Duolingo English Test Validity Period & University Acceptance 2026
Duolingo English Test (DET) scores are valid for 2 years and accepted by 4,500+ universities globally, including top US, UK, and Canadian schools. Find out which institutions accept DET and its limitations.
▶ Free College Predictor & study-abroad toolsHow Long Are Duolingo English Test Scores Valid?
Duolingo English Test (DET) scores remain valid for exactly 2 years from your test date. After 2 years, scores expire and universities will not accept them for admissions or visa purposes. If you test on June 8, 2026, your score is valid through June 8, 2028. Plan your applications within this window; retesting is required if your score expires before you enroll.
Which Universities Accept Duolingo English Test?
Over 4,500 universities worldwide accept DET, including: Harvard, Stanford, MIT, Yale, Duke (US); Oxford, Cambridge, LSE, Imperial, UCL (UK); University of Toronto, UBC, McGill (Canada); and Melbourne, UNSW, ANU (Australia). Most universities explicitly list DET on their admissions pages alongside TOEFL and IELTS. Always confirm DET acceptance on your target university's website, as a small number still exclusively require IELTS or TOEFL.
Duolingo English Test & Student Visa Acceptance
DET is accepted for student visas in the US (SEVP-approved), UK (Tier 4 visa), Canada (Study Permit), Australia (all visa types), and the EU/Schengen. Each country's immigration authority has slightly different approval timelines—UK added DET support in 2020, and Australia followed in 2021. Visa validity follows DET score validity: once your score expires, you cannot use it for visa renewal, though your visa itself remains valid if already granted.
Countries Where Duolingo Acceptance Is Limited
While DET is widely accepted, some conservative institutions in India, Middle East, and smaller regional universities (non-Russell Group UK, non-Go8 Australia) may not explicitly list it or prefer IELTS/TOEFL. New Zealand and some professional licensing bodies (UK medical schools, Australian teaching registration) still prefer traditional TOEFL/IELTS. Always confirm with the specific institution's admissions office before taking DET if they are not a major international university.
DET vs. IELTS vs. TOEFL: Acceptance & Test Validity
All three tests are valid for 2 years. DET (4,500+ universities) is fastest-growing but newer; TOEFL (11,000+ universities) is most traditional; IELTS (10,000+ universities) is most popular outside North America. For US schools: TOEFL and DET equally strong, some prefer TOEFL. UK: IELTS is default, DET growing. Canada/Australia: IELTS leading, DET now mainstream. For any given university, check their official requirements—accepting one doesn't mean accepting all three.
Retesting & Extending DET Validity
If your 2-year DET validity window is closing and you have not enrolled, you must retest—there is no validity extension or appeal process. DET allows retesting immediately (you can test again after 1 day), so if your score falls short or expires, book another attempt within your application cycle. Duolingo emails you 30 days before expiration as a reminder; plan ahead if multiple universities are still reviewing your profile.
Prepare for Duolingo & Practice Free
DET is a 1-hour online test (reading, writing, speaking, listening) scored 10–160. Prepare with full-length mocks to familiarize yourself with the adaptive format. Free practice materials include Duolingo's official sample questions. For comprehensive TOEFL, IELTS, and DET practice mocks, use LandingPrep's free full-length tests—track your progress and identify weak areas before test day.
Acceptance is per institution and often per programme
The most important structural fact about the Duolingo English Test is that acceptance is not a national or system-wide decision. It is made institution by institution, and within an institution frequently programme by programme — a university can accept it for undergraduate admission and not for a postgraduate course, or accept it for study while its country's immigration system does not accept it for a visa. Any general list of accepting institutions is therefore a starting point rather than an answer. Confirm on the specific programme's own admissions page, and if a visa is involved, separately on the immigration authority's.
Study acceptance and immigration acceptance are different questions
This catches people repeatedly. A test can be perfectly acceptable to the university that admits you and not appear on the list of tests your student visa route recognises, which leaves you admitted and unable to travel. The two decisions are made by different bodies applying different criteria, and the university's acceptance implies nothing about the government's. If your plan involves a visa, treat the immigration requirement as the binding one and work backwards from it.
What the at-home format actually requires of you
An at-home, on-demand test removes the test centre and adds a set of conditions you are responsible for meeting: a compliant device and browser, a stable connection, a permitted room with no other people and nothing within reach, and identification that matches your application. Sessions can be invalidated after the fact for conditions that felt harmless at the time, and an invalidated result costs you the fee and the time. Read the current rules on the test's own site immediately before booking rather than relying on a summary, including this one — the requirements are revised, and it is the candidate who bears the consequence.
Cheapness and speed are real advantages, and they change your options
The genuine case for this test is that it is substantially cheaper and faster than centre-based alternatives and can be taken from home, which makes it viable to sit early as a diagnostic rather than only as a final attempt. Used that way it is a good tool: you learn where you stand before committing to an expensive test, and if your institutions accept it you may not need the expensive test at all. The failure mode is treating those advantages as reasons to skip the acceptance check, which is the one step that determines whether the result is usable.
Score validity and when to sit
Like other English tests, results are valid for a limited period from the test date, and that clock starts when you sit rather than when you apply. Because this test is fast and cheap, there is a temptation to sit it very early. That is fine as a diagnostic and risky as your submission, since admission and visa processing can run long enough to push a result past its validity window. Decide which attempt is the diagnostic and which is the one you intend to submit, and time the second against your actual deadline.
How to check acceptance so the answer is defensible
Do this in a fixed order and keep a record. First, open the specific programme page — not the university's general international pages — and find the English requirement in writing. Second, note whether it states an overall score only or a minimum in each subscore, because those demand different preparation. Third, if a visa is involved, check the immigration authority's own list of accepted tests separately, since that decision is made by a different body. Fourth, save a dated screenshot of each page. Requirements are revised mid-cycle, and having the version you relied on, with its date, is occasionally worth a great deal and costs you nothing. If a programme page is ambiguous, email admissions and ask them to confirm in writing — a reply naming the test and the score is worth more than any list, including this site's.
Keep going — free practice
Last updated: