Remote high-stakes tests have become more common, and so have questions about how they work: Can someone use AI to cheat on a remote test? What happens if a test taker disconnects? How do you detect proxy test takers? Are online tests really as secure as tests taken in person?
Below are some of the most common questions people ask about remote testing, along with how the Duolingo English Test approaches security, identity verification, accessibility, and test integrity.
Does the Duolingo English Test use a secure browser?
Yes. Instead of a standard internet browser, the Duolingo English Test uses a proprietary secure testing application.
Early remote testing systems often relied on standard browsers with plugins or extensions. Those systems became increasingly vulnerable as cheating methods evolved. That’s why we designed our secure desktop application specifically for high-stakes remote assessment. The application helps prevent behaviors associated with outside assistance, including screen sharing, unauthorized software use, virtual machines, copy-paste behavior, and other forms of external interference during the exam.
But of course, we don’t rely on any one measure to secure the test! This application works in combination with additional layers of behavioral analysis and review, so that no one layer of our security is lode-bearing.
How does the Duolingo English Test verify identity?
The Duolingo English Test uses multiple layers of identity verification before and during the test. These systems include Government ID verification, facial recognition and facial matching, behavioral analysis, and device fingerprinting.
But it doesn't stop there! Rather than relying on a single ID check at the beginning of the exam, the DET continues identity verification throughout the testing process. This layered approach helps detect impersonation attempts, organized proxy testing operations, and repeated suspicious behavior across multiple test sessions.
Can AI detect cheating on the Duolingo English Test?
AI plays an important role in DET security systems, but human reviewers are, and have always been, essential. Human proctors use AI to enhance their ability to review the test session.
The DET uses AI-assisted security review to help identify things like suspicious behavioral patterns, possible impersonation attempts, behavioral patterns associated with unauthorized assistance, and potential deepfake manipulation. And we're always monitoring for repeated suspicious activity across administrations.
Our systems flag potentially suspicious behavior for our proctors, who use this diagnosis when they conduct their review of the test session. A real live human proctor reviews every test session, one at a time. This additional review helps distinguish between suspicious behavior and ordinary testing conditions such as background noise, connectivity issues, or natural test-taking behaviors.
The DET team also continuously updates security systems as AI-generated cheating techniques evolve.
How does the Duolingo English Test prevent content leaks?
If test questions spread online, future test takers may gain advance access to prompts or answers. This can make scores less reliable and reduce confidence that test results accurately reflect a student’s English proficiency.
The DET was designed to make large-scale question sharing extremely difficult. Rather than relying on a small set of fixed forms that repeat across administrations, the DET continuously varies question selection and adapts the test in real time based on a test taker’s responses. Because the test is adaptive, no two test forms are alike. This makes large-scale content sharing significantly more difficult than on fixed-form exams that reuse the same questions repeatedly.
Several design features support this approach: not only our adaptive test design that pulls content dynamically from a pool of tens of thousands of items, but also our use of integrated speaking and writing tasks, and questions that require open-ended responses instead of heavily multiple-choice formats.
How does the Duolingo English Test detect proxy test takers?
Rather than relying on a single signal, the DET evaluates patterns across the entire testing session. We leverage multiple systems to identify behavioral patterns associated with proxy testing and impersonation, including facial matching technology, behavioral and typing pattern analysis, and tools that let us detect hidden devices that people may use to communicate remotely, like our patent-pending ear scan technology.
This layered approach helps identify suspicious behavior while reducing the risk of false positives.
What happens if someone disconnects during the Duolingo English Test?
Internet and other technical interruptions can happen during any remote assessment. Rather than treating every interruption as suspicious on its own, the DET evaluates disconnects in the context of overall testing behavior.
Security systems may review the frequency of disconnects, the timing of interruptions, repeated interruptions across multiple tests, and repeated restart patterns associated with attempts to disrupt or manipulate the testing session. This helps us distinguish between legitimate technical issues and possible attempts to manipulate the testing process.
Does the Duolingo English Test use live proctors?
Some remote testing systems rely entirely on live proctors monitoring multiple test takers simultaneously; others rely heavily on automation. The DET is unique in that it uses a combination of technology-assisted review and trained human proctors who individually review each and every test session, one at a time.
The DET’s layered review system combines AI-assisted detection, session recording, behavioral analysis, and human review. That means proctors can pause a test session recording, speed it up, or slow it down. This approach allows reviewers to examine flagged events carefully, rather than relying entirely on real-time monitoring.
Far from being a compromise, this asynchronous proctoring model is an upgrade to traditional systems! We designed our system intentionally so that our human reviewers are positioned to do what they do best: carefully evaluate behavior in context, investigate patterns across a full testing session, and make consistent certification decisions based on a complete record rather than a few moments observed in real time.
How does the Duolingo English Test protect privacy?
Remote testing requires the collection of information such as video, audio, and identification documents. Because protecting that information is critical, the DET uses privacy protections designed to support secure testing while limiting unnecessary access to personal information.
These systems are built to support secure score certification, fair and accessible testing experiences, and protection of personal data. As remote assessment expands globally, these protections continue to evolve alongside changing privacy expectations and regulations.
Does the Duolingo English Test offer accommodations?
Yes. The DET provides accommodations for eligible test takers. DET accommodations may include extended time, screen reader compatibility, or other supports based on documented needs. The goal is to maintain both accessibility and test integrity.
How has the Duolingo English Test evolved over time?
As assessment science advances, the DET continuously updates its testing systems in response to new forms of digital fraud (such as AI impersonation or emerging cheating tools), as well as accessibility needs and expectations around digital privacy.
The DET’s layered approach to test security combines adaptive testing that pulls dynamically from large item pools, integrated skill assessment, sophisticated behavioral analysis, AI-assisted human review, and continuous security updates, to ensure that every test session is secure.