Duolingo 95 to 100 to IELTS: what band is it?
Quick answer
Duolingo's scoring page relates a Duolingo English Test overall of 95 to 100 to IELTS 5.5. 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
A Duolingo 95 or 100 sits on the line between “modest” and “competent” in IELTS terms, and the table calls it 5.5.
Duolingo’s row for 95 and 100
According to the “Understand scoring” page, an overall of 95 or 100 relates to IELTS 5.5. The score just below, 90, is in the IELTS 5 row, which is three steps wide, and 105 starts the IELTS 6 row. These pairings are Duolingo’s own, which it says are backed by its research, and IELTS publishes nothing comparable for the Duolingo English Test. Every row is in the general answer.
What 5.5 means on the IELTS scale
An overall 5.5 sits halfway between band 5, the modest user, and band 6, the competent user. IELTS places it at B2, the lowest overall band there, on “IELTS and the CEFR”. The IELTS 5.5 answer gives more.
How four scores make 5.5
Listening 6, Writing 5, Reading 5.5 and Speaking 5.5 total 22 and average 5.5. A weaker Writing score can be offset by stronger sections, which the overall score hides and the table does not examine.
The point of caution
An overall-to-overall comparison is not a promise of equal treatment. Each institution decides which tests it accepts and at what score, so read its own page; its stated Duolingo figure replaces this table. If a page asks for “IELTS 5.5” and you hold a Duolingo 95 or 100, the table shows you are in the matching row; it does not say whether the page will take your result, nor whether it also sets a minimum for each subscore.
Up and down
Above is Duolingo 105 to 115 for IELTS 6 and below is Duolingo 80 to 90 for IELTS 5. The score converter lists the other tests too.
What this means for your score
A requirement written as "IELTS 5.5 overall" and read against Duolingo's table points to 95 as the lowest score in the row. A 90 sits in the IELTS 5 row, and 105 starts the IELTS 6 row.
Frequently asked questions
Is Duolingo 95 equal to IELTS 5.5?
On Duolingo's table, an overall of 95 to 100 relates to IELTS 5.5. 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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