Check Your Level
Before enrolling on one of our language courses, please check your level using the self-assessment guidelines below.
| Level | Module 1 | Module 2 | Module 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beginner | No prior knowledge required. | You should be able to introduce yourself and briefly describe someone; tell the time and have some knowledge of numbers; understand the usage of present regular verbs and prepositions such as in/ to/under/next to etc; use masculine and feminine forms/or approximately 20 hours of formal prior study. | You should be able to talk about your daily activities; order in a cafe; describe a place and give directions; say what you like or dislike; use common irregular verbs in the present; use the imperative, possessive pronouns and common adverbs of frequency; or approximately 40 hours of formal prior study or have a 'rusty' GCSE. |
CEFR A1 |
| Beginner Refresher | You should be able to make introduction about yourself and others; ask time and discuss your daily routine; talk about your profession, friends and family; can use pronouns, prepositions and imperatives; or approximately 30-40 hours of formal prior study; or have completed Beginners course a while ago. | You should be able to talk about weather and seasons; describe a place and give directions; order a meal and express what you like or dislike; use common irregular verbs and interrogatives as well as common adverbs of frequency; or approximately 45-50 hours of formal prior study. | You should be able to make purchases; buy tickets and book a hotel room; make phone calls and carry out small social talks; use reflexive verbs; prepositions and basic forms of tenses; or approximately 50 hours of formal prior study; or want to improve speaking and listening skills for entering Lower Intermediate level. | CEFR A1 |
| Lower Intermediate | You should have some notions of the past tense, the ‘near past’ (I’ve just...) and future tenses (I am going to/I will); you should also be able to carry out a basic conversation; or approximately 60 hours of formal prior study; or have a good but “rusty” GCSE. | You should be able to express wishes; give advice (present conditional); voice intentions and planning in the future, relate past events and express opinion and obligation; or approximately 80 hours of formal prior study; or have a recent GCSE. | You should be able to handle fairly complex sentences. You should be able to narrate memories, past events with the imperfect tense and compare things; or approximately 100 hours of formal prior study; or have a recent and good GCSE. |
CEFR A2 |
| Upper Intermediate | You should have some knowledge of the subjunctive, the use of gerunds and since/for/ during; able to speak quite fluently in most daily topics; understand newspapers and can follow discussions on topics of current interests; or approximately 120 hours of formal prior study/or have a “rusty” A-level. | You should be able to extract detailed information from articles or radio and video extracts; discern formal and informal language with the use of relative clauses; or approximately 140 hours of formal prior study; or have a good but “rusty” A-Level. | You should be able to handle complex tenses such as pluperfect, past conditional or past historic in French or reported speech in German; or approximately 160 hours of formal prior study; or have a recent A-Level. |
CEFR B1/B2 |
| Advanced | An individual diagnostic test would be arranged to assess this level. | For further information, please email agnes.shepherd.1@city.ac.uk | n/a |
CEFR C1 |