The Test de Connaissance du Français (TCF), designed by the CIEP (Centre international d’études pédagogiques) and accredited by the French Ministry of Education, is a French language proficiency test for non-native speakers of French who wish to evaluate and have their level of proficiency certified for professional, academic or personal reasons. In general, the TCF grades and ranks candidates at one of the six levels (A1, A2, B1, B2, C1 or C2) on a scale defined by the Council of Europe (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages). TCF grade results are reliable measurements for determining proficiency. Each candidate is awarded a certificate which is valid for two years. The TCF is a multiple-choice test with 80 items that cover reading comprehension, command of grammatical structures and listening comprehension (duration: 1.5 hours). It also includes optional tests for written (1.45 hours) and oral expressions (15 minutes). |