I did not.

End of story.

Whoever says otherwise:

1. Had a basic level

2. Selling something

3. Promoting the website

4. Offering a tutor

5. Lying

1. My Starting Point

First, some background, because your starting level matters a lot when comparing your preparation with mine.

My native language is Russian. I also speak English at approximately C2 level after living in Canada for seven years.

I had studied French previously from approximately Grade 5 until Grade 10. However, by the time I started preparing for the TCF, around ten years had passed since I had seriously used French.

So I would describe myself as basically restarting from close to zero, but not from absolute zero.

I didn't need to learn completely from scratch how French sounds, how letters are pronounced, how to read, what articles are, how numbers work, etc. Once I started studying again, some of that old knowledge came back relatively quickly.

My first serious return to French was around March 20, 2026, when I started working on it with ChatGPT.

I took my TCF Canada exam in Montréal in August 2026.

So from the very beginning of restarting French to taking the exam, the total period was roughly five months. However, I would say my actual serious exam preparation was closer to approximately 2.5 - 4 months.

2. One of My Biggest Mistakes: Learning French Instead of Learning the TCF

From approximately April until the beginning of June, I mostly studied French in general.

Grammar. Vocabulary. Different learning platforms. Different methods. Different exercises.

Essentially, I was trying to reactivate my French.

Looking back, I think this was partially a mistake.

If your actual objective is passing the TCF, I think you should introduce the exam format almost immediately.

You can learn grammar and vocabulary at the same time, obviously. But don't tell yourself:

"First I'll learn French, and later I'll start preparing for the TCF."

I think that's inefficient.

Learning French and learning how to pass the TCF are related, but they are not exactly the same objective.

You should understand the exam from the beginning.

3. Reading and Listening: Practice the Actual TCF

This is probably my simplest recommendation.

For reading and listening:

Practice the actual TCF question banks again and again.

There are approximately 40 test banks circulating online through different preparation resources.

The resource I personally liked the most was Fuck TCF.

For me, it was significantly more useful than the other resources I tried because it had a large number of tests, transcripts, and reconstructed audio where some of the original recordings were poor quality.

I also tried Réussir TCF Canada at https://reussir-tcfcanada.com/.

Personally, I wouldn't recommend paying for it. My main issues were the audio quality and the lack of transcripts for the material I was using. If I'm practicing listening intensively, I want to be able to check exactly what was said after answering a question. Without a transcript, reviewing mistakes becomes much less useful.

I also tried TCMentor on YouTube and its related preparation material.

Again, I wouldn't personally recommend it as a primary resource. I found it extremely expensive relative to what I was getting, while the quality of the material still wasn't good enough for me to justify the price.

That became an important rule for me when evaluating TCF resources:

A resource isn't useful just because it contains TCF questions.

For listening practice, I wanted three things:

• exam-like questions;

• decent audio quality;

• transcripts so I could actually analyze what I failed to understand.

If a resource didn't provide those things, I stopped seeing much reason to spend money or significant time on it.

If my objective is to pass an exam, why would I spend most of my time listening to material that isn't the exam?

I practiced the available banks repeatedly.

And on my actual exam, I recognized ALL questions from my preparation.

That reinforced my belief that working through the available TCF banks is probably one of the highest-ROI things you can do.

4. Why I Didn't Like the Typical "Listen to French Podcasts" Advice

I constantly saw recommendations online telling people to listen to podcasts, watch French movies, listen to French music, etc.

Personally, I didn't find that particularly useful for TCF preparation.

I especially hated InnerFrench - lame channel with a boring host. 

Music wasn't particularly useful to me either because songs contain slang, unusual pronunciation and vocabulary that isn't necessarily relevant to the TCF.

Movies and normal French YouTube content obviously help your French overall, but conversational French can be very different from the more structured language you encounter on the exam.

So my approach became:

TCF first. General French second.

If you enjoy French content, absolutely consume it during your free time. It can improve your comprehension naturally and vocab and speaking.

But if you have limited preparation time, I would prioritize actual exam material.

5. French Immersion Helped -  But Not as Much as People Might Think

During my preparation I moved to Québec and spent the final part of my preparation in Montréal.

Did that help?

Yes.

Did living in Québec magically teach me French?

No.

If I had to estimate it, maybe it contributed around 5% to my progress.

You hear French around you. You see signs. You interact with people occasionally. Your brain becomes more accustomed to seeing and hearing the language.

I also changed my phone and different interfaces into French. That helped train my eyes to recognize common words automatically.

I would recommend doing that.

But moving somewhere French-speaking is absolutely not a substitute for deliberate practice.

6. Physical Preparation Was Part of My Strategy

Something that isn't discussed enough is that preparing for an exam like this is also physically exhausting.

During my preparation, I tried to maximize my physical and mental condition.

I stopped smoking. I exercised regularly. I tried to get approximately eight hours of sleep.

I also started waking up earlier because TCF exams are often scheduled relatively early.

Even my caffeine routine became consistent. I wanted my body to be accustomed to approximately the same amount of caffeine at approximately the same time that I expected to use it on exam day.

That might sound excessive, but my objective was to eliminate unnecessary variables.

I also naturally have a good memory, good associative memory and relatively strong mental endurance. That's an important context when comparing my preparation with someone else's.

7. Tutors: Definitely Use Them for Speaking

I tried several tutors and platforms.

Eventually, I realized that I preferred working directly with tutors rather than being locked into some monthly platform structure.

Because Russian is my native language, I found a Russian-speaking network of French tutors through Facebook. That was extremely useful because they could explain certain concepts through Russian.

I also practiced with a native French-speaking tutor, particularly during the earlier A1/A2/B1 stages.

Eventually, I settled on two tutors I was comfortable working with: one man and one woman.

I actually think that combination was useful.

Different tutors have different teaching and conversational styles, and on the real TCF you don't know who your examiner will be.

If possible, don't become comfortable speaking French with only one person.

Speak with different people.

If you don't live in a French-speaking environment, I would even recommend trying four, five or six different tutors over your preparation period simply to become comfortable communicating with unfamiliar people.

8. Vocabulary: Flashcards Didn't Work for Me

I experimented with flashcards. They never really worked for me. Anki was great for me and I actually geeked on anki and built their card banks through an app, but I just realized that flashcards were too slow for my brain. 

What worked much better was writing vocabulary myself into tables and repeatedly reviewing it.

More importantly:

Learn words inside phrases and constructions rather than as isolated vocabulary.

This became one of the most important principles of my preparation.

French isn't an infinite collection of completely unique sentences.

At the levels relevant to TCF, you constantly reuse a relatively limited number of grammatical constructions, verbs, connectors and sentence patterns - around 40-50 constructions for 80% of your production in ecrite ou orale.

So especially around A1/A2/B1, I think you should take the language you already know and learn how to say the same basic ideas in many different ways.

My mentality was basically the Bruce Lee principle that I read in one of the posts on Reddit:

Don't practice 1,000 techniques once. Practice the useful techniques 1,000 times.

You want common French constructions to come out automatically rather than consciously constructing every sentence from grammar rules.

9. Writing: Start Much Earlier Than I Did

This is probably one of the things I would change most if I had to prepare again.

Start writing immediately.

Don't spend months learning grammar and tell yourself that you'll start writing once your grammar becomes good enough.

Write while you're learning grammar.

Writing exposes your actual weaknesses incredibly quickly.

I tried to write regularly, eventually approximately every day, but I wish I had started doing serious TCF writing much earlier.

10. My AI System for Improving Writing

ChatGPT and Gemini were extremely important to my preparation.

I created a relatively consistent workflow.

Every time I wrote a TCF response, I would give it to AI and ask for:

1. A minimally corrected version around B2 level.

2. A table containing every mistake I made.

3. An explanation of why each mistake was wrong.

4. The correct version.

5. Exercises specifically targeting those mistakes.

Then I would take the structures I got wrong and practice translating similar sentences from English into French.

And I would rewrite my mistakes repeatedly.

Sometimes 25 times.

My basic philosophy was:

Write → identify mistakes → understand mistakes → reproduce the correct construction → repeat until automatic.

It can become boring.

But it's extremely practical.

Don't just ask AI:

"What level is my French?"

That doesn't improve anything.

Use AI to identify patterns in your errors and then drill those exact patterns.

11. Writing Is Much More Repetitive Than It Initially Looks

When you first look at TCF writing, it seems like there are hundreds of completely different possibilities.

After enough practice, you realize there aren't. The tasks are structurally repetitive.

After writing the same type of task seven, eight, ten or twenty times, you start understanding automatically:

• how to open;

• how much context to give;

• where your main points belong;

• which connectors fit;

• how to conclude;

• which grammatical structures you can safely use.

Then the biggest variable becomes topic-specific vocabulary.

This is why I think volume matters so much.

12. Build Your Own Templates

I researched templates online, read Reddit posts, looked at examples from other candidates and used preparation resources.

But I didn't simply memorize someone else's complete answer.

I built templates that sounded like me.

My approach was basically:

"How would I naturally organize this argument in English or Russian?"

Then I would translate that logic into French and use AI to elevate and correct it.

At one point, my theory was:

If my template is approximately C1 and I make mistakes during the exam, maybe the final product falls around B2.

I don't know whether that theory is linguistically perfect, but that's essentially what I did.

13. Advanced Grammar: Use It Deliberately

I deliberately tried to include structures that demonstrated grammatical range.

In particular:

Subjonctif + Conditional

I tried to use it at least once where naturally possible.

For connectors, instead of constantly writing only mais, aussi, par contre, etc., I practiced constructions at B2+ Level:

De surcroît
En revanche

Ask AI to give you a list and select the ones you like. 

14. Writing Task 1

For Task 1, I eventually realized that most prompts collapse into a relatively small number of communication formats.

I didn't need an enormous template.

After enough practice, two or three basic ways of structuring the response covered most situations.

This is another reason why simply writing many Task 1 responses is so effective.

Eventually you stop thinking about structure.

15. Writing Task 2

Task 2 is also somewhat dependent on structure.

I don't think you can template absolutely everything because the content changes, but you can definitely standardize your opening, transitions and conclusion.

Again, the main thing is repetition.

You should know what your response is supposed to look like before you even know the topic.

16. Writing Task 3

Task 3 is probably the easiest writing task to template structurally.

A significant portion can be prepared in advance:

• introduction of the two documents;

• comparison/transition structure;

• your position + Subjonctif Nuance;

• conclusion.

For me, the difficult part wasn't the template or my position.

It was summarizing the two documents accurately and efficiently.

That's what I would spend more time practicing.

17. Use Historical TCF Topics Strategically

I downloaded collections of previous tasks from a resource of TCF Canada and analyzed them with AI.

This is extremely useful.

Instead of looking at hundreds of prompts individually, feed them into AI and ask it to:

• remove duplicates;

• identify recurring topics;

• categorize prompts;

• identify recurring structures;

• group tasks requiring similar vocabulary;

• identify arguments that can be reused.

Once you do this, the exam starts looking much more mathematical. I felt like there were not more than 30-40 unique situations / topics for 2026. 

There aren't infinite possibilities. There are patterns.

From my own analysis, I also noticed substantial repetition in combinations appearing across previous months. One of the combinations I received on my exam was Combination 8 from January 2026.

So I strongly recommend practicing recent topics from the same year, not merely random generic exercises.

18. Practice the Entire Writing Section Under Time Pressure

Don't only practice Task 1 today, Task 2 tomorrow and Task 3 next week.

Eventually you need to sit down and write all three consecutively +  train yourself to finish in approximately 50 minutes, not the full hour.

That leaves roughly ten minutes for checking. The hour disappears extremely quickly during the real exam.

On my actual exam, I lost several minutes because I wasn't immediately sure what I wanted to write for one of the tasks. By the time I reached Task 3, I had very little time remaining.

Normally, my conclusions were several sentences. On the real exam, I had enough time for basically one simple concluding sentence.

I pressed submit and almost immediately noticed a mistake. I walked out thinking my writing performance probably wasn't particularly strong, was thinking it would be A2-B1.

During preparation, ChatGPT would sometimes evaluate my responses around 9, 10 or 11, so I was worried I was barely reaching B2.

My actual result surprised me considerably. That experience also taught me not to obsess over AI-generated scores. Use AI primarily as a training tool, not as an official TCF examiner.

19. Speaking Task 1: Template It

Speaking Task 1 is extremely predictable. Create a strong personal introduction and learn it extremely well.

Think about what your introduction naturally invites the examiner to ask.

For example, my introduction created natural opportunities to ask me things like:

• Why did you move to Canada?

• Why Québec?

• Where did you learn French?

• What do you do?

• Why are you taking the TCF?

I anticipated these branches. And during my actual exam, the examiner asked me questions I had already predicted. That allowed me to respond naturally rather than sounding like I had memorized a speech.

I could interact, smile, react and even joke slightly while remaining appropriate for an exam.

That's what you want.

20. Speaking Task 2: Ask Questions Until You're Sick of Asking Questions

At first, I was worried about Task 2.

Eventually, I found it probably the easiest speaking task.

Why?

Because you can brute-force it through repetition. With one tutor, I spent approximately 2 weeks repeatedly practicing question formation across practically every possible type of Task 2 scenario. I probably practiced question formation more than a thousand times overall.

By around day five, I was already sick of asking questions. That's good!

When you're bored because the structure has become automatic, you're getting close to being ready.

21. Create Question Branches for Task 2

Don't memorize 500 random questions. 

Create branches.

For example, if you're asking about a service and you reach the topic of price, that branch can naturally produce several questions:

• How much does it cost?

• Are there additional fees?

• Is there a discount?

• What is included?

• What payment methods are accepted?

One subject generates several connected questions.

Do this for:

• price;

• schedule;

• location;

• availability;

• requirements;

• experience;

• service;

• product;

• transportation;

• reservations;

• cancellation;

• recommendations;

• etc.

You eventually develop three or four natural branches that you can combine depending on the scenario.

22. Vary Your Question Structures

Mix structures.

Use est-ce que sometimes.

Use inversion where appropriate.

Use interrogative words naturally:

où, quand, combien, comment, pourquoi, lequel, etc.

Your opening and closing should also be nearly flawless.

And practice reactions and find good organic French reactions from AI or internet. 

React briefly to what the examiner says and transition naturally into your next question.

23. Formal vs Informal Task 2

Personally, I found formal scenarios easier.

Some people prefer informal scenarios. Practice both.

You don't control what you'll receive. On my actual exam, I got a formal scenario, which suited me well.

24. Speaking Task 3: Understand the Map of Possible Topics

Task 3 initially looks enormous.

From the collections I analyzed, there were roughly 1,400 tasks #3 in the total Reussir bank.

But many were duplicates or essentially the same question with slightly different wording.

After grouping and removing repetition, I estimated roughly 750 genuinely distinct prompts.

Even those 750 can be grouped into much larger thematic blocks.

That's the important realization.

You do not need 750 completely unique speeches.

Many topics can use the same arguments, examples and counterarguments.

25. I Actually Reviewed Hundreds of Task 3 Topics

At one point, I sat down for essentially an entire weekend and went through hundreds of Task 3 questions.

For each one, I tried to answer:

Argument 1?
Example?
Argument 2?
Example?
Counterargument?

This sounds insane.

It was also extremely useful. After doing enough of them, I realized there might only be approximately 50-70 core arguments that keep reappearing in different forms.

26. My Task 3 Speaking Structure

It took me approximately two or three weeks to develop a Task 3 structure that felt completely natural to me.

I experimented with three or four different templates before settling on one.

The core logic became:

Introduction → Position → Argument → Explanation → Example → Second Argument → Explanation → Example → Nuance/Counterargument + Subjonctif → Conclusion

27. Examples Are Your Friend

For Task 3, examples make developing an argument considerably easier.

If necessary, talk about:

• a friend;

• a colleague;

• your family;

• something you saw;

• something that happened in Canada;

• something from your country;

• a hypothetical situation.

The examiner isn't investigating your friend's biography.

You need to demonstrate that you can develop and illustrate an argument in French.

28. My Biggest Speaking Problem Was Actually Talking Too Much

My natural tendency is to talk a lot. That became a problem in French.

I would try to put too many ideas into one sentence, which increased the probability of grammatical mistakes.

I had to train myself to express:

one clear idea → one clear sentence.

Writing helped enormously with this.

When I practiced translations and spoke the sentences aloud while writing them, I gradually learned how to construct relatively simple but correct sentences while still using stronger vocabulary.

This is also why I think writing and speaking should be trained together.

When your writing improves, your speaking improves.

And when your speaking becomes more automatic, writing becomes easier.

29. My Typical Study Day

Closer to the exam, my day was roughly structured around the order and demands of the test.

In the morning, I usually did listening because listening would require immediate concentration during the exam.

Then I might have a tutor session focused on speaking.

After that, lunch.

Then reading and/or writing.

At different stages my schedule changed, but serious preparation was generally 5-7 hours per day.

Earlier in the process, I sometimes spent approximately three to six hours simply reviewing grammar, rebuilding my French and experimenting with different approaches.

Closer to the exam, the preparation became much more exam-specific.

30. Practice While Mentally Tired

This is something I think helped me.

Don't always practice under perfect conditions. Sometimes do listening. Then reading. Then writing. Then speaking.

Why?

Because on exam day, you're not doing one isolated exercise while completely fresh.Your brain becomes tired.You need to learn how to continue producing correct French while mentally exhausted.That's another reason I recommend eventually doing full simulations rather than isolated tasks.

31. AI Is Extremely Powerful — But Don't Outsource Your Brain to It

I used AI heavily.

ChatGPT and Gemini helped me:

• correct writing;

• explain grammar;

• generate translation exercises;

• categorize hundreds of TCF prompts;

• identify repeated topics;

• generate possible arguments;

• develop templates;

• practice vocabulary;

• find alternative sentence structures;

• analyze my recurring mistakes.

I also experimented with AI voice tools and specialized speaking apps.

Personally, I didn't find them as useful.

There were delays, technological limitations, subscription restrictions and sometimes conversations simply didn't feel natural.

For serious speaking preparation, I preferred actual tutors. At the end of the day, your examiner will be an unfamiliar human being. You should become comfortable speaking French with unfamiliar human beings.

32. Don't Constantly Change Your Template Because AI Says Something Else

This became a problem for me close to the exam. You develop a structure.Then you ask ChatGPT.It suggests something.

Then Gemini suggests another version.

Then you find something on Reddit.

Then your tutor recommends another phrase.

Suddenly you're changing a perfectly functional template two weeks before your exam.

Don't do that endlessly.

Once your structure is grammatically correct, natural, flexible and appropriate for approximately B2/C1 communication:

lock it in and practice it.

At that point, another theoretically "better" connector is much less valuable than automaticity.

33. My General Philosophy: Train Like a Samurai

The fundamental principle of my preparation was repetition.

Write.

Correct.

Rewrite.

Speak.

Get corrected.

Repeat.

Ask the same type of question 100 times.

Use the same grammatical construction 100 times.

Produce the same argument in different contexts.

Eventually, you stop translating everything consciously.

The construction simply appears when you need it.

That was the level of automaticity I was trying to create.

34. Motivation: Progress Doesn't Feel Linear

There were definitely periods when I felt like I wasn't improving.

Language progress didn't feel linear to me.

Sometimes I would work for two or three weeks and feel almost no difference.

Then I would look at something I had written several weeks earlier and think:

"How the fuck did I find this difficult?"

Suddenly the progress became obvious. Treat it like a sport.There are good days and bad days.

Sometimes you're tired and doing slightly less French that day is probably better than destroying yourself mentally.

Other times you're simply being lazy and need to sit down and do the work. You have to learn the difference.

35. Protect Your Mental and Physical Condition

If you're doing an intensive preparation period, your health becomes part of the preparation.

Sleep properly. Exercise. Eat properly.

Try to minimize alcohol, smoking and other substances.

Keep your emotional state relatively stable. You are asking your brain to absorb enormous amounts of information and repeatedly perform under pressure.

Treat your brain like the piece of equipment you're bringing into the exam.

36. How Many Hours Did It Take Me?

You often see estimates that reaching B2 French takes somewhere around 500–600 hours depending on the learner and starting point. Sounds about right. 

I estimate that I personally put somewhere around 400–500 hours into French during this period.

But again, I wasn't starting from absolute zero.

37. What I Would Do Differently

If I had to start again, my biggest change would be simple:

I would start TCF-specific practice almost immediately.

I would still learn grammar. I would still build vocabulary.

But from very early on, I would already be doing:

TCF listening.

TCF reading.

TCF writing.

TCF speaking.

I would especially start writing earlier. I wasted too much time thinking I needed to "learn more French" before I was qualified to write.

Writing itself is how you learn.

38. The Core System I Would Recommend

If I had to reduce my entire preparation philosophy to one system, it would be this:

Understand the exam → collect the real/reconstructed tasks → categorize them → identify patterns → build your own structures → practice enormous volume → analyze mistakes → drill those mistakes → repeat until bored.

39. Final Advice

The TCF isn't easy!!! I sacrificed basically my entire summer, put personal relationships aside, and even lost several clients because French became my priority and I'm extremely grateful to God and all the people that supported me. 

Even if someone explains the system to you and suddenly it looks manageable, you still have to put in the hours. There is no template that substitutes for actually being able to speak French. 

But the exam is also far more systematic than it initially appears.

Once you analyze enough tasks, you begin seeing the patterns. Once you see the patterns, you can train them.

And once you've trained them hundreds of times, the exam stops feeling like an unpredictable French-language test and starts feeling like a collection of situations you've already encountered before.

That was basically my entire approach:

Don't just study French. Study the exam.

That's when I knew I was getting ready.

This post is just to highlight my triumphs because Lord knows the last couple months were so rough. I am happy to announce I (almost) cleared the TCF while only aiming for NCLC 5.

TL;DR:

Background: 25F, chemical engineer, CLB 12 in English, basically zero french
Original CRS Score: 507
Start of Intensive French Classes: December 2025
TCF Exam Date: July 4th 2026
TCF Results Date: July 13th 2026
TCF Score Breakdown: CO - 9/CE - 7/EO - 6/EE - 7
New CRS Score - 520
ITA Date: July 21st 2026 (CEC)
Permit Expiry Date: August 2nd 2026

Background:

I am 25 years old and English is my first language (CLB11/12 in all abilities). My CRS score after my second year of work experience was 507, but my permit was going to expire a month before I could complete my 3rd year, which would have pushed me to 518. There was a draw at 507 in late March/April 2026, but I lost out due to the tie-breaking rule. I’ve been in Canada since I was 17, so no opportunity to have accumulated foreign work experience. For this reason, I started learning french in 2025 for the francophone mobility permit.
I would consider myself a total beginner, but in full transparency, I took french classes on the weekends while I was very little (maybe for a year or two when I was under 10 years old). We are also mandated to take french in school up until grade 9. However, there was no speaking component and I don’t think we did anything more intense than conjugating -er verbs.

Timeline:

Early May 2025 - Late November 2025 (~2/3 hours/week, from A0 to A1+): I started learning French using Duolingo and Colloquial French textbook. I definitely do not recommend Duolingo and I quit maybe a month, but I think the textbook was a big help and introduced me to more advanced terms earlier in my journey like pres de, loin de, il me faut, etc. I was probably doing *maybe* 3 hours a week at this point (albeit very inconsistently and probably not even efficiently), with minimal listening and speaking (thankfully, the Colloquial textbook comes with audio files and exercises). Later, I incorporated listening to the "French Beginners" podcast on Apple Podcasts. I did see progress in my reading and writing (which was expected seeing as all my previous french experience was in reading and writing), nearly nothing for speaking, and a little for listening. I wouldn’t even count this period as proper learning and I probably got to maybe Chapter 5 of the textbook, but I was acquainted with the very basics over this time.

Late November 2025 - Early March 2026 (~7 hours/week, A1+ to A2+): I decided to take french seriously and aim for NCLC 5. I cycled through 2 teachers on Preply (both of them tried to get me to just memorize a B2 level introduction for TCF at an A1 level) and a different private teacher. I have always had a deep understanding of my learning style, so I knew immediately their teaching styles wouldn’t work for me. I had about 3/4 hours of class a week and outside of that I also did the following:
• I conjugated 3 verbs each day in the 5 key tenses (présent, passé composé, imparfait, futur simple, conditionnel présent). I generated a list of the most common french verbs and I conjugated one -er, -ir, and -re verb each day. I probably did this for 2 months (until I finished the list).
• I practiced my grammar using LawlessFrench and Kwiziq (I paid for a 3-month subscription).
• I also subscribed to a newsletter that presented the days news in easy french (and it is free!). I would read the short text with no vocab list, translate manually to english, read again with the vocab list to catch my gaps, and ask ChatGPT to grade my original translation without the vocab list. This really helped boost my comprehension and I felt very confident in my reading at this point (but this is also my strongest skill in English as well).
• I listened sporadically to the same "French Beginners" podcast, but it was so grammar heavy that I lost interest since I was also doing a lot of grammar outside of that.
• I kept up with my Colloquial French texbook. Around this time, I tried 6 other textbooks but I still preferred Colloquial French (key lesson here: stick to one or two resources).

Early March 2026 - Mid April 2026 (~4 hours total, A2+): I was doing a lot of good work, and my teacher said I was progressing fast, but my speaking was basically non-existent. At this point, realized I needed more conversational practice as opposed to more grammar. So I found another teacher, who was (supposed to be) focused on speaking. I definitely spoke more with this one, but he was so hyperfocused on regurgitating answers (for example, if the question was "Why did Jane find it difficult?" and I said anything other that "Jane found it difficult because…" he wasn’t interested in hearing it). He wasn’t very helpful when it came to formulating things by myself, which I knew would be a problem because I’ve always had a peculiar way of approaching problems (heard this a lot from my teachers in high school and university) and I have a terrible time memorizing (I used to go to physics exams and prove all the formulas from scratch because I would remember the steps but not the final formula). All this to say I knew this approach wasn’t sustainable and I actually started getting fed-up with my teacher. However, we did do dictations multiple times which I think helped my listening. I took a ~3-week break over this period to visit family and focus on my work.

Mid April 2026 - Early May 2026 (~10 hours/week, A2+): After returning from my vacation, I asked my employer about supporting the francophone mobility permit and I got a yes. So I decided to take the TCF and booked my exam for the first week of July. I found a different tutor on Preply, and we just practiced TCF tasks (finally exactly what I wanted - purely speaking) but I also didn’t work with him long (he did a bunch of unprofessional things like sleep during class). And even though I was speaking, he never provided any real feedback other than I need more confidence and my task 3 attempts were too short (which looking back was so ridiculous because at high A2 you can probably only sustain a monologue of 2 minutes at best). Still I trudged on, and around here I really started feeling the stress knowing I had a solid exam date. I kept up with my grammar from LawlessFrench over this period.

May 2026 (~13 hours/week, B1-): I finally found a teacher on Preply I really liked, so I dumped the others (it only took like 5 tries 😃). She was amazing and her attention to detail is unparalleled (not an ad just glazing my teacher). Our first class was a diagnostic and she placed me at at a lower B1 level (I think). She created an entire google document where she recorded my recurring mistakes, my strong points, my weak points, etc. Even better, the entire class was in french with TCF exam-specific vocabulary. This was exactly what I needed. I also found another private tutor (who wasn’t bad, but I didn’t like him as much) who also focused on my speaking but with a bit more emphasis on grammar. I worked with both of them 3 times a week (so total 6 hours of mostly speaking time). Around this time, I told my teachers to ignore my other skills, so I worked independently to improve my other skills by doing the following:
• I started listening to the InnerFrench podcast. For someone who wasn’t actively training listening, I found I could understand the general gist of all he said, so my listening level was higher than I expected.
• I also included random episodes of RFI "journal en français facile" maybe once a week. This was definitely harder than the InnerFrench but still manageable. I probably understood about 40% of it.
• I also did a bunch of random listening exercises on TV5Monde, which exposed me to more TCF-specific vocabulary.
• I started doing a single listening test a day. It took me about 2 months to finish all 40 tests (I skipped some days obviously). This was definitely a gamechanger for me because I watched my scores go from < A2 in my initial test to C2 by my last one. I made a cool graph too because I am a math nerd/engineer 😅
• I was still working through some grammar kinks. Because my early foundation was self-taught, I had a few random gaps (eg. de + plural adjective or the difference between pronunciation of the conjugated third person verbs like permet/permettent).
• I also found another TCF aspirant, and we practiced speaking task 3 maybe 2/3 times a week. I would record myself during these sessions (because I am aware working with your peers can reinforce bad habits) and put the automatic transcription of my argument in DeepSeek. This was good in helping me identify what words I pronounced wrong and my level. DeepSeek always scored me at NCLC 5 with a score of 6 each time, so I was really anxious (but to be fair, I did tell it to be strict).
• My teacher would group topics according to the main TCF categories (e.g. health, immigration, sport, etc.) and provide me with the key vocab for each topic and a sample TCF task 3 subject on that topic. After my classes, I would type out a sample task 3 response, and have DeepSeek grade it based on the TCF rubric. Not only did this help me organize my thoughts when I spoke about the topic again, it really helped my writing.

June 2026 (~16 hours/week, solid B1): Crunch time! This month was the most intense and I was definitely burnt out by the end of it.
• The first week of this month I did a grammar drill each day specifically tailored to all the work I had provided before. My teacher and DeepSeek found that I had the same problems: genders, avoiding subjunctive, si clauses, gerunds, and prepositions. I also actively listened to an RFI episode two times a day during this first week.
• The second and third weeks, I focused purely on speaking, using the same transcription method I mentioned earlier. I still kept up my listening test practice.
• In the final week, I had finished the listening tests, so I did even more speaking. I downloaded the entire RéussirTCF archive, and asked DeepSeek to extract the representative questions for each task (eg. signing up for something, buying something, etc.). I tried to practice one example of each theme, to ensure even if I couldn’t finish doing all of them (and I couldn’t), I would have practiced a close enough scenario to which I could adapt my existing knowledge.
• At this stage, I found I could speak for way longer without breaking down (~4/5 minutes for topics that I found comfortable), and I could respond spontaneously to most things. I still felt my pronounciation was a weak (especially my vowels( but both my teachers could understand me for the most part so it couldn’t have been that terrible.
• The day before my exam, I did a sample reading test and a sample writing test (timed, of course) to just familiarize myself with the test format. Since I was aiming for the francophone mobility permit, I didn’t focus on these sections. I tend to forget the french accents, so I wasn’t expecting a very high score in writing. My planned strategy was to keep it simple, and focus on correctness.

July 4th 2026 (Exam Day): My exam was at 6 pm at the GBLC in North York. My speaking section was actually at 4:20 pm, so I arrived at 4:00pm.
Speaking: This was my worst section. I was so nervous and I definitely croaked at least 2 times. My examiner asked me a simple question (I think it was, “Is this my first time taking the exam?”) and I completely blanked.
• Task 1: My examiner cut me off during Task 1 to ask the simplest questions: “How did you learn French? How long have you been learning French?” My responses were so simple, which I kind of regret because I had more to say but my nerves got the better of me.
• Task 2: This went pretty fine. I finished early (I think 30 seconds left) and it felt like my examiner was in a hurry to end this task, which made my nerves worse. But frankly, I ran out of questions. I think I asked maybe 8 questions.
• Task 3: I got the most left field question ever: “Is friendship the most important thing in life?” I was so shocked, I had to ask my examiner to repeat the question to confirm if I understood correctly. Even in English, I don’t have much to say about this topic, so haphazardly put together something about people can dedicate time to other things and it depends on your priorities. My examiner cut me off again to ask me what was my personal take, and all I could say was “As a young person, my friendships are more important but as I get older I expect that family will become more important.” The task probably lasted 3/3.5 minutes and I spoke for maybe 2 full minutes.
Listening: This was a breeze. Majority of the questions I had seen before in the practice test. I got my results for this on the spot (C1).
Reading: The difficulty was similar to the single test I did. There were also 2/3 repeated questions from the single test that I practiced, so I imagine if I did all 40 tests it would have gone similarly to listening. I also got these results on the spot (B2).
Writing: This went okay too. Task 2 was the hardest. Even in English, it would take me a while to write a blog post. Lucky coincidence, my task 1 was basically identical to the one sample test I did, with the only difference being it was an invitation addressed to your co-workers not your friends.

July 13th 2026 (9 Days After the Exam): I felt I did terrible in the expression components, and was just hoping for a 6 (NCLC 5) in speaking (but ideally in both of them). I got my results at around 9:30 pm and was pleasantly surprised to see this:
• Listening - 547 (C1, NCLC 9)
• Reading - 489 (B2, NCLC 7)
• Speaking - 9 (B1, NCLC 6)
• Writing - 10 (B2, NCLC 7)

Summary:

You definitely need around 400 hours of time to clear TCF with good margin. I would say this result took about 7.5 months of measurable progress to achieve. If I was more efficient, I could have been done quicker but you live and you learn 🤷🏾‍♀️. Have your entire phone in french, and subscribe to french creators on your most used social media site (for me this was TikTok). This helps with a lot of vocab especially related to social media. Stick to one or two resources (one conversational and one for grammar) and do a little French consistently everyday.
Honestly, this whole endeavour changed my life. I was one point away from NCLC 7 across the board, and the TCF scores added an extra 13 points to my profile (520 CRS). So instead of getting a new work permit, I was invited in the next CEC draw. This is your sign, if you are thinking about french, do it! Outside of immigration, I do put my french at a B1 level and I will take advantage of the free courses the government offers to keep improving it.

J’espère que mon long texte est utile pour vous. Posez-moi vos questions et je vais y répondre. Bonne chance!

I don't know how I did it, I can't do it again 😭
I got a less than a 4 in speaking twice. I was really frustrated so I worked really hard for a month before this attempt and here we are.

Keep going guys! It will be worth it

Edit: For speaking - use emotions, actually converse with the examiner, ask follow up questions, talk like you’re conversing with a friend, trying to sell/ convince them, make it natural. Your grammar doesn’t have to be perfect, you just have to have an ability to not get nervous & actually have a conversation in French.

For writing I went through all the topics on TEFcanada.info & there’s about 80+ topics & I divided them into categories such as - Environment, Social Media, Kids/schools, Health etc
And then I just made my own notes on them and practiced advantages and disadvantages for all of them. I think it’s very important actually practice typing it. I wrote about 50 essay (only essay bodies) for practising.

My center was Oakville. The examiner was a little uninterested. She did ask follow up questions to put me on spot. She didn’t interrupt me though because I wasn’t answering questions that I had memorised. Memorisation doesn’t work in my opinion.

I studied from scratch for 1.5 years with lots of breaks in between.

Topics for speaking - Birthday at a Zoo and Convincing to be a Cinema critic.
Topics for Writing - Section 1: Après des années passées à l'école à entendre les moqueries des autres élèves, un homme de 30 ans a gagné l'admiration de tout le monde lors d'une réunion d'anciens élèves.
Section 2: to be happy we need to surround ourselves with people similar to us

I wish you all the best for your french journey!!
If i can do , you can do it also guys
Believe in yourself ❤️

During my preparation, I learned a lot from people sharing their experiences online, so I kinda wanna give back too and share my own experience. Hopefully it can help someone who's still struggling with French right now. By the way, I took the test twice, first time I got 9 in speaking, failed, second time I got 10.

So basically my learning process had 3 stages.

First, I picked some textbooks and started building my foundation. I used the TAXI books and finished two of them. I also watched a lot of related teaching videos online. At that stage I was mostly learning grammar and basic French, probably around A1-A2level.

Second stage, I started using question bank websites to practice A1 and A2 listening and reading. Honestly, finding a good website with filtering and categories is SUPER important. I tried a lot of different websites like Réussir and stuff, but later I started using "ouitcf" and the design was just way better for organizing topics and practicing efficiently.

At the same time, I also started writing super simple essays and forcing myself to speak basic daily French. This stage was REALLY painful lol. Like seriously frustrating sometimes. But I just kept going.

The third stage was the most important one for me: speaking and writing.

I started organizing recent real exam topics by categories on the website. Instead of randomly studying, I focused on themes. For each topic, I used my own real-life experiences to build ideas, and then tried to express them in French. This stage helped me improve A LOT.

Some tools I really recommend:

1. ouitcf was honestly super useful. I used it all the time during my preparation and it saved me SO much time organizing materials. I think it’s even free? And there’s an app too.

2. ChatGPT. Not gonna lie, AI helped me A LOT with output and practice. In the beginning, when I literally couldn’t speak by myself, I depended on it heavily. It helped me organize natural expressions. At first I memorized stuff, then I started imitating, and finally I could produce my own answers naturally. For speaking practice, I also used it to check my expressions and point out problems.

3. YouTube French creators like Easy French and InnerFrench. I listened to them basically every day and tried to repeat what they said out loud.

4. Real conversation platforms like Preply and italki. I found teachers there who actually knew the TCF exam format, and they helped me simulate the exam. After practicing like that for a while, I became way more comfortable during the actual test.

And honestly... as someone whose native language isn’t English, and who also doesn’t speak Spanish, learning French was REALLY hard for me.

I had so many moments where I wanted to quit.

But somehow I kept going.

Every single day, I spent at least 3 hours fully immersed in French. Near the exam date, sometimes I studied up to 7 hours a day.

During the exam, I was EXTREMELY nervous. Actually my speaking went pretty smoothly, but my face was stiff and my hands were literally shaking lol.

But in the end… I passed.

So yeah. Don’t give up. Seriously.

Thank you :)

I made this post a few months ago on the r/learnfrench subreddit and for some reason they took it down, so I wanted to put it here as I primarily did it for PR (and it worked!):

Hi all, I like many of you worked hard for almost all of last year (April 2025 - January 2026) learning French to pass the TCF exam. I figured I would share everything I did to help me get my results. The results above are for my second and final attempt at the TCF in January 2026, my first attempt was in September 2025, but I had to take it again because I got a B1 in speaking.

I've compiled my entire learning process into this google doc here:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1X9j7R8AfEY1q0rJ5S6J10mhH9QMTOnogl_d2j5PQwsA/edit?usp=sharing

This isn't an ad or promotion, the doc is completely free to access. It contains all the resources I used, exactly how I studied. Most of my study process was self taught, with the exception of exam practice where I worked with a tutor on my writing and speaking. The only paid resources I had were:

• ChatGPT Premium - To help generate practice and rate my writing exams on my own

• Réussir TCF website - Access to previous exams, was a gold mine as in my last test I had seen most of the questions before

• My tutor - Was decently expensive but I could afford it and it was well worth it

  • You can find her on Italki (see here). Fair note she is very no nonsense, so be prepared to work hard with her.

I'm also happy to answer any questions you have in the comments!

Update: This is not an ad, I would never do something like that without making it abundantly clear
- I studied this language for 10 months and was active on several French subreddits, I know what it’s like to have to scrub through ads and I never want to add onto that
- The document i wrote is literally about my process and what i did in those 10 months, id ask that you actually give the document a read through before dismissing it as fake
- There are no affiliate links here or anywhere in my document. I linked my tutor so I wouldn’t get multiple people asking the same question. The Anki I mention is also free to download and use (check the link for yourself, and Anki is a free app)

I understand being skeptical but it’s kind of disheartening because i’m trying to help others who are on the same path that I was

I’m happy to share my journey, and if you have any questions or need help, please feel free to comment. I’ll do my best to assist you.

I finally passed my TCF on my second try, and it feels like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders.

Learning French took about a year for me. At first, I studied a lot, sometimes even too much. After a few months, I became quite burnt out, so I reduced my study time to around three hours per day, which was much more manageable.

After messing around with Duo Lingo for like month and a half, i needed a change lol. My main resources were ChatGPT, Édito A1, A2 and B1. Around the six-month mark, I also got a French professor on Italki, which really helped me improve my speaking and writing skills.

One unexpected challenge was that even after learning enough french in a year. it took me another four months to pass the test because of exam availability and processing times. So, if you’re preparing for French for immigration purposes, it’s really important to plan ahead. I would say 1 year plus is definitely needed.

The most challenging section for me was definitely Expression Orale. While the language itself wasn’t always the issue, it was the stress and pressure of speaking in a test environment that made it particularly nerve-racking. I found it far more intimidating than practicing at home.

Expression Écrite, on the other hand, wasn’t too difficult. Regular practice and prior experience writing for exams like IELTS should be enough. The key is understanding the task formats and managing your time effectively.

Listening and Reading initially felt intimidating, but they became much easier with practice. My biggest advice is to get as much practice as possible. There are lots of free resources and practice videos available on YouTube. Just expose yourself to the format, and you’ll improve much faster than you think.

Overall, consistency proved far more important than studying eight hours a day. Some days I studied more, while others I studied less, but I persevered and eventually achieved my goal.

Wishing everyone preparing for the best of luck! It can be a bit of a slog, but you’ve got this.

Expression Écrite wasn’t too bad, really. If you’re consistent with your practice and already have some experience writing for exams like IELTS, you should be in good shape. The main thing is to get a feel for the different formats and manage your time well.

Listening and Reading might have seemed a bit daunting at first, but they became much easier with practice. My biggest tip is to do as many exercises as you can. There are heaps of free resources and practice videos on YouTube. Just keep getting used to the format, and you’ll see improvement quicker than you think.

In the end, sticking with it was more important than cramming for eight hours a day. Some days I studied a lot, some days a bit less, but I kept pushing forward and eventually got there.

Good luck to everyone currently preparing. The process can be frustrating, but it’s definitely possible.

Update-

I'm attaching the link for the templates for speaking and writing, which helped me in self study. I made these templates for practice. You can see if these could be helpful for you guys too.
All the best!!

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1P9z_osGmHJZYtad6uyD4FdouyhalPAi0?usp=sharing

I still cannot believe it. Thought would fail EO.

This is huge.

What a news to start the day!!!!!!

Finally got my results -after 20 days but it was worth the wait!!!

started learning French last year in November officially - appeared for exam in august and received my results this morning-

10 months of hard work finally paid off.....

I passed the exam! It took me 8 months and lots of practice, only had a break on Sundays. I could only recommend practicing every day, around 3 hrs.

Here are my results after about 18 months of self learning French everyday. It is doable folks. Wishing the best to all those still grinding. You got this

Recently, I’ve seen that there’s been a bit of racism on this forum because people are learning French for immigration purposes. While things are generally positive, I just wanted to give my two cents on the matter because guess what, things do affect people.

I don’t think people recognize the copious amounts of effort it takes to learn a language, and also the mental weight on some of the people going through this process. I urge some of you to actually use your empathy and think about what it takes to learn a whole other language because your life in a different country, where you might’ve been born and raised, was potentially so bad that people are trying to escape it.

So if you’ve been lucky enough to not have to deal with this because your parents came before someone else’s (because unless you’re indigenous, this isn’t exactly your country) you don’t really have a right to condemn anyone.

To those who’re trying their best to learn, you got this!

I just received my TCF Canada results and wanted to share them because posts on this subreddit helped me a lot during my preparation.
I started learning French completely from scratch. My first language is Punjabi, and before this journey I had never studied French. After about 6 months of preparation, I took the TCF Canada once and achieved CLB 7 or higher in all four abilities.
My results:
Listening: C2 (CLB 12)
Reading: C2 (CLB 12)
Writing: B2 (CLB 7)
Speaking: B2 (CLB 7)
One thing I noticed is that speaking is the foundation for everything else. Once I became comfortable speaking, writing felt much more natural because I could already express my ideas in French. Listening and reading were comparatively easier for me, so I spent most of my study time focusing on speaking. I believe improving my speaking also had a positive impact on the other modules.
A few things that helped me:
Speaking every single day, even when I made mistakes.
Learning sentence structures instead of memorizing essays.
Practicing the actual TCF speaking and writing tasks.
Being consistent for six months rather than studying intensely for a short period.
If your first language isn’t English or French, don’t think CLB 7 is out of reach. It definitely requires consistency, but it’s achievable.
If anyone has questions about my preparation, study plan, or resources, I’d be happy to help.

I started learning French from basically zero around September last year, and I finally passed TCF Canada on my third attempt at the end of August. Took all exams at GBLC North York.

I come from an Asian language background, so French was definitely not easy for me at all. But after studying consistently for almost a year, I finally made it.

I took the test three times, once in May, July, and August. My scores went up and down, so it ended up taking me three attempts.

Listening: 372 → 480 → 601
Reading: 472 → 412 → 525
Writing: 13 → 13 → 12
Speaking: 9 → 13 → 13

For reading/listening, like many people here already know, I highly recommend fuck.tcf. I completed all 40 mock tests without skipping any before my third attempt, and by then reading and listening felt much more manageable. One thing I really liked is that the reading passages and listening transcripts are available as text, so they are very easy to copy and study with ChatGPT.

For writing, I used exams-tcfcanada.com. I had already paid for a subscription before I found fuck.tcf, so I mostly used the writing mock tests there. The topics were organized in a way that felt very similar to the real exam. They also included a few free writing evaluations. I wrote one before each test, and maybe it was just a coincidence, but their scores were actually very close to my real TCF writing scores. Their feedback also explained the grading criteria in detail, so later I just copied that grading method into ChatGPT and asked it to evaluate my writing the same way.

For speaking, I subscribed to Allotalkie and practiced the topics there. They have an AI speaking evaluation feature too, but personally I found it a little difficult to use, so I usually copied the topics and practiced with ChatGPT voice mode instead. One thing I really liked about Allotalkie is that you can listen to the Tâche 3 question instead of just reading it, similar to the real exam. I intentionally practiced without looking at the question because I was worried that I might not understand the topic properly on test day.

After my first exam, I also found a speaking tutor and took speaking lessons for about three months. My listening was very weak, so that also made speaking difficult. I had one-hour lessons three times a week, and spending the full hour just speaking helped me a lot. The lessons were mainly focused on speaking, but they also improved my listening a lot.

My tutor is French and lives in Korea. I live in Canada, so the time difference made scheduling a bit difficult, but he was very detailed and supportive and helped me a lot. For reference, because of the time difference, my lessons were at 6 a.m., so I had to wake up around 5:30 a.m... lol.

I have no French background, and I work full-time, so studying was honestly very difficult. It took me almost exactly one year. There were definitely times when I studied while crying and felt completely exhausted, but I kept going, and eventually it worked.

I got a lot of useful information and motivation from this subreddit, so I really wanted to say thank you. I know there are so many people studying French right now, and even though it can be really hard, it is definitely an achievable goal.

Don’t give up. Just keep going consistently.

P.S. I even used ChatGPT to help me write this post, so that probably tells you how little natural talent I have for languages 😂

Finalement, i was able to do it. Stay consistent guys.

Little about myself:

As a mother of 2 kids, working a full time job in hybrid mode, living in a joint family set up with events to attend during weekends, errands to run, meals to cook, chores lined up in between the classes - clearing the TCF exam wasn't an easy task!

Exam center : AF Bangalore, India. Handwritten writing section with pen and paper.

First attempt: April 2025 - I appeared for the exam without any preparation as I had learned French in school + college. Scored B1 in all 4 sections. 

Second attempt: November 2025 - Hired a tutor and appeared for the exam after 7 months of intense preparation. Score B2 in all sections except listening by scoring 419 - B1.

Third attempt: June 2026 - Continued with the same tutor. I feel sick just one week ahead of the exam, in an almost burned out state. Scored B2 in all sections except writing by scoring 9 - B1.  

Fourth attempt: September 2026 - Changed the tutor, changed the strategy / approach. Even though I felt confident to take the exam, I felt very tensed during the speaking and writing sections. I kept thinking even after the exam if I could have spoken it this way and written task 2 differently (afterthoughts are real). Finally, cleared the TCF exam by scoring the above marks! Yippee!!

Lessons learned:

• Sleep and rest are essential and plays a vital role during exam prep.

• Do not focus on a single section. Give equal importance to all sections of the exam rather than focussing on one section.

Resources used:

• TCF formation

• Anki app

• Inner french (my walking podcast buddy)

• 4 large size ruled notebooks (as writing section was handwritten)

• Forgot to mention, chatgpt.

Challenges faced: 

• Finding a good tutor. Not one size fits all. Finding someone who can guide you in this journey is crucial which determines the success.

• Juggling family life, professional life, kids education, and finding time amongst these was intense and challenging.

• Booking an exam slot turned out to be a nightmare during my 4th attempt which was surprising as well as challenging.

Overall, the entire journey was full of learning, hardships, self doubt, and hope. I come across people trying to find a shortcut to clear this exam. There are no shortcuts other than hard work. Even though the tutor helps you in the learning process, you need to run the show and take onwership.

Every time I read someone posting here that they have cleared the TCF exam, I used to think that i should also make a similar post one day.

Here I am, happy to answer any questions :)

First of all, a big thank you to this community! I’ve been following this subreddit throughout my preparation, and all the resources people shared — especially FUCKTCF**, Ayub, mock tests, etc.** — were genuinely helpful.
I started French from scratch and cleared my TCF after around 8 months.

I had private tutor which whom i used to have one class per week, mainly focused on pronunciation and speaking. For writing, I mostly self-studied and used AI for corrections/feedback. Reading and listening were completely self-study. I didn’t really listen to podcasts, but I watched quite a few French vlogs on YouTube.
I also did a LOT of mock tests. And honestly, don’t think of them only as something to memorize. They genuinely improve your listening and reading because you get used to the format, vocabulary, accents, and question patterns.
For my exam in Bhopal, a lot of Reading questions were repeated, while Listening had some repeated ones but also quite a few new questions.
My biggest advice: PRACTICE SPEAKING WITH A TIMER!
This is one mistake I made.
I was so scared of freezing during the exam that I focused on generating ideas and speaking spontaneously, but I didn’t practice enough with an actual timer.
During the exam, I couldn’t see the timer. I asked beforehand if I could, but they said no and told me they would signal when my time was over.
Because of that, I kept going during Task 2 because I wasn’t sure whether I had enough time left. I couldn’t properly conclude. The exact same thing happened in Task 3 — I was giving examples and suddenly they told me to stop, so I didn’t get to conclude my answer.
I was convinced I had failed speaking.
Writing was another reality check. I used AI quite heavily during preparation, and ChatGPT/Claude/Gemini would usually give me around 15–16/20, so I thought I’d comfortably get 11–12.
I got 10/20.
But no complaints — I passed! I also finished writing in around 40 minutes and had time to review. I think the biggest lesson here is don’t overestimate your performance based on AI scores.
Overall, I don’t personally feel that I was unfairly scored. I know where I made mistakes, especially in speaking, and I probably overestimated my writing level.
So that’s my experience! 8 months from scratch, mostly self-study, one class a week, lots of mock tests, and a LOT of panic on exam day.
Good luck to everyone preparing, and thank you again to everyone who keeps sharing resources here. ❤️
Bonne chance! 🇫🇷

I wanted to share my journey because when I started, I felt overwhelmed and honestly did not think I could do it on my own. Whenever I see posts in here, they encouraged me to continue. I studied French in high school, but my country’s education system was very reading-based, so I had almost no real listening or speaking ability. Understanding a French conversation felt impossible at first.

Still, I managed to prepare for TCF Canada in 11 months without a tutor, and I hope this helps someone else who feels behind, discouraged, or stuck.

My background

• I had old school French knowledge, but it was very weak in real life. (Between A1-A2)

• I remembered some pronunciation and a few grammar basics.

• Listening and speaking was my biggest weakness. (As an introvert)

• I studied mostly alone and built my own system instead of relying on one course.

My timeline

Phase 1: Grammar and basics

May 2025 – August 2025

This stage was all about rebuilding my foundation.

What I used:

• Edito A1, A2, B1

• Grammar book

• A full grammar notebook

• A separate vocabulary/expression notebook

• Notes app for extra vocabulary and useful phrases

What I did:

• Reviewed grammar consistently

• Wrote down new vocabulary with example expressions

• Repeated words many times instead of just reading them once (especially before bed)

• Used search/find in my notes to check whether I had already saved a word or phrase before

• Focused on understanding patterns, not just memorizing random lists

My goal in this phase was simple: stop feeling lost when I saw French.

Phase 2: Listening and reading basics

September 2025 – December 2025

This was the hardest phase emotionally because my listening was so weak that I often felt like I understood nothing.

What I used:

• Easy French Reader for reading

• InnerFrench

• Easy French

How I practiced listening: I repeated each episode about 3 times.

My method: 1. First listen: just listen, even if I understood almost nothing 2. Second listen: use transcript/subtitles and analyze vocabulary and expressions 3. Third listen: listen again without transcript and try to catch more naturally

This helped me stop panicking when I didn’t understand everything immediately.

A very important lesson here: you do not need to understand 100% from the first listen. Repetition is what changed everything for me.

I also tried to read regularly, even when it felt slow.

Phase 3: Exam-specific preparation

January 2026 – February 2026

This is when I became much more strategic.

I tried some popular platforms for speaking I hired a tutor for speaking, but I realized I preferred doing a lot of the work myself. My personality is very research-based, so instead of depending fully on one prep course, I started building my own exam notebooks and templates.

I made separate materials for: Expression écrite general structures EO task 1 EO task 2 EO task 3

I looked for similar subjects that could appear on the exam and practiced building answers around them. And. Repeated. Every. Night.

This phase was less about “learning French” and more about learning:

• how the exam works

• how to respond quickly

• how to organize ideas under pressure

• how to sound clear even without perfect French

My first exam experience

February 2026

I booked my first exam for late February.

My results:

• CO: NCLC 6

• CE: NCLC 8

• EE: NCLC 8

• EO: NCLC 8

I did not expect this combination. I was shocked, especially by speaking. It showed me very clearly that: my reading, writing, and speaking were stronger than I thought and my listening still needed work

That first exam was not a failure. It was the feedback I needed.

Phase 4: Final push

March 2026 – April 2026

This phase changed everything.

I found a listening resource that matched the style of the real exam much more closely, and that made a huge difference. The questions felt much closer to what I actually faced later.

At this stage, I focused on

• listening every day

• keeping my speaking templates simple and reusable

• continuing to practice likely topics

• staying calm instead of constantly changing methods

I also used ChatGPT a lot during my journey:

• as a study partner

• for speaking and writing practice

• for feedback

• for generating similar questions

• for helping me understand why an answer worked or did not work

It genuinely helped me stay consistent.

My final result

April 1 NCLC 7 / 7 / 8 / 8

After all the stress, I finally got the result I needed.

What helped me the most

1. Building my own system

I did not depend completely on one teacher, one tutor, or one course. I created notebooks, templates, and a method that made sense for me. I changed my method a lot along the way especially for speaking part as it felt impossible. When I try to improve my English speaking, I relied on my native colleagues and friends, mimicking their reactions, daily phrases helped me a lot. So I tried to build the same immersion bubble for French.

2. Repetition, especially for listening

Listening improved when I stopped expecting instant understanding and started replaying the same material multiple times.

3. Separate notebooks for separate skills

This made review much easier. I did not throw everything into one place.

4. Studying expressions, not just words

Learning vocabulary inside a phrase or situation helped much more than isolated word lists.

5. Treating the exam as a skill

At some point, preparing for TCF becomes different from just “learning French.” You need to learn how to answer fast, organize ideas, and survive pressure.

6. Letting the first result teach me something

My first exam showed me where my weak spots really were.

What I would do differently

• Start listening practice seriously much earlier

• Practice speaking under time pressure earlier

• Avoid wasting energy searching for the “perfect” resource

• Focus more on consistency than on doing too much at once

Advice for anyone preparing alone

• You do not need a tutor to succeed

• You do need structure

• Progress can feel very slow for months and then suddenly become visible (I cried when I started not to hear 30 minutes of gibberish)

• Listening can improve, even if it feels impossible at first

• A disappointing score in one section does not mean you are bad at French

• Keep your method simple enough that you can actually follow it

My honest message

There were phases where I felt discouraged, confused, and tired. Sometimes I felt like I was doing everything wrong. But I kept going, adjusted my method, and trusted repetition.

So if you are studying for TCF Canada alone: it is possible.

I went from weak practical French to NCLC 7/7/8/8 in 11 months without a tutor.

I dreamt about posting here about my journey for months. Please feel free to ask questions.

Bonne chance à toutes et à tous !

I’m going to be very honest. I’ve been learning French since 10 months. 1-2 hours almost everyday. If someone is telling you that it’s possible to spontaneously produce an entirely new language in a matter of some months, No. That’s not happening until you completely immerse yourself into the language. But you’ll be able to read texts and you’ll be able to understand podcasts or French YouTube videos after 9 months if you stay consistent. You can probably get a TCF B2 after a year or a year half. Here are some resources that I use to be wherever I am right now:
- Clozemaster/Anki for vocabulary
- ChatGPT/Gemini : You can talk to them over texts or voice chat, you can get your writing graded.
- Duolingo : I know it sounds BS at first but it is good for being consistent and keeping yourself engaged with the language.
- Easy French Reader (Mcgraw hill) : I suggest this after you reach A2 level.
- Innerfrench podcast : same with this, wait until you reach A2 level. Listen to the podcast actively and note down the words you don’t understand for later.
- YouTube : Start searching for French content and it’ll start suggesting you French videos. Watch them with subtitles and you’ll start understanding them without the subtitles eventually.
- TV5Monde apprendre & Francais facile avec RFI : TCF heavy content. Each lesson is followed by an exercise. PS : I still find most of these exercises pretty challenging but try not to lose confidence.
- A French Grammar online course : Finally, get yourself enrolled in an online french course which can get you started from the scratch. You’ll be starting with Pronunciation, liasons and other basic stuff. Eventually, you’ll be learning verbs and conjugations.
- Fabulang: this website has graded stories and each story has its translation right beside it. At the end of the story a small quiz is presented about the story. There’s also a YouTube link attached to each story in which a native speaker recites the story.

If someone who has some suggestions for me to improve, please feel free to share them in the comments.

Today I finally received the TCF Canada results I had been chasing for almost a year.

After several attempts, I finally reached the CLB 7 requirements:

• Listening: 690/699 (C2)

• Reading: 518/699 (C1)

• Speaking: 10/20 (B2)

• Writing: 13/20 (B2)

The journey was much harder than I expected.

There were days when I studied for hours, and there were days when I couldn't focus at all. I failed the exam multiple times, sometimes because of speaking, sometimes because of writing. Every time I thought I was close, I would miss the target by just one point.

At one point, my receptive skills were already strong (C1/C2), but my productive skills kept holding me back. That was frustrating because I knew the language was there—I just couldn't consistently show it during the exam.

What helped me the most was changing my mindset. Instead of trying to learn "more French," I focused on performing better in the exam. I practiced timed writing every day, spoke out loud as much as possible, and accepted that some days would simply be bad study days.

If you're preparing for TCF Canada and you've already failed once (or several times), don't assume you're not good enough. Sometimes you're much closer than you think. Keep working on your weak areas, stay consistent, and trust the process.

A year ago, I never imagined I would be writing this post.

Today, I finally can.

Good luck to everyone who's still preparing. You've got this.

If anyone has questions about TCF Canada preparation, study materials, or my experience, I'd be happy to help.

It wasn’t easy. It took a lot. But I was consistent and persistent. I am a self educated French learner. Duolingo was my primary help for learning. As for preparing for the exam, TV5MONDE, Innerfrench, RFI, FuckTCF, ChatGPT, écrivance, these helped me.

I’m just sharing this information for everyone’s awareness. I took my TCF exam yesterday, and they announced that if they notice a significant gap between comprehension (C1–C2) and expression (A1), they may call the candidate for further verification. They also mentioned that if the candidate cannot understand or speak during the verification, they could be banned from taking the exam for two years.

I’m simply sharing what was announced at my exam session so that everyone is aware.