Hi friends, this is a special video because we have Kevin, a representative from the Duolingo English Test,
come on to this channel to talk about university admissions and the future of the Duolingo English Test.
He is going to be answering some of my questions and some of yours, so let's get right to it. Okay. Hi, Kevin,
welcome to this channel. How are you today? I'm great. How are you doing, Luke? Okay, so, Kevin, you work for
Duolingo, Can you explain your role in the Duolingo? Team? Sure. Yeah, I'm a former admission officer, I
worked in international admission for George Washington University, UCLA, and USC, before joining the Duolingo
English team, English test team working with institutions. So I work with university partnerships,
trying to get more institutions to accept the Duolingo English test, which has been a great success over the
last few years. Can you talk about the history of the Duolingo English test and its recent rise in
popularity? Sure. So the Duolingo English tests was born about five years ago. And it started as a project
here, to make sure that we are able to provide an English language proficiency test that is fully online
fully digital, as you all know that the test is administered on your computer. And so that was part of
the origin of this test, our CEO and co founder Luis Fanon of Duolingo, he took an English proficiency test
when he was applying for college. And he remembers having to fly to El Salvador to take that test as a 17
year old, and how much of an effort and how much that costs for a student to prove their English proficiency.
So fast forward here five years ago, and there was a desire to create this test so that students could take
this test online and save themselves time and also money. So that always goes back to our mission at the
Duolingo English tests that we are expanding access to students who might not have the opportunity to go to a
test center, or where it's cost prohibitive for them as well. So you mentioned that you'll roll out the
Duolingo English test is to encourage institutions and universities to accept the test. So currently, how many
universities accept this exam? And where can test-takers find this information? It's a great
question. Luke, we have over 3500 institutions that accept the Duolingo English test all over the world.
And these are undergraduate programs, graduate programs. They are also ESL and pathway programs. So
all types of programs around the world are accepting the Duolingo English test. And for students and test
takers, you're able to go online to our websites to English test duolingo.com X slash institutions. And
you're able to go and search the comprehensive list to make sure the university to which you are applying
accepts the Duolingo English Test grades, a very common question I get asked, I guess, because the Duolingo
Test is quite new, especially compared to the other exams is about the future. So how many of these
institutions are going to continue accepting the test in the future? It's a great question. We've had so many
institutions who were on board, even before the pandemic, we had a large number of institutions that
were already accepting the test. And then now post the pandemic, we've had a large number of the temporarily
accepting institutions who are now coming on board permanently as a test taker, it's important that you go
to the website of the institution to which you're applying to see what terms the Duolingo English test is
being accepted for. And that will help you decide as you take your English language proficiency test.
Another major benefit of the Duolingo test is that you can actually send your results to institutions from the
Duolingo test website. So can you describe the process of doing that? Absolutely, it's totally easy for
students and test takers to send their test scores. The first thing that is most important is that it's
absolutely free for you to send your test to your institutions. So there are no fees for additional
shares. And a student can simply go on to their dashboard. And they can select the institutions to
which they would like to send their score, you will share the score and it will immediately be in the
institutions dashboard. So there are no delays and getting test scores to institutions, it will be there
immediately for them to see, which can be very helpful. If you are applying to a university at the deadline, or
you have some sort of time requirements of this score. Not only is it certified in 48 hours, but it is shared
immediately to institutions. So that's very important for our students. Great and the test takers, they can
send their results to as many institutions that they like, right? That's correct. As a test taker, you can
send the score to as many institutions as you'd like all around the world. There are no limits for that.
That's fantastic. What is Duolingo doing to ensure that the test remains a credible option for test takers in
the future? It's a great question. I know a lot of students are interested in the long term future of the
Duolingo English test. What a lot of people don't know is we have a huge team of assessment researchers,
linguists psychometricians, who are experts in their field who work every day on the test to make sure that
it is the state of the art realized
and stable tests that all of you experience on a daily basis. So we have have a team that really works hard on
making this an excellent test for you, and also making sure that it is valid and also secure. Well, thanks,
Kevin. Those are all the questions from me. Now we're going to jump into my student questions. So basically,
I asked my audience for some questions to ask you about university admission, and I got five here for you. So
the first one, I have taken the DI T three times can I choose which school to send to the university?
Absolutely, you have the choice to send any of your scores to any institution that you would like. So you
do have the choice to send the score that is best for you, and that you're most comfortable sharing with an
institution? And this question comes up a lot. Will the Duolingo English test be accepted for other visa types
in the future? We are working with governments and organizations all over the world on a regular basis to
help expand the Duolingo English test to multiple visa purposes. If you want to be made aware of big
announcements like this, Visa acceptance or these types of things, feel free to follow us on our social media.
And we'll make big announcements there. Are there going to be any changes to the test in 2022? Most likely,
yes, we are a digital exam. So we are able to be very nimble. As we find improvements or things we'd like to
change with the test. But with any improvements or changes, the students and test takers will always be
notified. So don't worry about that. It's nothing for a student to have to worry about as we move forward into
2022. Okay, and those are all the questions I have for you. Thank you so much for coming on to my YouTube
channel. Kevin, do you have any last comments you want to mention to test takers? Just want to say thank you
to test takers out there. If you ever have questions, or you need anything, you know, you can reach out
directly to us. And also thank you to Luke, for having me on your channel today. And it's really been fun
being here with you today. And thank you so much. Yeah, thanks, Kevin. I also put a link to the Duolingo
English test official YouTube channel below in the description. I highly recommend that you subscribe and
watch all of those videos before you take your own Duolingo English test. Okay, that's all from us today.
Thank you very much, and we'll see you soon. Bye.