Remember when the Duolingo English Test was the pandemic backup plan? That era is over. It's a real admissions credential now, accepted by thousands of universities across the US, UK, Canada, and Australia. One hour, from home, results in 48 hours. Compared to losing a full Saturday to IELTS or TOEFL, it's a different universe.
So what does a 105 actually get you? Duolingo scores run 10 to 160, and 105 lands in the intermediate to upper intermediate zone. It clears the published floor at a lot of solid mid tier universities, especially for undergraduate programs. Most schools with a Duolingo English test score requirement database entry set their minimum somewhere between 100 and 115. The selective ones want 120 to 135, which is a real jump, roughly the difference between IELTS 6.5 and 7.5.
Before you book, run two checks. First, confirm your exact program accepts it, not just the university. Plenty of schools take Duolingo for undergrad but not for graduate programs, and nursing and education departments often write their own stricter rules. Second, look at the subscores. Universities care more and more about the literacy and production subscores, not just the headline number, so don't bomb the writing section and assume 105 saves you.
One honest warning: the test is short and adaptive, which means small mistakes cost more than you'd expect. There's no easy section to hide in. In my experience, two focused weeks of practice move the needle more than two months of casual app tapping.
If you want that practice organized, the 8-week study plan at internationalstudyhelp.fyi has Duolingo tracks with daily tasks built around your target score.