Full timed mock sittings of the four English proficiency tests universities and visa offices actually accept — on the real clock, scored against the real criteria.
The only one of the four where you speak to a human being. That changes the task: an examiner reacts, follows up, and can hear you recover from a false start.
We cover: The full Academic mock — Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking — with section bands 0–9.
Practice IELTS →Reading and Listening are multistage adaptive. Writing and Speaking are linear. The January 2026 redesign replaced the old integrated Speaking tasks entirely.
We cover: The complete 2026 exam — Reading, Listening, Writing and Speaking — with section bands 1–6.
Practice TOEFL →Entirely machine-scored, which cuts both ways. Results come back in a day or two, and the scoring rewards clear, evenly-paced speech over interesting speech.
We cover: All five Speaking task types, marked word by word against the prompt.
Practice PTE →Adaptive and short. Questions get harder as you get them right, so the test finds your level in about an hour instead of testing everyone on everything.
We cover: A full adaptive mock across thirteen task types, with the nine sub-scores.
Practice Duolingo →Published timings, item by item, and nothing can be paused, replayed or skipped. Practising with a pause button rehearses an easier exam than the one you booked.
Where the test has a right answer — the words of a Read Aloud, the points a TOEFL lecture made — we count them and name the ones you missed, rather than describing your performance back to you.
Anything a model judged is labelled as judged, and sampled several times so the number stops moving between runs. You should know which part of a score you can check yourself.
Fees are left out on purpose — they vary by country by more than a hundred dollars and change without notice, and a comparison quoting the wrong one is worse than one quoting none. Check the test's own site for the figure where you live.
| IELTS | TOEFL | PTE | Duolingo | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Run by | British Council, IDP and Cambridge | ETS | Pearson | Duolingo |
| Length | About 2 hours 45 minutes | About 2 hours | About 2 hours | About 1 hour |
| Score scale | Band 0–9, in half bands | 1–6 per section (legacy 0–120 concordance through 2028) | 10–90 | 10–160, in steps of 5 |
| Usual university ask | 6.5–7.5 overall | Overall 4.0–5.0 (legacy ~72–100) | 58–79 | 115–130 |
| Results in | 3–5 days on computer, up to 13 days on paper | About 4–8 days | Typically within 48 hours | Usually within 2 days |
| Taken | Test centre, on paper or computer | Test centre or at home | Test centre or at home | At home, on your own computer |
| Cost | Among the more expensive of the four | Among the more expensive of the four | Broadly comparable to IELTS and TOEFL | Dramatically cheaper than the other three — often a third or less |
| How Speaking works | A face-to-face interview with a human examiner, in three parts, including a two-minute long turn from a cue card. | Listen and Repeat (7 sentences) then Take an Interview (4 questions). No prep time. Part of a four-section adaptive test. | Short, rapid-fire tasks scored by algorithm — read a sentence aloud, repeat a sentence you hear, describe a chart in 25 seconds. | Speaking is folded through an adaptive test rather than sitting in its own section, alongside typed and reading tasks. |
We sell practice for all four, so we have no reason to talk you into one. Each of these names a situation where the test in the title is the wrong choice.
IELTS puts you in front of a human examiner for fourteen minutes. TOEFL iBT 2026 is a two-hour adaptive test with new Speaking tasks. Which format suits how you actually perform under pressure.
PTE is machine-scored and returns results in about two days; IELTS puts you in front of a human examiner. What that trade actually costs you, and who should take which.
The Duolingo English Test costs a fraction of IELTS, runs an hour at home, and returns results in two days. What you give up for that, and whether your university will take it.
Both are computer-delivered and about two hours. TOEFL iBT 2026 is adaptive with new Speaking tasks; PTE is machine-scored with short mechanical Speaking items and faster results.
IELTS, TOEFL, PTE and the Duolingo English Test compared on what each actually demands in 2026 — and why the easiest test is the one that matches how you already fail.
Every task type, with the published timings and what the marking actually rewards.
All five, from Read Aloud to Answer Short Question — and what changes when a machine is marking.
The January 2026 redesign replaced the integrated tasks entirely. What went, and what replaced it.
All thirteen, grouped the way you meet them, with the timings and the subscores each one feeds.
The 10–160 scale against CEFR, and Duolingo's published concordance with IELTS bands and TOEFL totals.
All four sections, which parts are adaptive, and how the 1–6 bands map to the old score out of 120.
Both tasks, with the word limits that gate the rest of your marks and what machine scoring rewards.
Every item type, which ones carry negative marking, and the one worth more practice than the rest combined.