Crossposting from audiogames forum this topic In case people could provide more insite due to past experiences
It is going to be a long posts, so strap in. Also might be a better idea to read in the browser because I had to do lots of markdown in order to structure things properly.

Original AG post:
Ah yes, the joys of having to pay money to random organizations to prove your proficiency in a language to universities just because it's not "officially" your first even though you've learnt it all your life, have transcripts to prove that you have succeeded in courses pertaining to that language and everything else taught in it. Then, to make it fun, we'll make the test validity expire after a certain time so you have to take it again because somehow your English would get worse ass time goes on, not the other way around. Not to mention for me who's already done so and lived in a country who's first language is in fact English, taken courses in English, and am able to communicate in it decently in correspondences. Let's not even talk about the level of awareness of test testing orgs when it comes to accessibility.
Anyway, such has been my experience with Toefl by ETS, which is why and also because I'm in a bit of a hurry and this isn't a concept those people have the capability to process, especially when it comes to people requiring accommodations, I decided to try something different.
It appears the Duolingo test has gained a lot of traction over the years and is officially excepted in many places.
I was wondering if anyone had experience with this test? I wrote to their accommodations people and they said well wait let me just paste the response:
Duolingo wrote:

Hello Aarush,
Thank you for submitting a request for accommodations. We can confirm you will be granted these accommodations when you take the test:
50% extra time per question
Headphones
Screen reader
Please note that we cannot guarantee full compatibility of the screen reading software with our test, particularly for tasks such as describing pictures, which may not be readable by the software. Unfortunately, we are not able to change or omit the format of the questions at this time.
The online presence of a human scribe and reader throughout the test is not permitted, as this would cause the DET application to stop functioning.
Instead, we recommend having someone in the room to assist with the visual portions of the test. This person can help in the following ways:

• Describe visual prompts out loud.
• Read prompts to you if a screen reader does not work.
• Read the fill-in-the-blank questions out loud and tell you how many blanks there are in each word.
• Operate the mouse for you during audio point-and-click questions, as long as you are directing them which options to click on based on what you hear.
The person assisting you cannot answer questions for you, provide hints, or help with answers to test questions in any other way. Please note that aside from this accommodation, you still must follow all other test rules, as listed here: https://testcenter.zendesk.com/hc/en-us … uirements.
**If you choose to use an assistant in this way, please respond directly to this email immediately after uploading your test. That way, we can forward the appropriate accommodation information to our proctoring team.**
Please let us know if you have any other questions!

Somewhat helpful, but doesn't really answer the primary questions which is why I decided to post here. If anyone has experience with this test could you verify if at least the basic stuff works with NVDA (navigating the test interface, reading questions). If so then most of it should be doable right, I had imagined answering questions like picking from radio buttons for MCQ's or writing in an edit field for the subjective ones, but they talked about moving the mouse pointer or figuring out how many blanks are there for a word so now I'm nervous if there is some fancy shit going on.
Aside from this, what is the frequency of pictographic stuff in the test, how often and how many?
I found the test taker's dashboard thing pretty good with a11y, although I have seen and people have reported issues with the part of the platform that concerns with learning a language specifically so idk.
Would be nice if this works though though, it's also quite a bit cheaper than Toefl and others not to mention quicker both to set up and hear back, and online too.
Thanks in advance for your responses.

Those who wish you can use the link to read up on further posts, see how much info we were able to collect together, but I'm summarizing it down below anyway since there's more that I was able to find out in the following days due to communication off forums as well as emailing the Duolingo team more.

1. Several question types are inaccessible due to drag-and-drop requirements.
2. The test requires a special browser program, not a standard web browser.
3. ID verification requires holding the ID in landscape orientation, which isn't clearly communicated.
4. The test requires a Mac. On Windows, JAWS and NVDA freeze during certain sections due to overpopulated web elements like edit fields for fill-in-the-blanks (each blank for one letter being it's separate field).
5. Remote assistance is not allowed; only in-person help is permitted.
6. For picture questions, one VI user successfully described imaginary images and got graded for it surprisingly.
7. The test costs about $50 USD with 3 attempts allowed to upload so one could maybe try things and see if it crashes before final attempt.
8. Someone told me about TOEFL IBT that they took over zoom and word documents but is more expensive and time-consuming to set up. I did not have luck with this in the past; they said only in-person center location is the way to go which takes even longer. I emailed them just in case they could look into this for me as well lol.
9. The practice test interface works better with NVDA than the actual test interface.
10. Alt-tabbing out of the test window results in disqualification.
11. Potential workarounds like using Narrator or putting NVDA to sleep were discussed but remain untested.
12. The fill-in-the-blank practice test worked reasonably well with NVDA, but the actual test interface may differ significantly.

And some more after communication with them over email

The Aid can:

• Describe visual prompts out loud in your native language, so you could translate it to English.
• Read prompts to you if a screen reader does not work.
• Read the fill-in-the-blank questions out loud and tell you how many blanks there are in each word.
• Operate the mouse for you during audio point-and-click questions, as long as you are directing them which options to click on based on what you hear.
• Additionally, they can type your responses if needed but they should type exactly as you speak without their edits and suggestions.
**The person assisting you cannot answer questions for you, provide hints, or help with answers to test questions in any other way.** Please note that aside from this accommodation, you still must follow all other test rules, as listed here: https://testcenter.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360052828331-Test-Rules-and-Requirements.
Also, kindly note that we are not able to offer any leniency for grammar errors and your assistant cannot correct them for you.

Oh yeah, that grammar thing I had asked them about because that was one thing I was unsure of if I relied completely on a visual aid how I'd handle, since if I can't hear what I'm typing I wouldn't be able to correct it. So me and another person who had taken the test recently were going back and forth on potential ways in which we could tackle this, from NVDA remote (they said they had even tried using AI content describer on the image questions through that) or other non-window showing background tasks. The issue remains the same though that if the screen reader crashes then can't do any of that. VOCR may work but as said I'm not comfortable enough with Mac to try this.

Right now the gameplan is if I get nothing out of TOEFL (as much as I hate to admit this, they are more accessible despite their problems and also probably more widely recognized because older and three times money lol) then I'll buy Duolingo. Try doing the test with NVDA sleep mode on, and exclusively seek help from a visual aid, other than the writing sections. I'm told that the freezing happens only in fill in the blanks, so maybe it'll work fine in the rest. I'll mess around a bit, try to follow their rules as well as accommodation instructions and see if I can do this in tandem, try it out and experiment the first and second time out of the three attempts I'm allowed. If it works then well and good, if it crashes then well I'll have to figure out other methods such as using remote exclusively and no usage of the screen reader in the browser window at all. Though idk if that'll make any difference if NVDA is crashing in sleep mode then it would crash even with remote, but who knows maybe not if I'm not typing there in that window itself or moving around much. I could also try Narrator just for the writing portions. I don't use it much but I can do basic things like read and write things. At this point these are just theories and experimentation that I don't particularly wish to do but may have no other choice. Even the sample test is done in our own browser I guess so no way to get a feel for the test unless you take the real thing.

Anyway sorry for the long post. If anyone has any advice for me I'd greatly appreciate it.

Thanks

I've taken TOEFL online, they provided all the accommodation I've asked for, including the exam in Word format.
(I didn't ask for word in particular) just said a format accessible with the screen reader.
They remotely controlled my computer, requiring me to share my screen and keep the camera on throughout the exam. Additionally, after the break, I was required to show my surroundings before resuming the test.
It was pretty positive experience.