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Score conversion

What your Duolingo English Test score means

The Duolingo English Test is scored from 10 to 160. Duolingo publishes one chart that reads both ways: a CEFR level and an IELTS band for every score point. Both tables below are that chart, copied as published.

Checked August 8, 2026

Duolingo score to CEFR level
Duolingo scoreCEFR
155-160C2
130-150C1
100-125B2
60-95B1
10-55A1-A2

Duolingo does not split A1 from A2 on this chart: everything at 55 and below is reported as the A1 to A2 range.

Duolingo score to IELTS band
Duolingo scoreIELTS
1608.5-9
150-1558
140-1457.5
130-1357
120-1256.5
105-1156
95-1005.5
80-905
65-754.5
604
10-550-4

IELTS bands here are overall bands. Duolingo also publishes a separate skill-by-skill concordance for the four subscores, which can put a single skill a half band either side of this.

Where these numbers come from

Both tables are Duolingo's. Duolingo built the IELTS concordance itself, from its own test takers' official score reports. IELTS did not co-sign it, and no IELTS partner publishes a Duolingo conversion of its own.

The concordance comes from equipercentile equating on two studies, one in 2022 and one in 2024. The 2024 subscore study used 1,943 official IELTS score reports from people who sat both exams no more than 90 days apart. The CEFR alignment was reviewed separately by an outside psychometric firm and by the UK's Chartered Institute of Linguists.

A concordance says how a large group of people scored on two exams. It does not promise that you personally would score the equivalent on the other one. Read it as the middle of a spread, not as a guarantee.

Sources

How our own exam reports a level

Fennec360 Certified runs its own free CEFR exam, scored out of 100. These are the bands it uses. They are a separate thing from the tables above: our exam has its own questions, its own scoring, and its own scale.

LevelIn plain wordsOur score
A1Beginner0-34
A2Elementary35-49
B1Intermediate50-64
B2Upper Intermediate65-79
C1Advanced80-89
C2Proficiency90-100

This is not a conversion. A score on our exam does not become a score on any exam named on this page, and no exam board recognizes it as one. What it gives you is your own CEFR level, from a full exam you can sit today.

Questions people actually ask

Is this IELTS Academic or General Training?

Academic. Duolingo's concordance study collected IELTS Academic score reports. If you need General Training, for Canadian immigration for example, this table is not the one to quote.

Will a university accept my Duolingo score as an IELTS score?

No, and that is not what the table is for. An institution either accepts the Duolingo English Test or it does not. The concordance helps an admissions office set a Duolingo requirement that matches the IELTS one it already uses, but you still have to submit the exam it asks for.

My score sits right on a boundary. Which level do I get?

The one printed on your score report. Duolingo reports the CEFR level with the score, so there is nothing for you to calculate. The chart exists so you can read someone else's requirement, not so you can grade yourself.

Why does everything under 60 look the same?

Because the exam does not try to separate those levels finely. Below 60 the chart reports a single A1 to A2 range and an IELTS band of 0 to 4. If you need a level certified at A1 or A2 specifically, this is not the exam that gives it to you cleanly.

Where does the free Fennec360 exam fit in?

It is a separate exam that reports a CEFR level of its own, free and without an appointment. It is not a Duolingo score and does not convert to one. It is a fast way to know your level before you pay for anything.

Not sure which level you are at yet?

Take a free CEFR exam and find out. About 50 minutes, four languages, no appointment and no card.

Take the free exam

Our exam gives you a CEFR level and a certificate anyone can verify. It does not replace any official exam.