Short, sourced answers to the questions candidates ask most about the speaking section.
With a person in both tests: one-to-one, face to face with an examiner, and recorded.
TCF Canada: 12 minutes including 2 minutes of preparation. TEF Canada: 15 minutes in two sections of 5 and 10 minutes.
In TCF, only for Task 2 (2 minutes). For TEF the current official pages give no preparation time; the 2018 manual allowed 1 minute to read each subject.
In TCF Task 2 you may take short notes on the examiner's scrap paper. In TEF no notes or scrap paper are allowed.
Yes. In TCF the examiner tells you at the start that you may ask for a word or question to be repeated or rephrased at any time.
TEF section A is a formal phone call ("vous"); section B is a conversation with a friend ("tu"). In TCF Task 2 the roles in the subject tell you which to use.
That is the task: CCI says the friend will never agree with you, so you must answer each objection and keep trying to convince.
TCF Canada: 10/20. TEF Canada: 310 or more in the "ancien score" column.
Prepare ideas and phrases, not scripts. Both tests penalise recited text: TCF can mark it "A1 not reached", and CCI treats it as plagiarism.
The full task-by-task format is on the speaking description page, the score tables on the speaking scoring page, and worked examples on the speaking samples page. For the whole test, see the TCF / TEF test format.
Practise TCF / TEF online
Every section of TCF Canada and TEF Canada is in the TestSucceed app. The tasks are timed like the real exam and marked instantly, and your writing and speaking are assessed by AI trained by our French exam experts. Start with TCF / TEF practice or sit a full TCF / TEF mock test.
Written by Kirill O'Nayd
French test expert and educator at TestSucceed. He prepares candidates for TCF Canada and TEF Canada and follows how each section is timed and marked. See all TestSucceed preparation materials.