1. Know the score you need
Your immigration program sets a minimum NCLC level, and each skill is scored separately, so your weakest one decides. Look up your level on canada.ca, then find its TEF score in the exam format guide.
2. Take a practice test first
Before you plan, measure. One timed listening test and one reading test show which skill needs the most work.
3. Listening
- Practise at exam pace. On the day each recording plays once and you cannot go back. Do not replay during practice tests.
- Read the options before the audio. They often differ by one word, and that word is what to listen for.
- Watch for two-question recordings. Read both questions before it starts.
- Drill numbers, times and dates: soixante and soixante-dix, deux and douze.
Then read the transcript of every miss. Slowing the audio down helps early on; practise at full speed before the exam. More in how listening works.
4. Reading
- Practise on a screen, since that is how it is tested.
- Budget 90 seconds a question, and keep ten minutes for the longest texts at the end.
- Read the question before the text, then scan for the answer.
- Distrust an option that copies the text word for word. The right answer is usually a rephrasing.
Read the explanation for every miss, and for every lucky guess. More in how reading works.
5. Writing
- Section A (25 minutes, 80+ words): continue a news story with new facts, in the style of a journalist.
- Section B (35 minutes, 200+ words): take a side and argue it with examples.
- Learn from model answers. Note how they open, link ideas and close, then write your own on the same topic against the clock.
- Type, do not handwrite, and learn to type French accents.
6. Speaking
- Section A (5 minutes): prepare a bank of questions for any advert: price, times, place, conditions, how to sign up. Use vous.
- Section B (10 minutes): present the advert, then answer the examiner's objections one by one. Rehearse replies to the usual ones: too expensive, no time, too far.
- Practise aloud, not in your head, and time yourself.
7. The last two weeks
- Full timed tests, in exam conditions.
- Retake your weakest tests with shuffle on, so you cannot answer from memory.
- Never leave a listening or reading question blank: a wrong answer costs nothing.
- Check your centre's rules and what to bring. See fees, booking and results.
Practise with TEF Trainer
TEF Trainer is TEF Canada practice for all four papers, in your browser.
- Predictions: TEF-style listening and reading predictions, based on recent exams and updated regularly (560 questions).
- The full question bank: 1,925 listening and reading questions in all.
- Every speaking and writing topic (435) with a model answer, in French with English alongside.
- English translations and answer explanations, plus shuffle mode, autoplay and audio speed control.
144 questions and 32 topics are free, with everything switched on. No account, no card.
Start practising free See pricing
Updated November 2026. Exam rules and fees change: check them with your test centre and on canada.ca.