What’s Your English Level? Take the Free Test
Two or three times a month someone emails me the same question: where should I start? Which episodes are going to be too hard, which lessons are a waste of my time? I never had a decent answer, because I had no idea what their English was actually like. So I built this.
It takes about ten minutes and it gives you a CEFR level — A1 through C2, the scale that schools, universities and employers actually use when they ask how good your English is. The test adapts as you go, so it won’t waste your time on questions that are miles too easy or hopelessly too hard.
English On Topic
What’s your English level?
Twenty-five questions. About ten minutes. The test adapts as you go — get one right and the next gets harder, get one wrong and it eases off — so it finds your real level instead of just counting correct answers.
- 25questions
- ~10minutes
- A1–C2CEFR result
You’ll be asked for an email address at the end so we can send your result and a few pointers on what to study next.
No account needed. You can’t go back to a question once you’ve answered it — go with your gut.
Choose the best answer.
Your result is ready
All 25 answers are in and your level has been calculated. Pop in an email address and it’ll appear on the next screen.
Your CEFR level
Upper-Intermediate
Independent User
What this means in practice
Where to push next
Link copied.
A placement test is a snapshot, not a certificate. Treat the level as a starting point for choosing material, not a final verdict on your English.
How this test works
Most online level tests hand everybody the same forty questions and count how many you got right. That works, sort of, but it means a beginner spends fifteen minutes failing at conditionals while an advanced learner spends the first ten proving they know the alphabet.
This one moves. It opens somewhere around A2, and every answer shifts the difficulty of the next question. Get one right, the next is harder. Get one wrong, it eases off. After twenty-five questions it has usually circled in on the point where you're getting roughly two-thirds of them right, and that point is your level.
One practical note: guessing is fine and there's no penalty for it. The scoring already accounts for the fact that with four options you'll get a few right by luck. What it can't account for is you looking answers up, so don't — you'd only be lying to yourself, and the whole point is to find out where you actually are.
What the levels actually mean
CEFR splits English into six levels across three bands. Here's the short version.
- A1 and A2 — Basic User. You can survive simple transactions. Ordering food, asking directions, telling someone where you're from.
- B1 and B2 — Independent User. You can live, work and travel in an English-speaking environment with some effort. B2 is the level most universities and employers have in mind when they ask for “good English”.
- C1 and C2 — Proficient User. You can debate complex topics, catch the humour and the idioms, and hold your own in demanding professional or academic settings.
And what it isn't
This test measures grammar, vocabulary and reading. It says nothing about your speaking or your writing, and those often sit a level below your reading comprehension — that's completely normal, and it's usually where the real work is waiting. Treat the result as a starting point for choosing material, not a certificate to put on a CV.