A1 – A2 — words and short messages
Signs, text messages, short friendly or administrative notes, adverts, menus, timetables
Recognise a familiar word or phrase; pull one piece of information from a very short everyday document.
TCF Canada · compréhension écrite
The TCF Canada reading paper: format and timing
Thirty-nine questions in sixty minutes, ordered from A1 to C2, so the last ten decide your band. Here is what the paper asks, how the score becomes an NCLC level, and how to practise for it on real texts.
At a glance
- Duration
- 60 minutes
- Questions
- 39 multiple-choice, four options, one correct answer
- Order
- Increasing difficulty, from A1 items to C2 items — the paper gets harder as you go, on purpose
- Delivery
- On a computer at an accredited centre
- Result
- A score out of 699 for reading, reported directly as an NCLC level from 4 to 10+
- Register
- A signboard or a text message at the start; an editorial or a literary extract at the end
What the paper asks, level by level
There are no named sections. The 39 questions climb the CEFR scale, so the same hour covers six different reading tasks. What each band asks:
B1 — everyday and work texts
Personal and professional letters, instructions, short informative texts
Understand facts and events in plain writing, and what the writer wants from you.
B2 — texts that take a position
News articles, opinion pieces, texts in which the author argues
Identify the position, follow the argument, and read a précis or a contrast correctly.
C1 – C2 — long, complex and specialised texts
Long factual pieces, literary extracts, specialised or abstract writing
Grasp implicit meaning, tone and nuance in dense text — the questions that separate NCLC 7 from 8 and above.
How the reading score maps to NCLC
TCF Canada scores each skill out of 699 and reports the NCLC level directly. IRCC’s equivalency chart for reading:
| Reading level | Score band |
|---|---|
| NCLC 4 | 342 – 374 |
| NCLC 5 | 375 – 405 |
| NCLC 6 | 406 – 452 |
| NCLC 7 | 453 – 498 |
| NCLC 8 | 499 – 523 |
| NCLC 9 | 524 – 548 |
| NCLC 10+ | 549 – 699 |
Pacing that works
- The first fifteen questions should take you well under fifteen minutes. Bank that time; the last ten are where it is spent.
- Do not equalise. A signboard deserves thirty seconds; an argued text deserves four minutes and a second read of the question.
- From B2 on, find the author’s position before the detail. The distractor is usually a true statement that is not the author’s point.
- At C1–C2 the answer is rarely a quoted phrase. Look for the sentence that means the same thing in other words.
- Answer everything. There is no penalty for a wrong answer, and your band is set by your total.
How to practise the reading paper here
Every article on this site is published at four reading levels, and the two that matter for the exam — B1 and the B2–C1 original — are the register of the paper’s later documents. What the site adds is the clock and the questions.
Find your band first
Two timed rounds with exam-style questions estimate your reading level on the NCLC scale. Free, about fifteen minutes, no account.
Sit a full-length paper
Forty questions in sixty minutes, in the four-section shape of the real paper — signboards to editorials — written from recent news, with an estimated band and every question reviewed at the end. A new paper each week. With Plus.
Read at exam pace, every day
Any article at your level against a clock set to the paper’s rhythm, then five questions with word lookup off until you submit; or the exam-format document written from the article, with its own questions. With Plus.
Build the vocabulary the paper assumes
Tap any word for a translation, save it, and review it with spaced repetition. The later documents assume the vocabulary of current affairs; daily news is where it comes from.
Practise the reading paper, from today’s news
Real articles at the B2 and C1 register of the paper’s last questions, timed, with exam-style questions and exam-format documents — this is TEF/TCF reading practice built on what was published this morning. The placement is free.
| Easy French News Plus | A leading paid French-news service |
|---|---|
| $2.99 / month · $8.99 for one exam cycle (6 months) | $22.90 / month — Plus is 7× less |