Short answer: if you cannot answer this question after thinking about it for more than a few seconds, that is not a sign your English is bad. It is a sign that "beginner, intermediate, advanced" was never a precise enough scale to answer it with.
Teachers and language schools use a more honest scale instead, called the CEFR, and a short structured check will tell you exactly where you land on it in about two minutes. Below is what each level actually looks like in real life, and a free way to find your own.
Most people describe their English one of three ways: beginner, intermediate, or advanced. The trouble is that "intermediate" covers an enormous range. Someone who can order food and ask for directions gets called intermediate. So does someone who can debate politics but still stumbles on the past perfect. Those are very different levels of English, lumped into one word, which is exactly why so many people feel stuck without knowing why.
The CEFR breaks English into six levels, A1 through C2. Here is what each one looks like in real life, plus one small grammar tell for each level, since most people cannot judge their own level from a can-do list alone. Test yourself against the sentence, not the description.
A1, Beginner. You can introduce yourself, ask simple questions, and understand basic, slow speech. Grammar tell: simple present and past still take real effort, "I go to work" versus "I went to work" is something you build on purpose, not something automatic yet.
A2, Elementary. You can handle everyday topics like shopping, work, and family, as long as people speak clearly. Grammar tell: present perfect is still shaky, "I have never been to Lisbon" often comes out as "I was never in Lisbon" instead.
B1, Intermediate. You can hold a real conversation, describe experiences, and get your point across, even with mistakes or pauses to search for words. Grammar tell: simple conditionals feel solid, "if it rains, we will stay home," but the unreal ones start to wobble, "if it rained, we would stay home" takes a beat to construct.
B2, Upper-Intermediate. You can follow most conversations, including fast or informal speech, and explain opinions in detail. Grammar tell: past perfect and reported speech are the real test, "she said she had already left" versus the more common slip, "she said she already left."
C1, Advanced. You speak fluently in most situations, work and social, with only occasional gaps. Grammar tell: advanced structures nobody teaches directly, like inversion for emphasis, "never had I seen such a thing," start to sound natural instead of formal or strange.
C2, Mastery. You use English with the flexibility and precision of someone who grew up speaking it. Grammar tell: there is not really one left. The tells at this level are about nuance, timing, and idiom, not grammar you can point to.
If you read that list and landed right between two levels, you are not alone. Most adult learners sit exactly on that line, which is why a real check is more useful than a guess.
Knowing your level is not about the label. It changes three practical things.
First, it tells you what to read, watch, and listen to. Language sticks best when what you take in is a little harder than your current level, understandable, but with something new mixed in. Too easy and you stop growing. Too hard and you get frustrated and quit. Your level tells you exactly where that line sits for you.
Second, it gives you something to measure. "I feel a little better at English" is hard to hold onto. "I moved from B1 to B2" is not. A level gives you a fixed point, so you can actually see progress instead of just hoping it is happening.
Third, it tells you where you belong. Group conversation, book clubs, and speaking practice all work better when the people in the room are close to the same level. Too far apart, and someone is either bored or drowning.
The Mystery Book Club is written at a B1 reading level on purpose, short, clear sentences, real story, no padding. If your level check puts you at B1, this book was built for exactly where you are.
If you are above B1, it is still worth your time. Real fiction carries natural phrasing, idioms, and cultural detail that a textbook or grammar app will never teach you, the layer that takes someone from correct English to English that actually sounds like them.
You can guess, and most people do, usually wrong in one direction or the other, either underestimating what they can actually do, or overestimating because they read well but freeze the moment they have to speak.
The faster, more honest way is a short structured check. My free English Level Check takes about two minutes, fifteen quick questions, no long forms, and a real result at the end, along with what to do next based on where you land.
Take the Free English Level Check
If you come out right on the line between two levels, that is normal, not a failure of the check. Most fluency growth happens exactly there, in the stretch between understanding something and being able to say it without thinking. That stretch closes fastest with real conversation practice, not more grammar study, which is exactly what I help women do.
Mistakes are the fastest teachers.
Your English level is usually described using the CEFR scale, A1 through C2. The fastest and most accurate way to find yours is a short, structured check rather than a guess, since most adult learners sit right on the line between two levels.
B1 speakers can hold a real conversation and describe experiences, but conditionals like "if it rained, we would stay home" often feel unsteady. B2 speakers follow fast or informal speech and use those conditionals correctly, but still stumble on past perfect and reported speech, such as "she said she had already left."
Most people guess wrong in one direction or the other, either underestimating what they can do, or overestimating because they read well but freeze the moment they have to speak. A short structured check is far more reliable than self-rating.
The Mystery Book Club is written at a B1 reading level, with short, clear sentences and concrete detail. It is a natural fit once you reach B1, and readers above B1 still get real value from the natural phrasing, idioms, and cultural detail fiction carries that grammar apps do not teach.
Know your level. Then come practice it somewhere real.