Start with the exam you are preparing. Each exam breaks down into its tests, each test into its tasks, and each task into the individual question models you will actually meet on the day.
Choose an exam
TCF Canada
Test de connaissance du français
Four tests: listening, reading, speaking and writing. This library focuses on the two productive tests.
TEF Canada
Test d’évaluation de français
Planned. Same structure will apply once its task pages are added.
TEFAQ
TEF pour le Québec
Planned.
DELF / DALF
Diplômes d’études
Planned.
How this library is organised
Everything here follows the same four levels, from the widest to the narrowest. An exam such as TCF Canada contains several tests. Each test contains a small number of tasks, and each task keeps repeating a handful of question models. Once you can recognise the model in front of you, the rest of the work is mechanical.
That is why the pages are nested rather than written as one long article. From this page you open an exam, from the exam you open a test such as expression écrite, from the test you open a tâche, and from the tâche you open the individual model. Nothing is repeated twice, and you can always go back up through the breadcrumb at the top of every page.
Exam
The paper you have booked, with its own rules on timing, scoring and validity. TCF Canada is built out first.
Test
Listening, reading, speaking, writing. The two production tests are the ones a template really changes.
Tâche
The numbered parts inside a test, each with its own word count or time limit and its own expected shape.
Question model
The recurring prompt type: inviting a friend, telling a story, comparing two opinions. Each one gets a page with a structure, a phrase bank, a template and a checklist.
What a model page gives you
A model page is meant to be used while you write or speak, not read once and closed. It opens with the method, which is what the graders are actually looking for on that specific prompt type, then gives the skeleton of a good answer step by step, then a phrase bank in French with English glosses, then a full template you can copy and adapt, and finally a checklist to run before you submit.
The phrase banks matter more than they look. In a timed exam you do not have the seconds to invent a polite closing or a way of asking for a price. Having six or seven of them ready, already correct, frees your attention for the content and for the grammar that actually varies from one answer to the next.
A four-week routine that works
Week one, read the test overview and both production tests end to end so you know exactly what the day looks like. Week two, work through the writing tâches in order and write one full answer for each, timed, with the template open beside you. Week three, do the same for the speaking tâches, recording yourself so you can hear the pauses. Week four, repeat everything without the templates and only check them afterwards.
Alongside that, keep the language guides open. Most writing marks are lost on tense choice and on agreement, so the verb conjugation guide and the grammar guide are the two pages worth revisiting between practice attempts. If your reading is fine but people ask you to repeat yourself, the pronunciation guide is the faster win.
Questions people ask
Which French exam should I take for Canadian immigration?
For Express Entry and most economic programs, IRCC accepts the TCF Canada and the TEF Canada. For Quebec programs the TEFAQ and the TCF Canada are the usual routes. The two families test the same abilities, so the preparation on this site transfers, but the task formats and timings differ, so always practise with the format you have booked.
How long does it take to reach NCLC 7?
Most learners who already read some French need three to six months of steady work to move from a shaky B1 to a reliable B2 in the two production tests. The comprehension tests usually improve faster than speaking and writing, because speaking and writing are the ones that need a rehearsed structure, not only vocabulary.
Do I need a tutor to use this library?
No. Every task page states the format, the word or time limit, the structure the examiners expect and the phrases that fit it. A tutor helps most at the correction stage, when you want feedback on texts you have already written using these templates.
Are the templates allowed in the exam?
Yes. A template is not a memorised text, it is a plan: an opening, a body organised in a predictable order, and a closing. Examiners reward clear organisation. What you must not do is recite a memorised paragraph that does not answer the prompt, because the first criterion on the grid is whether you respected the instruction.