General English
Beginner: what you can do at A1, and free practice at this level. No signup.
CEFR level A1 is the beginner level on the Common European Framework, the six-level scale used to describe language ability.0.
Everything on this page is free and open. The practice below is written for this level, so it should feel demanding without being impossible.
The CEFR descriptors for A1, and what the level is enough for.
Give your name, where you live and what you do, and ask the same of someone else.
Order food, buy a ticket, ask a price, say what you want in a shop.
When someone speaks slowly and clearly about everyday things.
Signs, notices, a short message, a simple form.
Fill in a form, write a postcard or a short note.
Follow a conversation between two other people, or read a newspaper.
Where to start, and how to check you are at this level.
Passages written at this level, marked as you go.
At A1 the priority is the present simple, basic word order and a first few hundred words. Everything else waits.
Topic lists and word lists pitched at this level.
A1 is the beginner level on the six-level Common European Framework scale, which runs A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, C2.
Yes. No account, no email address and no payment. The site is paid for by advertising.
A1 is not only a beginner level on a teaching scale. It is the exact level required for a first UK partner, spouse or fiancé(e) visa, tested in speaking and listening only. If that is why you are here, the pages below are the ones you need.
Where free stops
Everything here is open, and for reading, listening, grammar and vocabulary that is enough: they have right answers, so you can check them yourself.
Writing and speaking are judged against criteria rather than checked against a key. If you are taking IELTS, IELTStestONLINE assesses both against the four IELTS criteria, using a system built by a former examiner and examiner trainer.
See how that works