Alors
They ask for different writing, and they report it on different scales. Neither is the easy one.
The short version. Both are French tests used for Canadian immigration purposes. For writing, TEF Canada reports a score out of 450 and TCF Canada out of 20. Those numbers are not comparable to each other — they only become comparable once you convert each to its NCLC band.
Pick on task shape and availability near you, not on which looks easier. They are calibrated to the same benchmark scale.
This is the single most common confusion. A TEF writing score of 310 and a TCF writing score of 10 look nothing alike, but they land on the same NCLC band. Comparing 310 to 10 is meaningless; comparing their bands is the whole point of the benchmark.
| TEF Canada | TCF Canada | |
|---|---|---|
| Writing reported out of | 450 | 20 |
| Number of writing tasks | 2 | 3 |
| Shortest task | ~80–120 words | ~60–120 words |
| Longest task | 200+ words, no upper limit | ~120–180 words |
The converter on the home page does that conversion in your browser, in both directions, for either exam.
TEF Canada asks for two pieces. The first is a short factual piece — a fait divers, a news-in-brief item — written from prompts. The second is longer: a letter to a newspaper expressing and justifying an opinion, formal register throughout, with no upper word limit.
TCF Canada spreads the same skills across three shorter pieces, moving from a short practical message, to a more developed message, to a piece where you argue a position.
The practical difference is where the risk sits. On TEF, a large share of your writing mark rides on one extended argumentative letter — a bad day on that one task is expensive. On TCF, the load is spread across three shorter pieces, but you have to switch register and purpose three times under time pressure.
Neither, in any way you can plan around. Both are mapped onto the same benchmark scale, which is the entire reason that scale exists. If one were reliably easier at a given band, the mapping would be wrong.
What genuinely varies between people:
In our experience building a grader for these tasks, the thing that separates candidates is rarely vocabulary. It is answering the question that was asked, in the register that was asked for. A grammatically clean letter that drifts off the prompt, or slips into informal French in a formal letter, loses more than a few agreement errors would.
That is a claim about writing, not about the official marking scheme — neither exam board publishes its exact criteria weightings, and anyone who tells you the precise breakdown is guessing.
Confirm the mechanics before you rely on them. Task formats, word counts and timings are set by the exam boards and do change. Check CCIP Paris Île-de-France (TEF) and France Éducation International (TCF) before booking.
Not immigration advice. Alors teaches French and converts exam scores. It does not provide immigration advice, assess eligibility, or recommend a programme. For advice about your own case, consult a lawyer, a Quebec notary, or a CICC-licensed consultant, or read IRCC directly.
Not affiliated with CCIP Paris Île-de-France (TEF Canada) or France Éducation International (TCF).