From our research
What this interview looks like
All four tests deliver their speaking section on a computer with a microphone, strict per-task timing and no human examiner in the room; responses are scored by automated systems, with human raters also involved for TOEFL, Duolingo and CELPIP. PTE Academic's speaking tasks are read aloud, repeat sentence, describe image, retell lecture and answer short question, with Pearson adding respond to a situation and summarise group discussion to the speaking and writing section in 2025; each item is scored on content, oral fluency and pronunciation and the section reports on the 10 to 90 scale. TOEFL iBT speaking has long run four tasks in about sixteen minutes, one independent opinion task and three integrated tasks built on a campus conversation or an academic lecture, scored 0 to 30; ETS has announced a redesigned, shorter TOEFL for 2026, so candidates should check the current task list on the ETS site. The Duolingo English Test is adaptive and mixes read aloud, listen then speak, speak about the photo and a longer speaking sample into a roughly one-hour test scored 10 to 160. CELPIP General speaking has eight tasks in fifteen to twenty minutes, from giving advice to describing an unusual situation, and reports levels 1 to 12. The ExamPilot mock compresses this into twelve minutes with one examiner who runs a mic check, three or four timed tasks of the task type you choose, then two or three independent prompts in your test's style, and scores you on pronunciation, oral fluency, content and accuracy, and vocabulary and grammar.
How it is weighted
The overall score is reported on a 10 to 160 scale with four subscores: literacy, comprehension, conversation and production. Speaking tasks feed conversation and production most heavily, and the speaking sample and video interview are also shared with institutions for human review. Universities typically ask for an overall 105 to 125, and some set a minimum on individual subscores.
Who this is for
The Duolingo English Test is taken online at home at any time, with no age or academic requirement, and is accepted by several thousand institutions, including many in the United States, the UK and Canada; acceptance for visas is more limited, so check the destination. The adaptive test takes about an hour plus a ten-minute video interview and writing sample that are sent unscored to institutions, and results arrive within two days.
The panel focuses on
- Speaking for sixty to ninety seconds on a prompt without running dry
- Answering every part of a multi-part prompt
- Listening to a spoken question and responding directly
- Describing a photo with people, place, action and detail
- Reading a sentence or paragraph aloud clearly for the automated scorer
- Vocabulary range and sentence variety for the production subscore
Step 1
Pick your subject
The expert on the panel probes these areas at the level of this post. Optional here; you can choose during setup.
Step 2
Choose how you want to be interviewed
1:1 interview
One interviewer runs every round and adapts the focus as you go. Lower pressure; ideal for a first attempt.
Ms. Nandita Rao
Language expert
Panel interview · 2 members
Most realisticEach member leads their own round and hands over to the next. They hear each other, so a weak answer will be revisited.
Ms. Nandita Rao
Language expert
Mr. Joseph D'Souza
Language expert
What to expect
4 rounds · 12 minutes
A one-on-one simulation of the speaking section of a computer-delivered English test: PTE Academic, TOEFL iBT, the Duolingo English Test or CELPIP. A language examiner runs a short mic check and instructions, then delivers three or four timed tasks from the candidate's test family (read aloud, repeat sentence, describe image, retell lecture, answer short question, or the TOEFL, Duolingo and CELPIP equivalents), followed by two or three longer independent speaking prompts where the candidate states and supports an opinion, speaks about a topic, gives advice or describes a scene. The examiner reads every stimulus aloud exactly as the test would present it on screen, keeps strict time, and does not teach or correct during the test. Scoring follows the four traits the real automated scorers measure: pronunciation, oral fluency, content and accuracy, and vocabulary and grammar.
- Round 1
Mic check and instructions
· 1:00Confirm the candidate can be heard clearly, settle them, and set the rules of the test: timed tasks, no repetition of stimuli, the examiner will not help or correct during the test.
Ms. Nandita Rao1–2 questions - Round 2
Timed test tasks
· 5:00Deliver three or four timed tasks of the candidate's chosen task type exactly as the real test does, so the candidate practises the mechanics: beginning promptly, reproducing text accurately, picking the key data from an image, retelling a lecture, or answering in one phrase.
Ms. Nandita Rao3–4 questions - Round 3
Independent speaking prompts
· 5:00Elicit two or three longer stretches of speech on opinion, advice or description prompts, so fluency, development, vocabulary range and grammatical control can be judged beyond reproduction tasks.
Ms. Nandita Rao2–3 questionsup to 1 follow-up each - Round 4
End of test
· 1:00End the test neutrally, the way a real test centre does, and tell the candidate their scored report follows.
Ms. Nandita Rao1–1 questions
Sample questions
PTE / TOEFL Speaking Duolingo DET interview questions
Questions panels commonly ask in the PTE / TOEFL Speaking Duolingo DET interview, with what a strong answer covers. Practise them aloud with the AI panel.
- Speaking sample
Speak about the topic for up to ninety seconds: describe a place in your city that you think every visitor should see, and explain why.
What a strong answer covers
Use the preparation time to plan three parts: the place, what makes it special with concrete details, and why visitors should go. Keep speaking for at least sixty seconds with varied vocabulary. Avoid stopping after a few sentences or drifting into a list of unrelated places.
- Speak about the photo
Speak about the photo: you see a crowded railway platform with people waiting, a vendor selling tea and a train arriving. Describe what you see.
What a strong answer covers
Describe the overall scene, then people, actions and details using present continuous, and maybe a guess about the time or mood. Use precise vocabulary. Avoid listing nouns without sentences or speaking too briefly.
- Listen, then speak
Listen, then speak: the speaker asks, which practical ability are you hoping to pick up over the coming year, and what is your plan for getting good at it?
What a strong answer covers
Answer the actual question directly: name a skill, give your reason, explain your plan with specific steps, and add an example. Speak for the full time. Avoid misunderstanding the question or giving a generic answer.
- Read, then speak
Read, then speak: talk about a time you helped someone. Include who it was, what you did, and how it made you feel.
What a strong answer covers
Answer every part of the prompt in order, using past tenses, specific details and reflection. Organise your answer clearly. Avoid missing one of the parts or stopping early.
- Read aloud
Read aloud: The museum offers free guided tours every Saturday morning for visitors of all ages.
What a strong answer covers
Read the sentence clearly at a natural pace, stressing the content words such as free, guided and Saturday, and pronouncing word endings fully like offers and tours. The automated scorer rewards clarity and rhythm. Avoid rushing, mumbling, adding words or restarting the sentence after a small slip.
- Speaking sample
Speak about the topic: should schools ban mobile phones during class hours? Give reasons for your answer.
What a strong answer covers
Take a clear position early, give two reasons such as fewer distractions and less cyberbullying, or emergency contact and learning apps, add a short example from your school days, and conclude. Speak for the full time with varied sentence structure. Avoid repeating the same point in different words or stopping after thirty seconds.
- Speak about the photo
Speak about the photo: a family is having dinner together at home. Describe the scene in as much detail as you can.
What a strong answer covers
Give an overview first, then describe the people, their positions, what they are doing, the food and the mood, using the present continuous and precise adjectives. Add a reasonable guess about the occasion. Keep talking for the full time. Avoid saying only a few sentences or listing nouns without describing actions.
- Listen, then speak
Listen, then speak: the speaker asks why some families choose a quiet small town over a big city. Respond.
What a strong answer covers
Answer the question directly with two or three reasons, such as lower costs, cleaner air and closer communities, compare briefly with city life, and support one reason with an example. Speak fluently for the full time with linking words. Avoid drifting into your own city's problems without answering why people choose small towns.
- Speaking sample
Speak about the topic: what is the most useful invention of the last fifty years, and why?
What a strong answer covers
Name one invention, such as the smartphone or UPI payments, explain two concrete ways it changed daily life with examples, mention a drawback briefly and conclude. Use varied vocabulary and sentence structures to lift the production score. Avoid listing several inventions without depth or stopping well before the time ends.
Reading is not rehearsing. Answer these out loud to an AI PTE / TOEFL Speaking Duolingo DET panel that follows up like the real one.
Practise these questionsMeet the panel
Your AI interviewers
Distinct personas, voices and questioning styles, briefed on this post.
Ms. Nandita Rao
ChairLanguage expert
PTE Academic and TOEFL iBT trainer and mock examiner, test-prep academy (Hyderabad); CELTA-certified
Precise, unhurried, neutral in the test and exact in the report.
Female voice · 1 languages
Mr. Joseph D'Souza
Language expert
Speaking examiner and IELTS, PTE and CELPIP coach, language centre (Bengaluru); formerly a university communication-skills lecturer
Calm, formal, even-toned, attentive to fluency and listenability.
Male voice · 1 languages
Languages
Answer in the language you think in
The panel asks in your chosen language. Switch mid-answer if you like.
- English
How scoring works
A report you can act on
Every round is scored on the rubric
Each interviewer scores only the criteria their round covers. Weights add up to your overall score out of 100.
Only what you actually said counts
Feedback quotes your own answers. Rounds you skip show as “Not assessed” rather than a zero.
Communication is always measured
Fluency, clarity, confidence and structure are tracked across the whole interview, in any language.
Pass mark, then a plan
You see the pass mark for this interview, your gaps, and the courses that close them fastest.
Scored on
- Pronunciation25%
Speech is intelligible to a regular listener: vowels and consonants are produced clearly, word stress and sentence stress fall in the right places, and intonation is natural. PTE scores this 0 to 5 on how native-like and consistently intelligible the speech is, and marks down mispronounced or dropped words in read aloud and repeat sentence. TOEFL raters score delivery on a 0 to 4 scale for clarity and the listener effort required. Duolingo and CELPIP both grade intelligibility over accent. A regional Indian accent is not penalised; unclear or swallowed syllables, wrong stress on multi-syllable academic words and a flat monotone are.
- Oral fluency25%
Smooth, effortless speech at a natural pace with phrasing that follows meaning. PTE's fluency trait, scored 0 to 5, penalises hesitations, false starts, repetitions and self-corrections heavily, and rewards continuous speech even when content is thin. TOEFL delivery looks for sustained, well-paced speech with only minor pauses. Duolingo measures speaking time and continuity in the speaking sample. CELPIP grades listenability, including whether the response fills the allotted time. Red flags: long silences at the start, uh and um fillers, restarting sentences, running out of things to say well before time.
- Content and accuracy30%
The response does the task. In read aloud and repeat sentence, content is the proportion of words reproduced correctly in sequence. In describe image and retell lecture, PTE awards content for naming the topic, the key figures or points, trends or relationships and a conclusion or implication. In answer short question it is the single correct word or phrase. For TOEFL independent tasks, topic development means a clear position with reasons and a specific example; for integrated tasks, accurate relay of the reading and listening points and how they connect. Duolingo and CELPIP reward relevant, developed, task-complete answers. Red flags: paraphrasing instead of reading, inventing numbers not in the stimulus, answering a different question, generic content with no detail.
- Vocabulary and grammar20%
Range and control of language appropriate to an academic or everyday register. PTE scores grammar and vocabulary within the enabling skills on retell lecture and describe image. TOEFL language use, scored 0 to 4, rewards a mix of simple and complex structures used accurately and precise word choice. Duolingo's production subscore and CELPIP's vocabulary and listenability bands reward varied, precise wording. Red flags: repeated basic errors in tense, agreement and articles; memorised templates recited regardless of the stimulus; the same connector used in every sentence; wrong collocations that obscure meaning.
Pass mark 60 / 100 · Computer-based speaking test — timed tasks with an AI examiner
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