TEF Canada Reading
The TEF Canada reading test gives you 40 questions in 60 minutes. It rewards two things: understanding what a text really says, and managing your time. Here is how it works and how to prepare.
In this guide
The test at a glance
| TEF Canada reading (compréhension écrite) | |
|---|---|
| Questions | 40 multiple-choice questions |
| Time | 60 minutes |
| Scoring | 1 point for a correct answer, 0 for a wrong or missing answer |
| Score used by IRCC | « Équivalence ancien score », from 0 to 300 |
| NCLC 7 | 207 to 232 |
Formats can change. Check the information from Le français des affaires (the TEF provider) and your convocation before test day. The question-group timings later in this article are a suggested strategy, not an official structure.
What kinds of documents you read
The documents move from everyday texts to more complex ones. Expect a mix such as:
- Practical documents: notices, advertisements, short messages, opening hours, rules.
- Informative texts: news articles, reports, website pages.
- Longer texts with a point of view: opinion pieces and articles where you must follow an argument.
The early questions test whether you can find specific information quickly. The later ones test whether you understand the writer’s purpose, opinion and the logic of the text.
Scoring: never leave a blank
A wrong answer and a missing answer both score 0. There is no extra penalty for guessing. So:
- Answer every question, even if you have to guess in the last minute.
- If you are stuck, eliminate the options that are clearly wrong and choose between the rest.
A time plan for 60 minutes
With 40 questions, you have about 1 minute 30 seconds per question on average. The early questions are faster; the long texts at the end take longer.
| Questions | Target time |
|---|---|
| 1–15 (short practical documents) | about 15 minutes |
| 16–30 (articles and information) | about 22 minutes |
| 31–40 (longer, more complex texts) | about 20 minutes |
| Final check | 3 minutes |
If a question blocks you for more than two minutes, choose your best answer, note the number and move on.
Strategies that work
- Read the question before the text. Know what you are looking for: a date, a reason, an opinion.
- Watch for paraphrase. The right answer rarely repeats the words of the text. It says the same thing in other words. An option that copies a phrase from the text may be a distractor: check whether it actually answers the question.
- Look for connectors. Cependant, pourtant, en revanche signal a change of direction; donc, c’est pourquoi signal a conclusion. They show where the writer’s real opinion is.
- Separate facts from opinions. Questions often ask what the writer thinks, not just what is reported.
- Beware of “always”, “never”, “all”. Absolute options are often wrong, because texts usually nuance their claims.
Words that change everything
These small words decide many answers:
| Word | Meaning | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| ne… que | only | Il ne lit que des romans = he reads only novels. |
| ne… guère | hardly | A negative, not a positive. |
| certes… mais | admittedly… but | The real point comes after mais. |
| quoique / bien que | although | Introduces a concession. |
| actuellement | currently | Not “actually”. |
| éventuellement | possibly | Not “eventually”. |
How to prepare
- Read one article a day from a French or Canadian news site, and sum it up in two sentences.
- Time yourself on sets of 10 questions, then on full 40-question tests.
- Keep an error log: for every mistake, note why you chose the wrong answer (vocabulary, a connector, a trap option).
- Build your vocabulary by topic: work, housing, health, environment, technology, education. These themes come up often.
Frequently asked questions
How many questions are there in TEF Canada reading?
40 questions in 60 minutes.
What score do I need for NCLC 7 in reading?
207 out of 300 in the « Équivalence ancien score » column, which is the one IRCC uses for Express Entry.
Is there negative marking?
No. A wrong answer scores 0, the same as a blank, so always answer.
Is TEF Canada reading harder than TCF Canada reading?
Neither is objectively harder. TEF gives 40 questions in 60 minutes; TCF gives 39 questions in 60 minutes with difficulty rising steadily. Our TEF vs TCF comparison helps you choose.