Starting July 1, the Duolingo English Test (DET) will incorporate new individual subscores in Speaking, Writing, Reading, and Listening, in addition to the existing integrated subscores for Literacy, Comprehension, Conversation, and Production.
These new individual subscores aim to provide universities with a more detailed understanding of a student's language abilities in real-world academic settings, while also helping students identify their core competencies, according to DET.
After completing the test, candidates will receive a score report that includes both their overall score and the individual and integrated subscores. The overall score ranges from 10 to 160 in 5-point increments and is aligned with the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR), the international standard for language proficiency. The addition of individual subscores for Speaking, Writing, Reading, and Listening will help test takers pinpoint their strengths and areas for improvement in specific skills. Meanwhile, the integrated subscores for Literacy, Comprehension, Conversation, and Production will continue to provide a comprehensive overview of language abilities. This combination of individual and integrated subscores allows institutions to gain deeper insights into a test taker's language proficiency, reflecting real-life language use in academic contexts.
Individual subscores are calculated based on performance in each specific skill area. The overall score is an average of these individual subscores, rounded to the nearest 5. Similarly, each integrated subscore is now an average of the two individual subscores that comprise it; for example, the Literacy subscore is the average of the Reading and Writing subscores.
Upon completion and review of the test, candidates will receive an email notification and can access their detailed score report by logging into their account at englishtest.duolingo.com. It is important to note that integrated subscores calculated before July 1 are not directly comparable to those calculated after the update, and conversion of old integrated subscores to the new format is not possible.