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Duolingo English Test listening and speaking practice

Duolingo English Test5 topics200 questions

The listening and speaking half of the Duolingo English Test is recorded, timed and unrepeatable: you type what you hear, read sentences aloud and speak to a prompt with no interlocutor to help you. This section takes the five task types one at a time and trains the specific habits each one rewards.

What this paper asks of you

  • Typing a spoken sentence accurately, including spelling, numbers and contractions.
  • Recognising real English words by ear, not by the shape of their spelling.
  • Reading aloud with natural stress, linking and pace rather than word by word.
  • Speaking for the full time on a prompt you have just seen, without a second attempt.
  • Listening to a conversation and responding appropriately in real time.
  • Summarising what you have heard in your own words rather than repeating it.
  • Managing hesitation so that a pause becomes a phrase, not a silence.
  • Coping with unfamiliar accents and normal connected speech.
  • Keeping your microphone level and your room quiet so nothing is lost in the recording.
  • Recovering immediately from a task that went badly instead of carrying it into the next one.

Task types, one page each