DET Writing: Write About the Photo & the Writing Sample

The big picture

• DET writing tasks
  • Write About the Photo — Describe an image in 1+ sentences (~1 min)
  • Writing Sample — Longer response shared with universities
  • Clarity + grammar — Correct, on-topic sentences score
  • Keep writing — More relevant, correct text = more marks

Write About the Photo — fast and specific

You see an image and write at least one sentence describing it, in about a minute. Write as much accurate, relevant English as you can in the time — name what's there, the action, and a detail. Quantity helps only if it's correct and on-topic.

The Writing Sample — the one universities read

You write a longer response to a prompt (a few minutes), and this Writing Sample is shared with the institutions you apply to. Give it a clear structure — a position or main idea, one or two supporting points, a short close — so an admissions reader sees organised thinking.

Correctness beats big words

The DET rewards clear, grammatically correct, on-topic writing over ambitious sentences full of errors. Use vocabulary you control, keep sentences complete, and leave a few seconds to reread for typos and agreement.

Keep going — don't leave it short

Both tasks reward producing enough relevant text within the time. Don't stop early: as long as it stays on-topic and correct, more developed writing gives the scoring engine (and universities) more to reward.

Test yourself before you move on

Re-reading a note feels like learning and produces almost none. The retrieval below is what actually builds the memory, so cover the map above and answer these from memory — out loud or written down, not in your head, because "I know this" is the feeling that fails under exam pressure.

1. Without looking: what is Write About the Photo, and how does it connect to DET writing tasks?
2. Without looking: what is Writing Sample, and how does it connect to DET writing tasks?
3. Without looking: what is Clarity + grammar, and how does it connect to DET writing tasks?
4. Without looking: what is Keep writing, and how does it connect to DET writing tasks?

Anything you could not produce is the part of this note you have not learned yet — regardless of how familiar it felt while reading. Re-read only that node, then re-test the whole set. Testing the whole set matters: recalling one idea in isolation is easier than recalling it among 4 competing ones, which is the situation the exam actually puts you in.

When to come back to this note

Spacing is not a scheduling detail, it is the mechanism. Meeting this material again just as it starts to fade forces the effortful retrieval that consolidates it, which is why a note reviewed four times across three weeks outlasts the same note read four times in one evening. The built-in scheduler resurfaces these questions at widening intervals for exactly that reason — the prompt arriving when you feel you have half-forgotten is the system working, not failing.

A practical rhythm for DET writing tasks: today, again tomorrow, then after three days, then after a week. If you fail a review, shorten the next interval rather than re-reading the note end to end — the failure identifies the gap precisely, and re-reading everything wastes the diagnosis.

Then apply it under pressure. Knowing a concept in isolation and using it in a timed paper are different skills, and only the second is examined. There are 150 free DUOLINGO practice tests here covering 1,740 questions — counted from the test files, not estimated. Take a full timed DUOLINGO mock →