You are here: Home > Useful Education Info > General English Levels
GENERAL ENGLISH LEVELS - WHAT DO THEY MEAN?
What do the six levels used in English language study actually mean when you are talking to a student?
All King's Education students are assessed on arrival using our King's English Assessment (KEA). From this assessment we allocate students to the level appropriate to their needs.
BEGINNER: This is assessed at an equivalent IELTS level of 1.0. Out on the street this means a student can understand a few simple questions and can answer with "Yes" or "No". They can write the alphabet and a few words as well as basic sentences.
ELEMENTARY: This is equivalent to an IELTS result of 2.0. An Elementary student will be able to communicate in a limited number of situations, they can ask simple questions and will be able to answer, although with hesitation and confusion with regard to word order.
PRE-INTERMEDIATE: This level is equivalent to a 3.0 IELTS score. A student at this level will be able to handle basic settings with reasonable confidence and accuracy. They can write connected passages related to everyday situations or personal experiences. They can read short, simple texts and begin to read using deduction skills rather than hesitating on unknown words.
INTERMEDIATE: This can be equated to 4.0 IELTS score. An Intermediate student can converse quite accurately and appropriately in familiar social situations. They are able to undertand the general meaning of newspaper and magazine articles within their interest. While help and guidance may still be needed with longer passages of writing, they can write following the rules in regards to layout and paragraphing.
UPPER INTERMEDIATE: This level has an IELTS equivalent of 5.0. An Upper Intermediate student can produce a steady flow of conversation without major structural errors, they can read and appreciate a range of authentic material and can write extended notes and reports without much correction. They have no problem in maintaining light social conversation with native speakers.
ADVANCED: This level equates to an IELTS score of 6.0. At this level at student can easily understand native speakers with different accents and sustain a rapid flow of conversation and adjust speech according to the environment with full fluency.
Each week all our students are assessed in one skill area, to both give us a guide for moving students up a level and for the students to monitor their own improvement in a concrete way.