Read and Complete - Guide to Duolingo English Test Question (2025)
The Read and Complete type question is one of harder questions on the Duolingo English Test. This is because most people are not familiar with the format.
The good news is that it is easy to learn how to approach Read and Complete questions and do well on them!
Table of Contents
- What is the Read and Complete question type?
- Tips to do well on Read and Complete questions
- How to practice Read and Complete questions
- Conclusion
What is the Read and Complete question type?
The Read and Complete question type looks like this:
You will have 3 minutes to type in the missing letters. That’s it!
This question counts toward your Reading, Literacy, and Comprehension subscores. It appears 3 to 6 times on the test.
Tips to do well on Read and Complete questions
Slow down
Unlike other questions, you will have a lot of time for Read and Complete questions. You can use Read and Complete questions to relax a little bit after more intense questions. You can also spend a lot of time trying to identify the missing letters.
Read the title, the first sentence, and the last sentence
In a Read and Complete question, the title and first and last sentences will always be complete. Read these first to understand what the passage is about.
Get the easy questions first
Read and Complete can be difficult because there many incomplete words, and they often come in the same sentence. As you fill in words, it becomes easier to fill in the remaining incomplete words. So, you should move quickly through the passage to fill in as many easy incomplete words as you can. In this first pass, don't spend more than 5 seconds trying to figure out an incomplete words. Once you've gotten the easy words, then go back to get the more difficult ones.
Read and re-read entire sentences
In order to determine what is missing in a sentence, you need to know what comes before and after. This means that you need to read the entire sentence, not just what comes before a part that is missing. When you read the entire sentence, you will see that your brain will often identify the missing words without you even trying!
Check that your answers make sense
Many students fill in a word with the first option that pops into their minds. However, even if a word fits, it may not be the correct answer! This is why you need to check that your answers make sense in the passage, not just that the letters fit.
If you're not sure, guess
Duolingo will not penalize you more for a wrong answer than a blank answer. So, if you don't know, you should guess because it can only help you.
Also, on Read and Complete questions, you receive points for each incomplete word that you correctly complete. Even if you don't figure out all of the incomplete words, you can still get a lot of points for one Read and Complete question.
Look for reused words
Often, an answer will appear elsewhere in the passage. It could appear in the title, the first sentence, or the last sentence. It could also appear as another answer! In other words, Duolingo likes to repeat words in a passage.
Proofread your response
Once you enter a response, save some time to proofread that you typed in the letters you intended to. You don't want to lose points because of typos!
Don’t be alarmed if the questions get harder
The Duolingo English Test is adaptive. This means that if you get a question correct, the next question will be more difficult. If you find that Read and Complete questions are becoming difficult during the test, this is a good sign! It means that you did well on the previous ones 🙂
👉 For more tips and examples, check out our full masterclass on Read and Complete:
How to practice Read and Complete questions
With Arno, you can practice an unlimited number of Read and Complete questions and get instant feedback on your answers.
Here is how it works:
1) Go to duolingo.goarno.io. Create you free account if you don’t have one already.
2) Go to the Read and Complete question type.
3) Fill in the missing characters. When you are finished press the "Submit" button, shown in the red box.
4) Arno will instantly evaluate your response. Letters in green are correct. Letters in red are incorrect. The correct answer will appear below the blanks.
Read and Complete tests your comprehension, so to do well on these questions you need to be sure that you have a strong vocabulary. That's why we built our free Vocabulary Builder. You can study the most useful vocab for different areas of the test, including for Fill in the Blanks and Read and Complete. Just click here to start expanding your vocabulary and raising your DET score!
You can also see 30 essential examples of Read and Complete with answers in this blog post.
Conclusion
Now you understand the Read and Complete question type, and you have the best tips to get the highest score.
You also know how you can practice for this question type: Arno!
Arno gives you unlimited practice questions and instant feedback for every question type on the Duolingo English Test. To get started, just click below.
