Answer in brief
The Council of Europe’s CEFR splits language ability into six levels: A1 and A2 for the basic user, B1 and B2 for the independent user, C1 and C2 for the proficient user. Each level is a list of tasks, from following slow, clear speech to following most films. Course names such as intermediate are not part of the scale.
Six CEFR levels and the three groups behind them
Most people who look up english proficiency levels have already met the letters. A job advert asks for B2, a course runs from A2 to B1, a colleague says she is about C1. The letters come from the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, the CEFR. According to Wikipedia, its main text was published by the Council of Europe in 2001 as a framework for learning, teaching and assessment.
Cambridge English, which runs exams on this scale, calls the CEFR an international standard for describing language ability on six points, from A1 for beginners up to C2 for those who have mastered a language. The points sit in three pairs: A1 and A2 describe the basic user, B1 and B2 the independent user, C1 and C2 the proficient user. Wikipedia adds that the descriptors apply to any language spoken in Europe.
The key idea is that a level says what you can do, not how many rules you have learned. Each one is a set of statements that begin with “can”: can understand, can write, can take part in a conversation. A requirement such as B2 is therefore a list of situations a person should manage.
A1 and A2: the basic user in familiar situations
The plainest descriptions are in the self-assessment grid published on Europass, a European Commission site. At A1 you recognise familiar words and very basic phrases about yourself and your surroundings when people speak slowly and clearly. You can fill in a hotel registration form or write a holiday postcard, and the person you talk to has to repeat, slow down and help you. Cambridge English pictures this level as a shop where the goods are on display and you can ask for what you want.
At A2 the grid describes finding predictable information in adverts, menus and timetables and catching the main point of short, clear announcements. You can write short notes and a very simple thank-you letter, and Cambridge English adds that you can exchange basic information with other customers. Conversation is still the weak side: you handle very short social exchanges but usually cannot keep the talk going yourself. For a traveller this is the level of signs, menus and prices, not yet of sorting out a problem with a booking.
B1 and B2: the independent user on trips and at work
B1 is the first level where English stops being a phrasebook. In the Europass grid a B1 speaker deals with most situations likely to arise while travelling and can enter unprepared into conversation on familiar topics such as family, hobbies, work and current events. Reading covers mainly high-frequency everyday or job-related language, and you can retell the plot of a film. Cambridge English moves its shop to a counter where goods are not on display, and you can still ask for most of what you want. A routine email to a colleague abroad starts to work here.
B2 is where you begin to argue, not only to describe. The grid says you understand most TV news and the majority of films in standard dialect, and you can write a report that gives reasons for or against a point of view. The global scale quoted by Wikipedia describes enough fluency for regular conversation with native speakers without strain on either side. Cambridge English adds bargaining and asking effectively for a refund or an exchange. In a meeting this means defending your point, even when a word escapes you.
C1 and C2: the proficient user without a native-speaker yardstick
At C1 the grid describes following films without too much effort and reading long, complex factual and literary texts while noticing differences of style. You speak fluently without much obvious searching for expressions and choose a style that suits the reader. Cambridge English adds that a C1 learner can read quickly enough to cope with an academic course and deal with complex and sensitive transactions. This is the level of negotiations, university study and work done entirely in English.
C2 means no difficulty with any kind of spoken language, live or broadcast, and effortless part in any conversation. When a C2 speaker hits a gap, the grid says, they backtrack and restructure around it so smoothly that others hardly notice. Wikipedia notes that the 2020 Companion Volume, an extension and update of the CEFR, dropped all references to a native-speaker standard, so the top of the scale describes mastery, not origin.
Separate levels for listening, speaking, reading and writing
A single letter on a certificate hides something the grid makes visible: one person can stand at different levels in different skills. The Europass grid has separate rows for listening, reading, spoken interaction, spoken production and writing, and you can sit in different columns on different rows. Someone who reads work documents daily may be B1 in reading and A2 in speaking.
The TOEFL iBT scale now follows the same logic. ETS, which runs TOEFL iBT, says that from 21 January 2026 the test uses a 1–6 score scale that maps directly to the CEFR, and that a score of 5 in any section equals C1 for that skill. For a learner the lesson is to know the weakest skill, because that is the one that lets you down in a real call or a real letter.
To place yourself without an exam, read the grid row by row and mark, for each skill, the highest cell you can honestly manage today, not the one you remember from school. A cell counts only if you can do it without preparation and without a dictionary. Five marks give you a profile, and the profile tells you what to practise first.
Why course labels like intermediate and upper-intermediate do not match
Course books and schools use words such as elementary, intermediate and upper-intermediate. These are not CEFR levels: the framework uses the letters and the three groups of basic, independent and proficient user. Wikipedia notes that language schools and certificate bodies work out their own equivalences against the framework. Estimates for the same level differ even between major tests such as PTE Academic, TOEFL and IELTS, and this is a subject of debate between test producers.
The comparison tables in the same article show how far labels drift. One commercial test listed there calls B1 pre-intermediate, B2 intermediate and C1 upper-intermediate, so a reader who took upper-intermediate to mean B2 would be off by a whole level. IELTS says in its own guidance that the CEFR was not designed to provide the basis for precise equating. When a course promises upper-intermediate, ask which CEFR level and which descriptors it covers, and check them against the grid.
How big the steps between CEFR levels are and which one to aim for
The steps are not equal. Wikipedia lists study-time estimates from several language bodies, and for English it cites Cambridge Assessment: cumulative hours of instruction of 90–100 to reach A1, 180–200 for A2, 350–400 for B1, 500–600 for B2, 700–800 for C1 and 1,000–1,200 for C2. They are guided hours counted from zero for learners whose native language is European, as the table notes, and no promise for any one person. Still, the climb from C1 to C2 alone is longer than the whole road to A2.
The right target depends on the task, not on prestige. For trips and simple contact with foreign partners, the B1 description is a working goal. For meetings, negotiations and reports, B2 is closer to what the job needs. Study in English sets a higher bar: IELTS says bands of 8.5 and above are recognised as C2, and that an institution wanting high confidence in C1 may require 7 rather than 6.5.
TOEFL iBT and IELTS are separate exams, and each needs its own preparation that a general course level does not replace. ETS advises institutions to identify the appropriate CEFR level for a programme first and then set the score requirement. A learner can follow the same order: choose the level your task needs, read its descriptors, and measure the distance from your weakest skill.
Practising alone this week or taking a structured English course
A week of practice on your own can move the weakest row of your grid. Pick one skill and one descriptor just above your mark, and give it twenty minutes a day: slow news items, the kind of message the grid describes for your next level, a film plot retold aloud. What a week alone rarely gives is order: which word, rule and text come next, and how to bring old words back before they fade.
That order is what a structured course adds. VITON13 SCHOOL runs English in 113 Days, a course for Russian speakers in which every explanation is in Russian, so it suits readers who read Russian. Its 113 levels follow the CEFR, cover the core of A1 to B2 and open a bridge to C1, without promising C1 or native-like speech. Each daily level brings 13 new words with sound and transcription, a short rule with the typical mistake of Russian speakers, a short text with three questions, dictation, a piece of writing with a model answer and a mini-game. Words return through FSRS spaced repetition, and the first three levels are free even without signing in.
Practical checklist
- Open the self-assessment grid and mark your honest level for each of the five skills.
- Write down the level your task needs: travel, work email, meetings or study in English.
- Ask any course which CEFR levels it covers instead of trusting a label like intermediate.
- Pick your weakest skill and one descriptor above it, and practise it every day this week.
- If you need IELTS or TOEFL iBT, plan separate preparation for that exam itself.
Questions and answers
Is upper-intermediate always the same as B2 on the CEFR scale?
No. Upper-intermediate is a course label, and each school or test sets its own equivalence. In one comparison table on Wikipedia a commercial test even uses that word for C1. Ask the course for the CEFR level it targets and compare its goals with the self-assessment grid.
Which English level is enough for work with foreign clients?
It depends on the work. Routine emails and simple calls fit the B1 description of familiar topics and travel situations. Meetings, negotiations and written reports match B2, where you argue a point and follow most of a discussion. Complex or sensitive deals are described at C1.
Can my reading be B1 while my speaking is only A2?
Yes, and there is nothing contradictory about it. The Europass grid rates listening, reading, spoken interaction, spoken production and writing separately. If you read a lot and rarely speak, expect your profile to show exactly that gap. In practice, the weakest of the five is the one other people notice first.
How long does the step from A2 to B1 English take?
The Cambridge Assessment figures listed on Wikipedia are cumulative: 180–200 hours of instruction for A2 and 350–400 for B1. The gap between the two is about as large as everything it took to reach A2. Real time depends on your pace, your practice outside lessons and your starting point.
Does the English in 113 Days course lead to C1 or prepare for IELTS?
It covers the core of A1, A2, B1 and B2 and opens a bridge to C1, but it does not promise C1 or native-like speech. IELTS and TOEFL iBT are separate exams that need their own preparation. All explanations in the course are in Russian, and its English Logic block has 60 lessons that build a phrase as a chain of questions.