Free level test · Thuis Italiaans

What's my Italian level?

“Intermediate” can mean five different things. Here is how to get a real answer on the A1-C2 scale: a two-minute self-check, and a free test that measures the four skills separately.

Free, about 15 minutes, result immediately

Take the free level test

Why “intermediate” means nothing

Ask five people what “intermediate Italian” means and you get five answers. That is why Europe agreed on a common scale, the CEFR, with six levels from A1 to C2. Every serious course, exam and textbook maps to it. In one line each:

A1: you survive a coffee order and an introduction.
A2: you handle every predictable situation, shopping, appointments, small talk about your day.
B1: you hold a real conversation, even when it leaves the script. This is the level Italian citizenship requires.
B2: you work in Italian and watch TV without suffering.
C1: you notice register and idioms; literature opens up.
C2: near-native, you get the jokes.

So the real question is not “am I intermediate?” but “where am I on this scale, skill by skill?”

The two-minute self-check

Before any test, try this honest checklist. Find the last statement that is true for you:

I can order a meal and understand the waiter's reply: you are at least A2 territory.
I can talk about my job for ten minutes and be understood: around B1.
I can follow a film without subtitles for most scenes: around B2.
I can argue a position and feel the difference between formal and informal Italian: around C1.

Useful, but rough, and it has a known bias: we judge ourselves on our best skill. Which brings us to the real problem.

Your four skills are not at the same level

Almost nobody is “B1”. You are B1 in reading, A2 in listening, A2 in speaking and B1 in writing, or some other mix. Reading usually runs a level ahead, because you control the speed. Listening and speaking lag, because real Italians do not slow down for you. A single label hides exactly the information you need: which skill to work on.

That is why my free level test measures the four skills separately. It takes about fifteen minutes, and you get the result immediately: not one letter, but a profile. Two students with the same “B1” can leave with two completely different plans.

Fifteen minutes, four skills, one clear answer

Free, no sign-up wall in the way of your result. You leave knowing your level per skill and where to start.

Free, about 15 minutes, result immediately

Take the level test

A free test or an official certificate?

They answer different questions. A free level test is for you: it tells you where to start and what to work on, today, at no cost. An official certificate, CILS, CELI or PLIDA, is for an institution: citizenship, university, an employer. It costs money, runs a few times a year, and proves on paper what the free test told you in fifteen minutes.

The practical order: free test first, always. If you need the certificate, the test tells you whether you are ready to book the exam session or whether that money would be better spent on three more months of preparation. If you are choosing between certificates, here is the comparison: CILS vs CELI vs PLIDA.

What to do with the result

A level is only useful if it changes what you do next.

Pick materials at your level. Content one level too high is the fastest motivation killer there is. Books, exercises and lessons should sit just above your comfort zone, not two floors above it. Start with graded readers by level and the free exercises.
Work on the lagging skill. If speaking is behind, more grammar drills will not fix it. That is where a lesson helps: someone who hears your Italian and adjusts to it. The first trial lesson is free, online from anywhere.
Retest in three months, not three weeks. Under three months, differences fall inside any test's margin of error. Frequent retesting produces frustration, not information.

Common questions

How accurate is an online level test?

Good ones place you within about half a level, which is enough to choose materials and a starting point. The split per skill matters more than the single label: it tells you what to work on, not just where you are.

My reading is B1 but my speaking is A2. Which one am I?

You are both, and that is normal. Reading usually runs ahead because you control the pace. Use B1 material for reading, and put your practice time into speaking until it catches up.