This only applies to those who know absolutely nothing about the language, not even the alphabet. If you studied English at school or, then this is definitely not about you. Given the prevalence English language, it is difficult to find an adult who would have an absolute zero level.
Basic knowledge, 1 Elementary
Unfortunately, this is exactly the level of those who studied English at school. The man knows a few simple words, has a vague understanding of grammar, but he cannot speak. With a certain diligence and sociability, possession of basic knowledge will allow you to communicate with a salesperson in a store or staff at a hotel, but nothing more.
Advanced Elementary Level, 2 Upper-Elementary
A person at this level can speak using the simplest grammatical structures. Vocabulary is limited to topics that have been studied in class, but this is already enough to support a conversation on a familiar topic. Although it’s still difficult to express your opinion. It is possible to communicate at this level if the interlocutor speaks slowly and complements his words with gestures.
Slightly below average, 3 Pre-Intermediate
Having command of the language at this level, a person can carry on a conversation on a familiar topic with ease. He speaks practically without making mistakes, the pace of speech is already quite decent. But when communicating with native speakers, a difficult situation often arises. An English-speaking person decides that his interlocutor speaks well and begins to communicate in “ normal mode“, and here a person with a Pre-Intermediate level realizes that he still understands little, usually feeling awkward.
Intermediate level, 4 Intermediate
This is already good knowledge. A person can speak quite freely on everyday topics, knows grammar, and can explain himself in writing. Vocabulary is still, as a rule, low. This level allows you to pass international tests IELTS with 4.5-5.5 points, and TOEFL with 80-85.
Advanced intermediate level, 5-6 Upper-Intermediate
Upon reaching this level, a person can already go to university or work in a foreign company, if he does not need to communicate too much with clients. The test results are as follows: IELTS 5.5-6.5, TOEFL 100.
Advanced. 7-9 Advanced
This is already excellent knowledge of the language, and further differences in everyday communication cannot be noticed. You can work in any position at any university. Test results: IELTS 7.0, TOEFL 110.
Level 10-12 is considered even higher. This is knowledge of the language, like a native, highly educated resident of Great Britain. This is called perfect command of the language. The IELTS score is 8.5.
Determine your level on our school’s website by taking our own English test →
Many people often hear the phrase: “My friend (brother, wife, etc.) speaks perfect English.” But, firstly, everyone’s concept of perfection is different, and secondly, a variety of tests will help you find out how perfect you really are in this matter. Determining your English level– this is where its study begins or continues. It is necessary to determine your language level, if only to find out how far you have progressed in this process. In addition, this will be needed if you decide to teach, so that the teacher can understand where to start learning.
How to determine your English proficiency level
- Beginner
- Elementary
- Pre-Intermediate
- Intermediate
- Upper Intermediate
- Advanced
So, determining the level of English begins with the level “ Beginner ", or zero. This is exactly the level that those who have never studied English have. This is the level that will give you an idea of the English language and equip you with basic knowledge. By the way, many course teachers determine exactly how much time you will need to master the English language. If you hear exact deadlines, leave immediately. To master a language means to embrace the immensity. You can master a language to some extent, but you cannot acquire something that is beyond your control - a living organism. After all, language is a living organism that is constantly growing and constantly changing.
Elementary - you can explain yourself on the most basic topics, but, alas, with little. If you have received this level in testing after many months of study, do not despair. The rule applies: spend little, get little! And if this level is a reward, then you are getting closer to the next level...
There are certain difficulties in determining the level of English Pre-Intermediate . Like everything in the world, this level is relative. The reason for this is that the line between this level and the next is too thin, but, nevertheless, it is believed that students with this level should not only adequately use English in familiar situations, but also should not get lost in unfamiliar ones.
Intermediate . You can understand English speech and communicate effectively with life situations, yet sometimes having difficulty doing so.
Upper-Intermediate . You will be able to use English more or less successfully in different situations. This level of knowledge is for those who plan to start working or studying abroad.
Level Advanced involves using English almost to the same extent as Russian, but sometimes making minor errors.
On our website you can determine your level of language proficiency by passing the following tests:
- A comprehensive test to determine the level of English on our school website
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.
Basically it's 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 general meaning clear speech on general, 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.
It is much more difficult to understand your interlocutor, and if he 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 complex text on specific 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 like “London is the capital” recorded by the announcer, 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 a skill colloquial speech? Of course, an online English proficiency test will not test your speech like a human, but the test developers came up with 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.
If we understood how to significantly improve our English level in a week, we would solve many problems in life. Because almost every one of us needs to know English. But no one wants to spend a lot of time and effort on knowing the language. Learning English via Skype is confidently becoming the most popular and in an accessible way both in terms of time and material costs. Many people understand that learning a language is a long and labor-intensive process. But understanding is half the battle. Therefore, only a few are able to organize their lives in such a way,
that English becomes an integral part of their every day, every week and month. And the result is not long in coming. An English teacher tells readers of the English Voyage blog how to significantly improve your English level in a week, how to intensify your efforts to learn English, rearrange your work day to benefit your language skills, and experience real progress in learning English. Of course, you can’t learn English in a week, just like any other language. But you need to rationally organize your training, correctly distributing resources and opportunities.
“We all encounter barriers to language learning. Sometimes you want to take everything and quit. And this is true for any field. But tell me, has the idea never occurred to you to stop speaking Russian and listening to it? Of course not. This is all because the Russian language for us is just a tool. So English is also a tool. Forget about sitting at the dictionary. Start fantasizing and thinking out things. You won't break anything. But you will get to know the whole world. Remove barriers, remove fear. Just take it and plunge into it headlong. From now on and forever, you study the language only for pleasure, only when you want. Only at the moment when natural curiosity awakens in you. The rest of the time, language is a tool for doing something truly worthwhile. Something that you like. I really like to say this to my student Alexey: “Have a blast, Lekha, just have a blast!”
Now it's time for real action. It is always very interesting to read other stories, but often it is not clear where to start. Below I will describe the actions that I want you to take on the path to your cherished dream of mastering English. Right now! Get ready for the one week challenge!
To significantly improve your English level in a week, do the following:
Now it's time to try. Forward! Go for it! Just for one week, plunge into a new world - the Internet, podcasts, television, stand-up comedy that you listen to on the way to work, etc. Try this in English. Just relax and have fun. Let your consciousness do the work for you. At the same time, constantly monitor:
- your thoughts, your internal dialogue. Try to think in English. But without violence. When you realize that you are thinking in Russian, then simply translate the above phrase into English and continue living)))
- what are you googling? At first you don’t really want to do this in English, but believe me, you are intermediate. You will understand 80% of existing information. Some of us will never look at the remaining 20 in our lives. And is it necessary? So no excuses, just action, action. Not “How to use a toothbrush?”, but “How to use a toothbrush?”, not “How to find a handsome guy in Berlin?”, but “How to find a handsome guy in Berlin?” That's it. Very simple.
At the end of the week, just look back and look back. You spent a whole week completely immersed in the language. Fifteen years ago, someone could only dream of this. There simply were no such opportunities. You and I have this. It helps me. During this time, I overcame the Upper-Intermediate barrier and am calmly moving forward. I learn words, improve my grammar when I’m in the mood. How long do I plan to master the language? Hah, I mastered it, reaching the Intermediate level. For me, language has become what it should be - a tool for achieving other goals, for communication. At this rate, God willing, in 20 years, maybe sooner, I will be indistinguishable from a native speaker. I'm more than happy with this. Now the choice is yours. Join us!
That's probably all. In conclusion, I want to say that all of the above is not intended to entertain or even to make you think about something. No. The purpose of this article is a specific call to action. A call to get up and change your approach, to understand in practice what it’s like to learn something in English in a week. You can read hundreds of posts, you can learn something from them, or you can take it and do it once and for all. Stop discussing, stop looking for the ideal method - there is none, and there never will be. Benny Lewis said: “There are 7 days in a week and “someday” is not one of them.” And now you, yes you, who have mastered 1500+ words of this fascinating material, tell me, what will you do to get things moving? Which of your hobbies can you make into English today? What do you think might be difficult? What do you think - how to significantly improve your English level in a week? Write your answers in the comments. We continue the discussion there.”
