Scurvy,
When we ask present level...............WE WANT THE LEVEL LEFT i.e. "......... left five thousand three hundred"
When I learnt to fly, "level" meant one of the assignable levels listed in the book eg whole thousands or perhaps whole 500s.
So if I'm passing 5300 on descent and you ask "report present level" or for that matter "report last vacated level" I'm going to say "Left 6000".