With AI’s growing presence, there is increasing concern among admissions officers about the authenticity of students' application materials. This concern stems from AI's ability to generate sophisticated and seemingly genuine essays, recommendation letters, and personal statements, making it challenging to distinguish between the work of a prospective student and that of a machine.
In the context of heightened scrutiny over the authenticity of application materials due to AI's influence, the Duolingo English Test (DET) offers a robust solution to admissions officers. How?
Boost your confidence in students' application materials
The DET is specifically designed to assess an applicant's proficiency in English, offering comprehensive evaluation through a variety of tasks that can help universities evaluate an applicant’s true ability to write and express ideas in English.
This includes tasks that ask individuals to describe pictures and respond to both audio and text prompts. These tasks check students’ ability to organize their thoughts (like using the right grammar and vocabulary) and how well they use language in real-life situations. Test takers' responses are recorded and are shared with schools along with an applicant’s score.
“A test against GPT”
According to a Duolingo survey of institutions, 45% of respondents said DET writing and speaking samples are currently evaluated in the application process in addition to the test score data. A respondent from a private research university in the US shared, “The samples show us a snapshot of the student’s abilities when writing or speaking ‘on the fly'. It’s also a test against ChatGPT!”
Among those who use the writing and/or speaking samples, 81.2% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that they helped to better evaluate candidates for admission.
This statistic underscores the value institutions place on holistic review processes. By incorporating DET writing and speaking samples into evaluations, admissions teams gain deeper insights into applicants' language abilities, going beyond numerical scores to assess potential student contributions in academic and social settings.
Evaluate your applicants' true ability
As you evaluate your applicants in the era of AI, consider using the DET’s writing and speaking samples to supplement your review—and keep in mind that the DET is the most affordable English language proficiency test currently available to international students for high-stakes admissions, and can deliver results to institutions within 48 hours!
Want a deeper understanding of how the DET ensures the integrity and security of our testing process? Check out this article which offers a detailed look into the innovative approaches we employ to maintain a secure testing environment!