How to Stop Freezing During DET Speaking: The 90-Second Challenge
⚠️ The Problem That Costs You 15+ Points
The most painful part of the Duolingo English Test speaking section isn't the question. It's the silence that comes after.
"Why do I freeze up when speaking English?" If you've asked yourself this during DET practice, you're not alone. You know the words. You understand the question. But when the timer starts and you need to speak for 90 seconds, your mind goes blank. The silence grows, and your score drops.
Result: Students lose 12-15 points unnecessarily on the speaking section, affecting both their production subscore and conversation subscore.
✅ The Solution That Actually Works
Master our word map technique and speaking moves that let you start strong within the first 30 seconds, maintain fluency for the full 90 seconds, and score 110+ even under pressure.
Why Even Strong Students Freeze
Mendaikhan, one of our students from Mongolia, learned this the hard way. He did what many motivated learners do—he signed up for a grammar course, thinking it would help him get better at English. But grammar training didn't solve his real issue.
When he sat in front of the Duolingo English Test and the speaking question appeared, he still froze. The timer ticked, and nothing came out.
He thought he didn't know enough words or advanced grammar for the DET speaking sample questions. In reality, his problem was always the very beginning of every speaking task—those crucial first 30 seconds where your fluency score begins. The first seconds after the question appeared were the hardest. Instead of starting to speak naturally, his mind filled with doubts and translations, and the silence grew longer, affecting his pronunciation score and overall speaking subscore.
What Actually Happens in Your Head During Those 90 Seconds:
- •He tried to build ideas in his native language (Mongolian), then translate them into English—a common second language speaking anxiety
- •He wasted precious preparation time deciding what to say, then got lost because there were too many possibilities for his Read Then Speak response
- •He believed he had made grammatical errors, even when listeners couldn't hear any problems with his pronunciation or fluency
- •He waited for someone to confirm his ideas were "okay" before saying them, losing valuable speaking time in the process
Ever found yourself in that situation—frozen when you need to speak because your DET score depends on it? So have we, because we all learned a second language.
So, we didn't hand him another grammar book. He worked with Sean, one of our teachers, who gave him small, doable speaking moves he could use the same day—moves that let him start strong, keep control, and actually fill the 90 seconds.
After a few short sessions, the freeze was gone. He wasn't hunting for perfect ideas anymore; he was speaking clearly, shaping examples, and finishing with a clean ending.
Key insight: The real problem most DET candidates face in speaking—you know the words, but you don't have a reliable way to use them under exam pressure.
What Your Silence Really Costs You
The Duolingo English Test score can decide your future. It's the number that lets you apply for a student visa, enter a high school abroad, qualify for a university program, or prove your English proficiency level for a job. With over 5,000 universities accepting DET scores globally in 2025, including top schools requiring scores of 120 or higher, your speaking performance is crucial.
Elena, from South Korea, knew this. Her parents were counting on her to get the score she needed to study overseas—specifically, a minimum DET score of 105 for her target university. But when the speaking tasks appeared (Read Then Speak, Listen Then Speak, Speaking Sample), she froze. She didn't know how to focus her ideas enough to start talking within the 20-30 second preparation time, and the silence cut her answers short, affecting her fluency and pronunciation subscores.
How the Adaptive Test Works Against You When You Freeze:
The test adapts to your performance—this is why it's shorter than TOEFL or IELTS. If your answers are too short or unclear, falling below that crucial 30-second minimum, the system ends the speaking section sooner, and you lose chances to show your real ability.
That's exactly what happened to Elena—her English was stronger than her score, but the test never saw it because she couldn't maintain fluency for the full time.
And she isn't alone. Many DET test-takers run into the same traps that affect their speaking fluency:
External Pressures
- • Visa and school deadlines: A low speaking score (below 90-100) means missing application windows
- • Family pressure: Parents' financial investment and emotional expectations
- • Competition: Limited spots at universities requiring 110-120+ scores
Internal Struggles During 90 Seconds
- • Confidence collapse: One weak response creates a chain reaction
- • Over-correcting grammar: Stopping mid-sentence hurts fluency more than mistakes
- • Translation trap: Thinking in first language steals precious seconds
- • Microphone anxiety: Speaking too quietly affects pronunciation score
Elena's real fear wasn't vocabulary diversity—it was letting her parents down. And that fear turned a strong student into a silent one during her Speaking Sample question.
DET Score Requirements for Top Universities (2025)
| University Tier | Minimum Score | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Top Tier | 120-135 | MIT, Columbia, Yale, Harvard, Stanford |
| High Tier | 110-120 | UCLA, NYU, Boston University, UC Berkeley |
| Mid Tier | 100-110 | Arizona State, Colorado State, University of Kansas |
| Entry Level | 90-100 | Community colleges, some state universities |
*Graduate programs typically require 5-10 points higher than undergraduate. Always verify specific program requirements.
The Snowball Effect of Poor Speaking Scores
These skills create a snowball effect on your overall DET score and subscores. If one area of your English—like speaking—is weak, it drags down your conversation and production subscores. The adaptive test shows you easier tasks than your true ability.
That means:
- • You don't get into the university you want (remember, top universities require 110-120+)
- • Your parents feel upset for you and secretly blame themselves
- • You wait, re-test, and feel stuck instead of moving forward
- • Most importantly, it keeps you from the life you've been working toward
📌 [Interactive Tool Coming Soon: DET Score Requirements Calculator — Enter your target universities and see exact score requirements with direct links to admissions pages]
How We Break Through Speaking Anxiety (The Method That Works)
We know these struggles because we've lived them. Every teacher at LU English is also a language learner who has faced the freeze response. Together, we've spent more than 50 years learning our second languages—not just "good enough" to pass a test, but to master them and achieve native-like fluency. We know what it feels like when silence blocks you during those crucial 90 seconds, and we know how to break through it.
If that sounds like your goal too, keep reading. We're going to show you the top DET speaking topics you could face on the Duolingo English Test speaking section—and exactly how to handle them so you don't freeze during your Read Then Speak, Listen Then Speak, or Speaking Sample responses.
But First, Meet Shen's Transformation
She's one of our students from China. In her first lesson, she couldn't even tell us about her day without freezing up. Just five lessons later, she told a clear story about why she wanted to study in America instead of staying in China—speaking fluently for the full 90 seconds.
That story helped her get accepted into the Rosemount High School Foreign Exchange program in Minnesota, USA with a DET score of 115.
[VIDEO PLACEHOLDER: Shen's 5-Day Transformation — from silence to fluent storytelling for 90 seconds]
The Secret Nobody Is Telling You About DET Speaking (Because They Don't Speak Another Language)
Why memorizing vocabulary lists doesn't help with speaking fluency: Memorizing long lists of "advanced" words or isolated phrases doesn't make you fluent, because you never actually use them under time pressure. You cram the words for lexical sophistication, then when the test starts and you have 90 seconds to speak, they disappear.
The Word Map Technique
At LU English, we teach you how to build and use word maps—clusters of words and phrases connected to real topics you'll actually face on the test. This technique specifically helps with the Speak About the Photo questions and Speaking Sample prompts.
Example: If the topic is "travel," you don't just learn the word airport and stop there. You connect it to:
- • plane tickets, luggage, delays, customs
- • food, culture, language barriers
- • people, locals, tourists, guides
- • problems, solutions, experiences
Result: When the test asks about travel in your Speaking Sample, you don't freeze—you've got a whole set of ideas ready to go for your 90-second response.
Why Word Maps Beat Traditional Study Methods for DET Speaking
This works because your brain remembers stories and connections, not single words—crucial for maintaining fluency during extended speaking tasks. When everything links together, the ideas come out naturally at the right pace. Instead of translating in your head or searching for the "perfect" word to improve your vocabulary score, you stay focused on your message—and the test hears fluent, confident speech with natural pronunciation.
Most students don't know how to build these networks on their own for speaking practice, and most teachers who haven't learned a second language don't know how to teach them. Not because they're bad teachers, but because without learning another language themselves, they fall back on test-taking strategies instead of solving the real problem: how to think and speak under pressure for 90 seconds straight.
We do, because we've lived it ourselves. That's why in our course we give you ready-made networks tied to real DET speaking topics and show you exactly how to activate them when the clock is ticking on your Speaking Sample or Read Then Speak questions.
What Topics You'll See on DET Speaking Questions in 2025 (And How to Practice)
"What are the most common DET speaking topics?" One reason students freeze on the Duolingo English Test is because they think the speaking questions could be about anything. That isn't true. The exam repeats a small set of everyday themes, things you have already lived, felt, and experienced—perfect for the Speaking Sample's 1-3 minute requirement.
Below are ten themes with fifty DET speaking practice prompts that align with actual DET speaking patterns. Treat them as idea seeds for your 90-second responses, not scripts to memorize.
- •A mistake that taught you something important
- •A time you helped someone who didn't expect it
- •A habit from childhood that you still keep
- •A moment you felt especially proud
- •A decision that changed your daily life
Having Trouble Speaking for 90 Seconds on These Topics?
"How can I speak for the full 90 seconds without running out of ideas?" Do you find it hard to talk about any of these, even though they are your own experiences? If so, that's normal.
Most students struggle not because they lack ideas, but because they are unsure how to turn those ideas into fluent, organized answers under time pressure while maintaining proper pronunciation and grammatical complexity.
The PPF Method (Past, Present, Future) for Extended Speaking
One effective technique for filling 90 seconds:
- Past (30s):Explain when/how you started or first encountered the topic
- Present (30s):Describe your current situation or perspective
- Future (30s):Share your plans or hopes related to the topic
This structure helps you demonstrate grammatical range while ensuring you speak for the full time required for a high production score.
That is exactly what we teach in our full 10-week DET Speaking Mastery Course—how to take your experiences, map the vocabulary around them, and turn them into confident responses that score high.
What to Do Next: Stop the Silence, Start Speaking Fluently
Silence cost Mendaikhan and Elena points they didn't deserve on their DET speaking scores. It doesn't have to cost you.
You've seen the themes, you know the traps that cause freezing, and you've got the start of a plan for speaking fluently for 90 seconds. Now it's about practice—the right kind of practice that builds confidence and fluency.
10-Week DET Speaking Mastery Course
Specifically designed for the 2025 test format that takes everything you just read and turns it into real skills:
- ✓ Use your own experiences to fill 90 seconds naturally
- ✓ Build word maps that actually work under pressure
- ✓ Master all DET speaking question types (Read Then Speak, Listen Then Speak, Speaking Sample, Speak About the Photo)
- ✓ Achieve the fluency and pronunciation scores needed for 110+ overall scores
Not ready to commit yet?
Start small with our free guide: Top 25 Duolingo Speaking Prompts for 2025. It will show you how much easier the test feels when you practice with real questions the right way, focusing on maintaining fluency for the full 90 seconds required.
👉 Download the Free Guide - Practice Speaking for 90 Seconds Without FreezingThe test is coming either way. The only question is whether you'll face it with silence—or with a plan to speak confidently for the full time required.
Here's what we both know:
You can keep hoping the freeze will magically disappear on test day.
Or you can fix it now, while there's still time.
The choice is yours. But choose quickly.
Continue Your Test Prep
Master Read Then Speak
Learn the exact structure for high-scoring responses in this challenging section.
Read more →Listen Then Speak Tips
How to take notes effectively and structure your response in 20 seconds.
Read more →Speaking Sample Templates
Copy our proven templates for organizing 3-minute responses that score high.
Read more →