Emelt or középszint: which English érettségi to take

The levels are B1 and B2

The official requirements are explicit: középszint corresponds to CEFR B1, and emelt szint to CEFR B2. Both are worth 150 points, both cover the same five areas, and both are built the same way. Emelt szint is longer, harder, and weights the papers evenly.

That much is a question of readiness. The part that decides it for most students is what each level is worth afterwards.

Only emelt szint can replace a language certificate

A successfully completed foreign-language érettségi can count as a state-recognised language exam. The thresholds are what matter:

• Emelt szint at 60% or above - equivalent to a B2 (középfokú) complex state-recognised language exam
• Emelt szint between 40% and 59% - equivalent to a B1 (alapfokú) complex state-recognised language exam
• Középszint, at any score - not equivalent to a language exam at all

How the equivalence reaches you

No separate certificate is issued and there is nothing to apply for. The equivalence appears automatically as an endorsement in the érettségi certificate itself.

Two limits are worth knowing before you plan around it. Results from different exam sittings cannot be combined to reach a threshold: the percentage has to be reached in one sitting. And in bilingual secondary education there is a further step, where emelt szint at 60% or above in the target language, together with two other subjects examined in that language, yields a C1 complex equivalence.

So how should you choose?

If you need a B2 certificate and you are anywhere near that level, emelt szint is usually the efficient path. You are sitting an exam you have to sit anyway, and a result at 60% carries a B2 certificate with it. Taking középszint and a separate language exam means preparing for two different formats.

If you are not close to B2, the arithmetic changes. Emelt szint between 40% and 59% still yields a B1 equivalence, so the downside is not nothing. But a student who would struggle at 40% is usually better served by középszint and a separate B1 or B2 exam taken when ready.

University admission is a separate question from the certificate. Requirements and any extra points for language qualifications change between admission cycles, so check felvi.hu for the cycle you are applying in rather than relying on what was true a year ago.