisfies both parts of the prompt.

   Option A never names a place and pads the answer with repetition. Option C is off topic: it describes a meal, not a place to concentrate. Option D names a place and is on topic, which makes it tempting, but it is a list of fragments rather than sentences and is well short of the required length.

8. Question 8ProductionOne or more correct answers

   In a speaking task you hear a question and then speak your answer aloud for about ninety seconds. A rater scores the recording for content, fluency and language use.

   Which of these choices would raise the score of such a response?

   1. A. Supporting the main point with a specific example from your own experience.
   2. B. Repeating the question word for word several times to use up the time.
   3. C. Joining ideas with connectors such as for instance and as a result.
   4. D. Keeping a steady pace with natural pauses rather than long silences.
   5. E. Delivering a memorised paragraph that does not address the question asked.
   Show answer and explanation

   Answer: A, C, D

   Content improves when a claim is backed by a specific example, so option A helps. Option C shows control of discourse markers and makes the structure audible to the rater. Option D is what fluency is measured on: an even pace with ordinary pauses rather than stalling.

   Option B adds no content and signals that the speaker has run out of ideas. Option E is worse still: an off-topic memorised passage scores poorly on content no matter how accurate its grammar is, because the rater judges the answer against the question that was asked.