UCLA Supplemental Duolingo English Test

Gumbymom
Wed, 15 Feb 2017 23:41:38 +0000

FYI courtesy of Ms Sun’s UC Blog:
A portion of international applicants (primarily those from China and some from other Asian countries) have received a request from UCLA for an English assessment, in addition to the submitted TOEFL score. This is not a joke or a mistake (as some seems to have come to believe). This is an independent assessment most likely targeting Asian students due to the pervasive cheating from the region.

In case you are not aware, the UCs were hit with a huge cheating scandal that ended up in a Reuters investigative reporting piece last year. Berkeley was the first campus to take action, selectively interviewing transfer applicants through a third-party vendor, InitialView, during the last application cycle ($220; additional clarification regarding the interview request). I guess UCLA is following suit this year. The assessment is meant to serve as verification that the high TOEFL score (which most recipients of the request seem to have) is legitimate and not bought. UCLA may be using Duolingo because of its lower cost ($49; keep in mind that the fee is collected by Duolingo, a third-party vendor, for the administration of the assessment and does not line UCLA’s pockets).

Even though this is new (may be here to stay, the cheating seems pervasive), it’s possible that the verification is triggered automatically when a specific flag is detected (hard to say what UCLA is looking for; perhaps history showed that students with a certain range of TOEFL scores were more likely to have hired a test taker?). Although not required, I do recommend that students take the assessment to put UCLA at ease regarding their English proficiency.