Hi all,
I gave the TCF exam last October. My results were-
Listening: 480(B2) , Reading:603(C2) , Speaking: 15( C1) , Writing: 14( C1)
I want to share my journey here so that it can help others who are learning currently or planning to do it to get additional 50 points for french. For half of the preparation period I was in college and doing a job in the rest of it , hence I think the methods here can be taken up by almost anyone.
So basically I learned by myself for the first three months, starting in January . In the beginning, I just used Duolingo and anki app (which has flash cards for french words), in order to be able to read and understand basic french vocabulary . Then I moved on to Inner French podcast , and watching films on Netflix so as to get hold of how the language flows ( I already learned the grammar in Duolingo , but listening allowed me to see it in action and better memorize the rules in a natural way) . The most important thing I did during this time was talk to myself , in fact there was a time when I was only thinking in french , or at least trying to.
The result was that after three months when I started to take lessons on Italki ( an app where you can book lessons with profs around the world), I was able to convey even abstract ideas. Many of my teachers thought that I already was in the low B2 range.
So I continued taking conversational lessons for the next 5 months until August , while continuing to expose myself to french media like YouTube videos , especially Emmanuel macron's speeches, who's french is immaculate . Though I never stopped listening to inner french as the podcast level also advanced along with that of mine.
For the last one month I practiced for the exam only. I took lessons with professors who knew the exam , and who pointed out my mistakes in writing and speaking , while also giving me a feel of the real speaking test. Throughout the nine months I took around 40 lessons. I also practiced writing from tcfca.com which has a lot of examples .
In the exam , like others , I found listening to be most difficult as reflected by my score. But I think that was due to the fact that I didn't practice listening in the last month before the exam . Anyways , you would be surprised to know that I got a B1 in speaking initially. I had to file a recheck and then they almost gave me a C2. I was shocked to see such a gross error but I guess in the exam I wasn't looking confident enough or maybe my accent was thick. Anyway, I hope that this post helps some future Canadians out there .
I gave the TCF exam last October. My results were-
Listening: 480(B2) , Reading:603(C2) , Speaking: 15( C1) , Writing: 14( C1)
I want to share my journey here so that it can help others who are learning currently or planning to do it to get additional 50 points for french. For half of the preparation period I was in college and doing a job in the rest of it , hence I think the methods here can be taken up by almost anyone.
So basically I learned by myself for the first three months, starting in January . In the beginning, I just used Duolingo and anki app (which has flash cards for french words), in order to be able to read and understand basic french vocabulary . Then I moved on to Inner French podcast , and watching films on Netflix so as to get hold of how the language flows ( I already learned the grammar in Duolingo , but listening allowed me to see it in action and better memorize the rules in a natural way) . The most important thing I did during this time was talk to myself , in fact there was a time when I was only thinking in french , or at least trying to.
The result was that after three months when I started to take lessons on Italki ( an app where you can book lessons with profs around the world), I was able to convey even abstract ideas. Many of my teachers thought that I already was in the low B2 range.
So I continued taking conversational lessons for the next 5 months until August , while continuing to expose myself to french media like YouTube videos , especially Emmanuel macron's speeches, who's french is immaculate . Though I never stopped listening to inner french as the podcast level also advanced along with that of mine.
For the last one month I practiced for the exam only. I took lessons with professors who knew the exam , and who pointed out my mistakes in writing and speaking , while also giving me a feel of the real speaking test. Throughout the nine months I took around 40 lessons. I also practiced writing from tcfca.com which has a lot of examples .
In the exam , like others , I found listening to be most difficult as reflected by my score. But I think that was due to the fact that I didn't practice listening in the last month before the exam . Anyways , you would be surprised to know that I got a B1 in speaking initially. I had to file a recheck and then they almost gave me a C2. I was shocked to see such a gross error but I guess in the exam I wasn't looking confident enough or maybe my accent was thick. Anyway, I hope that this post helps some future Canadians out there .
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