Scoring
How is the TCF Canada marked?
A score out of 699, levels from A1 to C2, the NCLC table: everything to understand before you practise.
The TCF Canada has four tests: listening, reading, writing and speaking. The first two give a score out of 699, the other two a mark out of 20. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada then converts each result into an NCLC, the Canadian Language Benchmarks in French.
Listening and reading: 39 questions, points per level
Each comprehension test has 39 questions ordered from easiest to hardest. A right answer earns its level’s points: 3 at A1, 9 at A2, 15 at B1, 21 at B2, 26 at C1 and 33 at C2. A wrong or blank answer costs nothing.
The direct consequence: never leave a question blank. A guess costs nothing.
This scale also explains why the last questions matter so much: four right answers at C2 are worth 132 points, as much as the first fourteen questions together.
From score to NCLC
In listening, NCLC 7 starts at 458 points and NCLC 9 at 523. In reading, you need 453 points for NCLC 7 and 524 for NCLC 9. In writing and speaking, a mark of 10 out of 20 matches NCLC 7, and 14 matches NCLC 9.
- Listening: NCLC 7 from 458, NCLC 9 from 523
- Reading: NCLC 7 from 453, NCLC 9 from 524
- Writing and speaking: NCLC 7 from 10/20, NCLC 9 from 14/20
What it means for your preparation
Aim first for consistency at B1 and B2: nineteen questions and 345 points. That is where most NCLC 7 and 8 results are decided, long before the C-level questions.