The TEF Canada format, section by section

A full reference for the four sections of the TEF Canada as they stand today — after the 1 September 2025 reform that cut the listening and reading question counts. If you only wantwhat changed and how to spot a stale guide, read TEF Canada changed instead. This page is the complete format: structure, timing, scoring, and the traps. For test-takers using the TEF for Canadian immigration or citizenship.

What the TEF Canada is, and who takes it

The TEF Canada (Test d'évaluation de français) is a French-language exam owned and administered by CCI Paris Île-de-France (Le français des affaires). It is one of the French tests IRCC accepts — for the French-language points in Express Entry, and for proving French ability for Canadian citizenship. It has four mandatory sections, and for IRCC to recognise your result they must be taken the same day. The fixed order is:

Compréhension orale (Listening)
Compréhension écrite (Reading)
Expression écrite (Writing)
Expression orale (Speaking)

Booking the right test matters: the TEF Canada is not the same as the regular TEF or the TEF for Quebec — see did you book the right test version?

The four sections at a glance

Section	Questions / tasks	Time	Score
Compréhension orale (Listening)	40 multiple-choice, progressive difficulty, no negative marking	40 min	0–699
Compréhension écrite (Reading)	40 multiple-choice, four question types	60 min	0–699
Expression écrite (Writing)	2 tasks: A = continue a fait divers (≥80 words); B = opinion letter (≥200 words)	60 min total	0–699
Expression orale (Speaking)	2 tasks: A = role-play to obtain information; B = present & defend an opinion. Live examiner.	~15 min	0–699

Official format, verified July 2026 — see sources below. Source: CCI Paris / Le français des affaires, TEF Canada presentation & results pages, cross-checked against IRCC's equivalency charts. The 40 / 40 question counts are the current (post-September-2025) figures; guides quoting 60 listening / 50 reading describe the retired format.

Section by section

1. Compréhension orale — Listening (40 questions, 40 min)

Forty multiple-choice questions on recorded audio, arranged in progressive difficulty — they get harder as you go, so bank the early ones. There is no negative marking, so never leave a question blank; an informed guess can only help. The audio spans a range of French accents and everyday situations. Scored 0–699.

2. Compréhension écrite — Reading (40 questions, 60 min)

Forty multiple-choice questions across four question types:

Understanding everyday documents (notices, ads, short practical texts).
Sentence completion / gap-fill — choosing the word or phrase that fits.
Rapid reading — locating information quickly across a longer text.
Administrative and professional documents.

Sixty minutes for forty questions is comfortable if you don't over-read; scored 0–699.

3. Expression écrite — Writing (2 tasks, 60 min total)

Two tasks, one hour to split between them:

Section A — continue or complete a factual news story (a fait divers).Minimum 80 words; budget roughly 25 minutes.
Section B — express and justify an opinion, in the form of a letter.Minimum 200 words; budget roughly 35 minutes.

The minimums are floors, not targets — under-writing is penalised, but padding with filler hurts the quality marks. Scored 0–699.

4. Expression orale — Speaking (2 tasks, ~15 min, live examiner)

A live interview with an examiner — not a recording, not a machine. Two tasks:

Section A — a role-play where you must obtain information(asking questions to reach a goal). About 5 minutes.
Section B — present and defend an opinion persuasively, aiming to convince the examiner. About 10 minutes.

Because this is a live human interview, we don't simulate or AI-score it — that would give you a false read. We provide preparation material and prompts for both sections; the score comes from a real examiner on the day. Scored 0–699.

Timing & navigation quirks

Same-day, fixed order. All four sections run in one sitting, in the order above, for IRCC to recognise the result. You can't take one section on a separate day.
Listening is timed as one block with the audio driving the pace — you can't slow the recording, so keep up and guess rather than dwell.
Reading gives you 60 minutes to self-manage across all four question types. The rapid-reading items reward scanning, not reading every line — don't spend evereveryday-document care on them.
Writing is one 60-minute pot for both tasks. If you overspend on Section A's 80-word fait divers, you'll starve the 200-word opinion letter that carries more weight. Watch the clock deliberately.

How it's scored, and what a good score looks like

Since 10 December 2023, every skill reports on a 0–699 scale, and IRCC maps that scale directly to NCLC (the French equivalent of the CLB). Your attestation states your NCLC per skill. Crucially, the sections are not compensated across each other — a strong reading score cannot rescue a weak speaking one. IRCC always takes your lowest skill, so the section you dread is the one that decides your outcome.

NCLC 7 is the common threshold for Express Entry French points. On the current /699 scale that's approximately:

Skill	NCLC 7 needs (/699)
Listening	434–461
Reading	434–461
Writing	428–471
Speaking	456–493

IRCC equivalency chart (tests taken after 10 December 2023), verified July 2026. The ranges are asymmetric per skill — speaking sits highest. For every level in all four skills, use theCLB/NCLC converter. TEF results are valid for two years, and must be valid both when you create your Express Entry profile and when you submit — seewhen your test expires.

What trips people up

Studying to the wrong question counts. The current test is 40 listening / 40 reading. Any guide, mock, or coaching that says 60/50 is describing the pre-September-2025 format — your pacing plan will be off if you trust it.
Reading scores as "out of 450". The /699-per-skill scale is the one that counts. The old équivalence ancien score /450 column only ever appeared on transition-window attestations (tests taken December 2023 – May 2024). If a resource converts your NCLC from a /450 "ancien score", it's stale.
Expecting an AI speaking score. TEF speaking is a live examiner interview. No tool can give you a real score in advance — prepare with prompts and timing, then perform on the day.
Leaving listening questions blank. There's no negative marking, so a guess is strictly better than nothing. Never surrender a question to the clock.
Underestimating the opinion letter. Writing Section B (≥200 words) needs a clear position, justification, and letter conventions — don't blow your hour on the shorterfait divers and leave it thin.

Practise this format

Our TEF Canada practice is built to the current 40/40 structure with progressive-difficulty listening and both writing tasks, with an NCLC estimate on the /699 scale — free, and we sell no test. When you want the full experience, sit thecomplete TEF Canada mock. To turn any score into your NCLC per skill, use the CLB/NCLC converter.