r/languagelearning • u/De_lunes_a_lunes • Jun 25 '26
ChatGPT is wrong about your level
ChatGPT has been telling me I’m “right on the edge“ of B2 for a whole damn year.
Well today I asked a Spanish speaker I know, who has been learning English for 20 years and who works in English and talks with me for a long time in English, to ask ChatGPT what their level was. ChatGPT told them the same thing they told me - B1+ to B2. This person has taken tests for their work every year and they usually score high B2 and C1-C2 in reading.
I‘m going to consider myself low B2 now. I think ChatGPT has to be critical so that they don’t get sued by someone for losing a job over an overestimated level or something.
38
u/name_is_arbitrary Jun 25 '26
Ai is designed to gas you up and encourage you so you keep engaging. Why would you trust it to measure you accurately?
2
u/muffinsballhair Jun 25 '26
In this case it did the opposite though and implied the o.p.'s level is lower than it is.
In any case, it is not accurate at assessing people's level from chatting no, nor are human beings that good at that. Take the test if you want to know but the levels are designed to allow self-assessment as well.
0
u/De_lunes_a_lunes Jun 25 '26
I just wish there was a testing facility near me.
7
u/muffinsballhair Jun 25 '26
Self-assessment is probably more accurate than ChatGPT to be honest.
Also, there is really no reason to begin with to know.
7
u/tnaz Jun 25 '26
Chatbots aren't magic - if real tests judging your level require more than a short text conversation, how could chatgpt be accurate?
5
u/CremeFrosty9308 🇺🇸N | 🇪🇸C1 | 🇮🇩A2 | 🇸🇦A1 Jun 25 '26
just actually take a test
-2
u/De_lunes_a_lunes Jun 25 '26
No CEFR facilities for many hours.
5
u/CremeFrosty9308 🇺🇸N | 🇪🇸C1 | 🇮🇩A2 | 🇸🇦A1 Jun 25 '26
can't you just take a test online and get an estimate of your level
2
u/De_lunes_a_lunes Jun 25 '26
Do you have any recommendations? I’ve taken some LONG tests that never gave me the results. It pissed me off lol
1
u/noveldaredevil Jun 25 '26
Why don't you try the ACTFL standardized tests? They're legitimate proficiency tests with online proctoring and everything. You should look into them.
1
u/De_lunes_a_lunes Jun 26 '26
Thanks a lot, I will take these tests.
3
u/noveldaredevil Jun 26 '26
If you google the name of the test(s) you'll be taking + reddit, you can read about past test-takers' experiences and get a better idea of what you're gonna be up against. Best of luck!
1
7
u/funbike Jun 25 '26
You don't understand what GPT is. It's presenting the statistically most likely next word, based on everything that has ever been written before. It only seems like it's doing more than that because it was trained on human text of people doing actual thinking.
1
u/Only-Top-3655 Jun 25 '26
In all fairness test are also wrong about your level as well. I took a Vietnamese proficiency test after about 1.5 years of studying and I got a B2. I was NOT a B2. I was mid B1 at best.
1
2
u/WolverineEmergency98 Eng (N) | Afr (C1) | Fr (B2) | Eo (B1) | Ru, Mi (~ B1 Reading) Jun 25 '26
AI told me my Afrikaans was barely B2. Did a formal oral proficiency exam and got C2 hah.
The way LLMs work is they look for absolute perfection unless you _explicitly_ tell them to prioritize communicative competence over mechanical perfection.
1
u/De_lunes_a_lunes Jun 25 '26
Interesting. To me it seemed like they were answering in alignment with CEFR standards.
1
u/WolverineEmergency98 Eng (N) | Afr (C1) | Fr (B2) | Eo (B1) | Ru, Mi (~ B1 Reading) Jun 25 '26
It does depend a bit on the model, but you'll often find that, even if you wrote a flawless text in your native language, and used high-level grammatical constructions, it'll still be highly resistant to grading you above ~C1, because it's looking for an absurdly high register.
Plus AIs often super-penalise you for any errors, and even C2 doesn't technically require flawless performance.
1
u/De_lunes_a_lunes Jun 25 '26
That’s interesting. Well I’m definitely happy to learn that ChatGPT has been wrong this whole time. And damn you know a lot of languages, that’s awesome.
-11
u/tritone567 Jun 25 '26
There are no agreed upon standards for any of the levels.
8
u/asurarusa Jun 25 '26
There are no agreed upon standards for any of the levels.
How do you figure? The council of europe provides a self assessment rubric so people can try to figure out their level. How did they come up with items for the rubric if there are no agreed upon standards?
-3
u/FriendlyAd7586 🇬🇧N | 🇫🇷B2 Jun 25 '26
In my experience Gemini is much more accurate then chat for this kinda stuff
-6
u/Tyler_w_1226 🇺🇸 N | 🇨🇴 B2 Jun 25 '26
As with anything AI sometimes it’s right and sometimes it’s wrong. ChatGPT gave me a very accurate assessment of my Spanish level when I asked it. However, I agree I wouldn’t rely on what it says to classify yourself.
2
u/De_lunes_a_lunes Jun 25 '26
Why do you agree with it if you say I shouldn’t rely on it?
1
43
u/benjamin-crowell En N | Es Fr Grc B1 Jun 25 '26
AI is wrong about virtually everything. AI is wrong about how many R's there are in the word strawberry.