Your level
One ladder. Six rungs. A measurement, not a guess.
Every programme, every exam and every price on this site hangs off the same CEFR ladder, from A1 to C2. A free 45-minute placement check tells you which rung you are standing on before day one.
- Rungs
- 6
- Length of a rung
- ~12 wks
- Exam pathways
- 38
The ladder
What each rung actually means.
The Common European Framework of Reference is the ladder employers, universities and embassies recognise. Every language programme here climbs it, one rung at a time, one rung per payment.
- A1 Breakthrough
Understand and use everyday expressions. Introduce yourself, ask simple questions, and answer when someone speaks slowly and clearly.
- A2 Waystage
Handle routine exchanges: shopping, directions, personal details. Describe your background and your immediate environment in simple terms.
- B1 Threshold
Deal with most situations while travelling or working. Produce connected text on familiar topics and follow the main points of clear standard speech.
- B2 Vantage
Interact with fluency and spontaneity with native speakers. Argue a viewpoint, weigh options, and write detailed prose on a wide range of subjects.
- C1 Effective proficiency
Use language flexibly for social, academic and professional purposes. Express ideas precisely, structure long discourse, and imply meaning between the lines.
- C2 Mastery
Understand virtually everything you hear or read. Summarise information from different sources and speak with continuous precision, even when a conversation moves fast.
Language programmes run A1 to C2. Sign Language runs A1 to B2 and ends in the KSL Certificate. Both start with the same placement check.
Getting placed
Three steps, and the middle one is free.
- Step 01
Say so on the form
Send the Student Applicant form and pick your level, or tick the Not sure option and let admissions place you. The second answer is common and costs you nothing.
- Step 02
Sit the placement check
A free, 45-minute check before your first session. It measures where you actually stand, not how many years you spent in a classroom.
- Step 03
Start at that rung
You are placed in the Cohort working at your level. Starting too low wastes your money; starting too high wastes your confidence. We check first.
Exams on the same ladder
38 pathways, each mapped to a rung.
DELF and DALF, Goethe, HSK, JLPT, IELTS and the rest: every board below sits at a known point on the ladder, so an employer reading your certificate knows exactly what it certifies.
- ALPT
- BCT
- Bergenstest
- Cambridge English
- Cambridge Latin
- CAPLE
- CELI
- CELPE-Bras
- Certyfikat Polski
- CILS
- CNaVT
- DALF
- DELE
- DELF
- Ellinomatheia
- Goethe-Zertifikat
- HSK
- HSKK
- IELTS
- J-TEST
- JLPT
- Kiflaps proficiency assessment
- KSL Certificate
- NAT-TEST
- National Kiswahili exams
- Norskprøven
- NT2
- OET Arabic
- Pearson PTE
- SIELE
- TCF
- telc Deutsch
- TELC Turkish
- TestDaF
- TOEFL
- TÖMER
- TOPIK
- TORFL
Every level ends in an assessment. The external exam is your choice: sit it when an employer, university or embassy asks for proof.
Exam fees are separate. Each board sets its own, quoted when you enrol for a sitting. The level you paid for already includes your assessment.
Placement is re-checked at every level. Pass the final assessment and you move up a rung. Not yet, and you repeat it: no paying twice for the same ground.
Still guessing?
Bring your guess to the check and we will test it.
"Too advanced for A1" and "probably a B1" are the two most common things admissions hears, and both are wrong about half the time. The check takes 45 minutes and settles it before money changes hands.
Keep reading
Levels from other angles.
- CEFR levels, explained for people who are not linguists
- What the placement test looks like, question by question
- Why one rung costs KSh 42,000 and no more
- How a level is taught, assessed and passed
- Finished a level? Three ways up from here
+254 714 772 289 · admissions@kiflaps.ac.ke