The purpose of this article is to present qualitative and quantitative tools to assist teachers and authors of examination materials in their preliminary assessment of text complexity/difficulty according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. The qualitative scales were compiled specially for this study, based on previous research and development in the field. The quantitative scales are based on existing online instruments for stylistic and lexical analysis, adjusted to CEFR levels. Using these tools, we select and analyse texts which should represent appropriate difficulty at the various CEFR levels. The validity of the instruments is tested at B1 and B2 levels by inviting students assessed at these levels to translate the corresponding texts. The majority of the tested learners demonstrated understanding of at least 90% of the vocabulary of the text corresponding to their level. This confirms the validity of the tools proposed in assessing text complexity according to CEFR levels, at least as far as the intermediate levels B1 and B2 are concerned.