Almost every task on the Duolingo English Test is individually timed, and the clock is visible. Most lost marks come from time spent in the wrong place — a minute on one impossible word, or a description that stops ten seconds early — rather than from gaps in English.
Ten seconds on a dictation word, two seconds on a real-word judgement, twenty seconds on a reading item. Having the number in advance means the decision is already made when the moment comes.
A minute spent writing or speaking produces something that can be assessed. A minute spent deciding what to write produces nothing. When in doubt, start producing.
In writing tasks, that is checking time. In speaking tasks, it is the time you must still be talking. Plan backwards from the end of the window, not forwards from the start.
It feels slower and it is faster. Fragmentary rereading is the most common way to run out of time on reading tasks.
A sentence frame you never have to invent saves five to ten seconds per task, and those seconds are the ones you would otherwise spend silent or staring.
Once at the halfway point, once near the end. Continuous clock-watching is itself a time cost and raises the pulse for no benefit.
The next task starts whether or not you have finished thinking about the last one. One breath, eyes on the new instructions, begin.
Ten minutes a day of typing practice raises the amount of language you can produce in every written task. It is the least glamorous preparation available and one of the most effective.
Do a full-length practice run with no pauses, at the time of day you will test. Stamina and pacing cannot be trained in five-minute fragments.
Not thisSpending forty seconds on one word in a dictation.
ThisWriting the best guess after ten seconds and moving on.
One word is one part of one item. The time it consumes costs you words you would have got right.
Not thisFinishing a speaking task fifteen seconds early.
ThisContinuing with an inference or a comparison until the timer stops.
Speaking tasks are scored on the language produced. Silence at the end is unused opportunity.
Not thisWriting until the last second with no checking time.
ThisStopping thirty seconds early to check endings and articles.
The final sentence adds less than the three errors a quick check would have removed.
Not thisWatching the countdown continuously.
ThisTwo deliberate glances per task.
Constant clock-watching splits attention and raises anxiety without changing how much time you have.
Not thisThinking about the previous task while the next one loads.
ThisResetting in one breath and reading the new instructions.
Carrying a bad task forward is how one weak answer becomes three.
Not thisPlanning a written answer for ninety seconds.
ThisPlanning in three words and starting to write.
A plan longer than a few words is the answer written twice, and only the second version counts.
40 original questions. The first 10 are open to everyone. Answers are checked in your browser and never sent to us, so you can share this page with a class as it is.
1Complete the word.
3Complete the word.
5Complete the word.
7Complete the word.
8Write the per-item time budget you will take into the test, task by task.
One good answer
Real-word judgements: about two seconds each. Dictation: three listens, ten seconds maximum on any one missing word. Reading items: twenty seconds after the first full read. Photo writing: fifty seconds writing, ten checking. Speaking: talk until the timer stops, with no early finish.
10Complete the word.
12Complete the phrase.
14Complete the word.
16Explain why planning a written answer for ninety seconds is a poor trade, in two sentences.
One good answer
A long plan is the answer written twice, and only the version in the answer box is assessed. Three words of plan give me the same structure and leave the remaining eighty seconds for language that actually counts.
17Complete the phrase.
21Complete the word.
23Complete the word.
25Complete the word.
27Complete the word.
28Describe how you would run one full-length practice sitting and what you would record afterwards.
One good answer
I would do it at the same time of day as my booked test, with no pauses, phone away and door closed. Afterwards I would write down only three things: which task I ran out of time on, which task I finished early, and at what point my concentration dropped.
30Complete the word.
32Complete the word.
34Complete the phrase with one word.
36Your practice runs show you always overrun on reading and finish speaking early. Write the two rules you will take into the test.
One good answer
Reading: one full read, then twenty seconds per item, and any item still unresolved gets my best answer immediately. Speaking: I do not stop until the timer does, and when I run out of description I move to inference and comparison.
37Complete the word.
Note
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Most tasks are timed individually, and the timer is visible. Plan per task rather than trying to save time in one section to spend in another.
On a written task, check what you produced. On a speaking task, do not finish early at all: keep talking until the timer stops, because unused seconds produce nothing that can be scored.
Decide your per-item budgets in practice so the decisions are already made, and limit yourself to two glances at the countdown per task. Anxiety usually comes from indecision, not from the timer.
Plan for roughly the length of the real sitting, at the same time of day, with no interruptions. One honest full-length run tells you more about your pacing than ten short practice sets.
Yes. Every written task is typed under a clock, so slow typing directly reduces how much language you can show. Ten minutes a day of typing practice is cheap preparation with a measurable effect.