The official definition
The Common European Framework (CEFR) describes B2 speaking like this: you can interact with a degree of fluency and spontaneity that makes regular interaction with native speakers quite possible without strain for either party; you can take an active part in discussion in familiar contexts, accounting for and sustaining your views; you can present clear, detailed descriptions on a wide range of subjects and explain a viewpoint, giving the advantages and disadvantages of various options.
B1 is a level down: you can deal with most situations likely to arise while travelling; you can enter unprepared into conversation on familiar topics; you can connect phrases in a simple way to describe experiences, events, hopes and plans, and briefly give reasons and explanations.
The words that separate them: spontaneity, sustaining your views, advantages and disadvantages, explain a viewpoint. B1 describes. B2 argues.
What it sounds like
The same question at both levels. The examiner asks: "Should children start school at four?"
B1 I think four is too young. In my country children start at six. My daughter started at four and she was very tired. But now she is OK.
B2 I'd say four is too young for most children, although I know it works for some. Where I grew up we used to start at six, and I don't think we learned any less. My daughter started at four and the first term was hard, she was exhausted every evening. On the other hand, her English is now better than mine, so I can see the advantage. If I could choose, I'd start them at five and keep the first year as play. What do you think?
Nothing in the B2 answer is advanced vocabulary. The difference is structure: a view, a concession (although), a comparison with the past (used to), a personal example, the other side (on the other hand), a conditional, and a question back. That is a B2 turn, and it is about 80 words.
The checklist examiners actually use
Trinity's GESE Grade 7 is the B2 speaking test used for settlement. Its examiners listen for a published list: advice, suggestions, past habits, possibility and uncertainty, asking for more information, agreeing and disagreeing; second conditional, passive, used to, relative clauses, should/ought to/could, may/might/I'm not sure, because of/due to. The full list with examples is on the Grade 7 language page. If you can bring those into a conversation about your own life, naturally and mostly accurately, you are at B2 for this purpose.
Four things B2 speakers do that B1 speakers do not
- Hold a turn. Thirty to sixty seconds of connected speech with a beginning, a reason and an end, not a sentence and a pause.
- Take a position. "It depends" is B1. "It depends on the child, but for most I'd say five" is B2.
- Ask back. B2 is interaction. The candidate who asks the examiner "Is it the same here?" is doing B2 regardless of grammar.
- Repair. When they do not understand, they say so and ask: "Sorry, do you mean the schools here?" Guessing is B1.
What B2 does not require
- Native-like pronunciation. An accent is fine; clarity is what is marked.
- Perfect grammar. Errors that do not stop understanding are tolerated at B2. Persistent basic errors (no past tense, no articles at all) are not.
- Rare vocabulary. Range matters more than rarity: "exhausted" instead of "very tired" once is worth more than one unusual word.
- Reading or writing. For settlement, the test is speaking and listening only.
Where you are now
The honest way to find out is to be asked B2 questions by someone who knows the checklist and to hear your own answer back. That is what the free practice here does: four minutes on one Grade 7 subject, then a report that says which level you sounded like and why. If you are at B1 and need B2, how long it takes is the next page.