Every TEF Canada section, explained and practisable
The TEF Canada has four mandatory sections, sat the same day in a fixed order, each scored 0–699 and converted to NCLC by IRCC separately — your lowest section decides what your result can do. This hub gives each épreuve a focused guide: what it tests, how it is scored, a repeatable method, the traps, and free matching practice built to the currentpost-September-2025 structure (40 listening / 40 reading — not the retired 60/50).
Start with the ground truth: the complete structure, timing and NCLC tables are in the TEF Canada format guide; what changed in September 2025 — and how to spot a stale prep resource — is inTEF Canada changed.
The four section guides
Choose a section for its scoring, method, worked example and matching free practice.
Compréhension orale (Listening)
Forty multiple-choice questions on recorded audio in 40 minutes, arranged in progressive difficulty — announcements and everyday exchanges early, denser discussion later. This is the post-September-2025 format: the old 60-question section is gone, and a pacing plan built on it will be wrong from question one.
Open section guide →40 questions · 60 min · 0–699Compréhension écrite (Reading)
Forty multiple-choice questions in 60 minutes across four question types: everyday documents (notices, ads, practical texts), sentence completion, rapid reading, and administrative or professional documents. Like listening, this is the post-2025 count — the old 50-question section is history — and the four types reward four slightly different reading speeds.
Open section guide →2 sections · 60 min · 0–699Expression écrite (Writing)
Two tasks share one 60-minute pot. Section A: continue a factual news story — a fait divers — in at least 80 words, worth roughly 25 minutes of your hour. Section B: express and justify an opinion in letter form, at least 200 words, worth roughly 35. One clock, two very different registers: narrative reporting for A, structured argument for B.
Open section guide →2 sections · 15 min · 0–699Expression orale (Speaking)
A live interview with a real examiner, about 15 minutes, in two sections. Section A (~5 minutes): a role-play where you must obtain information — you ask the questions, pursuing a practical goal. Section B (~10 minutes): present and defend an opinion persuasively, trying to convince the examiner. No machine scores this; a person does, on the day.
Open section guide →Turn the guides into a study sequence
- Read the TEF Canada format guide so the same-day, fixed-order, uncompensated-sections rules are never a surprise.
- Work through the section guides above, then drill each section in free TEF Canada practice built to the current 40/40 structure.
- Check every practice score against the IRCC tables with the CLB/NCLC converter — per skill, because IRCC reads your lowest.
- Finish with the complete TEF Canada mock in one sitting, the way the real test runs.
Section structure, counts and scoring per CCI Paris (Le français des affaires) and IRCC's equivalency charts, as verified for our TEF Canada format guide (July 2026, post-September-2025 format). TestDayTwin is independent of CCI Paris and IRCC.