Turning your TCF Canada score into NCLC levels: how to use the free tool

Your TCF Canada certificate shows numbers: 478 in listening, 12 out of 20 in writing. IRCC does not read those numbers. It reads levels, called NCLC. Until the conversion is done, you do not know what your test is worth.

The panel called The TCF Canada, on the Prepare my file page, holds the official table that does this conversion, and it is free. You open it here: /en/check-list.html#tcf

What you find in this panel

There is nothing to fill in and no account to create. It is a table you read, with your certificate next to you.

Before the table, the panel sets out how the exam runs. All four papers are compulsory for Express Entry. Listening: 39 multiple-choice questions, about 35 minutes, and each recording is played only once. Reading: 39 questions, 60 minutes. Writing: three tasks, 60 minutes. Speaking: three tasks in front of the examiner, about twelve minutes. Listening and reading are marked out of 699, writing and speaking out of 20.

The panel also reminds you that the certificate is valid for two years, and that it must still be valid on the day you submit your application.

Reading the table, paper by paper

Take each paper on its own: the thresholds are not the same from one column to the next.

In listening, out of 699: 331 to 368 is NCLC 4; 369 to 397 is NCLC 5; 398 to 457 is NCLC 6; 458 to 502 is NCLC 7; 503 to 522 is NCLC 8; 523 to 548 is NCLC 9; from 549 up, NCLC 10 or above.

In reading, also out of 699, the thresholds shift: 342 to 374 for NCLC 4; 375 to 405 for NCLC 5; 406 to 452 for NCLC 6; 453 to 498 for NCLC 7; 499 to 523 for NCLC 8; 524 to 548 for NCLC 9; 549 and above for NCLC 10 or more. The most common mistake is to apply the listening column to reading.

For writing and speaking, marked out of 20: 4 or 5 gives NCLC 4; 6 gives NCLC 5; 7 to 9 gives NCLC 6; 10 or 11 gives NCLC 7; 12 or 13 gives NCLC 8; 14 or 15 gives NCLC 9; 16 and above gives NCLC 10 or more.

You end up with four levels, one per paper. Write them down: these are what you declare in your profile, not your raw marks. The table comes from France Education international, and it is the one the site's calculators apply. The panel also lets you save the table as an image or send it on WhatsApp, so you keep it at hand: /en/check-list.html#tcf

What one level more changes

One rule first: for access to the categories, your weakest paper decides. Three papers at NCLC 8 and one at NCLC 6 leaves you at NCLC 6.

The threshold that matters is NCLC 7 in all four papers. That is what opens the French-language category of the Express Entry rounds. A candidate at 457 in listening does not have NCLC 7: one point short, and the door stays shut. A tiny gap on the certificate changes everything that follows.

Above the threshold, each level keeps adding CRS points, paper by paper. Writing is the paper that most often stops a test from reaching its target: three more points out of 20 there take you from NCLC 7 to NCLC 9.

How it connects to the French bonus

In the CRS score, French pays twice. First in the language points, paper by paper. Then as a bonus: 25 points if you have NCLC 7 or above in all four French papers, and 50 points if on top of that you have at least NCLC 5 in all four papers of a recognised English test.

In other words, a modest but complete English test, added to solid French, is worth 25 extra points. Many Cameroonian candidates leave those points aside because they never sit an English test, thinking it useless.

What this panel does not do

It does not calculate your score. It is a conversion table, nothing more: it knows nothing of your age, your diplomas or your years of experience, and it says nothing about your chances. To get a score, enter your marks in the eligibility test, which converts them on its own: /en/admissibilite.html

It does not check your certificate either. Copy a mark wrongly and the table will dutifully give you the wrong level. Read the official document again, paper by paper, before you conclude.

What each level is worth in points is set out here: /en/article/score-tcf-canada-bareme-nclc-points

And the table itself stays at this address, easy to consult on a phone: /en/check-list.html#tcf