Listening
Recognise familiar words in slow, clear speech about everyday situations. Repetition and pauses can help.
Try this
Listen to a short introduction and identify the person's name, job and meeting time.
CEFR A1 · Elementary
Start with everyday English.
Introduce yourself, exchange personal information and manage very simple needs with a patient conversation partner.
See A1 exam score mappings01 / What you can do
Your four skills at A1
Plain-English summaries of the official guidance. The “Try this” tasks are original practice ideas, not scored placement tests.
Reading
Understand simple information in short messages, forms and notices about familiar subjects.
Try this
Read a class timetable and find the day, room and start time.
Speaking
Ask and answer basic personal questions with help. Use short phrases to introduce yourself and describe familiar people.
Try this
Introduce yourself, then ask your partner where they live and what they do.
Writing
Complete personal details on a form and write a brief, simple message about something familiar.
Try this
Fill in a course registration form and write a short message introducing yourself.
Descriptor basis: Council of Europe and British Council A1. Speaking includes both conversation and presenting your own ideas.
02 / What to work on
Topics, grammar & control
Study suggestions, not an official CEFR syllabus.
Topics to practise
- Names, countries, languages and personal details
- Family, friends, home and possessions
- Daily routines, jobs and classroom life
- Numbers, dates, times, prices and simple shopping
How accurate should you be?
A small set of familiar patterns is enough to begin; grammatical control is still limited.
Grammar in use
Suggested practice drawn from British Council lesson groups; the split between levels is an editorial study sequence.
- Be, have and personal questions
I am a student. Where do you live?
- Present simple for routines
She studies English every evening.
- Articles, plurals and possession
This is a book. It is my sister's book.
- There is / are; time and place
There are two chairs in the room. Class starts at nine.
03 / Planning your learning
How much study?
90–100 guided hours
Cambridge's approximate cumulative estimate from a complete beginner to A1. It includes lessons and supervised study; your pace can differ.
Use a conversation and a writing sample alongside listening and reading results to choose your next learning goal.
04 / Official exam alignments
What scores relate to A1?
These are provider mappings, not predicted results. An overall score can hide differences between skills. Check the test version and the receiving institution's requirements.
No separate A1 overall-band mapping
The official IELTS comparison chart does not assign a distinct overall band to A1.
1–1.5
For tests from 21 January 2026. ETS's comparison with 0–120 overall scores: 0–23.
10–29
Pearson's published CEFR band for PTE Academic. Use the guide for your specific PTE product.
- Listening
- 60+
- Reading
- 60+
- Speaking
- 50+
- Writing
- 30+
Section minimums, not total-score conversions. L/R: 5–495 each; S/W: 0–200 each.
10–55 (A1–A2 together)
The official guide groups A1 and A2 together; it does not give separate cutoffs.
Read each test's mapping independently. Sharing a CEFR label does not make two exam scores interchangeable.
05 / Read the original guidance
Primary sources
CEFR framework: Council of Europe. Learning guidance: British Council and Cambridge English. Score mappings: the organisations that own the tests.
- Council of Europe: CEFR Companion volume (2020)
- Council of Europe: self-assessment grid
- British Council: A1 level overview
- British Council: A1-A2 grammar lessons
- British Council: A1 listening
- British Council: A1 reading
- British Council: A1 writing
- Cambridge English: guided learning hours
- IELTS: official CEFR comparison and boundary guidance
- ETS: TOEFL iBT 2026 score scale and CEFR
- Pearson: PTE Academic scores and CEFR
- ETS: TOEIC section-by-section CEFR mapping (PDF)
- Duolingo: Scoring Guide for Teachers (2026), pp. 5–6
Checked 24 September 2026. These summaries and original practice examples are written for Sandy Isadora's learning guide. Consult the linked official descriptors and current score policies for formal assessment.