Every year, a predictable mistake shows up in study-abroad forums and admissions group chats: a student takes an online English test, gets a solid CEFR level, and assumes the job is done. Then the admissions portal asks for an IELTS or TOEFL score specifically, and the certificate they already paid for doesn’t count. It’s not that the certificate was fake or the level was wrong. It’s that university admissions and general English certification are answering two different questions, and conflating them wastes both time and money.
What universities actually ask for
Almost every university that sets an English requirement for degree admission names a specific test, most commonly IELTS or TOEFL, and attaches a minimum score to it, often with per-section minimums too. A typical line on an admissions page reads something like “IELTS 6.5 overall, no band below 6.0.” That phrasing matters. The university isn’t asking for “proof you’re good at English” in the abstract. It’s asking for one particular, named exam and a specific number from it.
This is why a general CEFR certificate, however legitimate, doesn’t automatically satisfy that line. It’s not a hierarchy issue, as if IELTS were somehow more rigorous. It’s that the requirement is written as a named test, and only that test (or an explicitly listed alternative) fulfills it. The only authoritative source for what a given programme accepts is that programme’s own admissions page, not a third-party comparison chart, however well-intentioned.
Where a CEFR certificate does help
None of this means a CEFR-based certificate is useless in the university process. It’s just useful somewhere else. Foundation and pathway programmes, which place incoming students into the right starting point, often accept general CEFR evidence rather than demanding a named exam. The same goes for language schools, pre-sessional courses, and exchange or short-programme applications that ask for a general sense of level rather than a specific band score. Even outside any formal requirement, a certificate is a low-cost way to sanity-check where you stand before committing to an expensive named exam.
CEFR levels do map roughly onto IELTS and TOEFL bands. B2, for instance, sits somewhere around IELTS 5.5-6.5 or a TOEFL iBT score in the low-to-mid 70s to 90s. These correspondences are widely published and useful for orientation, but they’re indicative, not official. A university’s own conversion table, where one exists, is the one that counts. Assuming your CEFR certificate “translates” to a passing IELTS score and skipping the actual exam is a common and costly misread.
The check that saves the most time
Before relying on any certificate for a university application, three things are worth confirming directly on the programme’s admissions page: which test or tests it names, the minimum overall and per-section scores required, and how recent the test needs to be. If a specific test is named, that’s a hard requirement, not a suggestion. If the page instead accepts general evidence of level for a pathway or placement step, a CEFR certificate can genuinely do the job there.
It’s also worth being clear about what any certificate, CEFR-based or otherwise, is actually measuring. A test built around reading and listening documents comprehension. It doesn’t, on its own, certify speaking or writing, which some foundation and pre-sessional courses assess separately as part of placement.
For students who want a fast, low-stakes way to establish a documented level before deciding whether they’re ready to book something like IELTS or TOEFL, International English Test offers an online CEFR assessment (A1 to C2) that returns a verifiable certificate within minutes, no appointment required. It’s a sensible first step for figuring out roughly where you stand, and it’s genuinely useful for the pathway, placement, and self-assessment situations described above. What it isn’t, and doesn’t claim to be, is a substitute for a named admissions test where a university specifically requires one.
The practical takeaway for anyone applying internationally: read the actual requirement line on the admissions page before assuming any certificate, CEFR or otherwise, answers it. If you want a clearer walkthrough of how CEFR levels line up against IELTS and TOEFL bands and exactly where a general certificate is and isn’t accepted, International English Test’s English Certificate for University Applications page breaks down the distinction in more detail. Getting this right before you apply, rather than after a rejected document upload, is the difference between a smooth application and a scramble two weeks before a deadline.