TEF IRN: format, scores and the level you need in 2026

• Only listening and reading are compulsory
• The exam stops at B1
• Listening is 60 questions in 40 minutes
• B1 is enough for naturalisation

• All four skills are compulsory, on the same day
• The exam certifies up to B2
• Listening is 20 questions in 20 minutes
• Naturalisation needs B2 in speech and in writing

• You are applying for French nationality by naturalisation
• You are applying for a carte de résident
• You are renewing onto a carte de séjour pluriannuelle

• You are applying to IRCC for Canadian immigration, where TEF Canada applies
• You are enrolling at a French university, where TEF Études applies
• You already hold a recognised French-language diploma at the required level

• The certificate is valid for two years from issue
• All four tests must be sat on the same day
• There is no partial retake, a resit means the whole exam

• Multiple choice throughout, scored one point for a correct answer and zero for a wrong or missing one.
• The documents are the ones you meet in an administrative life in France: notices, adverts, short press articles, letters from an institution.
• At 90 seconds per item this is the most generous section of the paper. Candidates rarely run out of time here, they run out of vocabulary.

• Multiple choice, scored the same way as reading.
• Short everyday recordings: announcements, messages, ordinary conversations.
• One minute per item including the audio, so there is no time to replay anything in your head. This is the section where a single missed word costs a point.

• Section A: 10 minutes, at least 40 words. A short personal message.
• Section B: 20 minutes, at least 100 words. A longer text where you have to develop and support a position.
• The minimums are floors, not targets. Writing under them is the most common avoidable way to lose the section.

• Section A: 5 minutes. Section B: 5 minutes.
• Face to face with an examiner, so the exchange is live and you are marked on how you respond, not only on what you prepared.
• Ten minutes is short. There is no warm-up, and your first minute counts as much as your last.

B2 in both spoken and written French. Your TEF attestation has to be less than two years old on the day you file.

B1, under the arrêté of 22 December 2025. Confirm the current threshold with your prefecture before you book, because practice varies by procedure.

B1 under the same arrêté. The level attached to this card has been raised, so check what your own renewal is being assessed against rather than assuming the threshold you met last time still applies.

Your TEF IRN level is held down by your worst test. Someone at 430 in reading and 340 in speaking certifies at B1, not B2. Before you build a study plan, sit a full four-skill mock and look at the lowest number on the report, because that is the one your file depends on.

Ten minutes for 40 words, then twenty minutes for 100. Most candidates who lose the writing section either come in under the minimum or spend so long on Section A that Section B is unfinished. Write both under a timer until the split feels automatic.

Ten minutes total, split into two five-minute tasks, face to face. There is no warm-up, so practise starting cold. Recording yourself and listening back is uncomfortable and it is the fastest way to hear what an examiner hears.

Reading and listening give one point for a correct answer and zero for a wrong one. There is no deduction, so never leave an item blank. This alone is worth a few points to candidates who were taught to skip when unsure.