TEF Canada exam checklist: the week before TEF or TCF Canada

The TEF Canada exam checklist is short: bring the photo ID you will use with IRCC and the convocation your centre emailed you, and report at the time it gives [1][2][3]. Leave everything else off the table, switch your phone and any other device off, and expect all 4 immigration sections on the same day [1][5].

Source: Le français des affaires, TEF Canada exam-day page, no date shown on the page, opened 22 October 2026.

For the exam as a whole, read the TEF Canada guide. Sitting the other French exam? The TCF Canada guide covers it, and the TCF notes below say where its rules live. For what happens after the day, see TEF Canada results.

What should you bring on TEF or TCF exam day?

For TEF Canada, bring your photo ID and your convocation, and nothing else that needs a place on the table. The exam body’s pages list the rules in the table below [1][2][3].

What is on the TEF Canada exam checklist, day by day?

Each rule comes from the official page numbered beside it. Lines marked “our suggestion” are general advice built on that rule, not a step the exam body sets.

What ID do you need on exam day?

You need a photo ID, and for TEF Canada it must be the same document. The exam body’s conditions say the ID matches the one given at registration and the one used for your immigration or citizenship application in Canada [2]. The supervisor checks your ID and your invitation when you arrive [1].

Centre staff take your photo, you sign in, and the speaking section is recorded [2]. Your photo and signature appear on your certificate [2][4].

What can you bring into the room?

Almost nothing. The exam body’s exam-day page lists these rules [1]:

• Your phone and any other electronic device must be switched off.
• No dictionary or other reference material.
• No personal belongings on the table during the sections, except your ID.
• No contact with other candidates.
• No scrap paper, notes or documents during reading, listening and speaking.
• Nobody may leave the premises during the computer-based sections.

The conditions add that you may not use the internet or any means of communication, naming a computer, a smartphone and a smartwatch [2]. They also forbid reciting a text learned by heart: writing and speaking must be your own original work [2].

If you need adapted conditions because of a disability, the exam body says to contact your centre with a medical certificate before you register [2][3]. A week before the day is late for that request.

What happens in each section on the day?

For immigration, TEF Canada has 4 sections, and all of them must be taken on the same day for Canada to recognise the certificate [1][5]. For citizenship, there are 2: listening and speaking [5]. Reading, listening and writing are on a computer; the supervisor gives you an access code for the platform [1]. Speaking is face to face with an examiner [1].

In reading and listening, a wrong answer and a blank answer both score 0 [1]. The exam-day page does not say in which order your centre runs the sections; the supervisor tells you where to go for the first one [1].

What should you check about your results and IRCC?

Results come by email, with a link to an online vault where you download your certificate; no paper certificate is issued [4]. The exam body’s pages give 2 timings: 1 to 10 business days from the exam on one page [4], and about 2 weeks on another [7]. Your centre is told first and is your main contact [4].

For Express Entry, IRCC asks you to enter your results in your profile, with the certificate number and test PIN if the system asks for them [8]. For TEF Canada, use only the “Équivalence ancien score” column, not “Score / 699”; IRCC says it may refuse an application if the correct scores are not entered [8]. The certificate number is the part before the dash at the bottom left of the certificate, and the PIN is the part after it [4][6].

The pages word validity differently. The exam body says the certificate is valid for 2 years from its date of issue [5]. IRCC says results must be less than 2 years old when you complete your Express Entry profile and when you submit your permanent residence application, and it refuses an application made with expired results [8].

For citizenship, IRCC’s proof page asks for B1 or higher in listening and speaking for TEF Canada taken on or after 1 July 2012, and B1 or higher for TCF Canada, and says to include a copy of the results even if they are expired [9].

What changes for TCF Canada?

IRCC accepts TCF Canada alongside TEF Canada for Express Entry, converts its scores with its own table, and applies the same rule that results be less than 2 years old [8]. The citizenship rule is above [9].

This page does not cover TCF Canada’s exam-day rules, what you may bring, or when its results arrive. Check the official TCF Canada page and your convocation in the week before, and see our TCF Canada guide.

What if you are ill the day before?

Tell your centre. The exam body says that for a cancellation or absence for a serious reason, such as illness, you give the centre proof, and Le français des affaires then reviews the reason and may offer a new registration at the centre [3]. Its conditions add that a justified absence must be reported within a month of the session, that one postponement is accepted per candidate, and that the new date must fall within 6 months [2]. An unjustified absence is not refunded [2][3].

Four quick questions on the checklist, using only what this page has set out.

Common mistakes

• Bringing a different ID from your IRCC file. For TEF Canada the document must match [2].
• Arriving after the start. Latecomers are not let in once a section has begun [1].
• Wearing a smartwatch. The conditions name it as a forbidden means of communication [2].
• Reciting a memorised text in writing or speaking. The conditions forbid it [2].
• Typing “Score / 699” into Express Entry. IRCC reads the “Équivalence ancien score” column [8].
• Using TEF rules for TCF Canada. This page does not cover TCF Canada’s exam-day rules. Check the official TCF Canada page and your convocation.
• Trusting a checklist from a blog, including this one. The exam body and IRCC change their pages. Compare their dates with the date at the top of this page.

See also: TCF Canada test centres and TEF Canada test centres.

Sources