Find Your ASL Level:
    A Quick Placement Guide

    Use the skill summaries below to decide which ASL Champs class fits you best.
    Each description lists the general skills students are expected to feel comfortable with before enrolling.

    If you’re between levels, choose the lower one for the best experience.

    ASL 1A – Absolute Beginner

    You’re ready for ASL 1A if you:

    • Are a brand-new signer
    • Have no formal ASL instruction
    • Know ABCs and/or some ASL signs but lack structure
    • Lack experience using ASL interactively with others
    • Want to learn correct structure, grammar foundations, and cultural etiquette from the start

    ASL 1A is perfect for total beginners!

    ASL 1B – Beginner Continuing

    You’re ready for ASL 1B if you:

    • Use basic ASL structures and simple grammatical concepts
    • Demonstrate basic cultural etiquette
    • Introduce yourself and exchange greetings in a live conversation
    • Give short, basic commands (e.g., “close the window”)
    • Ask familiar questions and understand simple responses (e.g., asking if someone is Deaf or a student)
    • Recognize/sign numbers 1–20
    • Fingerspell your name + basic everyday words
    • Use vocabulary for colors, clothing, appearance markers
    • Describe a person from a distance

    ASL 1B is best after ASL 1A or one college semester of ASL.

    ASL 2A – Advanced Beginner

    You’re ready for ASL 2A if you have covered the earlier class skills and can:

    • Fingerspell clearly (expressive & receptive)
    • Hold short conversations about activities and familiar places
    • Express and understand others’ likes and dislikes
    • Ask about others’ preferences (foods, hobbies, simple interests)
    • Ask and respond to questions about living arrangements using WHICH-questions
    • Ask WHERE someone lives and describe their home + nearby areas
    • Give simple two-step commands
    • Recall numbers 1–100 correctly
    • Express a short, simple narrative or story

    ASL 2A is good for those who’ve completed ASL 1B or around two college semesters of ASL.

    ASL 2B – Early Intermediate

    You’re ready for ASL 2B if you have covered the earlier class skills and can:

    • Tell a medium-length narrative or story with ASL structure
    • Give clear locational directions from point A to point B
    • Describe who you live with + how many people
    • Describe pets, appearance and features
    • Describe basic family makeup within a household
    • Recall, express and understand numbers 1-100

    ASL 2B is good for students who have completed ASL 2A or 2-3 college semesters and have a general conversational comfort and basic storytelling ability in ASL.

    ASL 3A – Intermediate

    You’re ready for ASL 3A if you have covered the earlier class skills and can:

    • Use intermediate conversational structures comfortably
    • Explain more complex family relationships
    • Understand and use numbered ranking systems
    • Use numbers in a variety of conversational settings
    • Easily recall, express and understand numbers 1-100.

    ASL 3A is ideal for students who’ve finished ASL 2B, 3 college semesters or about 1.5 years of continuous ASL immersion.

    ASL 3B – Upper Intermediate

    You’re ready for ASL 3B if you have covered the earlier class skills and can:

    • Use intermediate conversational structures comfortably
    • Use time and calendar signs
    • Understand and express tense (past, present, future)
    • Describe everyday activities, household chores and errands
    • Explain activities using a “when+who+did what” structure

    ASL 3B is ideal for students who’ve finished ASL 3A, 3 college semesters or about 2 years of continuous ASL immersion.

    Still Not Sure Where You Land?

    Contact us for a quick placement recommendation!