TEF & TCF Canada score, NCLC and CEFR converter
Start from a CLB or NCLC level, a CEFR level or a test score. You’ll get the matching values for each skill and which source each one comes from.
How it works
NCLC is the level that counts for Canada. IRCC gives points on CLB / NCLC and publishes no CEFR equivalent, so any CEFR level is approximate. Use this converter to match a score, NCLC or CEFR level, and treat the NCLC result as the one that decides your points.
The sources differ. NCLC 7 is B2 on the TEF tables from CCI Paris, and B2 to C1 on TCF Canada using the bands from France Éducation international. A study for the Centre for Canadian Language Benchmarks calls it B1+, a very strong B1. So a B2 result doesn’t guarantee NCLC 7.
On TEF Canada, CCI’s CEFR table uses the /699 score, while IRCC’s table uses the “équivalence ancien score”. No official table links the ancien score to CEFR directly, so we go through NCLC and label it. More in CEFR vs NCLC vs CLB and the score you need for CLB 7.
- ✓ Convert in any direction
- ✓ TEF ancien and /699 scores
- ✓ TCF Canada scores for each skill
- ✓ Sources shown side by side
Common questions
On CCI Paris’s table, B2 is 400 to 499 out of 699 in a skill and B1 is 300 to 399. Only part of the B2 band reaches NCLC 7, and no B1 score does: NCLC 7 starts at 434 for listening and reading, 428 for writing and 456 for speaking.
B2 is 400 to 499 out of 699 in listening and reading, and 10 to 13 out of 20 in writing and speaking. B1 is 300 to 399 and 6 to 9. NCLC 7 starts at 458 for listening, 453 for reading and 10 for writing and speaking.
CLB 7 in French is NCLC 7, the French name for the same level. On the test owners’ tables it’s B2 for TEF and B2 to C1 for TCF, and the benchmark centre’s study calls it B1+. IRCC doesn’t give it a CEFR level.
Not exactly. On the TEF and TCF tables, the B2 score band covers NCLC 5 to 8, depending on the skill. For Canada, check the NCLC level for each skill, not the CEFR label.
No. For French, IRCC’s Express Entry page names TEF Canada and TCF Canada, and it uses NCLC. A CEFR level from a class or a DELF diploma earns no CRS points.