How to Prepare for the TCF for Free

You can prepare for the TCF entirely with free official material. France Éducation international, which designs the test, publishes sample questions, the candidate handbook and a free practice simulator, and two of its partners host hundreds more practice items. The work left is knowing which version your file needs and what each part asks.

You do not need to pay anyone, and most candidates already have enough material. This guide gives you the version map and the format of each part, with the official link for every claim, plus a six-week plan that uses only free resources. If you are still deciding between the French tests, read our comparison of the TCF and the TEF first.

Which version of the TCF you need

The TCF is the language-level test of the French Ministry of Education. It comes in several versions, and they are not interchangeable. Picking the wrong one means sitting the test twice. If the goal is Canada, our guide to Canada immigration from Algeria sets out where a French score actually counts.

• TCF tout public: the general test, open from age 16 to anyone whose first language is not French. With the compulsory written expression test added, it is the official test recognised for the French prior-admission procedure (DAP).
• TCF Canada: for anyone who has to certify their French in an economic immigration or Canadian citizenship file submitted to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada.
• TCF IRN: for a French nationality application, a long-term resident card, a multi-year residence card, or validating level A1 in the OFII integration path.
• TCF Quebec: the version used for Quebec immigration files.

What is in each test

The versions differ in how many tests are compulsory and how long each one runs. These are the figures France Éducation international publishes.

TCF tout public has three compulsory multiple-choice tests and two optional ones: listening, 29 questions in 25 minutes; mastery of language structures, 18 questions in 15 minutes; reading, 29 questions in 45 minutes. The optional written expression test is three exercises in 60 minutes, and speaking is three tasks in 12 minutes, two of which are preparation. On a computer sitting the multiple-choice section carries 91 items, and the 15 extra items, five per skill, do not count toward your score.

TCF Canada has four compulsory tests and no language-structures section: listening, 39 questions in 35 minutes; reading, 39 questions in 60 minutes; written expression, three exercises in 60 minutes; speaking, three tasks in 12 minutes. The whole thing runs 2 hours 47.

TCF IRN is the shortest, at 1 hour 35: listening, 25 questions in 20 minutes; reading, 25 questions in 35 minutes; written expression, three exercises in 30 minutes; speaking, three tasks in 10 minutes. It evaluates up to B2 only, and it tests language, not French history or culture.

Every multiple-choice question has four options and one correct answer, the questions get harder as you go, and each recording is played once with the question asked after it. Knowing that last detail changes how you listen.

The free official practice, in the order to use it

Start with the material written by the people who write the test, then move to the partner sites.

1. The candidate handbook, linked from every version page, explains the versions, the tests and how a session runs. Read it once before anything else.
2. Sample questions and topics on the France Éducation international site, covering all five tests, including real writing and speaking prompts.
3. The free simulator on the TCF-Candidat preparation page, which the site describes as 600 questions to practise with before you sit the TCF.
4. TV5Monde, the partner France Éducation international names for practising the compulsory tests.
5. Le français facile avec RFI, which it names for listening practice and for the speaking test.

If you want one more timed run under exam conditions, our own free French practice exam on Fennec360 Certified gives you a scored sitting with a level estimate. Use it alongside the official sources, not instead of them.

How the results are read

The certificate does not give you one mark. Listening and reading come back as scores, speaking and writing as marks out of 20, and each of those is translated into a CEFR level running from "A1 not reached" up to C2. For TCF tout public you also get a weighted average of the three multiple-choice scores, and a global level only if you sat every test, expression included, in the same session. The official page Comprendre mes résultats sets out each version's layout.

For Canada, your CEFR levels are not the unit of decision. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada converts TCF Canada results into NCLC levels. On its Federal Skilled Worker chart, NCLC 7 means 458 to 502 in listening, 453 to 498 in reading and 10 to 11 out of 20 in both speaking and writing. The Canadian Experience Class asks for NCLC 7 in all four abilities for a job in NOC TEER 0 or 1, and NCLC 5 for TEER 2 or 3.

Two dates matter. France Éducation international gives the certificate a validity of two years from the date the results are issued. IRCC requires results less than two years old both when you complete your Express Entry profile and when you submit the permanent residence application, and states that it refuses applications filed with expired results.

A six-week plan that uses only free material

Six weeks is enough to change your score if you work on the test and not just on French.

• Week 1: read the candidate handbook, work through the sample questions, and sit one timed practice run to get a baseline. Write the baseline down.
• Weeks 2 and 3: listening every day, in short sessions, with the RFI exercises. Train for one play only, no replays, and take no notes during multiple-choice practice.
• Week 4: reading and, for TCF tout public, language structures, with the TV5Monde series. Time yourself, because reading is where people run out of clock.
• Week 5: the expression tests. Write the three tasks to the published word counts and speak the three tasks aloud, timed. A piece that misses the word count can be marked "A1 not reached".
• Week 6: two full timed runs, then rest. Book nothing new in the last three days.

Results arrive in your TCF-Candidat account within 15 working days of France Éducation international receiving the session material, or 10 working days for a computer sitting of the multiple-choice tests alone. You can retake as often as you like, but you have to wait 20 days between two sittings of the same version.

Mistakes that cost people a sitting

• Preparing for the wrong version, usually the general test when the file needed TCF Canada.
• Treating listening as a comprehension exercise rather than a one-play exercise.
• Ignoring the word counts on written expression, which can cost the whole task.
• Sitting the test with an old certificate still valid and no plan for which date the authority will read.
• Paying for practice before using the free official material. Nothing in the list above costs anything.

From the sessions of 1 September 2026, France Éducation international has suspended requests to have speaking and writing re-marked, with the service expected back in autumn 2027. Plan on the mark you get.

If you want someone to check which version your file needs and read your practice results with you, our language test preparation service and the TCF page exist for that. You can also contact us before you book a session, so you only sit the test once.