Friday, March 13, 2020

Preparation for the TCF Canada and Quebec


With the TCF Quebec or TCF Canada exam results in your hand you can have your level of French recognized throughout the world. Companies, schools, and universities rely on this exam to evaluate applicants.

If you are applying to immigrate to Canada, a language test is required in one of the two official languages, English or French. TCF Canada is an approved option by Immigration Refugee and Citizenship Canada in order to verify your French language proficiency.

TCF Canada Exam

No prior qualification is required to take the exam but candidates must be at least 16 years of age. Once you’ve found an authorized test centre near you and have registered and paid, you are ready to take the exam.

The TCF Canada consists of 4 modules that are designed to evaluate your proficiency in both oral and written skills:

·        Listening: 39 multiple choice questions
·        Reading: 38 multiple choice questions
·        Speaking: 3 subjects organized in increasing order of difficulty
·        Writing: 3 topics organized in increasing order of difficulty

TCF Quebec

Registering for the TCF Quebec would be the right choice if you plan a move to Quebec. The Quebec Ministry for Immigration, Francisation and Integration (MIFI) requests proof of the applicants’ knowledge of French. MIFI recognizes the TEF Quebec (TEFAQ) examination results as part of the process to obtain a Certificat de Sélection du Québec (CSQ). The Quebec Selection Certificate leads to the issuance of a permanent visa.

TCF Quebec Exam

The TCF Quebec is comprised of 1 to 4 examinations. It evaluates your proficiency in standard French language in listening, speaking, reading, and writing.

The TCF Quebec format is:

·        Listening: 29 multiple choice questions
·        Reading: 29 multiple choice questions
·        Speaking: 3 subjects organized in increasing order of difficulty
·        Writing: 3 topics organized in increasing order of difficulty

How to Study for TCF Canada or TCF Quebec

Though the number of questions varies on the TCF Canada exam vs. the TCF Quebec exam, the structure remains the same including listening, reading, speaking, and writing sections. The speaking and writing sections are optional subjects and may be required depending on your reason for taking the TCF.

Listening

 Oral comprehension is broken down into the following sections:
·        Section 1 tests understanding of how audio clips relate to a certain image
·        Section 2 tests understanding of minimal exchanges related to real life   situations.
·        Section 3 tests your understanding of small conversations between   Francophones
·        Section 4 plays a clip that may be a speech or a news report and you are testing   on your understanding of the content

Study tip for the listening section

·        Listen to French audio clips without repeating

During the TCF Canada or TCF Quebec, you can’t repeat the audio clips, so you have to be able to quickly understand the content.

Reading

·        The reading comprehension section tests your skill in reading French. Several excerpts are presented from single sentence to essays with multiple-choice questions about the subject or specific information that was presented. At least here you can reread the question, but your time is still limited.

Study tip for the reading section

·        Practice reading French quickly

Since the TCF Canada and TCF Quebec are timed, practice reading French quickly so when you are under pressure, you are able to understand it without rereading. Try reading the kind of writing that is likely to show up on the TEF exams like news articles or historical speeches.

Speaking

This section takes the form of a face-to-face recorded interview with an examiner. The examiner may ask you a general question, like “Tell me about yourself” and more specific questions like, “I run a small business. Ask me questions about how it’s run.”

Study tip for the speaking section

·      Get a friend to help you prepare with a mock Q & A

Just like a job interview, the speaking part of the exam requires you to think on your feet so if you have someone sit across from you and ask you questions and you have to answer in French, it puts you in a similar situation to the one you will face on examination day.

Writing

This section requires you to write about three scenarios. A previous exam question was to “write about a hypothetical vacation you just took.”

Study tip for the writing section

·      Join an online forum for Francophones

This is one way to help you engage on a variety of topics. Key to success in this section is to practice your writing as much as possible. The more you write and practice in different forms (essays, blogs, letters, etc.), the more confident you will be on exam day.

Register for the exam

Once you have completed your preparation, you are ready to register for either the TCF Quebec or TCF Canada exam. Ashton Testing offers the exams on weekends so you can easily fit the testing into your busy schedule.

Bonne chance!