French comprehension quiz: check your level from A1 to C2

A French comprehension quiz tells you roughly how much French you can follow when you read or listen, and it is an estimate, not a certificate. This page gives you the official descriptors to compare yourself against, a short sample quiz, and a plain account of what a quiz result can and cannot be used for. For the full level scale, read French levels explained. To tell a quiz from an official exam, see French proficiency tests. For official papers to practise on, see French practice tests.

Source: Council of Europe, self-assessment grid in the CEFR Companion Volume (published April 2020); IRCC, Express Entry language test page, read on 22 October 2026.

How can you check your French level yourself?

You can run a French language level test on yourself with the Council of Europe’s self-assessment grid. The Council of Europe describes it as an orientation tool that helps learners profile their main language skills and decide at which level to look at a checklist of more detailed descriptors [1]. The grid covers listening, reading, spoken interaction, spoken production and writing [1]. Its levels run from A1 to C2 [2].

Here is the listening and reading part in plain words, paraphrased from the grid [2]:

Read across the row you think you are on. Then read the row above and the row below. If you follow most of one row and struggle with the next, that is a starting estimate for that skill. Listening and reading often sit at different levels.

What is a French comprehension quiz, and what does it measure?

A French comprehension quiz asks you to read or listen to a short French text and answer questions about it. It measures one thing: whether you understood what you read or heard. It does not measure speaking or writing, which the Council of Europe grid lists as separate skills from listening and reading [1].

That is why one quiz is a weak guide to a whole level. A French quiz of ten questions on one topic samples a very small part of what a level covers. Use a quiz to find out where to start, then use the grid above to see which skills to work on.

What does a short French comprehension quiz look like?

A short quiz has a text, a few questions and an answer key. This one is written for this page. It is a warm-up for the first rows of the grid, not a measure of any level.

Salut ! Je m’appelle Léa. J’habite à Montréal avec mon frère. Le samedi, nous allons au marché. J’achète des pommes et du pain. Le dimanche, je téléphone à ma grand-mère.

1. Où habite Léa ? (à Paris, à Montréal, à Québec)
2. Que fait Léa le samedi ?
3. À qui téléphone-t-elle le dimanche ?

Answers: (1) In Montréal. (2) She goes to the market with her brother (“nous allons”) and buys apples and bread. (3) Her grandmother.

Hear the words from the text: le frère, le marché, la pomme, le pain, la grand-mère, samedi, dimanche.

If you got all three, try a harder text: a news article or a recipe, then explain it back to yourself in a sentence. For reading material by level, see French reading practice.

What is the difference between a French level assessment and a French proficiency exam?

A French level assessment estimates your level, while a French proficiency exam is issued by an exam body and gives you a result document. The two are not interchangeable. Quizzes and self-assessment grids are the first kind. The French tests that IRCC accepts are the second kind [3].

This matters because a French competency test or level assessment test run by a school or an app is not an official result. Nobody is required to accept it. The party that asks for your French decides which results count. French proficiency tests sets out the difference in full.

Does a quiz or level check count for immigration?

No. IRCC says you must prove your language skills by taking an approved language test, and for French it lists two: TEF Canada and TCF Canada [3]. A quiz on a website or in an app is not on that list [3].

For Express Entry, language test results must be less than 2 years old, and expired results are refused at application [3]. If you plan to take one of the two exams, the self-check on this page helps you decide how much to practise first. It does not tell you whether you will meet an NCLC level, because the NCLC level comes from an exam score, not from a CEFR letter [3].

Where can you find official French comprehension samples?

The exam body for TEF Canada, Le français des affaires, lists sample papers on its preparation page [4]. They include a sample for written comprehension (compréhension écrite) and one for oral comprehension (compréhension orale), and the oral one shows a PDF and a soundtrack to download [4]. The page also lists training tutorials for each of the four sections [4].

These are practice material for the exam, so they give you a feel for the question style. They are not a score. For how they fit with a study plan, see French practice tests.

How should you use the result of a quiz?

Use it to choose what to do next, not to label yourself. As general guidance:

• Mark the descriptors in the table you can do comfortably, and note the level where that stops.
• Repeat for listening and reading separately, since they can differ.
• Pick material one level above your estimate and see whether you follow the main points.
• Redo the self-check in a few weeks. Your own change over time tells you more than one quiz score.
• If an application asks for French, read what it accepts before booking anything [3].

Try the quick check, three short readings and one question on immigration.

Common mistakes

• Treating a quiz score as a level. A short quiz samples a small part of a level. The grid describes what a person can do, and a quiz does not replace it [1].
• Using one level for every skill. Listening, reading, speaking and writing are listed separately in the grid [1]. Your reading may be ahead of your listening.
• Treating a quiz as proof for IRCC. IRCC accepts results only from the approved tests it names [3].
• Equating a CEFR letter with an NCLC level. IRCC reads NCLC levels from exam scores [3].
• Letting exam results expire. Express Entry language test results must be less than 2 years old, and expired results are refused at application [3].
• Relying on a quiz or a table from a blog, including this one. The official pages change. Check each official page’s date against the date at the top of this one.

See also: French A1 test and A2 French.

Sources