I’ve been actively using English written and spoken for some 30 years, mainly in technology and business domains, communicating with co-workers and clients but also in my hobbies – flying and scuba diving. My first ELP was with live examiner whose English sounded like from bad spaghetti western and it took me some time to tune my receivers to his frequency. His main objection to my English was speaking slowly while actually I was choosing the words I was sure he would understand. As a result, I got level 5. The second ELP test I took was online and I didn’t invest much effort knowing I’d get 5. I definitely can’t elaborate Shakespeare or discuss contemporary art in English but I’m pretty good in explaining anything related to aviation and I can understand the worst ATCO in any corner of Europe.
I can confirm Emir is at least Level 7 
which shows how ridiculous this system is.
The other quite funny thing is that some French and Spanish ATCOs speak really good English but – you eventually discover, with amazement – without understanding a single word of what you are saying, other than the few standard phrases Even I could learn to speak words and phrases in perfect French. This is my objection to crib sheets (beloved by Brits going to France) because they will screw you the instant somebody speaks to you.
Sorry to disappoint you but reading from a crib sheet or learning a few phrases will not allow you to speak perfect French.
Most French can tell you are a Brit from the moment you say “bonjour”
It is why many French ATCOs will switch to English in response to your first call, even if that first call is in French. And it has nothing to do with the reg.
It is because of this that if a Brit turns up eg at LFFK fr. seulement, as long as they are making best efforts in French, and despite the fact that most of the pilots in the circuit will know little or even zero English, they will make allowances,.for the bad French.
Your registration will be pretty near the same in both languages, the name of the airfield will be pretty much the same.
Vertical and Finale will be pretty much understood as will base or baz(in French)
If someone speaks to in the circuit just listen for your registration " répétez s’il vous plaît" ie “Say Again” “votre position svp” “where are you” ie state your position.
We have at least 2 Brits based here. Neither would claim to speak French but they try and everyone welcomes them for trying.
All this talk of French accents……… I think I’m over due a trip to France 
My test was listening to ATC recordings and answering questions (on paper ) about it. Followed by a chat with the examiner.
That was straightforward enough, nothing like the awful stories in this thread.
But at the start, and because I was in a country that was not my own, was given a form to fill. In the language of the country I was in. Not my native language, not english! I wondered if I was going to fail the ELP because I could not fill the form …. (it was standard stuff, name, address, etc… so not difficult but did had a chuckle at the irony of it)
My ELP test was conducted via zoom and very straightforward. The company running the test (AEPS) provides a website with example questions and scenarios. The actual test took around 40 minutes and consisted of two parts, first a conversation driven by photos that show aviation related scenes. In the conversation the examiners (there were two) judge your speaking competency obviously, but are also looking for some specific vocabulary you might use in RT. For example, a picture I was shown had an aircraft on final approach in an area devoid of green and they wanted to hear me use the word “arid”. I didn’t but it was not a deal breaker (got an ELP6, they explained and we moved on). The second part of the test was a mock flight where I was given an approach chart of the departure airfield that I could study for a few minutes, and then one of the examiners played the role of ATC as I went through all the steps from startup to leaving the airfield area. Overall fair process I believe
an approach chart of the departure airfield
You mean departure chart
We should all lobby very hard to get rid of this crap. At most, an ELP „exam“ should be like this:
Examiner: Hi, how are you?
ELP candidate: Fine, thanks!
Reading through all the bureaucratic mess in the preceding posts I’m confident the net effect gained for aviation safety has been ZERO since inception of this ELP „let’s make easy money with ridiculous training/exams“ idiocy.
Addendum: During my ELP exam I realized quickly that to obtain L6 I’d need to disregard my native skills from living in the USA and force my brain to talk in some weird „exam aligned“ english. Stupid.
At most, an ELP „exam“ should be like this
Actually, that is how my FAA test was, I got “English Proficient” and FAA61.75 issued in middle of Manhattan late at night at 10pm, the online papers were done in Fox Studios with DPE (he works in TV buisness), before heading to a nearby Japanese restaurant to talk about surfing, weather and flying !
As far as the money is concerned, there was none involved for ticking boxes (other than voluntarily settling the bill of the restaurant), two weeks later, I opted to do my Cirrus transition in the school fleet and some rentals, as they say pricey but friendly & efficient !
There is something to be said about “the ease of doing things” in America…
