English test format: IELTS, TOEFL, PTE & Duolingo

IELTS runs ~2h 45m across 4 sections scored 0-9 in 0.5 steps; TOEFL iBT is a ~2-hour computer test scored 0-120; PTE Academic is ~2 hours scored 10-90; the Duolingo English Test is ~1 hour adaptive scored 10-160. All four assess Listening, Reading, Writing, Speaking and run on rolling, on-demand sessions.

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Choosing between IELTS, TOEFL iBT, PTE Academic and the Duolingo English Test starts with understanding what each one actually puts in front of you on test day. The four assess the same four skills - Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking - but the section timings, task types, delivery (paper or computer or fully online), scoring scales and the human-vs-AI nature of the grading are different enough that the same candidate can land a different relative score on each. This page walks through the format of all four, side by side, so you can pick the one that suits both your destination's acceptance and your own strengths.

How do the four tests compare side by side?

The headline numbers below show the structural differences in one glance. IELTS is the longest because its Speaking is a separate live interview slot; TOEFL iBT moved to a leaner ~2-hour build in July 2023; PTE Academic packs Speaking and Writing into a single combined section; Duolingo runs adaptively for roughly an hour from your own laptop. Every test is graded on a different scale, so a raw number on one says little about your standing on another - which is why universities publish equivalence tables (covered below).

IELTS section by section

IELTS is delivered by the British Council, IDP and Cambridge Assessment English across both paper-based and computer-delivered (CD-IELTS) formats. The content is identical on both - same questions, same scoring rubric - but the computer-delivered version returns results in 3-5 days versus around 13 days for paper. Most test centres run multiple sessions per month, and you can take IELTS on demand throughout the year.

• Listening (30 minutes, 40 questions): four recorded sections from social conversations to academic lectures, with a mix of multiple-choice, matching, map-labelling, form-completion and sentence-completion tasks. Audio plays only once.
• Reading (60 minutes, 40 questions): three passages in Academic (journals, books, newspapers) or three sets in General Training (workplace and general-interest texts). Question types include True/False/Not Given, matching headings, summary completion and multiple choice.
• Writing (60 minutes, 2 tasks): Task 1 is a 150-word data/process description in Academic or a 150-word letter in General Training; Task 2 is a 250-word essay in both. Task 2 counts roughly double in the band calculation.
• Speaking (11-14 minutes, face to face): a real conversation with a certified examiner in three parts - introduction and familiar topics, a 2-minute long turn from a cue card, and a discussion of abstract ideas linked to the cue card. Scheduled separately, sometimes on a different day.

Each skill earns a band 0-9 in 0.5 increments. The overall band is the average of the four, rounded to the nearest 0.5. IELTS results are valid for 2 years from the test date.

IELTS Academic vs General Training

The two formats share identical Listening and Speaking content - only the Reading and Writing sections differ. Academic is for higher study (universities, colleges, professional registration) and uses academic-style texts and a data report in Writing Task 1. General Training is for migration to English-speaking countries (UK, Australia, Canada, NZ), work and secondary education, with workplace/social texts and a letter-writing Task 1. Choose by purpose: confirm which version your destination names before you book.

TOEFL iBT - the new 2-hour format

TOEFL iBT is run by ETS and was rebuilt as a shorter, ~2-hour test from July 2023 (the previous version ran around 3 hours, including a longer Reading and a mandatory 10-minute break). The test is fully computer-delivered at centres or via the TOEFL Home Edition, with no paper-based option. Scores are reported 0-30 per section for a total of 0-120, valid for 2 years.

• Reading (~35 minutes): two academic passages with around 20 questions covering main ideas, detail, vocabulary in context, inference and reading-to-learn tasks (such as filling a summary or category table).
• Listening (~36 minutes): three lectures and two conversations totalling about 28 questions. Audio plays once; brief notes are allowed.
• Speaking (~16 minutes, 4 tasks): one independent task and three integrated tasks that combine reading and listening prompts with a recorded response. Each response is 45-60 seconds.
• Writing (~30 minutes, 2 tasks): an integrated task (read, listen, summarise the relationship between the sources) plus the Writing for an Academic Discussion task that replaced the old independent essay - you respond to a professor's question and two student posts in around 100 words.

The redesign removed the experimental section and the dummy questions, cut Reading length, and replaced the long independent essay with the academic-discussion task - the result is a faster, denser test with less idle time. Question counts are slightly smaller, but each question carries more weight per skill section.

PTE Academic and its AI grading

PTE Academic is delivered by Pearson at secure test centres on a computer with a headset. The test runs about 2 hours straight (no scheduled break in the standard format) and uses an integrated structure that mixes skills inside many tasks - a Read Aloud item, for example, tests Speaking but also Reading. Results are reported on the Global Scale of English (10-90) and are normally delivered within 48 hours, which makes PTE attractive when you are racing a deadline.

• Part 1 - Speaking & Writing (~54-67 minutes): personal introduction, Read Aloud, Repeat Sentence, Describe Image, Re-tell Lecture, Answer Short Question, Summarize Written Text and the Essay (in longer forms).
• Part 2 - Reading (~29-30 minutes): Fill in the Blanks (drag-and-drop and drop-down), Reading and Writing Fill in the Blanks, Multiple Choice (single and multiple), and Reorder Paragraphs.
• Part 3 - Listening (~30-43 minutes): Summarize Spoken Text, Multiple Choice, Fill in the Blanks, Highlight Correct Summary, Highlight Incorrect Words and Write from Dictation.

Every response - including Speaking and Writing - is scored by Pearson's AI on content, form, oral fluency, pronunciation, grammar, spelling, vocabulary and discourse coherence. The algorithm rewards clear pacing, accurate pronunciation and structured answers. Filler words, long pauses and off-template responses lose marks fast. PTE scores are valid for 2 years.

Duolingo English Test - adaptive and online

The Duolingo English Test is fully online, taken from your own laptop with a webcam, and runs for roughly an hour. It uses computer-adaptive testing - questions get harder when you answer correctly and easier when you do not, so the test homes in on your level quickly. There is no fixed seating: you can sit it any time, day or night, on demand, and certified results land in around 2 days. The score is a single number from 10-160 plus four subscores (Literacy, Comprehension, Conversation, Production), valid 2 years.

The test mixes short, task-based items - read-aloud, listen-and-type, complete the sentence, speaking samples and a video interview - rather than long discrete sections. Because every candidate sees a slightly different sequence of items, two test-takers cannot directly compare questions. Strict proctoring uses webcam recording and AI plus human reviewers, and any environmental or behavioural flag (eyes off screen, second voice, phone in view) can invalidate the score. Acceptance is growing fast at universities but is still patchy for some visa streams - verify your specific destination accepts it.

What does each section actually test?

• Listening: recorded conversations / lectures with comprehension questions. IELTS uses varied accents (British, Australian, North American); TOEFL is academic-lecture heavy with a North American accent; PTE mixes accents and uses note-taking heavily; Duolingo plays short clips and asks targeted comprehension and transcription tasks.
• Reading: academic / general passages with detail, inference and gist questions. PTE integrates reading with writing/listening tasks (Read Aloud, Summarize Written Text); IELTS Academic uses dense, lengthy passages; TOEFL favours scientific and social- science texts; Duolingo runs short, adaptive items.
• Writing: IELTS has Task 1 (report/letter) + Task 2 (essay); TOEFL has the integrated read-listen-write task and the Writing for an Academic Discussion; PTE has Summarize Written Text + Essay; Duolingo asks for an interactive writing sample and a longer writing task within the adaptive flow.
• Speaking: IELTS is a real interview with a certified examiner; TOEFL/PTE/Duolingo record your responses into a microphone and (PTE/Duolingo) score them with AI. The interaction style you are most comfortable with often decides where you score relatively higher.

How is each test scored - bands, scores and scales?

IELTS reports a band 0-9 per skill and an overall (rounded average) in 0.5 steps. TOEFL sums four 0-30 sections to 0-120 - subscores below 22 in any single skill often trigger a per-skill failure even when the total clears. PTE maps every response to the 10-90 Global Scale of English with detailed enabling-skills subscores (oral fluency, pronunciation, written discourse and so on). Duolingo gives a single 10-160 plus four subscores derived from the adaptive question flow. None of the four use negative marking, so always guess on Listening and Reading. Know the scale your destination quotes - and our cross-test guide on the score-requirements page.

Cross-test equivalence universities publish

Universities and visa authorities publish their own equivalence tables to map one score onto another. The figures below are an indicative benchmark commonly cited - your destination's exact mapping can differ, so always verify against their own table.

Ready to test where you stand? Take a free IELTS mock and see your indicative band in 2 hours.

Attempt strategy per format

The same English skill produces different scores under different formats because the optimal attempt strategy is not the same. A small habit change can swing your result more than another week of vocabulary drilling.

• IELTS: use the 10-minute Listening transfer time productively (paper); on Reading, skim then attack questions in order while bookmarking; on Writing Task 2, plan 5 minutes before writing; on Speaking, develop every answer with a reason and an example - the examiner is listening for range, not big words.
• TOEFL iBT: note-take heavily in Listening and integrated Speaking/Writing; pace your three Reading passages in roughly 18 minutes each; on the new Writing for an Academic Discussion task, take a clear position and reference the two students by name.
• PTE: never freeze on Read Aloud or Repeat Sentence - the microphone closes after silence and you lose content marks. Use the full word count on Summarize Written Text. Speak at a steady pace, do not over-enunciate, and never restart a sentence.
• Duolingo: answer every item even when unsure (the algorithm calibrates from your accuracy curve); keep your eyes on the screen, your face centred and the room silent for the full hour; finish all warm-up items before the real test counts.

What does this mean for your prep approach?

• Balance the four skills. Most requirements set a per-skill minimum, so one weak skill caps you regardless of the overall.
• Rehearse the delivery. A live IELTS interview and an AI-scored PTE recording need different practice - the mock format must match the real one.
• Time to the format.Duolingo's adaptive hour and IELTS's fixed sections demand different pacing - run a timed full mock before the real one.
• Read the rubric. Every provider publishes its band descriptors; writing to those descriptors moves the score more than working through more practice tests blindly.

Ready to test where you stand? Take a free IELTS mock and see your indicative band in 2 hours.