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

Universities Zimbabwean students apply to with a DET score

South Africa is the first stop for many Zimbabwean students, followed by the United Kingdom, Australia, the United States, Canada and Ireland. The DET’s usefulness varies sharply across that list, so here is what the universities themselves publish.

South Africa

• University of Cape Town lists TOEFL iBT, IELTS Academic, PTE Academic and the National Benchmark Test on its language-requirements page and does not list the Duolingo English Test. It also exempts applicants who passed English in a school-leaving qualification from an English-medium institution — which covers most Zimbabwean A-level candidates. Check the exemption before you book any test.

United Kingdom

• 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 starting at 105, 130 overall for C1 bands, judged on individual subscores.
• University of Sheffield publishes IELTS 6.5 with 6.0 in each component and does not list the Duolingo English Test on its English-requirements 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.

Canada and Ireland

• University of Toronto: 120 overall with 120 in Production (tests from 1 July 2024).
• University of British Columbia: 125 overall, with 115 Reading, 115 Listening, 120 Writing and 120 Speaking.
• Trinity College Dublin: 120 with 100 in each subscore (standard), 130 with 110 (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.

Australia

• Providers such as UNSW College publish Duolingo bands for their pathway programmes, but the Department of Home Affairs does not accept the DET for the student visa — see the next section before you plan on Australia.

Where a page is silent, write to admissions and keep the reply. Build your shortlist in our university finder.

Is the DET used inside Zimbabwe?

Not for Zimbabwean applicants. Universities admit on ZIMSEC or Cambridge A-level results and teach in English, so no international certificate is asked. Africa University in Mutare, which takes students from across the continent, tells applicants from non-English-speaking countries that they need a certificate of English proficiency or may be given a short examination, names IELTS and TOEFL, and does not list the Duolingo English Test. For a Zimbabwean student, then, the DET is purely an outbound document.

Before you book: the visa rules that decide your test

Admission and immigration are decided by different people. For Zimbabwean applicants the key routes are:

• South Africa — the study visa carries no English test of its own; the university’s language rule applies, and UCT’s exemption for English-medium school-leavers is typical.
• United Kingdom — the DET is not on UKVI’s Secure English Language Test list. 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 DET-based offers become a CAS. Below degree level, you need a SELT.
• 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 satisfy the subclass 500 English requirement.
• 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.

If Australia is on your list next to the UK or Canada, plan for two tests rather than discovering the problem after the offer.

Choosing your target score for the universities Zimbabwean 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. That floor is what catches strong speakers with loose writing: a 125 overall with a 110 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: the range most UK degree courses occupy — Hertfordshire’s 6.5 band at 120 with 95 and Southampton’s B2 bands at 120.
• 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.

Plan for the highest requirement on your list with a margin above it. The score converter translates the IELTS bands universities quote, this guide explains subscores, and you can always send the page to us on WhatsApp.

DET vs IELTS from Zimbabwe: 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 Zimbabwe: 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 Zimbabwe without losing the live experience

Zimbabwe runs on Central Africa Time, UTC+2, the same hour as Egypt for most of the year, so live rounds fall at natural times for you. 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 Zimbabwe 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 Zimbabwe 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.

Zimbabwe is part of our Africa hub, alongside South Africa and the rest of the region.

Paying by card from Zimbabwe

Visa and Mastercard from Zimbabwean banks work for the course payment, with one condition that every Zimbabwean already knows: the card has to be funded in foreign currency.

• Use a USD or prefunded card. NMB Bank, for example, directs customers who want to pay online to a Visa prefunded card loaded with foreign currency; other banks offer USD nostro debit cards for the same purpose. A ZiG card will generally be refused by a foreign merchant.
• Check the card’s daily online limit before you pay, and that e-commerce is enabled on it.
• Diaspora family often pay on a student’s behalf from the UK, South Africa or Australia; that works too.

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