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TEF Canada Score Conversion to NCLC Levels: A Complete Guide
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If you’re applying to immigrate to Canada through Express Entry or other federal programs, showing your French skills can give you a great advantage.
As you might know, TEF Canada exam scores don’t stay as raw numbers when you submit them to IRCC. They’re converted into NCLC levels, which are Canada’s official language benchmarks.
In this guide, we’ll show you how to convert your TEF score into NCLC levels.
TEF Canada to NCLC Conversion Table
Your TEF Canada scores are directly matched to these NCLC levels:
NCLC Level | Listening (Compréhension orale) | Speaking (Expression orale) | Reading (Compréhension écrite) | Writing (Expression écrite) |
NCLC 10–12 | 549–699 | 393–450 | 524–699 | 393–450 |
NCLC 9 | 523–548 | 371–392 | 499–523 | 371–392 |
NCLC 8 | 503–522 | 349–370 | 474–498 | 349–370 |
NCLC 7 | 458–502 | 310–348 | 450–473 | 310–348 |
NCLC 6 | 398–457 | 271–309 | 375–449 | 271–309 |
NCLC 5 | 349–397 | 226–270 | 300–374 | 226–270 |
NCLC 4 | 298–348 | 181–225 | 248–299 | 181–225 |
NCLC 3 | 248–297 | 136–180 | 206–247 | 136–180 |
NCLC 2 | 181–247 | 106–135 | 151–205 | 106–135 |
NCLC 1 | 0–180 | 0–105 | 0–150 | 0–105 |
Why This Conversion Matters
- Eligibility: Most immigration streams require a minimum of NCLC 7 in all four skills.
- CRS Points: Higher NCLC levels (especially NCLC 9+) can significantly boost your CRS score.
- Second Official Language: Even if French is your second language, strong scores can add valuable points.
- Preparation Strategy: Listening and Reading often yield higher scores, while Speaking and Writing may require more targeted practice.
Suppose you scored:
- Listening: 510
- Speaking: 320
- Reading: 460
- Writing: 315
Converted to NCLC:
- Listening → NCLC 8
- Speaking → NCLC 7
- Reading → NCLC 7
- Writing → NCLC 7
✅ This meets the minimum NCLC 7 requirement for Express Entry.
Conclusion
French proficiency is about showing you can live and work in Canada in French. The TEF Canada exam measures those skills, but what really matters is how your results are converted into NCLC levels.
These levels are the benchmarks Canada uses to judge language ability. Once you know where your scores land, you can see which immigration programs you qualify for, how many CRS points you’ll gain, and where to focus your study.
