What the CEFR actually is
The CEFR is not a test and there is no such thing as an official CEFR examination. It is a description — a set of statements about what a learner can do at each of six levels, written as "can-do" descriptors: can understand the main points of clear standard speech on familiar matters, and several hundred more like it.
Everything else attaches itself to that description. Exam boards align their scores to it, publishers align their coursebooks to it, and employers and universities write it into their requirements. When an institution asks for B2, it is not asking for a particular certificate — it is naming a point on this scale and leaving you to demonstrate it however you can.
The six levels are grouped into three bands, and the grouping carries the most useful idea in the whole framework. A1 and A2 are the basic user: you can be understood if the other person helps. B1 and B2 are the independent user: you can be understood without help. C1 and C2 are the proficient user: you can do things with the language beyond simply being understood.
The six levels, one sentence each
Each card links to a full page on that level: what it means, what it lets you do, how long it takes, the grammar and vocabulary it covers, and how to tell whether you are there.
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A1 · Beginner
You can understand and use familiar everyday expressions and very basic phrases, introduce yourself, ask and answer questions about personal details, and interact simply — provided the other person speaks slowly, clearly, and is willing to help you.
Basic user · no published hours figure
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A2 · Elementary
You can understand sentences and frequently used expressions about the things closest to you — family, shopping, local geography, work — communicate in simple routine exchanges of information on familiar matters, and describe your background and immediate environment in simple terms.
Basic user · around 180–200 guided hours · IELTS 3.0–4.0
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B1 · Intermediate
You can understand the main points of clear standard speech and writing on familiar matters, deal with most situations likely to arise while travelling, produce connected text on topics that interest you, and describe experiences, plans and opinions with reasons behind them.
Independent user · around 350–400 guided hours · IELTS 4.0–5.0
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B2 · Upper-Intermediate
You can understand the main ideas of complex text on both concrete and abstract topics, including technical discussion in your own field; interact with a degree of fluency and spontaneity that makes conversation with a native speaker unstrained for either of you; and write clear, detailed text arguing a position.
Independent user · around 500–600 guided hours · IELTS 5.5–6.5
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C1 · Advanced
You can understand a wide range of demanding, longer texts and recognise meaning that is implied rather than stated; express yourself fluently and spontaneously without obviously searching for the words; and use English flexibly and effectively for social, academic and professional purposes.
Proficient user · around 700–800 guided hours · IELTS 7.0–8.0
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C2 · Mastery
You can understand with ease virtually everything you hear or read, summarise information from different spoken and written sources and reconstruct their arguments in a coherent account, and express yourself spontaneously, very fluently and precisely, distinguishing finer shades of meaning even in the most complex situations.
Proficient user · around 1,000–1,200 guided hours · IELTS 8.5–9.0
Between them, this site publishes 90 grammar lessons and 5,500 words across those levels — every figure quoted on the six pages is counted from that material rather than asserted.
The levels are not the same size
This is the single most useful thing to know about the scale, and it is almost never said. Each level covers a wider range of language than the one below it, so the same amount of study buys visibly less movement the higher you go.
The published guided-learning-hour figures make the shape obvious: the step from nothing to A2 is smaller than the step from A2 to B1, which is smaller than the steps above it. A learner who felt rapid progress through the A levels and then appeared to stop at B1 has not stalled — they have arrived at a wider rung.
The practical consequence is about expectations rather than method. If you are planning around a deadline, plan against the gaps between levels rather than against an average, and treat any claim that you can add a level in a few weeks with the scepticism it deserves.
How the levels line up with IELTS, TOEFL and Cambridge
Every major exam publishes an alignment to the CEFR, and every one of them describes that alignment as approximate. The full comparison — IELTS bands, TOEFL scores on both the current and the previous scale, Cambridge exams and scale scores, and the Duolingo English Test — is set out on its own page.
| CEFR level | IELTS band | TOEFL iBT (1–6) | TOEFL iBT (0–120) | Cambridge exam | Cambridge Scale | Duolingo |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A1 · Beginner | not reported | 1 – 1.5 | 0 – 23 | A1 Movers (young learners) | 100 – 119 | 10 – 55 |
| A2 · Elementary | 3.0 – 4.0 | 2 – 2.5 | 24 – 43 | A2 Key | 120 – 139 | 10 – 55 |
| B1 · Intermediate | 4.0 – 5.0 | 3 – 3.5 | 44 – 71 | B1 Preliminary | 140 – 159 | 60 – 85 |
| B2 · Upper-Intermediate | 5.5 – 6.5 | 4 – 4.5 | 72 – 94 | B2 First | 160 – 179 | 90 – 115 |
| C1 · Advanced | 7.0 – 8.0 | 5 – 5.5 | 95 – 113 | C1 Advanced | 180 – 199 | 120 – 160 |
| C2 · Mastery | 8.5 – 9.0 | 6 | 114 – 120 | C2 Proficiency | 200 – 230 | not reported |
These alignments are approximate, and every organisation that publishes one says so. The CEFR describes what a learner can do; an exam score summarises how one person performed on one test on one day. The two do not convert, they correspond — bands overlap at the edges, different exams disagree by half a level, and an institution’s own published requirement always outranks any comparison chart, including this one.
Full explanation, and why a CEFR level is not convertible into a band: CEFR to IELTS, TOEFL, Cambridge and Duolingo.
Which level are you?
Self-assessment against a descriptor is unreliable in a specific and predictable way: learners judge themselves by their best moment rather than their typical one, and reading comprehension almost always runs ahead of speaking, so a single label hides a spread.
The quicker route is to measure it. Our level test is adaptive, takes five to seven minutes, needs no account for the quick tier, and reports a CEFR level with the skills broken out separately — which is more useful than the single letter, because the gap between your strongest and weakest skill is usually where the next month of study should go.