Duolingo 140 to 145 to IELTS: what band is it?
Quick answer
Duolingo's scoring page relates a Duolingo English Test overall of 140 to 145 to IELTS 7.5. The table compares overall scores only, and it is Duolingo's own estimate: IELTS publishes no Duolingo table. Each institution decides which tests it accepts and at what score.
Practise what this page describes in the app: Speaking and Writing marked on the four official criteria as a band range, Reading and Listening tests marked the moment you finish.
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Part of The IELTS test, answered
Anyone who has scored 140 or 145 on the Duolingo English Test and is asked for “IELTS 7.5” wants to know whether the two meet. The test maker’s table gives the first half of the answer.
What Duolingo lists
Duolingo’s scoring page relates an overall of 140 or 145 to IELTS 7.5, a row of two scores like the rows for 7 and 8 around it. A 135 belongs to the IELTS 7 row and a 150 to the IELTS 8 row. These are Duolingo’s own comparisons, which it says its research supports, and IELTS has no Duolingo table of its own. See the general answer for every row.
What 7.5 is on the IELTS scale
An overall 7.5 sits halfway between band 7, the good user, and band 8, the very good user. IELTS aligns overall bands 7 to 8 with C1 in “IELTS and the CEFR”. The 7.5 answer discusses the band itself.
How a 7.5 is made
Listening 8, Reading 7.5, Writing 7 and Speaking 7.5 total 30 and average 7.5. Because IELTS reports whole and half bands, two candidates can reach the same overall with a different mix of strengths, and the Duolingo row says nothing about the mix.
Before you plan around it
A concordance of overall scores is not a guarantee. Each institution decides which tests it accepts and at what score, so read its own page; where it publishes a Duolingo requirement, that requirement counts. If a page asks for “IELTS 7.5” and you hold a Duolingo 140 or 145, the table shows you are in the matching row; it cannot say whether the page takes Duolingo at all, nor whether each subscore has its own minimum on top.
Up and down the table
Next up is Duolingo 150 and 155 for IELTS 8, and next down is Duolingo 130 and 135 for IELTS 7. The band score calculator works out an overall from four sections.
What this means for your score
A requirement written as "IELTS 7.5 overall" and read against Duolingo's table points to 140 as the lowest score in the row. A 135 sits in the IELTS 7 row, and 150 starts the IELTS 8 row.
Frequently asked questions
Is Duolingo 140 equal to IELTS 7.5?
On Duolingo's table, an overall of 140 to 145 relates to IELTS 7.5. It is Duolingo's comparison of overall scores, not an IELTS figure, and where an institution states its own Duolingo requirement, that figure is what counts.
Do universities accept Duolingo instead of IELTS?
Only each institution can say. Neither test maker decides for the institutions that accept their scores, so read the admissions, employer or visa page you are applying through for the tests it accepts and the score it asks for on each.
Is Duolingo easier than IELTS?
Neither test maker publishes a difficulty comparison. Duolingo's table relates scores to IELTS bands; it says nothing about which test is harder, and a page that claims otherwise is not quoting either official source.
How do I convert section scores?
Duolingo publishes a similar comparison for its four subscores against the IELTS section bands on its scoring page, and the table on this page covers overall scores only. Read each section on Duolingo's own page; IELTS reports the overall as the average of the four sections to the nearest half band, which the band score calculator shows.
Sources
- Understand scoring: overall score comparison — Duolingo English Test
- IELTS scoring in detail: band scores explained — IELTS.org
- IELTS and the CEFR — IELTS.org
Last verified 3 Nov 2026
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