Multilevel Language tests: Walking into the land of the unexplored

Appendix A
. Structure of the Exams 
Table 1
Comparison of APTIS and DET 
 
APTIS 
Duolingo English Test (DET) 
Core Part 
Part 1. Grammar. Sentence completion (25 question 
with 3-option multiple choice) 
Part 2. Vocabulary. Sets of 5 target words with 10 
options (25 questions in total) 
(1) Word matching (similar meaning). Match 
words to definitions.
(2) Sentence completion.
(3) Word pairs or word combinations (words 
commonly used together).
Tasks in the adaptive test assess integrated skills 
(literacy -reading & writing-, comprehension -
reading & listening-, conversation -listening & 
speaking- and production -writing & speaking-) with 
different item types: 
• 
C-test: The first and last sentences are 
fully intact, while words in the 
intervening sentences are “damaged” 
by deleting the second half of the 
word. Test takers respond to the c-test 
items by completing the damaged 
words in the paragraph
• 
Yes/no vocabulary: Test takers are 
presented with a set of English words 
mixed with pseudowords that are 
designed to appear English-like, and 
must discriminate between them
• 
Dictation: Test takers listen to a 
spoken sentence or short passage and 
then transcribe it
• 
Elicited imitation -read aloud-: The 
read-aloud variation of the elicited 
imitation task is a measure of test 
taker reading and speaking abilities. It 
Listening 
Part 1. Information recognition. Listen to a short 
monologue or dialogue to identify specific 
information (3-option multiple choice) 
Part 2. Information matching. Match people’s 
monologues to information (6 pieces of information 
with 4 monologues)