English Proficiency Requirements Compared: TOEFL, IELTS, PTE and Duolingo Minimums by Country
Almost every international student applying to an English-taught degree has to answer the same practical question: which English test should I take, and what score do I actually need? The honest answer has two layers, and confusing them is expensive. The first layer is admission: each university — often each programme within a university — sets its own accepted tests and minimum scores. The second layer is immigration: some countries also control which tests count for the student visa itself, and a test a university happily accepts for admission may count for nothing at the visa stage. A student who books the cheapest or fastest test without checking both layers can end up with an offer they cannot use.
This guide compares the four tests international students ask about most — TOEFL iBT, IELTS Academic, PTE Academic and the Duolingo English Test — across the five destinations StudyGraduate readers target most: the USA, the UK, Canada, Australia and Germany. It gives you the verified score scales from each test provider, typical minimums by country drawn from official university and government sources, the visa rules that override university preferences (including why Duolingo is not a UK Secure English Language Test and why Australia does not accept at-home tests for visas), how to read “overall score plus no band below” requirements, when waivers and Medium of Instruction evidence genuinely apply, and a decision framework for choosing one test that satisfies your whole shortlist. It is written for 2026/2027 applicants, especially students from Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Nepal, Nigeria and Indonesia.
Use this guide alongside our universities directory to check programme pages one by one, our test preparation hub for preparation routes, and the companion comparison in our guide IELTS vs TOEFL vs Duolingo vs PTE: which English test should you take. For country-by-country IELTS detail, see also our IELTS band requirements guide — noting that the en-dash and year formatting of that URL should be confirmed on the live guides index if you share it externally.
At a Glance: The Four Tests, Verified From the Providers
Before comparing minimums, fix the scales in your mind — because a “65” means something entirely different on each test, and conversion charts are approximations, not equivalences set by any government. The facts below come from the test providers themselves.
| Test | Provider | Score scale | Format and duration | Typical result speed and validity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| IELTS Academic | IELTS partners (British Council, IDP, Cambridge) | Band 1–9 for each skill and overall, in half-band steps — see the official IELTS band score descriptions | Listening, Reading, Writing and a face-to-face Speaking interview; about 2 hours 45 minutes; paper or computer at a test centre | Results in a few days on computer, longer on paper; scores generally recognised for 2 years |
| TOEFL iBT | ETS | 0–120 total, from four section scores of 0–30. Note: ETS is introducing a 1–6 band reporting scale for TOEFL iBT taken from January 2026 alongside the transition — check which scale your university and visa authority expect for your test date | Reading, Listening, Speaking and Writing, fully on computer including integrated tasks; about 2 hours in the current format | Scores in about a week; valid 2 years |
| PTE Academic | Pearson | 10–90 overall and for each communicative skill, on the Global Scale of English — confirmed on Pearson’s official PTE scoring pages | Speaking & Writing, Reading and Listening in one computer-based sitting at a test centre, largely machine-scored with human review processes; about 2 hours | Often within 48 hours to a few days; valid 2 years for most purposes |
| Duolingo English Test (DET) | Duolingo | 10–160 overall in 5-point steps, with individual and integrated subscores (Literacy, Comprehension, Conversation, Production) — confirmed on Duolingo’s official scoring pages | Adaptive online test taken at home in about 1 hour, plus a writing sample and video interview shared with institutions | Results in about 48 hours; valid 2 years |
Cost follows the same ordering in most countries: Duolingo is by far the cheapest (around USD 70 in 2026), while IELTS, TOEFL and PTE all sit broadly in the USD 200–275 band depending on your country — confirm the exact fee on each provider’s official site for your test centre, because fees are set locally and change. Do not let price make this decision on its own. The relevant question is never “which test is cheapest?” but “which test is accepted, at the score I can reach, by every university on my shortlist and by the visa authority for my destination?” A cheap test you have to replace with an expensive one in a panic before a visa deadline is the most expensive test of all.
The Country × Test Table: Typical Admission Minimums
The table below gives typical minimums for direct entry to degree programmes — the ranges within which most universities in each country set their requirements for bachelor’s and taught master’s programmes. They are planning ranges synthesised from official university requirements, not promises. Competitive programmes, and professionally accredited programmes in fields such as nursing, teaching, law and medicine, sit at or above the top of each range; foundation and pathway programmes sit below it. Research degrees often set higher writing minimums in particular. The only figure that governs your application is the one on your programme’s own page.
| Country | IELTS Academic (overall, typical) | TOEFL iBT (typical) | PTE Academic (typical) | Duolingo (typical, where accepted for admission) | What drives the variation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| USA | 6.5–7.0 for most master’s and competitive bachelor’s programmes; 6.0 at many less selective institutions; 7.5 at the most selective graduate programmes | 80–100 for most programmes; 90–100+ at selective universities; some institutions set section minimums, especially Speaking | 58–68 where accepted; acceptance is broad but not universal — check each university | 110–125 at the many universities that accept DET; strongest acceptance of the five countries | No national minimum — every university sets its own. Section minimums for teaching assistantships are a hidden second hurdle for funded PhDs. |
| UK | 6.5 overall with no band below 6.0 is the modal requirement; 6.0 for some programmes; 7.0–7.5 for law, medicine, journalism and top universities | Roughly 87–100+ where accepted, with strict section minimums; acceptance and score tables vary by university | Roughly 59–70 overall with component minimums for the UKVI route; standard PTE tables vary by university | Accepted for admission by some universities (examples include Imperial College London and the University of Surrey, which publish equivalencies) and not others (for example, Nottingham Trent states it does not accept Duolingo); never a SELT — see visa section | Each university publishes its own equivalency table; “no band below” rules are stricter in the UK than anywhere else in this guide. |
| Canada | 6.5 overall with no band below 6.0 for most universities; 6.0–6.5 for many college programmes | 86–100 for universities; section minimums common at top institutions | 58–65 for most universities and colleges; PTE Core is the separate test used for immigration language benchmarks, not admission | 110–125 where accepted; acceptance is university-by-university and broad at colleges and many universities | Admission is institutional; immigration language rules (CLB levels) apply separately at the post-graduation work permit and permanent residence stages. |
| Australia | 6.5 overall with no band below 6.0 for most degrees; 6.0 floor for the Student visa itself in standard cases (see visa section); 7.0+ for teaching, nursing and other registered professions | Roughly 79–94 for university admission where accepted on the 0–120 scale; for visas, Home Affairs specifies the listed TOEFL iBT product and scale — see warning below | 58–64 for most degrees; PTE is deeply embedded in Australian admissions and migration | Accepted for admission by some universities; not accepted for Australian visa purposes — a centre-based approved test is needed where the visa requires English evidence | Two gates: the university’s (usually higher) and Home Affairs’ visa minimums, plus professional registration gates in health and teaching that are higher still. |
| Germany (English-taught programmes) | 6.0–6.5 typical; some programmes accept 5.5–6.0, competitive programmes ask 6.5–7.0 | Roughly 80–95 typical, programme-set | Roughly 58–65 where accepted; acceptance is narrower than in Australia/Canada — verify programme by programme | Accepted by a minority of programmes; growing but never assume it | No national table for admission; DAAD and university pages govern. German-taught programmes require German proficiency instead — a different system entirely. |
To make those ranges concrete, consider two verified institutional examples. MIT’s graduate programmes illustrate the top end in the USA — see the MIT Linguistics admissions FAQ for the published minimums in full: the Department of Linguistics and Philosophy and the Physics department both publish a minimum IELTS of 7 and a TOEFL minimum of 100 on the 0–120 iBT scale (with the new 1–6 scale equivalent also listed by MIT), a Cambridge C1/C2 route, and — in Linguistics and Philosophy — a Duolingo minimum of 135. Those figures, from MIT’s own pages, show two things at once: how high selective US graduate minimums really are, and that even at that level Duolingo can appear in a US university’s accepted list with a demanding threshold. Contrast that with the modal UK pattern of IELTS 6.5 with no band below 6.0, or the Australian visa floor of IELTS 6.0 overall discussed below, and you can see why “what score do I need?” has no country-free answer — barely even a university-free one.
The Visa Layer: Where Governments Overrule Universities
United Kingdom — the SELT rule. For a UK Student visa, where a Secure English Language Test (SELT) is required, it must come from a Home Office-approved provider taken at an approved centre. The approved routes include IELTS for UKVI and PTE Academic UKVI, alongside LanguageCert, Trinity College London (inside the UK) and Skills for English (outside the UK). Duolingo is not a SELT provider and TOEFL is not on the SELT list. There is an important nuance: for study at degree level or above, a UK higher education provider with a track record of compliance may assess your English itself and record that assessment on your Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies (CAS), which is how some students obtain a Student visa without a SELT even though their university accepted Duolingo, TOEFL or another form of evidence for admission. Below degree level, and for many pre-sessional English pathways, a SELT is required outright. The safe rule is the one the UK section of our research kept returning: never assume Duolingo or TOEFL evidence that satisfied a UK university will satisfy UK Visas and Immigration — ask the university, before you accept the offer, exactly how your English will be evidenced on your CAS. The Student visa standard itself is CEFR B2 for degree-level study (B1 below degree level), which is why IELTS 5.5–6.0-equivalent evidence appears in visa discussions even where the university’s admission bar is higher.
Australia — centre-based tests only, and a TOEFL warning. The Australian Department of Home Affairs accepts a specified list of English tests taken at a secure test centre for Student visa (Subclass 500) purposes — including IELTS Academic and General Training, PTE Academic, TOEFL iBT, Cambridge C1 Advanced, and additional tests added in the August 2025 update such as CELPIP General, LANGUAGECERT Academic and the Michigan English Test. Home Affairs does not accept fully online or at-home versions, including IELTS Online and the TOEFL iBT Home Edition. Under the current instrument, the standard Student visa minimum is IELTS 6.0 overall (with lower packaged thresholds where the course is combined with at least 10 or 20 weeks of ELICOS or an eligible pathway). Two traps deserve emphasis. First, Duolingo does not appear on the Home Affairs list at all: a Duolingo score may support a university offer but cannot supply visa English evidence where evidence is required. Second, TOEFL takers for Australia must select the specific “TOEFL iBT for Australia” option that Study Australia — the Australian Government’s official study portal — describes, using the 0–120 scale; TOEFL results from the period when the test was not an approved product (26 July 2023 to 4 May 2024) are not accepted for Australian visa purposes. Read the official list on the Study Australia language testing page and the Home Affairs Student visa pages before booking anything.
Canada — admission versus immigration are different systems. For admission, Canadian universities and colleges each set their own accepted tests, and IELTS, TOEFL, PTE Academic and Duolingo all appear across the sector. For immigration, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) works in Canadian Language Benchmarks (CLB) and accepts specific tests for specific purposes: since November 2024, graduates applying for a Post-Graduation Work Permit must demonstrate CLB 7 (university graduates) or CLB 5 (college graduates) language ability through an IRCC-accepted test taken within the previous two years. Duolingo is not an IRCC-accepted test for immigration purposes. Note also that the former Student Direct Stream closed in November 2024 — advice that routes you through the SDS, including its specific IELTS thresholds, is out of date. The practical consequence: a Canadian applicant who may want post-study work and eventual permanent residence should weight IELTS or PTE Academic (and for immigration, the PTE Core / IELTS General options at the later stage) more heavily than a US-bound applicant might, even if their college would happily admit them on Duolingo alone.
USA — no federal visa test list. The United States sets no government English test requirement for the F-1 visa itself; the university’s admission standard is the operative gate, which is precisely why Duolingo acceptance is widest in the USA and why US minimums vary so much between institutions. The consular interview is conducted in English, so genuine conversational ability matters beyond any certificate — but there is no SELT-style list to satisfy.
Germany — programme rules, plus a language-of-instruction fork. For English-taught programmes, each university (sometimes each faculty) sets its accepted tests and scores, with IELTS and TOEFL the most widely listed; uni-assist and DAAD programme pages are the authoritative starting points. For German-taught programmes, none of the four tests in this guide applies — you need recognised German proficiency (for example TestDaF or DSH) at the level the programme states, typically C1 for direct entry. Decide your language of instruction before you decide your test.
Reading Requirements Properly: Overall Scores, Band Minimums and Section Traps
The single most-misread phrase in English requirements is “IELTS 6.5”. Students read it as one number. Universities mean a profile. A typical UK or Australian requirement reads “6.5 overall, with no component below 6.0” — and an applicant with 7.5, 7.0, 6.5 and 5.5 in Writing has an overall of 6.5 and has failed the requirement. The failed component is most often Writing, followed by Speaking. PTE requirements behave the same way in the UK visa context: for a Student visa at B2 evidenced through PTE Academic UKVI, the Home Office framework expects a minimum in every component (59 in each component under the current published alignment), not merely an overall figure. TOEFL requirements at US universities increasingly include a Speaking minimum for students who will hold teaching assistantships — you can be admitted, yet not be fundable as a teaching assistant until your Speaking score crosses the department’s line, a distinction that matters enormously for PhD funding.
Three habits protect you. First, always record requirements as a profile — overall plus every component minimum — in your application spreadsheet, copied from the programme page. Second, in preparation, train your weakest component deliberately: overall-score preparation that ignores a 5.5 Writing band is preparation for a retake. Third, know the retake instruments: IELTS offers a One Skill Retake in eligible circumstances, allowing you to resit a single component rather than the whole test — confirm eligibility and, critically, whether your university and visa authority accept One Skill Retake results for your route before relying on it. PTE and TOEFL require a full resit, though both return results quickly. Duolingo limits how frequently you may purchase and take tests within a 30-day window — check the current rule on Duolingo’s official site when planning a rapid retake strategy.
Waivers, MOI Letters and Prior Study in English
Many students can legitimately avoid an English test — but only through the specific waiver routes each university publishes, never by assumption. The common legitimate routes are: citizenship or passport of a majority-English-speaking country as defined by that university or visa authority; a completed degree (or a stated minimum period of study, often two to five years) at an institution in a listed English-speaking country; a completed degree taught entirely in English, evidenced where the university accepts it by a Medium of Instruction (MOI) letter from your university; and specified school qualifications, such as a stated grade in English in certain curricula, which some UK and other universities list for specific countries. MIT’s graduate guidance illustrates the pattern at the selective end: automatic exemption for native speakers and for applicants who earned a degree within the last five years from an institution in the US, Canada, the UK, Ireland, Australia or New Zealand, with case-by-case waivers possible for other English-medium backgrounds, supported by recommender comment and a writing sample.
MOI letters deserve a warning of their own. An MOI letter proves the medium of your previous instruction; whether it replaces a test depends entirely on the receiving university’s policy for your country and programme, and on the visa layer above it. Some universities accept MOI evidence enthusiastically, some accept it only from specified institutions, and some — Nottingham Trent’s published position is a clear example from the UK — do not generally accept MOI or Duolingo at all. Scholarship programmes add a third layer again: a scholarship may impose its own English conditions. If MOI is central to your plan, read our dedicated guide on the MOI letter for admission abroad and confirm acceptance in writing from each university before you decline to book a test. Where funding is your priority, check the English conditions inside our guide to fully funded scholarships without IELTS — “without IELTS” in scholarship marketing almost always means “another form of English evidence accepted”, not “English never assessed”.
Choosing Your Test: A Decision Framework
Work through these steps in order. Step 1 — fix your destination shortlist. If the UK is anywhere on it and your course is below degree level or includes a pre-sessional, plan around a SELT (IELTS for UKVI or PTE Academic UKVI). If Australia is on it, plan around a centre-based Home Affairs-approved test. If Canada plus post-study immigration is on it, favour IELTS or PTE. If your list is USA-only, all four tests are live candidates and you choose on fit and target scores. If Germany is on it, confirm IELTS/TOEFL acceptance programme by programme and treat PTE and Duolingo as exceptions to verify, not defaults.
Step 2 — collect the strictest profile. From your shortlist, take the highest overall requirement and the highest component minimums in each skill. That composite profile — not any single university’s line — is your real target. Add a safety margin of roughly half an IELTS band (or its rough equivalent) where you can: scores expire after two years, intakes slip, and a margin protects a deferred application.
Step 3 — match the test to your skills honestly. IELTS suits students who are comfortable with a human speaking examiner and handwritten or typed essays marked by people, and it carries the widest global acceptance including every visa system in this guide. TOEFL suits students strong in academic listening and integrated tasks — reading, listening and then speaking or writing on combined material — and remains the most “native” choice for US universities. PTE suits students who type fast, prefer a single computer-based sitting with machine-consistent scoring, and need a fast result; it is especially strong for Australia and accepted for UK visas in its UKVI version. Duolingo suits US-focused applicants who need a fast, affordable, at-home test and whose every target university confirms acceptance — and it suits almost no one whose plan depends on a UK or Australian visa test list.
Step 4 — check the details that quietly invalidate scores. Test date within the validity window at the date of visa application, not just admission. Correct test version: IELTS Academic, not General Training, for degree admission (General Training appears in some migration contexts only); PTE Academic UKVI, not standard PTE Academic, where a UK SELT is required; the TOEFL iBT product and option your destination specifies. Name on the test record matching your passport exactly. Score-sending method the university requires — institutional codes for TOEFL and IELTS, Pearson’s score portal for PTE, and Duolingo’s institutional sharing — sent in time for verification before deadlines.
Common Mistakes
Mistake 1: Booking Duolingo for a UK or Australian visa plan. The costliest error in this entire topic. Duolingo is not a UK SELT and is not on Australia’s Home Affairs list. It can support admission at some universities in both countries; it cannot supply visa English evidence where a listed or SELT test is required.
Mistake 2: Hitting the overall score and missing a component minimum. A 6.5 overall with 5.5 Writing fails a “no band below 6.0” requirement. Record profiles, train the weakest skill, and know your retake options before test day.
Mistake 3: Using conversion charts as if they were rules. Duolingo’s own published comparisons, Pearson’s IELTS concordance research and ETS comparison tables are statistical guides for institutions. No university is obliged to treat IELTS 6.5, PTE 58 and TOEFL 79 as interchangeable unless its own table says so — use each university’s own equivalency table, not a generic chart.
Mistake 4: Booking the wrong version of the right test. IELTS General Training instead of Academic; standard PTE instead of PTE Academic UKVI for a SELT route; an at-home TOEFL edition for an Australian visa; a TOEFL score from the July 2023–May 2024 window for Australian purposes. Version errors are discovered late and fixed expensively.
Mistake 5: Letting scores expire mid-process. All four tests are generally valid for two years. A score earned for a deferred intake, a scholarship cycle that slips, or a visa lodged late can expire between offer and visa. Work backwards from your latest likely visa date.
Mistake 6: Assuming an MOI letter or a neighbour’s waiver applies to you. Waivers are defined by country lists, institution lists and time limits that differ by university. Get your own eligibility confirmed in writing.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which English test is accepted in the most countries?
IELTS Academic has the widest combined acceptance across admission and visa systems: it is accepted by universities in all five countries in this guide, is a UK SELT in its UKVI version, is on Australia’s Home Affairs list in its centre-based form, and is an IRCC-recognised test for Canadian immigration purposes at later stages. If your destination is undecided, IELTS Academic is the safest single choice.
What IELTS score do I need for most universities?
The modal direct-entry requirement is IELTS 6.5 overall with no band below 6.0 for taught master’s and competitive bachelor’s programmes in the UK, Canada and Australia; 6.0–6.5 in Germany’s English-taught programmes; and 6.5–7.0 at most US universities that list IELTS. Selective and professionally accredited programmes require 7.0–7.5. Your programme page is the only authoritative figure.
Is Duolingo accepted for a UK student visa?
Duolingo is not a Secure English Language Test and cannot itself satisfy a UK visa SELT requirement. Some UK universities accept Duolingo for admission to degree-level courses and then assess English themselves for the CAS, which can lead to a visa without a SELT in that specific degree-level route — but this is the university’s decision, not a general rule. Ask your university how your English will be evidenced on your CAS before relying on Duolingo for the UK.
Can I use Duolingo or an at-home test for an Australian student visa?
No. The Department of Home Affairs accepts only its listed tests taken at a secure test centre, and explicitly does not accept fully online or at-home versions. Duolingo is not on the Home Affairs list. The standard Student visa English minimum is IELTS 6.0 overall, with lower thresholds only where the course is packaged with qualifying ELICOS or an eligible pathway programme.
TOEFL or IELTS for the USA — which should I choose?
Both are accepted by the overwhelming majority of US universities. Choose on format fit: TOEFL’s integrated academic tasks and computer-recorded speaking suit some students; IELTS’s human speaking interview suits others. Check section minimums — especially any Speaking threshold tied to teaching assistantships — on your department’s page, and note the TOEFL reporting-scale transition for tests from January 2026 so you know which scale your university expects.
What is a good PTE score for study abroad?
Most degree programmes that accept PTE Academic set minimums between 58 and 65 overall, with selective programmes higher and component minimums often applying. For UK visa purposes at B2 through PTE Academic UKVI, every component matters, not just the overall score. Pearson reports PTE on a 10–90 scale; always check the university’s own PTE table rather than converting from an IELTS figure yourself.
My overall score is enough but one band is too low. What can I do?
Options depend on the test: IELTS offers a One Skill Retake in eligible cases — confirm your university and visa authority accept it for your route. Otherwise, retake the full test with preparation targeted at the weak component, or ask the university about its pre-sessional English route, noting that UK pre-sessionals usually require a SELT. Do not submit and hope: component minimums are applied automatically.
How long are English test scores valid?
Generally two years for IELTS, TOEFL, PTE Academic and Duolingo, counted to the date that matters for your process — which may be the visa application date rather than the university application date. Plan your test date so your score remains valid through admission, any scholarship decision and visa lodgement, with margin for deferral.
Sources & Verification
Score scales: Duolingo English Test official scoring pages (10–160 scale, subscores, englishtest.duolingo.com); Pearson PTE official scoring and help-centre pages (10–90 overall and communicative skills, Global Scale of English, pearsonpte.com); ETS GRE/TOEFL resources and MIT’s published TOEFL scale note (0–120 iBT, with the 1–6 reporting scale for tests from January 2026); IELTS band descriptors via official IELTS partner publications (Band 1–9). Institutional minimums example: MIT Linguistics and Philosophy and MIT Physics graduate admissions pages (IELTS 7, TOEFL 100, Duolingo 135 in Linguistics and Philosophy; waiver rules). UK SELT framework and approved providers: GOV.UK Student visa — knowledge of English pages and Home Office approved SELT provider lists; IELTS for UKVI recognition confirmed by IELTS partner announcements. Australia: Department of Home Affairs Student visa English requirements and Study Australia (Australian Government) language testing organisations page — centre-based tests only, TOEFL iBT for Australia option. Canada: IRCC study permit and Post-Graduation Work Permit language requirement pages (CLB framework; Student Direct Stream closed November 2024). UK university acceptance variation examples: published English requirement pages of Imperial College London, University of Surrey and Nottingham Trent University. Figures and rules change — always confirm on the official government or university website before applying.
Disclaimer: StudyGraduate is an information portal, not a visa agency, admissions consultancy or test provider. We do not promise admission, scholarship or visa approval. English test requirements are set by individual programmes and by immigration authorities and change between cycles; the authoritative sources are your programme’s requirements page and your destination’s official immigration pages, checked close to your application and visa dates.