Reading placement

Where is your French reading on the NCLC scale?

Two short timed readings with exam-style questions — a B1 text, then an exam-format document — estimate your reading level on the scale TEF Canada and TCF Canada report on. About fifteen minutes, free, no account needed.

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How the estimate is made

Each round is five multiple-choice questions on a clock set to exam pace. The two scores together place you in a band — NCLC 1–2, 3–4, 5–6 or 7 and above — and finishing well inside the time can lift a borderline result. The band is offered as your default reading level on the site.

This estimates reading only. The exams score four skills and require NCLC 7 in each for the Express Entry French bonus; a reading band says nothing about your speaking or writing. Take an official sample for those.

The four bands

The result is one of four reading bands, each tied to a level on this site so the estimate becomes a default you can read at straight away.

Estimated band	CEFR	Read at	What it means for TEF/TCF
NCLC 1–2	A1	A1 texts	Short everyday documents; the reading paper's first questions
NCLC 3–4	A2	A2 texts	Everyday and simple work documents; citizenship needs NCLC 4
NCLC 5–6	B1	B1 texts	Informative texts; one band below the Express Entry French bonus
NCLC 7+	B2–C1	The original articles	Argued and opinion texts; the bar for the Express Entry category and CRS bonus

Ten questions is a placement, not a measurement. Two rounds are enough to tell A2 from B1 and B1 from B2, not to separate NCLC 7 from 8 — the full-length reading mock does that.

What to do with the result

Make the band your default level with one tap: every article then opens at the text you can read at pace.
Set your exam date on the dashboard: the countdown and a three-line daily routine follow from it.
Read one article a day at your level, save the words you look up, and review them.
Once a week, sit a timed reading one level up — the exam is a pace test as much as a vocabulary test.
Two weeks before the date, sit a full paper: the reading mock and the writing paper.

The placement runs when JavaScript is enabled

Open this page in a browser to start. Or begin with the reading levels, the TEF vs TCF comparison, and what the TEF and TCF reading papers actually ask.