How to prepare for the Duolingo English Test in 30 days

Who this plan is for

You have about a month before your DET appointment. You've maybe taken a practice test and scored in the 85–110 range, or you haven't practiced at all and you're anxious. Either way, this plan assumes you can put in 60–90 minutes a day, five to six days a week. It will get most students from a 90 → 115 or a 105 → 125 in four weeks. Beyond that range, gains slow down and need longer-form work.

The structure

The DET has 14 question types, but three sections dominate your score: Read & Complete (passages with blanked letters), Fill in the Blanks (sentences with blanked letters), and the speaking + writing sample at the end. Vocabulary, listening, and dictation questions also count, but they reward the same English-fluency core that R&C and FIB train.

So the plan splits like this:

Week 1: Familiarisation. Take one full mock test, learn every question type, identify weak spots.
Week 2: Fluency volume. 15+ Read & Complete passages per day, daily speed-read drills.
Week 3: Targeted weakness. Heavy focus on whichever section is dragging your score.
Week 4: Test simulation. Full timed mocks every other day, taper to one rest day before the real exam.

Week 1 — Familiarisation (days 1–7)

The biggest single mistake first-time DET takers make is walking into the test unfamiliar with the format. The format is unusual. Read & Complete is not like any reading test you've taken before. Speaking responses are 30–90 seconds, much shorter than IELTS. So Week 1 is about eliminating surprise.

Day 1: Take the official Duolingo English Test practice test (free at the official site). Get a baseline score.

Days 2–3: Watch one walkthrough video per question type on YouTube. Do not focus on test-taking tricks yet — focus on knowing exactly what each question looks like and how long you have for it.

Days 4–7: Work through 5 easy Read & Complete passages and 10 easy Fill in the Blanks per day. Use easy difficulty to get used to the timer pressure without being demoralised by content difficulty. Speed matters more than score this week.

Week 2 — Fluency volume (days 8–14)

This is where the real work happens. The DET rewards reading fluency above almost anything else. You can't fake reading fluency in a week with vocabulary lists. You build it by reading lots of passages.

Daily target: 15 Read & Complete passages (mix of medium and hard). 20 Fill in the Blanks questions (mix of medium and hard). 10 minutes of free reading from a newspaper or magazine.

The reading habit matters because Read & Complete passages on the DET cover a wide range of topics — history, science, philosophy, economics. If your reading diet is only social media, you'll stumble on the vocabulary in academic passages.

Pro tip: after each R&C passage, spend 30 seconds re-reading it with the words filled in correctly. This is what the new results page on this site shows you. The re-reading step is where you internalise the patterns of academic English.

Week 3 — Targeted weakness (days 15–21)

By now you have data. Look at your scores from week 2. Where are you losing points?

If R&C is below 70%: the issue is usually vocabulary breadth or reading speed. Solution: read more news articles + do 20 R&C per day.
If FIB is below 70%: spelling at speed is the issue. Solution: speed-drill FIB with 25+ per day, accept that you'll miss some.
If speaking feels rough: record yourself responding to sample prompts. The DET wants natural rhythm + clear ideas, not perfect grammar.
If listening is weak: watch 30 minutes/day of unscripted English content (interviews, podcasts) without subtitles.

Resist the temptation to keep practicing what you're already good at. Score gains in week 3 come from cleaning up specific weaknesses.

Week 4 — Test simulation (days 22–28)

The last week is about producing a test-day version of yourself.

Days 22, 24, 26: Full timed mock test. Same time of day you'll take the real one. No phone, no music, headphones on, room quiet. Score yourself honestly.

Days 23, 25: Review-only. Re-read the questions you got wrong on the previous day's mock. Do NOT do more practice volume.

Day 27: Light review only. Sleep 8 hours.

Day 28: Test day. Eat normally, hydrate, check your camera + microphone 30 minutes before the appointment, and remember that the DET only cares about your average — not any single bad question.

What to skip

A surprising amount of conventional test-prep advice is wrong for the DET.

Memorising IELTS-style essay templates. The DET writing sample is short (50 words). Templates make you sound robotic.
Vocabulary flashcard apps. Almost zero correlation with DET score gains in published studies. Reading wins.
Buying $500 courses. The most-watched DET prep video on YouTube is free and 90% of paid content recycles the same advice.
Trying to predict the question pool. The DET draws from thousands of items; no leaked-question strategy works.

Realistic expectations

If you follow this plan and you're already at B2 English, you should expect a 10–20 point gain. From a 90 baseline, that's a real shot at 110. From a 110 baseline, 125 is plausible with effort. From a 130, gains slow to 5 points and require months, not weeks.

The DET is forgiving in one specific way: you can retake it after 30 days for a fresh attempt at the same cost. If your first score is close but not enough, a focused two-week sprint between tests usually adds 5–10 points.