Duolingo English Test Course for Students in Chile — Online with Certified Instructors

Universities Chilean students apply to with a DET score

The United States, Spain, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and Germany take most Chilean postgraduates, with Ireland and Italy behind them. Spanish-taught programmes need no English certificate; the requirements below are for the English-taught routes, from each university’s own page.

United States

• Arizona State University: 95 for most undergraduate majors, 100 for Nursing, 105 for higher-requirement engineering programmes, 120 for the Cronkite journalism school.
• Northeastern University (College of Professional Studies): 105 for graduate and bachelor’s-completion programmes, 120 for doctoral programmes.

United Kingdom and Ireland

• University of Hertfordshire: 120 overall with no less than 95 in each band for IELTS-6.5 courses, 105 with 95 in each band for IELTS-6.0 courses.
• University of Southampton: 120 overall across its B2 bands with subscore floors from 105, 130 overall for C1 bands, judged on individual subscores.
• Trinity College Dublin: 120 with 100 in each subscore for standard entry, 130 with 110 for higher entry.
• University College Dublin: 90 with 80 in each subscore as standard, 100/90 and 110/100 for taught master’s, 120/110 and above for the highest bands.

Canada

• University of Toronto: 120 overall with 120 in Production for tests taken on or after 1 July 2024.
• University of British Columbia: 125 overall, with 115 Reading, 115 Listening, 120 Writing and 120 Speaking.

Spain, Italy, Germany and Australia

• IE University lists the Duolingo English Test at a minimum of 130 on its page for the English requirement attached to master’s programmes taught in Spanish; English-taught programmes are handled separately, so ask admissions.
• Politecnico di Milano‘s recognised external certificates include TOEFL, TOEIC, Cambridge and Trinity College London and do not list the Duolingo English Test.
• Constructor University (Bremen) lists 110 for graduate entry; many German public universities still ask for IELTS or TOEFL.
• Australian providers such as UNSW College publish Duolingo bands for their pathway programmes, but Home Affairs does not accept the DET for the student visa — see below.

Confirm every requirement with admissions in writing before you book a test, and start your shortlist in our university finder.

Chilean universities that list the DET

Inside Chile the DET is mostly a certification tool rather than an admission test:

• Universidad del Desarrollo lists the Duolingo English Test among the certificates that validate its English graduation requirement, set at a minimum of B1 on the CEFR, and its international office lists the DET among the certificates accepted as evidence of B1 or B2 for exchange applications. The specific Duolingo score is published in the university’s equivalence table, so download it from the UDD page before you book.
• Several other Chilean universities appear in Duolingo’s own list of institutions that use the test to certify students’ English; because those pages belong to Duolingo rather than to the universities, ask your own university’s language office which certificates it accepts and at what score.

Chilean scholarship bodies and exchange programmes often ask for an internationally recognised certificate too — check whether the DET is listed before you sit anything else.

Before you book: the visa rules that decide your test

Chilean applicants rarely meet an English test at the visa stage, but two destinations are exceptions:

• United States, Spain, Italy and Germany set no English test for the student visa; the programme’s requirement is what counts.
• United Kingdom — the DET is not a Secure English Language Test. gov.uk states that for degree-level study your Higher Education Provider can assess your English itself, provided it is equivalent to CEFR B2, which is how a DET-based offer becomes a CAS. Below degree level you need a SELT such as IELTS for UKVI.
• Australia — Home Affairs accepts only IELTS, PTE Academic, TOEFL iBT, Cambridge C1 Advanced, OET, LanguageCert Academic, CELPIP and the Michigan English Test, and states that it does not accept evidence from tests delivered completely online. The DET will not meet the subclass 500 requirement, even where a university accepts it for admission.
• Canada — the Student Direct Stream ended in November 2024; the regular study permit names no language test, so what counts is the test your designated learning institution accepts.

Australia is a popular Chilean destination, so if it is on your list next to the UK or the US, plan for two tests from the start.

Choosing your target score for the universities Chilean students apply to

The DET reports an overall score on the 10–160 scale in steps of five, plus four subscores — Literacy, Comprehension, Conversation and Production. Universities publish an overall minimum and, very often, a floor in each subscore. The floor is what catches candidates whose reading is strong and whose speaking is hesitant: a 120 overall with a 100 in Production fails Toronto’s requirement.

• 90–105: UCD’s standard band (90 with 80 each), Arizona State at 95, Hertfordshire’s 6.0 band at 105 with 95 in each band, Northeastern’s professional programmes at 105.
• 110–125: Constructor University at 110, Hertfordshire’s 6.5 band at 120 with 95, Southampton’s B2 bands at 120 — the range most UK degree courses occupy.
• 120–130+: Toronto at 120 with 120 in Production, UBC at 125 with subscore floors, Trinity at 120/100 and 130/110, Southampton’s C1 bands at 130, IE’s Spanish-taught master’s requirement at 130.

Plan for the highest requirement on your list with a margin above it. Use the score converter when a university quotes IELTS or TOEFL, read which Duolingo score you need, or send us the page on WhatsApp.

DET vs IELTS from Chile: the format comparison

Both exams measure the same English in different shapes. Once you know which of your universities accept which test, the decision is about format.

The practical rule for a student in Chile: use the DET everywhere your universities accept it, and keep IELTS for the visa routes that demand a Secure English Language Test. One more useful detail: Duolingo allows up to three certified tests in any 30-day period, so a prepared retake is a real option rather than a panic.

Studying online from Chile without losing the live experience

Chile sits three to four hours behind UTC depending on the season, five to six hours behind Egypt, so a live round scheduled for the Middle East can land in your morning, and one set for the Americas in your evening. Every Teachero course runs as live online classes taught in English by highly qualified, certified instructors, and every lesson recording is uploaded the same day, so a session that lands at an awkward hour in Chile is not lost: you watch it, submit the same work and receive the same corrections as everyone else.

• Standard course — more days, fewer hours per day.
• Intensive course — fewer days, more hours per day, for when the exam is close.
• Private 1-on-1 course — tailored to the question types that hold your score back.

All three include personal Speaking and Writing correction, a full mock test before the exam and WhatsApp support between sessions. Arabic-language support exists for Arabic speakers, but for students in Chile everything runs in English, which is the language you will be tested in. Message us on WhatsApp with your target university and deadline and we will suggest which format fits.

Chile is part of our Latin America hub, together with Argentina, Peru, Colombia, Mexico and Brazil.

Paying by card from Chile

Visa and Mastercard from Chilean banks work for the course payment without special formalities. Two things to check first:

• International online purchases must be enabled. Many Chilean banks let you switch foreign and online purchases on and off in the app; make sure both are on, and that the card’s limit for international purchases covers the payment.
• First-charge checks. A first payment to a foreign merchant is sometimes held by the bank’s fraud screen; a quick confirmation in the app or a call clears it.

If the card is refused, message us on WhatsApp and we will arrange another way to pay.