CEFR Levels Explained: A1 to C2 for Speaking

Most explanations of the CEFR give you a table of six labels and leave you no wiser about which one describes you.

The scale becomes far more useful when you read it as a story about one thing: how much help you need from the person you are talking to. That single thread runs from A1 to C2, and the official wording makes it visible if you put the levels side by side.

If you want to find out where you sit by actually talking, SpeakShark is free with three AI conversation sessions a day and no card, each capped at five minutes and four turns.

In this guide: what the CEFR is · the six levels · the global scale in full · the thread that runs through it · the speaking descriptors · where the real jumps are · judging yourself · levels and exams · what we could not verify · how we researched this guide · FAQ

Key takeaways

Six levels, A1 to C2, in three bands: Basic User, Independent User, Proficient User.
The Council of Europe's own names are Breakthrough, Waystage, Threshold, Vantage, Effective Operational Proficiency and Mastery.
The scale is a description of ability, not an exam. Several exams certify the same level.
The A2 spoken interaction descriptor stops at very short social exchanges. The B1 one enters conversation unprepared. That is the band boundary.
Beginner, intermediate and advanced are course provider labels. The Council of Europe publishes no mapping from its levels onto those words.
The Council of Europe calls its own self assessment grid a draft orientation tool, not a verdict.

What the CEFR is, and is not

The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages is published by the Council of Europe. Its own phrasing for the structure is six levels, A1 to C2, which can be regrouped into three broad levels: Basic User, Independent User and Proficient User.

Cambridge English puts the same point in a sentence: the CEFR is an international standard for describing language ability on a six point scale.

It is a description, not a test. That is the single most useful thing to understand about it, because it explains why there is no such thing as the A1 exam or the B1 exam. There are many exams, from different organisations, each certifying a level on this shared scale. We go into that in what is an A1 English test.

The descriptors are written as can do statements. Every line starts with what a person is able to do, rather than with grammar they should have studied.

The six levels and three bands

Band	Levels	Council of Europe names
Basic User	A1, A2	Breakthrough, Waystage
Independent User	B1, B2	Threshold, Vantage
Proficient User	C1, C2	Effective Operational Proficiency, Mastery

Those names are the Council of Europe's own, from the CEFR volume. They are rarely used in practice, and the framework's own text acknowledges that some of them travel badly into other languages, which is why most official material leads with A1 and B2 rather than Breakthrough and Vantage.

Course providers often map these onto words like beginner, intermediate and advanced. The Council of Europe publishes no such mapping. Those labels belong to whoever is selling the course, they are not standardised between schools, and two schools can put the same learner in classes with different names, so the descriptor is always the reliable reference.

The global scale from A1 to B1

Table 1 of the CEFR is the global scale: one paragraph per level, covering everything a user can do rather than speaking alone. These are the three this cluster is built on, quoted in full.

A1. "Can understand and use familiar everyday expressions and very basic phrases aimed at the satisfaction of needs of a concrete type. Can introduce him/herself and others and can ask and answer questions about personal details such as where he/she lives, people he/she knows and things he/she has. Can interact in a simple way provided the other person talks slowly and clearly and is prepared to help."

A2. "Can understand sentences and frequently used expressions related to areas of most immediate relevance (e.g. very basic personal and family information, shopping, local geography, employment). Can communicate in simple and routine tasks requiring a simple and direct exchange of information on familiar and routine matters. Can describe in simple terms aspects of his/her background, immediate environment and matters in areas of immediate need."

B1. "Can understand the main points of clear standard input on familiar matters regularly encountered in work, school, leisure, etc. Can deal with most situations likely to arise whilst travelling in an area where the language is spoken. Can produce simple connected text on topics which are familiar or of personal interest. Can describe experiences and events, dreams, hopes & ambitions and briefly give reasons and explanations for opinions and plans."

The helper is already visible in the A1 paragraph, which ends "provided the other person talks slowly and clearly and is prepared to help". The speaking rows further down make the same point skill by skill.

The thread that runs through the whole scale

Read the three lowest speaking descriptors in order and one thing changes systematically. The exact wording of all three is in the tables in the next section. What follows is our reading of them, not a quotation.

A1 assumes a helper. The other person is written into the level itself. Their job is to slow down, to say it again in different words, and to hand you the sentence you are reaching for. Take that person away and the level stops describing what happens.

A2 loses the helper and gains a ceiling. Nobody is asked to adjust for you any more, but the exchanges are capped at very short, and the descriptor is explicit that keeping the conversation alive is past the edge of the level.

B1 lifts the ceiling. Conversation is entered unprepared, the topics widen from family and hobbies out to work, travel and current events, and reasons for opinions arrive next to the description.

That is the whole lower half of the scale in one sentence: A1 needs help, A2 copes briefly, B1 goes in unprepared. Nothing about word counts, nothing about tenses learned.

It also explains why the band name changes exactly there. Basic User becomes Independent User at B1 because independence from the other person's help is what has actually changed.

The speaking descriptors side by side

The Council of Europe's self assessment grid separates two speaking rows. Spoken interaction is two way conversation. Spoken production is you talking on your own.

Level	Spoken interaction, official wording
A1	I can interact in a simple way provided the other person is prepared to repeat or rephrase things at a slower rate of speech and help me formulate what I'm trying to say. I can ask and answer simple questions in areas of immediate need or on very familiar topics.
A2	I can communicate in simple and routine tasks requiring a simple and direct exchange of information on familiar topics and activities. I can handle very short social exchanges, even though I can't usually understand enough to keep the conversation going myself.
B1	I can deal with most situations likely to arise whilst travelling in an area where the language is spoken. I can enter unprepared into conversation on topics that are familiar, of personal interest or pertinent to everyday life (e.g. family, hobbies, work, travel and current events).

And the production side, which is the one exam tasks usually measure.

Level	Spoken production, official wording
A1	I can use simple phrases and sentences to describe where I live and people I know.
A2	I can use a series of phrases and sentences to describe in simple terms my family and other people, living conditions, my educational background and my present or most recent job.
B1	I can connect phrases in a simple way in order to describe experiences and events, my dreams, hopes and ambitions. I can briefly give reasons and explanations for opinions and plans. I can narrate a story or relate the plot of a book or film and describe my reactions.

Read down each column rather than across. The production column grows from sentences to a series of sentences to connected phrases with reasons and narrative. That is a progression in how much you can hold together, not in how many words you know.

Where the real jumps are

Two boundaries do most of the work, and they are not evenly spaced in difficulty.

A2 to B1 is the big one. Everything below B1 can be reached by preparing the topics the descriptors name: where you live, your family, your job, your education. B1 explicitly involves entering conversation unprepared and giving reasons for opinions. Rehearsed material stops helping, which is why people who studied their way to A2 often stall here. What is a B1 English test goes into that step.

A1 to A2 is smaller than it looks. The descriptors add territory, naming living conditions, educational background and your present or most recent job, and they ask for a series of sentences rather than single ones. The A2 production line still says "in simple terms", though, and that phrase is the ceiling on the level, so the extra territory does not come with extra depth. It is more of the same kind of thing. What is an A2 English test covers it.

For the upper levels the framework continues in the same direction, toward spontaneity, range and precision, but the practical planning question for most readers stops at B1, because that is where the common requirements sit.

Judging your own level, and why it is hard

The Council of Europe publishes a self assessment grid covering all six levels across listening, reading, spoken interaction, spoken production and writing. It is the right starting point.

Two honest caveats belong with it.

The publisher hedges. The Council of Europe describes the grid as a draft for a self assessment orientation tool intended to help learners profile their main language skills. It is designed to point you at which level's detail to read next, not to award you a level.

People misjudge themselves. Published research on self assessment in language learning reports only a moderate correlation between learners' own estimates and tested performance. We are not quoting a figure, for reasons below, but the direction matters and it runs both ways: under-confident learners delay tests they would pass, and over-confident ones book tests they are not ready for.

The most reliable self check is behavioural rather than a grid. Ask somebody to raise a topic you did not choose and see what happens. If you need them to slow down and help you build sentences, that is A1. If you manage a short exchange but cannot keep it going, A2. If you can join in unprepared and say why you think something, B1.

Test your English speaking level free is a starting point, and why your English speaking is not improving is worth reading if years of study have not moved the speaking. The fastest honest check is to start a free session and see whether an unexpected question stops you.

Whatever the grid says, the practice that moves you up is the same at every level: unscripted talking, daily, out loud. Free methods to raise fluency and a 30 day plan to improve speaking cover the habit, practising English speaking alone covers the days nobody is available, and six pronunciation fixes in fourteen days targets clarity rather than accent. If nerves rather than language are the blocker, start with overcoming the fear of speaking English and building confidence in English. To widen the topics the B1 descriptor names, English conversation topics for adults and daily use English sentences give you material.

Levels are not exams

Because the CEFR is a description, a level can be certified by many different exams. For UK visa routes gov.uk approves several providers, and their formats differ: LanguageCert states that its speaking exams are carried out by a real person online, while Trinity's GESE is a one to one speaking and listening examination with a trained examiner and no reading or writing at all.

Which level any particular application requires is set by whoever is asking, not by the framework. For UK visas that is gov.uk, which publishes both a route to level table and per route guidance, and which changes. During this research we found a test provider's own page listing a level gov.uk had already changed, so read gov.uk rather than the company selling you the test. Which English test for a UK visa covers the choice.

What we could not verify

We are not publishing a number for self assessment accuracy. A meta analysis exists reporting a moderate correlation, but we reached it through an indexing service rather than the publisher's own page.

We are not publishing guided learning hours between levels. Those figures come from exam boards rather than from the CEFR, and the Council of Europe does not publish them.

We are not mapping CEFR levels onto course labels such as beginner or intermediate, because those are provider terms and are not standardised.

We are not stating which level any route requires. That belongs to the body asking for it, and for UK visas it changes by application date.

How we researched this guide

Every descriptor quoted here comes from the Council of Europe's own CEFR pages: the global scale in Table 1 and the self assessment grid in Table 2, together with the CEFR volume for the level names and the band structure. They are quoted verbatim rather than paraphrased, because a paraphrased descriptor is not a descriptor.

Two wording details survived that check rather than being smoothed away. The Council of Europe's web version of Table 1, the page we link to below, prints the B1 line as "dreams, hopes & ambitions" with an ampersand, while the 2001 printed CEFR volume prints "and" in that position; we quote the ampersand because that is what the page we cite prints. Table 2 then writes the same idea as "my dreams, hopes and ambitions" with the word, so the two tables really do differ and we have not normalised one to the other. Table 2 also uses contractions, "I'm" and "I can't", and we have left them contracted.

The characterisation of the CEFR as a descriptive standard rather than a test is from the Council of Europe's level descriptions page and from Cambridge English. Exam formats come from LanguageCert's and Trinity's own pages. The point about a provider page lagging gov.uk is our own check during this research.

Where a figure would have made this guide more concrete but could not be traced to the Council of Europe or an exam body, we left it out and said so.

Practise speaking, from SpeakShark

SpeakShark is an AI English speaking practice app, and it is our pick for moving up this scale because of what the descriptors actually describe. Every step from A1 to B1 is about needing less help from the other person, and the only way to train that is to talk to somebody who does not adjust for you. You talk, the AI answers what you actually said, and its next question depends on your last answer, so you cannot rehearse it. You get speaking feedback while the conversation is still going. The free tier gives basic feedback; the detailed pronunciation and grammar breakdown is on Premium.

Start free with three sessions a day and no card, each free session capped at five minutes and four turns. Paid sessions run ten minutes with unlimited turns. Limits are on the pricing page, and how it works walks through a full session.

We are a speaking improvement tool. We are not an exam preparation provider, not an immigration adviser, and we are not affiliated with the Council of Europe, the Home Office, Trinity College London, LanguageCert, Cambridge or any exam board. For test format, booking and official practice material, go to the exam body directly, and for the level your visa route requires, read gov.uk. Use SpeakShark to make your spoken English stronger, and use official material to learn the test.

Site: speakshark.com
Support: speaksharksupport@gmail.com
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Sources

Council of Europe, CEFR global scale (Table 1): the verbatim global descriptors
Council of Europe, self assessment grid (Table 2): the spoken interaction and spoken production rows, and the draft orientation tool wording
Council of Europe, level descriptions: the six levels and the three user bands
Cambridge English, CEFR: an international standard for describing language ability on a six point scale
LanguageCert, UK visa exams: speaking exams are carried out by a real person online
Trinity College London, GESE: a one to one speaking and listening examination with no reading or writing

FAQ

What are the CEFR levels?

Six, from A1 to C2. The Council of Europe's own phrasing is six levels, A1 to C2, which can be regrouped into three broad levels: Basic User, Independent User and Proficient User. In practice that means Basic User covers A1 and A2, Independent User covers B1 and B2, and Proficient User covers C1 and C2. Its own names for the six are Breakthrough, Waystage, Threshold, Vantage, Effective Operational Proficiency and Mastery, though most official material now leads with the letter and number.

What is the difference between A2 and B1?

How much help you need from the other person. The Council of Europe's A2 spoken interaction descriptor ends: I can handle very short social exchanges, even though I can't usually understand enough to keep the conversation going myself. The B1 descriptor ends: I can enter unprepared into conversation on topics that are familiar, of personal interest or pertinent to everyday life (e.g. family, hobbies, work, travel and current events). That is why the band name changes at B1 from Basic User to Independent User.

Is CEFR a test?

No. It is a descriptive scale, and that distinction causes a lot of confusion. Cambridge English calls the CEFR an international standard for describing language ability on a six point scale. Several different exams from different organisations certify the same CEFR level with completely different formats and lengths, so an A1 or B1 exam is a category of test rather than one named product.

How do I know my CEFR level?

The Council of Europe publishes a self assessment grid covering all six levels across listening, reading, spoken interaction, spoken production and writing. Use it, but note that the Council of Europe itself calls it a draft for a self assessment orientation tool, meant to help you profile your skills rather than deliver a verdict. Published research also reports only a moderate correlation between what learners think their level is and what testing shows.

How long does it take to move up one CEFR level?

The Council of Europe does not publish that. Guided learning hour figures circulate widely and come from exam boards rather than from the framework itself, so we are not repeating them here. What the descriptors do tell you is what changes between levels, which is more useful for planning practice than an hours estimate that was not measured on you.

Which CEFR level do I need?

That depends on why you are being asked, and the answer belongs to whoever is asking. For UK visa routes, gov.uk publishes the levels and a route to level table, and requirements change by application date. We checked a test provider's own page during this research and found it listing a level gov.uk had already changed, so read gov.uk rather than the company selling the test.