I'm using Pimsleur (currently at Level 1, Lesson 9) in conjunction with 'The New Penguin Russian Course. A Complete Course for Beginners"

In the introduction of the book, it says completing the book will have someone equal to an "A-Level" Standard. How would one define this level? From what my web searches tell me, it's a standard used in the UK. How would this compare to the " Inter-agency Language Roundtable scale" of 1 - 5? I believe this scale is used by the U.S. Department of State, among other Federal agencies.

Thanks in advance!

Ivanovich