How to assess your level of English. How to determine your level of knowledge of English. What do language proficiency levels show?

If you speak English, then you will not be lost in any civilized country and will be able to study and work there.
There are several levels of English knowledge (in accordance with the CEFR classification): from A1, or "Beginner", to C2, or "Proficient". It is important to correctly determine your current level in order to enroll in the right courses, choose the right literature, etc. Now we will tell you about several convenient services where you can do this for free and with a fairly high accuracy.

EFSET

Perhaps this is the first thing that should come to mind when thinking about a serious and reliable test of your knowledge in the field of English. The abbreviation stands for "EF Standard English Test", and the capabilities of this service are available at efset.org. This is a completely free standardized test, developed by eminent linguists and available in a convenient online mode. It is aimed precisely at those people for whom English is not their native language.

A lot of additional features are integrated into the service, which are also free. So, for example, upon completion of the test, you can receive an official EFSET certificate, a link to the result (you can add it to your resume and LinkedIn profile), as well as basic recommendations on how you can improve your current knowledge. The full version of the test takes about 50 minutes to complete, but if you want to know the approximate result faster, you can use the shorter 15-minute test.

In fact, it will not be entirely about CELA, but about something very closely related to them. CELA, or Cambridge English Language Assessment, is a set of English language proficiency exams that are held at the University of Cambridge. As you might guess, these are one of the most famous exams in this subject all over the world.

These are not so much online tests as examples of test tasks in different languages for different levels, with keys and audio versions. All of them are divided into checking the degree of development of different abilities: writing, reading and listening to the language. To check your level, you need to try to complete different tests, check your answers with the keys and see in tasks of what complexity you start to make a lot of mistakes. These same tests can be used to prepare for the ECL if you choose to take these exams. If you wish, you can find online versions of such tasks on the websites of various organizations that prepare for the ECL or are official representatives of the examination system.

In other words, there are many free opportunities for deep or quick testing of your knowledge of the English language on the web. If you are focusing on preparing for any exams, then it is better to use the websites of the relevant organizations. Otherwise, you can simply choose the service that seemed most convenient to you.

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

The 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, exams, for various purposes related to emigration, study abroad and employment. Such a classification helps in recruiting students into a group and preparing teaching aids, methods, and language teaching programs.

Of course, there is no clear boundary between the levels, this division is rather conditional, necessary not so much for students as for teachers. In total, there are 6 levels of language proficiency, there are two types of division:

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

In fact, these 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 fully called the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment (abbr. CERF).

English 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 questions of a personal nature, such as “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 about 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 an accent, as in audio lessons for a 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.

Elementary level (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.
Tell in simple terms about yourself, describe simple situations.

If at school you had 4 or 5 in English, but after that you didn’t use English for some time, then most likely you speak the language at the Elementary level. TV shows in English will not be understood, except for individual words, but if the interlocutor speaks clearly, in simple phrases of 2-3 words, you 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, make an order at McDonald's.

Beginner - Elementary levels can be called "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 distinct speech on general, familiar topics related to everyday life (work, study, etc.)
Cope with the most typical situations on a trip, travel (at the airport, in a hotel, etc.)
Write simple connected text on topics that are common or familiar to you personally.
Retell events, describe hopes, dreams, ambitions, be able to briefly talk about plans and explain your point of view.

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

It is much more difficult to understand the interlocutor, 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 understood well, provided that the words and expressions are familiar. You generally understand if the text is not very complex, and with some difficulty understand the general meaning without subtitles.

Level Upper Intermediate (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 the point 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 can be confused by words and expressions related to topics that are poorly understood by you, all sorts of jokes, sarcasm, allusions, slang.

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

It is noteworthy that to test listening comprehension, phrases such as “London is the capital” recorded by the announcer are not used, but short excerpts from films (Puzzle English specializes in learning English from films and TV shows). In English-language films, the speech of the characters is close to how people speak in real life, so the test may seem harsh.

Chandler from Friends doesn't have the best pronunciation.

To check the 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 knowledge of grammar, a completely ordinary test is used, where you need to choose one option from several proposed ones.

But you are probably wondering how the program can test the skill of speaking? Of course, an online English proficiency test will not test your speech as a person, but the test developers came up with an original solution. In the task, you need to listen to a phrase from the movie and choose a cue that is suitable for continuing the dialogue.

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

The ability to speak English consists of two skills: to understand the speech of the interlocutor by ear and to express one's thoughts. This task, albeit in a simplified form, tests how you cope with both tasks.

At the end of the test, you will be shown a complete list of questions with the correct answers, you will find out where you made mistakes. And of course, you will see a chart showing 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” (not automated, as in tests) assessment of the level of English, you need English teacher who will test you with assignments and an interview in English.

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

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

My trial lesson on SkyEng. Checking grammar knowledge.

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

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

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As a rule, it is not enough to determine the level of knowledge of English online. Your restless curiosity must be eager to know what your result means. Below you can read what this or that level of English means. Ready? Then go ahead!

60-70 points. If you scored from 60 to 70 points, then you have reached the level Advanced (Advanced) in my English teaching. This is a very high level, which means that you can easily communicate in English in almost any situation. You perfectly understand almost any text, enjoy watching films and series in English, sometimes even forgetting what language they were watched in, calmly read books in the original. Although the Advanced level is undoubtedly a great achievement, it is not the highest level of English proficiency. There is also a level Proficiency (Professional), which covers absolutely all areas of knowledge and makes it possible to use English as a native language. Therefore, do not give up, the goal is already close!

48-59 points indicates a level called Upper-intermediate (Above average). As a rule, this level is indicated as the minimum for admission to a university and employment in an international company. Knowledge of English at this level implies that you have a good vocabulary to express your thoughts, opinions on some issue or problem. You can competently build sentences using complex structures. You understand most of the English songs you hear on the radio, usually without regard to slang and various dialects. If we compare this level with human age, then in English you enter the phase of an adult of 20-23 years old, your English seems to be independent, but not always confident and has not acquired life wisdom. You think in English, albeit sometimes with errors.

36-47 points is the level intermediate (Average). At this level, a person already has a good understanding of the system of grammatical tenses and constructions, knows the words of the main everyday topics. Willingly enters into a conversation, can express his thoughts in most everyday situations. He can already watch films in English, but at the same time he experiences obvious difficulties due to the lack of a passive vocabulary, that is, words that a person can recognize in a text or conversation and translate. With the Intermediate level, you can already travel safely. You will definitely understand the locals of non-English speaking countries and will be able to start a lively conversation with them.

24-35 points. Level Pre-Intermediate (Below the average) says that your period of "childhood" in English is over. You have already seen some of the many complex grammatical constructions with your own eyes, and you can even apply some of them. You have already learned a couple of three cumbersome creepy words and in all likelihood you can pick up synonyms for some expressions. Orientation in simple language situations (in a restaurant, hotel, shop, airport) does not shock you, because you can already cope with it. You can read the first adapted books “in the original”, but sometimes you still experience horror before unadapted films. Pre-intermediate is a great level after which you will find a lot of interesting things. Therefore, do not turn off the intended path!

11-23 points - Elementary(Base). If you learned English “at school once upon a time”, then in 90% of cases your residual knowledge just reaches the level of Elementary. And this is already a positive moment, since you already have some kind of base and you don’t have to “raise the virgin soil”. At this level, you already know how to read, count up to 100 and know (you can find out in the text) up to 500 words. You are familiar with the basic tenses, you have even heard or know 3 forms of irregular verbs (do-did-done). When building a proposal, you still feel insecure, but you can already order lunch at a restaurant and ask for directions. Cheer up, the most interesting is yet to come.

0-10 points indicates the level beginner (Beginning). In English, you are still a complete beginner, but you will definitely not give up. It is so?

How to check the level of spoken English?

In order to determine the level of knowledge of English online with the greatest accuracy, it is advisable to pass an oral test. After all, knowledge of English grammar and vocabulary does not guarantee that you have good speech skills and decent pronunciation. Unfortunately, there are also cases when a person passes the test by 90%, but can hardly verbally construct a sentence. Or, when written skills are head and shoulders ahead of oral ones. Such situations occur when a well-motivated person has studied long and hard on his own, read a large number of books, redid hundreds of exercises, but did not have the opportunity or desire to put his skills into practice and talk to someone in a foreign language. It turns out that there is knowledge, but it is impossible to say that a person speaks English. Therefore, if you want to accurately determine your level of knowledge of the English language and get recommendations from a specialist on how to improve it, sign up for free oral testing.

Learning or continuing to learn a language effectively begins with determining your level of proficiency. Many do not know how to determine their level of English. There are several ways that we will talk about.

Why determine your level?

Accurate determination of the level of English is the key to successful learning. Learning a language from a low or high level, for example, for a Pre-Intermediate level holder, simply does not make sense. With beginners, he will quickly get bored, and advanced-level materials will be too tough for him and the student will only waste time. It is important to remember that theory alone will not lead anywhere, and practice without theory will not be complete. Each level of language proficiency is determined by a set of theoretical knowledge and practical skills.

English Proficiency Levels

Language proficiency levels are assessed using the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) or the informal British grading system. British designations are almost always listed in textbooks, and are generally more common. british system

beginner
Elementary
Pre-Intermediate
intermediate
Upper Intermediate
Advanced
Proficiency

Common European Competence (CEFR) uses designations from A1 to C2, where A1 corresponds to the Elementary level, and C2 to the Proficiency level. It is impossible to assess knowledge of the English language by theoretical tests alone. Proficiency levels assess knowledge in four basic skills: Listening (listening comprehension), Reading (reading), Writing (writing) and Speaking (oral speech). Beginner, Elementary and Pre-Intermediate refer to elementary language proficiency. Beginner can introduce themselves, share other personal information, and count up to 100. At the Elementary level, the student expresses simple thoughts and feelings, learns and provides various information, and can write a short letter. A Pre-Intermediate student clearly expresses his thoughts, understands speech well by ear, he is familiar with the basic situations of communication and the rules for matching words in a sentence. Independent language acquisition includes Intermediate and Upper-Intermediate levels. At the Intermediate level, the student expresses his ideas and learns someone else's opinion, understands the main ideas of the text on listening, writes formal and informal letters, and confidently operates with grammar. An Upper-Intermediate student can easily maintain a conversation with several interlocutors, understand and provide information in various situations, and understand the main idea of native speakers the first time. Advanced and Proficiency are considered fluency levels. At the Advanced level, the student can speak fluently and fluently on most topics using formal and informal styles, embellishing speech with idioms and using phrasal verbs. The Proficiency level is a professional level of English proficiency. The student reads original works, can conduct business negotiations or engage in scientific activities, thoroughly understands what is said by native speakers.

How to know your level?

You can determine your level using an online test, interview or self-test.

Online tests

The most affordable way to check your English level is to take an online test. Most of these tests determine only the level of theoretical knowledge. As mentioned above, knowledge of the language is not exhausted by grammar. Knowing grammar at the Intermediate level, you may not be able to connect two words in a conversation in English. Free tests offers Cambridge English. Adults, schoolchildren and kids will be able to test their knowledge, you can also assess the level of proficiency in business vocabulary. Pros of the General English test from Cambridge English

The test evaluates the ability to navigate in various everyday situations and knowledge of vocabulary;
At the end of the test, it not only determines the level, but also recommends an international exam that can really be passed with this level.

Minuses:

Does not test writing, listening and speaking skills, i.e. the picture may not be complete.

Test from the British Council(link) can also be used. It consists of 25 questions, like the previous one. The difference of the test is that it will check not only knowledge of vocabulary, but also other points. Benefits of the test from the British Council:

Check grammar, vocabulary, knowledge of synonyms and search for words that are used together;
After each answered question, the test offers to mark the degree of confidence in the answer, which is also taken into account when determining the level and excludes the “poke method”;
After determining the level, he will give recommendations on educational materials and offer to find them in the search on the result page.

Minuses:

Listening, speaking and writing skills are ignored.

self-assessment Not a very reliable way to determine your level, since most people evaluate their knowledge far from objectively. Finding out your level of English is quite easy - just read the description of the levels of language proficiency and compare your knowledge and skills with the information studied. The method is recommended to be used together with an online test. Determination of the level by professionals The best test of the level of English is to trust the professionals in their field at any language school. Ideally, such a test should take the form of a conversation with the teacher. He will be able to assess how the student builds sentences, his ability to use the language, knowledge of vocabulary. The conversation can take place after writing a lexical and grammatical test. Only such a result can be considered correct and it will be possible to state with confidence: “I speak English at the level (Intermediate)!”.

Your certificate is correct

will they accept? From it official?

In Russia there is no law that would oblige to do this,
but there are stories of those who have been tested.

Yurchenko Svetlana, https://vk.com/id476026658

Every day I use my knowledge and skills, but sometimes they need to be not only demonstrated, but also officially confirmed. Usually, the process of passing the test and obtaining a certificate takes a long time and requires a lot of time and money.

Thanks to a short, well-thought-out system of questions, backed up by an excellent methodology for testing knowledge (excellent, even for a test, which is rare today), the portal site will accurately show you the level of your competence in English and document it with an official State Certificate!

The whole procedure for passing the test, checking and getting the result, in the form of a nice and informative Certificate, took me a couple of days! There is no need to talk about the financial component at all, since you pay only upon passing the test in order to receive a Certificate. And the very passage of online tests is absolutely free in unlimited quantities. This is a 100% like!

Many thanks to your service for saving time, money, and also for the excellent service. Many thanks to the managers of the company for their professionalism and efficiency!

Mitina Elena, https://www.facebook.com/elena.mitina.39

I express my deep gratitude to the TESTIZER website for the effective help in solving my problem. I teach foreign languages, my specialization is German and French. As a student, I also completed English language courses, but since I did not have to work with this language after the institute, the certificate of completion of the courses was lost. For several years now, there has been a shortage of teachers in schools, specifically English. At first I had to work as a substitute, and with the introduction of a second foreign language in schools, I had to take regular hours. To confirm my language knowledge, I turned to the TESTIZER website for testing and obtaining a certificate of language proficiency. I won’t say that passing the test was very easy for me, I didn’t have enough time, probably because I didn’t study the language closely for a long time, but the ability to pass the test again makes the task much easier. Dear colleagues, I highly recommend that you use the TESTIZER website to confirm your language competence and calmly engage in teaching activities, having a supporting document in your hands.