There always seems to be some confusion and an unfortunate comparison between IELTS and/or TOEFL and CEFR Levels such as A1, A2, B1, etc for German, Spanish, French, and so on.
Not only such comparison creates more confusion, but it also gives you a false sense of familiarity with the language you are going to learn or makes you forget the fact that not all languages are the same. Here, we have tried to give an unfair, yet a comprehensible comparison between two tests of the English language - IELTS & TOEFL (two of the most well-known language tests) - and the CEFR Levels with the school years.
Before you go through the table, there are a few things we want you to understand:
You write one IELTS/TOEFL test and you receive your score.
You write the CEFR examination for the level of your choosing and that score is restricted to the said level.
Another key element is the exposure to English as a foreign language; many underestimate that learning and using English for 5+ years puts you at a much greater advantage, hence few weeks of mock test training is sufficient to achieve a higher score in IELTS/TOEFL. You need not learn English from ABCs, but when you learn a new language, you have to start with how it's written and how to read first!
This table is an attempt to clear the confusion surrounding the levels.
We added extra info to compare the school years, it is not 100% accurate, but you get the gist.
These levels are not uniform for all the languages.
For Japanese the levels go as N5, N4, N3, N2, and N1; N5 being the 'A1'. For Chinese, the levels are HSK 1 to HSK 6; HSK6 is approximately between B2-C1.
For the grammar, there are books that help you prepare for the exams, then there are self-study, self-learning books which have a section dedicated to grammar. You can always begin with learning on your own and it's never too late to begin!
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