Duolingo English Test Prep for Arabic Speakers in Canada

Canadian universities that accept DET, and the score bands

Published DET requirements from Canadian universities are unusually consistent — most sit between 110 and 130, which maps roughly to IELTS 6.0–7.0:

Colleges and polytechnics — Seneca, Humber, George Brown, Centennial, NAIT, BCIT — typically accept lower bands, often 95–115 depending on the diploma. Programs in nursing, education, social work and law frequently sit higher than the university minimum or refuse DET entirely, because of professional licensing requirements. In Quebec, English-medium institutions such as McGill and Concordia accept DET for English proficiency, but your French obligations are a separate matter. Check Duolingo’s official accepting-institutions directory for your school, then confirm the number and any subscore minimums with the admissions office.

DET and the Canadian study permit — what actually changed

For years the standard advice was blunt: DET is fine for admission but useless for the Student Direct Stream, because SDS accepted IELTS only. Duolingo itself stated that SDS accepted no other English test. That advice is now out of date in an important way — IRCC discontinued the Student Direct Stream in November 2024, and all applicants use the regular study permit process.

Under the regular stream, the visa officer assesses your overall application, and the designated learning institution’s Letter of Acceptance — issued after it has accepted your English evidence — carries substantial weight. In practice, if your DLI accepted your DET score and issued an LOA, that is normally accepted as proof of language ability. But officers retain discretion, some programs and provincial attestation letters add their own conditions, and immigration rules change with little notice. So: use DET for admission with confidence, and verify the permit side with IRCC’s own website or a licensed consultant (RCIC) before you rely on it. If you are already in Canada and applying to a new program, the same logic applies to your permit extension.

Choosing your target score for Canada’s universities

Canadian requirements are tightly clustered, which makes the target easy to set and the margin easy to underestimate.

Because most Canadian minimums sit at 110, 115 or 120, and scoring moves in 5-point steps, aiming exactly at the published number leaves you no room at all. Add five points to the requirement, and check the subscore line before you plan anything: many departments state an overall minimum plus a floor on each subscore, and for Arabic speakers Production is the one that most often sits under it.

Bring the requirement from your offer letter to your first class and the syllabus is reordered around it.

Schedule and recordings

Classes are live on Zoom, and every lecture is uploaded the same day as a lesson recording you can review, so you can follow from wherever you are in the world. We send the exact schedule of the next round on WhatsApp. If the round does not fit around your classes or shifts, the private 1-on-1 course runs on your schedule and the intensive course compresses everything into fewer days with more hours a day.

Booking and payment

The standard course is a full live course on Zoom, with corrected homework, personal Speaking and Writing correction, full mock tests, plus WhatsApp support; the private 1-on-1 course runs on your own schedule. Class times are set per round — message us on WhatsApp for the next round’s details.

Paying is straightforward: Visa and Mastercard are accepted after you message us on WhatsApp, and Canadian debit cards carrying a Visa or Mastercard logo work too. If a first international charge gets flagged by your bank, approve it in your banking app and retry, or message us on WhatsApp for alternative transfer options. The Duolingo exam itself is booked separately with Duolingo.

Why Arabic-language support is the edge for Arab students in Canada

Canada’s Arab community is large and long-established — in Montreal, Ottawa, Mississauga, Windsor and Calgary you can live a full life in Arabic and still function in English at work. That mixed profile is exactly what a generic English class handles badly. It assumes you are learning English. You are not; you are learning a test that measures four specific things and penalises specific habits.

For Arabic speakers the recurring losses are in Production and Conversation: Speaking answers that run dry at forty seconds because the thought was assembled in Arabic and translated live; Writing that piles coordinated clauses on top of each other instead of developing one clear argument; dropped articles and shifted prepositions under the clock; Read Aloud rushed because the eye reads for gist; Summarize the Conversation answers that describe the topic rather than the content. Naming those errors in Arabic and drilling the fix in English is far faster than working around them in a class where nobody shares your first language.

Our certified instructors teach every session in English, switching into Arabic exactly where strategy, timing, scoring logic or your own error patterns call for it; all exam terms — Read Aloud, Interactive Writing, Speak About the Photo, Writing Sample — stay in English. Full content details are shared with enrolled students. Most students reach their target with focused, structured preparation.

For parents paying from Egypt or the Gulf for a student in Canada

A large share of our Canadian students are enrolled by a parent in Egypt or the Gulf. Here is what you need to know before you pay.

• Payment from your own country is normal. InstaPay or a local card from Egypt; Visa or Mastercard from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain or Jordan after you message us on WhatsApp. Message WhatsApp for international transfer options and we will confirm the enrolment directly to you.
• Ask the teacher first. Our certified instructors teach the whole course. Send them the university name and the score on the offer and they will tell you honestly whether the standard round is enough or whether the private course is the better fit.
• Know the score before anything else. University of Toronto and Waterloo want 120; Concordia and Windsor accept 110. Planning five points above the requirement is what stops a second attempt being necessary.
• Watch the progress. Homework comes back corrected, with Speaking and Writing marked personally by a teacher, and you can ask for an update on WhatsApp any time.
• Check the programme page with us. Send the link and we will read the English requirements with you, including any subscore minimum and whether that faculty accepts the DET at all.

Read next: the complete DET guide, universities accepting DET, how scoring works and the most common DET mistakes.