One level short
The attestation arrives and you read it the way everyone does: the four levels first, the scores later, if at all. Listening, reading and speaking at NCLC 7. Writing at NCLC 6.
If your plan is a Federal Skilled Worker profile in French, or the French-language proficiency category of Express Entry, IRCC wants NCLC 7 in all four abilities.
Three out of four is not a pass with a blemish; it is a no. One level, in one section, stands between you and the profile you meant to build.
The reflex, and I understand it, is to book the next session and do the whole test again, harder. I think that reflex is the most expensive mistake a near-miss candidate makes.
A retake is not a second spin of the same wheel.
The TCF measures what you can do in French under a clock, and the result only moves when something you do moves. This guide is about finding that something, inside the time the rules give you.
The rule is generous, which is the trap
France Éducation international (FEI), which runs and marks the TCF, puts it in two sentences.
That is a generous rule. There is no annual cap and no cooling-off period that eats a season.
The date you can actually sit is set by the centre, since approved centres run sessions through the year as their capacity allows, but FEI itself only asks for 20 days.
Generosity has a cost
When sittings are unlimited, it becomes tempting to treat each one as a lottery ticket: sit, hope, sit again.
I would rather you treat each sitting as if it were your last, because the work that wins the level is the same work either way, and a sitting you were not ready for teaches you almost nothing you did not already know.
Read the score, not the level
The level on your attestation is a verdict. The score beside it is a diagnosis, and it is the more useful of the two.
IRCC converts each of your four scores to an NCLC level separately: listening and reading are scored from 100 to 699, speaking and writing out of 20.
| Level | Speaking (/20) | Listening (/699) | Reading (/699) | Writing (/20) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NCLC 10+ | 16–20 | 549–699 | 549–699 | 16–20 |
| NCLC 9 | 14–15 | 523–548 | 524–548 | 14–15 |
| NCLC 8 | 12–13 | 503–522 | 499–523 | 12–13 |
| NCLC 7 | 10–11 | 458–502 | 453–498 | 10–11 |
| NCLC 6 | 7–9 | 398–457 | 406–452 | 7–9 |
| NCLC 5 | 6 | 369–397 | 375–405 | 6 |
Look at what the same word, NCLC 6, can hide.
- Writing 9: one point under
- Listening 455: misses NCLC 7 by three points
- Writing 7: three points under
- Listening 400: misses it by nearly sixty
The first of each pair is a candidate who needs a sharper three weeks. The second needs a longer road, and should hear that before paying for another sitting.
What one level is worth
The stakes are not only the minimums. For Express Entry, IRCC asks for NCLC 7 in all four abilities under the Federal Skilled Worker Program and for jobs in TEER 0 or 1 under the Canadian Experience Class, and NCLC 5 for TEER 2 or 3.
In the Comprehensive Ranking System, NCLC 7 or higher in all four French abilities adds 50 points with CLB 5 or higher in all four English abilities, or 25 with CLB 4 or lower in English. The difference between a 9 and a 10 in one section can be worth far more than one point.
The 20 days run out before the result arrives
Here is the part almost nobody mentions. FEI makes results available within 15 working days of receiving the session’s papers, a delay it shortens to 10 days only for multiple-choice tests sat alone on computer, which a TCF Canada never is.
Fifteen working days is at least three calendar weeks, and it starts when the papers reach FEI, not when you leave the room.
- between two sittings of the same version
- 20 days
- for results, from the papers reaching FEI
- 15 working days
Put the two delays side by side and the 20-day rule nearly vanishes. If your result comes near FEI’s limit, the 20 days have already run out by the time you read it.
What actually stands between you and a resit is the centre’s calendar and your own readiness.
The 20 days are a floor, not a schedule.
No one left to appeal to
Speaking and writing are each marked twice, independently and blind, with a third marking when the two disagree widely.
But since the sessions of 1 September 2026 FEI has stopped accepting re-marking requests for speaking and writing, and plans to resume the service in autumn 2027. Until then, a retake is the only remedy for a speaking or writing result.
Now, or later?
There is no prize for sitting again on day 20. My test is simple: can you name what went wrong?
Not "writing", but the task you ran out of time on, the word count you never reached, the kind of question you guessed.
- You can name it
- The score sits a point or two under the line
- You cannot name it
- Or two abilities fell short
- Or one fell a whole level
A rushed retake costs a sitting and buys you the same score.
Some candidates book the second session before the first result arrives, as insurance. The rules allow it, as long as the two sittings are 20 days apart, and I think it is reasonable, provided the preparation starts on day one rather than on the day the result lands.
Keep the two years in view
Keep one date in view while you choose: validity. An FEI attestation is valid for 2 years from the date its results are issued, and IRCC requires your results to be under 2 years old both when you complete your Express Entry profile and when you apply for permanent residence.
An application with expired results is refused. A retake that wins the level also starts a fresh two years, which matters if the pool keeps you waiting.
Twenty days, one ability
If I had one piece of advice for a near-miss candidate, it would be this.
For most of the next three weeks, stop practising the whole test.
You already passed three quarters of it. Keep those sections warm, and put the hours where the level was lost.
- Days 1–3 · Diagnose · 3 daysWrite down where time ran out and what you guessed while it is fresh. When the result lands, find the ability under the line.
- Days 4–10 · Drill · 7 daysOnly that ability’s repeated mistakes, a little every day.
- Days 11–17 · Rehearse · 7 daysThe weak section at the exam’s timings, then one full timed run of all four.
- Days 18–20 · Settle · 3 daysLight practice, sleep, and the logistics of the day.
Start the day after
You remember which task felt short and which answers were guesses; write the kind of task and what went wrong, never the subject itself, which FEI forbids you to keep or share.
Drill what fell
What the drill looks like depends on what fell.
- Writing: the trap is usually finishing, not polishing. Three tasks in 60 minutes, at 60 to 120, 120 to 150 and 120 to 180 words, and a third task left half-done costs more than an imperfect connector.
- Speaking: 12 minutes including 2 of preparation. Practise aloud and recorded, because the silent rehearsal hides the pauses.
- Listening and reading: 39 questions each in 35 and 60 minutes. Only right answers count and a blank scores 0: an unanswered question is a point you gave away.
The last three days
The last three days are not wasted.
Losing a resit to a paperwork detail, after three weeks of work, would be the cruellest outcome of all.
Where Salut Canada helps
This is where Salut Canada can carry part of the load.
- Each correction of your writing and speaking adds your errors to your error notebook, and the drills turn your writing errors into exercises built from your own mistakes.
- Set your goal level in your settings and your next weekly plan works towards it.
- The examiner runs all three speaking tasks at the exam’s timings, and the timed tests come with a plan.
Its marks are practice feedback, not an official result: only FEI marks your TCF, and Salut Canada is not FEI.
Why a memorised script fails twice
Under pressure to gain one level fast, the shortcut most often offered is a model answer learned by heart, or subjects passed around after a session. I think both are bad bets, and FEI is explicit about why.
The script fails twice. It fails the rules, and it fails the task: FEI’s marking criteria include how well what you say fits the situation in front of you, and a paragraph prepared for a different situation shows it.
What you can and should learn is structure: how to open an argument, link two ideas, close a message.
That travels to any subject. A script travels to none.
Sources
- France Éducation international, TCF Canada page: the tests and their timings, the 20 days between sittings, results within 15 working days, the 2-year validity, the suspension of re-marking and its planned resumption.
- France Éducation international, Mes droits et devoirs de candidat au TCF: sittings without limit, the 10-day delay for multiple-choice tests alone on computer, memorised texts, subjects, identity on the day.
- France Éducation international, Évaluation des épreuves du TCF: double marking, the 100 to 699 scale, only right answers counting.
- France Éducation international, Sanctions en cas de fraude.
- IRCC, Express Entry: language test results; IRCC, Comprehensive Ranking System criteria; IRCC, Express Entry category-based selection.
Checked on 25 October 2026.