British CouncilEnglishUK
Malvern House

Levels

Malvern House has 3 main centres, which are divided by English levels;

  • Piccadilly Centre - Low levels
  • Kings Cross Centre - Middle levels
  • Bloomsbury Centre - High Levels and Exams

This system allows students of a similar level to share a school, giving you more confidence to speak. Our study rooms are specialised and our teachers are trained for the needs of these levels.

If you progress quickly, you may move to a higher level building, giving you an environment where the students' level of English is higher and the resources even more suitable.

Your Progress

You will have regular meetings with your teacher to discuss your progress. At the beginning of your course, or at the start of each level, you will receive an Academic Progress Diary. Each meeting you and your teacher will complete the Diary so that you have a record of your progress.

When your teacher thinks you have completed the level you will be moved up to the next level at the next available opportunity.

Placement

When you make your booking you will be invited to take an online level test. We will then send you your score and tell you in which building you will be studying.

On your first day we will also test your speaking level to make sure that you are definitely in the right level.

Level Summary

The table below shows what you should know at each level and what the equivalent IELTS score would be. In the last column you will see how our English levels correspond to the Common European Framework (CEF) for languages.

Level Description IELTS EU Level
Beginner You can understand very basic, everyday phrases and may respond with short, simple answers. You can exchange basic personal information, if the other person speaks slowly and clearly. 1.0 - 2.0 A1
Elementary You can interact in a simple way on concrete everyday subjects, such as family information, shopping etc. You can communicate in routine tasks on familiar subjects. 2.5 - 3.0 A2
Pre-Intermediate You can converse in a fairly limited way on your background, the immediate environment and on matters of direct need. You can express basic opinions and wishes. 3.5 – 4.0 B1
Intermediate You can understand and respond to the main points in a variety of everyday situations and also more abstract topics, but have a limited range of style and expression. 4.0 – 4.5 B1 +
Upper-Intermediate You can understand the main ideas of complex written and spoken texts. You can interact with reasonable fluency and accuracy on a fairly wide variety of topics. 5.0 – 6.0 B2
Advanced You can express yourself fluently and spontaneously. You can use language flexibly and effectively for social, academic and professional purposes. 6.5 – 7.0 C1
Proficiency You can understand almost everything you hear or read. You can interact very fluently and precisely, even on very complex topics. 7.5 - 9.0 C2