What are the levels of knowledge of English? How to improve your level in learning English

Today, almost everyone strives or simply dreams of being fluent foreign language. It is for this reason that there are many courses and training lessons. If you still decide to use the help of specialists, then, first of all, you need to determine your level of knowledge. For what?

Know English proficiency levels very important. Based on your existing skills and abilities, you can choose the appropriate group so that the learning process is interesting, brings new knowledge, and you don’t spend your money on courses in vain. Specially designed tests to check the level in English cover its main aspects. The results are very useful and interesting to you. How? To select directions, group, set goals and determine desired results- that’s why each of you needs a knowledge test.

What is it?

Like anyone test, You are given a task and several answer options. This may include:

— determination of the temporary form;
— insert a semantic or grammatical construction;
- finish the sentence;
- find an error, etc.

By using textbooks and reference books while taking the test, you are doing yourself a disservice. This result, whatever it may be, no one will know except you. Therefore, use only your existing knowledge.

Language proficiency levels can be divided into several groups. The first of them is Russified classification, which only gives general idea about existing knowledge:

1. Beginner
2. Medium
3. Tall.

The second of them is more extended. This classification involves 4 levels and helps to more fully reveal existing knowledge. It is often used when filling out various forms, for example in a marriage agency, when applying for a visa. But, nevertheless, this method of determination is still not ideal.

1. With a dictionary;
2. Conversational level;
3. Average level;
4. Free use.

In this regard, the best classification is considered international. Let's take a closer look at all levels of knowledge of the English language, which allow us to most fully determine the existing skills and abilities.

1. Initial (A1 or Beginner) the level indicates an understanding of the basics of the language, the alphabet, sounds, and the ability to read the simplest sentences and words. At this stage, it is very difficult to perceive foreign language speech by ear.

2. Elementary (A2 or Elementary) .

Having this level, a student of English easily reads short texts and understands the main points. The same is true when perceiving speech aloud. Oral speech: presupposes the ability to briefly talk about oneself, about others, to talk about everyday topics, while presenting one’s speech and thoughts logically. It is important to note the phonetic side: not perfect pronunciation, but acceptable to be understood. Writing: ability to write a request, notice, draft brief description something in the simplest phrases.

3. Weak average level(B1 or Lower (Pre) Intermediate).

Understanding the main idea and meaning of the text, reading simple works. Oral communication: clear pronunciation, the ability to easily communicate on personal and non-personal topics, understand the question and answer accordingly, clearly express your feelings, desires and intentions. Written speech at this level assumes that the student knows how to describe a situation, person, place, express his opinion, write an official letter or request, and construct a grammatically correct sentence.

4. Intermediate level is given by a secondary school and assumes the ability to read books, watch films, write, while observing phonetic and grammatical rules language. It is quite easy to perceive foreign language speech by ear. The basics of vocabulary help to build communication not only at the level of question and answer, but also to express a personal attitude, one’s own opinion, to distinguish the general meaning of the speech of foreigners, to distinguish official information from unofficial.

5. Above average (B2 or Upper Intermediate) This level assumes some knowledge, which helps you feel confident when communicating. Knowledge of grammatical rules, norms, the ability to easily perceive information out loud from the first listening, distinguish between accents, talk on the phone, read magazines and books in a foreign language. Oral speech is based on the use of idioms, phrasal verbs, colloquial and formal lexical units. Some mistakes are acceptable.

6. Advanced (C1 or Advanced 1): excellent command of the language, free communication on any topic, easy comprehension of speech, knowledge of the intricacies of grammar.

7. Perfectly (C2 or Advanced 2 (Proficiency)) It’s not enough to say - to communicate freely. This stage presupposes proficiency in English, almost like a native one.

Having considered all levels of the English language, determine yours. But remember that this is only a conditional description. It’s still better to test your knowledge in a test that you can take online.

Most often, we start learning a language when we already need it. That's why many people want to learn it in short term. For example, you:

are planning to change jobs and have an interview soon;
in a couple of weeks you are leaving for the USA on vacation;
In a month you have an exhibition abroad, where you need to represent your company;
want to go in the summer under the Work and Travel program

In these conditions, you want to reduce training time as much as possible.

How long will it take for me to level up?

Your progress depends on several factors: methodology, regularity of classes, your desire to learn, etc.

In this article I have collected 5 tips that will help you improve your level of English in a short time.

Important : if you really want to master English quickly, then these tips must be followed!

So, let's begin.

Tip #1: Set a goal and start moving towards it

Your desire to learn English is the driver of your learning. If you don't have the motivation to study, it will drag on for a long time.

Important: No teacher can force you to learn a language if you don’t want to do it yourself or don’t know why you need to learn it.

Therefore, the first thing you need to do when learning English is to set yourself a goal for which you need the language.

For example:

You are studying at the university and want to go on exchange to study in Italy for a year. For this you need a level - Intermediate and higher.
You want to work in the tourism industry, go on business trips abroad and communicate with foreigners. For this you need a level - Upper-intermediate and higher.
You travel a lot and want to make new friends and learn more about the culture of countries. For such purposes, you need a level - Pre-intermediate and higher.

However, simply presenting your goal is not enough. You need to take action to achieve it in a short time.

This requires motivation. Imagine in detail all the benefits of learning English.

How would your life be different if you could speak English right now? Where would you be? Who did you talk to? What did you read? Where would you go?

Start learning English right now, don't put it off until Monday, next month or year.

After all, I’m sure that if you got together last year and started studying, you would now speak English easily.

Your progress directly depends on the regularity of your classes.

For example, if you study twice a week, then due to the large gaps between classes, you will forget the material you have covered. Therefore, you will have to spend a lot of time repeating the material.

If you want to compress your English learning time as much as possible, you need to study every day. At the same time, to immerse yourself in the language environment, study for at least 2 hours a day.

You can alternate classes as follows.

1. On Monday you go through:

New word list
Learn a few grammar rules

You practice all this orally, making up sentences and speaking them.

2. The next day you practice all the material covered in writing, composing sentences and writing them down.

In this way, you train your writing skill and consolidate the material you have covered.

This is exactly what our students do, practicing all the material orally in class and reinforcing it with written homework.

Tip #3: Talk most of the time during class

Learning any language consists of 2 parts:

Theoretical (study of words and rules)
Practical (using learned words and rules in your speech)

If you study only theory, you will not be able to use your knowledge in life. That is, you will not be able to speak freely.

Without practical practice, the rules you learn get confused in your head and forgotten. And we very quickly forget what we don’t use.

How much time should you devote to “talking”?

For this, everyone piece of theory you need to practice in speaking.

For example:

If you study time Present Simple, then you must verbally compose sentences in this tense and pronounce them.

Pronounce each sentence, working with it 4 steps:

1. Grammatical correctness

2. Correct pronunciation

3. Intonation

4. Fluency

Only when you speak sentences correctly, beautifully and quickly, move on to the next workout.

I told you in detail about how to properly train spoken English.

What should I do if I study on my own?

In this case, you need to do speaking exercises, but with yourself. You should pronounce sentences as if you are communicating with someone.

Of course, in this case there will be a big disadvantage: you will not listen to the foreign speech of another person. That is, your listening skills (understanding speech by ear) will not develop.

Everyone who learns foreign languages has a problem: forgetting words. Many people cram 100 words a day, but this is of no use.

To remember a word, you need to use it and make sentences with it. I told you how to do it correctly in this article.

To make it easier for you to learn words, combine them into small word lists. To do this, combine the necessary words by topic.

For example, take 20 words on the topic "family".

Don't study everything!

To save time, learn only lists of words that you will actually use. For example, if you are not involved in business, you do not need to learn business vocabulary.

It’s better to choose topics that will really be useful to you: daily duties, restaurant, store, etc.

Reinforce learned words with short stories. For example, to review the family word list, talk about your family members.

You can combine topics. For example, by combining the lists of words “appearance and character” and “family”, you will get a detailed story about your family members.

This way you will gradually “increase” your lexicon.

Don't wait until you learn English perfectly. Start using English in your life right now.

Replace the actions you did in Russian with English. This way you can use your English and improve it at the same time.

Right now, think about where you can use English and start doing it.

Here are some tips for you:

Write to-do lists in English
Start reading foreign blogs in English
Look for information in a search engine in English
Listen to podcasts in English.

Tip: Download iTunes to your computer. In it you will find a huge number of podcasts on various topics: business, family, goals, development, etc.

How long does it take to improve your English level?

To improve your level of English, you need:

1. Set a goal and move towards it

2. Study English every day, at least 2 hours

3. Focus 80% of classes on practice

4. Learn only the lists of words you need to expand your vocabulary

5. Use your English in life

Based on the experience of our students, by doing this, you can improve your English level in 1.5 - 3 months.

Or during courses, you will definitely come across the concept of “levels of English” or “levels of English proficiency”, as well as such incomprehensible designations as A1, B2, and the more understandable Beginner, Intermediate and so on. From this article you will learn what these formulations mean and what levels of language proficiency are distinguished, as well as how to determine your level of English.

Levels of English were invented so that language learners could be divided into groups with approximately similar knowledge and skills in reading, writing, speaking and writing, as well as to simplify testing procedures, examinations, for various purposes related to emigration, study abroad and employment. This classification helps when recruiting students into a group and preparing teaching aids, methods, language teaching programs.

Of course, there is no clear boundary between the levels; this division is quite arbitrary, needed not so much by students as by teachers. In total, there are 6 levels of language proficiency, there are two types of division:

Levels A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, C2,
Levels Beginner, Elementary, Intermediate, Upper Intermediate, Advanced, Proficiency.

Essentially they are just two different names for the same thing. These 6 levels are divided into three groups.

Table: English language proficiency levels

The classification was developed in the late eighties - early nineties of the last century, it is completely called the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment (abbr. CERF).

English language levels: detailed description

Beginner level (A1)

At this level you can:

Understand and use familiar everyday expressions and simple phrases aimed at solving specific problems.
Introduce yourself, introduce other people, ask simple personal questions, for example, “Where do you live?”, “Where are you from?”, be able to answer such questions.
Maintain a simple conversation if the other person speaks slowly, clearly and helps you.

Many who studied English at school speak the language at approximately the Beginner level. From the vocabulary only elementary mother, father, help me, my name is, London is the capital. You can understand well-known words and expressions by ear if they speak very clearly and without accent, as in the audio lessons for the textbook. You understand texts like the “Exit” sign, and in a conversation with the help of gestures, using individual words, you can express the simplest thoughts.

Level Elementary (A2)

At this level you can:

Understand common expressions on general topics such as family, shopping, work, etc.
Talk about simple everyday topics using simple phrases.
Talk about yourself in simple terms, describe simple situations.

If you got a 4 or 5 in English at school, but after that you didn’t use English for some time, then most likely you speak the language at the Elementary level. TV programs in English will not be understandable, except for individual words, but the interlocutor, if he speaks clearly, in simple phrases of 2-3 words, will generally understand. You can also incoherently and with long pauses for reflection tell the simplest information about yourself, say that the sky is blue and the weather is clear, express a simple wish, place an order at McDonald's.

The Beginner – Elementary levels can be called a “survival level”, Survival English. It is enough to “survive” during a trip to a country where the main language is English.

Intermediate level (B1)

At this level you can:

Understand the general meaning of clear speech on common, familiar topics related to everyday life(work, study, etc.)
Cope with the most typical situations while traveling (at the airport, in a hotel, etc.)
Compose simple, coherent text on general or personally familiar topics.
Retell events, describe hopes, dreams, ambitions, be able to briefly talk about plans and explain your point of view.

Vocabulary and knowledge of grammar are enough to write simple essays about yourself, describe incidents from life, write a letter to a friend. But in most cases, oral speech lags behind written speech, you confuse tenses, think about a phrase, pause to find a preposition (to or for?), but you can communicate more or less, especially if there is no shyness or fear of making mistakes.

Understanding your interlocutor is much more difficult, and if it is a native speaker, and even with fast speech and a bizarre accent, then it is almost impossible. However, simple, clear speech is understandable well, provided the words and expressions are familiar. You generally understand if the text is not very complex, and with some difficulty you understand the general meaning without subtitles.

Upper Intermediate level (B2)

At this level you can:

Understand the general meaning of complex text on concrete and abstract topics, including technical (specialized) topics in your profile.
Speak quickly enough so that communication with a native speaker occurs without long pauses.
Compose clear, detailed text on various topics, explain points of view, give arguments for and against various points of view on the topic.

Upper Intermediate is already a good, solid, confident command of the language. If you are talking on a well-known topic with a person whose pronunciation you understand well, then the conversation will go quickly, easily, naturally. An outside observer will say that you are fluent in English. However, you may be confused by words and expressions related to topics that you do not understand well, all sorts of jokes, sarcasm, hints, slang.

You are asked to answer 36 questions to test your listening, writing, speaking and grammar skills.

It is noteworthy that to test listening comprehension, they do not use phrases recorded by the speaker like “London is the capital”, but short excerpts from films (Puzzle English specializes in learning English from films and TV series). In English-language films, the speech of the characters is close to the way people speak in real life, so the test may seem harsh.

Chandler from Friends doesn't have the best pronunciation.

To check a letter, you need to translate several phrases from English into Russian and from Russian into English. The program provides several translation options for each phrase. To test your knowledge of grammar, a completely ordinary test is used, where you need to choose one option from several proposed ones.

But you're probably wondering how the program can test your speaking skills? Of course, an online English test will not test your speech like a human, but the test developers have come up with an original solution. In the task you need to listen to a phrase from the film and choose a line suitable for continuing the dialogue.

Talking is not enough, you also need to understand your interlocutor!

The ability to speak English consists of two skills: listening to the speech of your interlocutor and expressing your thoughts. This task, although in a simplified form, tests how you cope with both tasks.

At the end of the test you will be shown full list questions with correct answers, you will find out where you made mistakes. And of course, you will see a chart with an assessment of your level on a scale from Beginner to Upper Intermediate.

2. Test to determine the level of English with a teacher

To get a professional, “live” (and not automated, as in tests) assessment of the level of the English language, you need English teacher, which will test you with tasks and an interview in English.

This consultation can be done free of charge. Firstly, there may be a language school in your city that offers free language testing and even a trial lesson. This is now a common practice.

In short, I signed up for a trial lesson-test, got in touch on Skype at the appointed time, and teacher Alexandra and I had a lesson during which she “tortured” me in every possible way with various tasks. All communication was in English.

My trial lesson on SkyEng. We check your knowledge of grammar.

At the end of the lesson, the teacher explained to me in detail in which direction I should develop my English, what problems I have, and a little later she sent me a letter with detailed description level of language skills (with ratings on a 5-point scale) and methodological recommendations.

This method took some time: three days passed from submitting the application to the lesson, and the lesson itself lasted about 40 minutes. But this is much more interesting than any online test.

After passing the English language test, you receive a score. Often you will also get some idea of what the score means, expressed in terms of English proficiency or a term such as "beginner" or "advanced." IN different countries around the world, a wide variety of systems are used to assess language proficiency. Tests for determining the level of the English language vary greatly, and may be associated with uniform systems of corresponding levels, either explicitly or implicitly. Some English level systems are based on a specific English language test, while others are not linked to any specific test.

What you will find on this page

Rating scale

The most reliable way to find out your level of English is to take a properly designed test. There are quite a few test options, and if you are not sure which one to choose, we recommend starting with the EF SET test. You can use your EF SET score as a certification result on your resume and LinkedIn profile. The EFS ET is currently the only standardized English language test that accurately measures all levels of language proficiency from beginner to proficient, against the internationally recognized standard of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). Other standardized English tests will assess some proficiency levels, but not the entire CEFR scale. The EF SET helps assess your English level and progress over a period of months or years and is a standardized way to self-assess your language learning progress.

English language certification is required for many university programs and visa systems. In the labor market, determining language level is not always official requirement, but a certificate certifying your level of English will be your advantage among other applicants. Plus, more broadly, by accurately assessing your English level, you'll be able to track your level over time, which is important for all English language learners. After all, how else will you know that your English is getting better?

Matching English levels

It is no secret to many that systems of language proficiency levels do not correlate well with each other. However, this table shows a fairly close correspondence. If you've taken one of these tests, our chart will help you see what other test scores might match yours.*

	A1 - Beginner	A2 - Elementary	B1 - Intermediate	B2 - Upper intermediate	C1 - Advanced	C2 - Proficient




		Pass or pass with merit	Pass with distinction
			Pass or pass with merit	Pass with distinction







PTE General level

The classification levels (from A1-novice to C2-professional) correspond to the CEFR scale. The comparison of results is based on data from individual sites, which use the CEFR standard as the main standard for comparison.

Why is it important to know your English level?

As a rule, to describe your knowledge of English, you are offered a certain level system. An employer, school, teacher, or immigration authorities will ask you to take a specific English language test, and then you will have your level of English reported using a system designed for such testing. Depending on your goals and where you live, you will be more likely to encounter one English level system than another. For example, if you are going to university in the US, you will probably learn what the TOEFL 100 point level is. And if you are looking to get a UK visa, you are most likely familiar with the CEFR level B1.

When learning a language, you often come across such a concept as levels of English proficiency. Accordingly, questions arise: “What is this? By what parameters is it determined? The conclusion about language proficiency is made on the basis of special tests. Descriptions of levels will help you determine your level of English proficiency approximately.

0. Zero (Full Beginner)

This perfect description those who have never encountered the English language in their lives. And even at school I studied German or French. In this case, the person does not know even the most basic things, for example, the alphabet. If you studied English, even if it was a long time ago, something remains in your head.

1. Elementary level

C-grade high school graduates go out into life with approximately this knowledge. This also includes those who once studied something, but have already completely forgotten. There is a minimum vocabulary, which sometimes adds up to simple sentences. Individual lexical units, phrases or parts thereof are understandable. But only the most basic and elementary. A person can introduce himself and tell a couple of standard phrases about himself, but in general the conversation turns out something like Danila Bagrov’s with a truck driver: separate words and active gestures. Such people have a very vague idea of grammar and the rules for using lexical units, and even of pronunciation.

2. Highest elementary level (Upper-Elementary)

Diligent high school students emerge with such knowledge. A person can talk about a familiar topic, although the choice is very limited. Mostly these are conversations about oneself, family and simple everyday dialogues. Words are easily formed into simple sentences. Already have an idea of grammar. So far it is possible to use only the simplest and most basic rules well, but an idea has been formed, for example, about complex tense forms that are little used in colloquial speech. Vocabulary expands, especially passive. A person can write a simple letter, business card or greeting card. However, it is still difficult for him to talk, his speech rate is slow.

3. Lower intermediate level (Pre-Intermediate)

A person speaks freely within the framework of familiar topics and within the limits of his active vocabulary. There are less and less grammatical errors in speech. You can already tell not only about yourself, but also describe an event, person, place. Language learner gives assessment various actions, formulates his attitude towards them, clearly expresses his emotions. Conversations are supported not only of a domestic nature, but also on more abstract topics. When reading and listening, a person understands the main idea of the text, the semantic message. At this level, you can and should communicate with native speakers. This will develop communication skills and also help overcome internal barriers and self-doubt.

You can also try to take a language test to check your level of English, but this will not be of practical use for now.

4. Intermediate level

This is where the practical benefits of knowing a language begin. And it lies not only in the fact that communication with foreigners reaches new level. You don’t have to be afraid to be alone in a foreign country, because finding your way, going to a restaurant and chatting with people and making new friends at this level is already quite possible. With such knowledge of the language, people are already accepted for preparatory courses at English and American universities. And even more so in Russian languages. Before this, it is better to determine your English language proficiency levels online and not spend money on expensive certificates.

At this level, a person can communicate on everyday topics, express his ideas, attitude towards something, and argue his position. Written and spoken language contains few grammatical errors. When reading and listening, the student can understand the meaning from the context and guess the meaning of new words. It will not be difficult to write a personal or official letter, filling out a questionnaire, petition, etc. A person will be able to comment on this or that incident, talk about a series of sequential events, or even write a short story.

5 - 6. Upper-Intermediate level

The stock of vocabulary and grammar is sufficient not only to discuss specific incidents and everyday topics, but also for conversations on abstract, abstract topics. These levels of knowledge of English allow you to notice not only other people’s, but also your own speech errors. From now on, talking with a foreigner will not be difficult. A language learner can easily talk and write about his needs, thoughts and feelings, as well as criticize or support someone else’s point of view, argue his position and even speak out on philosophical question. Telephone conversations will also not cause difficulties.

When reading and listening to non-adapted texts, a person understands the basic information the first time. It will not be difficult to write texts in various styles. The active vocabulary expands to 6000 words, and the passive vocabulary is 1.5-2 times larger. The scope of use of certain lexical units becomes clear; a person knows a large number of idioms, set expressions and cliche phrases. It will not be difficult to write texts in various styles.

Such levels of English knowledge allow you to enter foreign colleges and universities. You can also get a job. The scope of activity will, of course, be limited. You can only work in places where you don’t need to have a lot of contact with people.

7 - 9. Advanced level (Advanced)

Here we can already talk about language proficiency at the level of a native speaker, but not a very educated one. Difficulties also arise with understanding individual idioms or complex specialized vocabulary. But you can experience exactly the same difficulties when speaking your native language. The internal division into levels of knowledge of the English language is understandable only to specialists.

Studying abroad will not cause any difficulties, even studying specialized literature and communicating with specific terminology. The use of jargon and other subtleties of language are also quite clear.

10-12. Upper advanced level

Language proficiency is not just at the level of an average resident, but an educated and highly cultured one. If any misunderstanding arises, it will only be due to small personal experience life in the chosen country. It is about this level that they say “perfect command of the language.” There is nowhere to strive higher. This maximum levels knowledge of English. All that remains is to practice and practice so as not to lose the acquired skills.