French Language Test!

[mce.sahil]

Hello All,

My CRS score is 456 and it's hard to say how long it will take for that to be good enough for an ITA. So, rather than hoping and waiting, I was thinking of making the best use of time and going in for a second language test to increase my score. I have never studied French in my entire life before this but I consider myself a good learner, so, can someone please guide me as to how long should I study before taking the test. Also, what is the reasonably minimum number of points (considering I am a beginner in french) I can increase by going down this path. Furthermore, can someone tell me sources to prepare for this exam.

Regards
Sahil

 

[bellaluna]

Supposedly up to 26 points when you reach CLB 9 in all 4 abilities as a second language, you can only add to your score when you reach at least CLB 5 in each ability.

http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/give-the-tef-test-d'evaluation-de-francais-upto-additional-26-points-t270757.0.html

http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/tef-test-is-easy-or-difficult-t368401.0.html

 

[betty44]

french is not an easy language to learn. i am currently learning french, i come from a spanish speaking contry so it is a little bit easir for me since both languages are similar. but i can tell you that it takes a lot of dedication and concentration.
if you have not been sposed to french for at least 1 year(listening,speaking,writing and reading) your chances are really low.

 

[Realben]

Hello All,

My CRS score is 456 and it's hard to say how long it will take for that to be good enough for an ITA. So, rather than hoping and waiting, I was thinking of making the best use of time and going in for a second language test to increase my score. I have never studied French in my entire life before this but I consider myself a good learner, so, can someone please guide me as to how long should I study before taking the test. Also, what is the reasonably minimum number of points (considering I am a beginner in french) I can increase by going down this path. Furthermore, can someone tell me sources to prepare for this exam.

Regards
Sahil

There are a lot of threads about this and I replied to a few ones.
As Betty mentioned, French is a hard language to learn (it is not the hardest but it is harder than English for instance)
On top of that the TEF is a difficult test. I am French and I scored the max but I am pretty sure most of the "average" French people in my country wouldn't score the max.
For this test you have to write a short essay about an article (and it is not an article from a people tabloid, it is about society, economy, politics etc...). You have to be able to express your point of view about such topics.
You have also to discuss with a jury about a random situation. I had to convince them to install solar panels on their roof.
If you feel like learning French everyday at least 1h, go to the Alliance française take courses, meet French people and talk with them on a very regular basis, Write everyday etc.. you may have a chance to score enough for your application in a few years.

From what you say your CRS is currently 456 and the threshold right now is more 480... Meaning you need to score 24 points with French out of 26.
I do not want to discourage you to learn a new language, if you feel like it go ahead, it can only be positive but your chances to increase your CRS on the short/medium term are pretty slim...

Good luck

 

[ybjianada]

You were being a little pessimistic there. Quite a few years ago, I read an article about how a Russian man managed to score Advanced in TEF after less than 1 year of studying French. The article is no longer available on the internet, but I have saved a copy in my computer. I use it as an inspiration for learning a new language. It's too long however (17 pages), so I will just post the beginning part here. If anyone wants to have the complete article, they can PM the email:

Add: I just realized that the author posted a PDF of the article on the web; below is the address. Read and get inspired:

http://mirror.mricon.com/french/


How I Learned French in One Year
By mricon in Culture
Thu Dec 30, 2004 at 12:11:29 PM EST

Part 0: Introduction
I stretch the truth a little when I say that I managed to learn French in just 10 months, but this is an election year, so I don't feel quite as bad about exaggerating in order to put my achievements in a more appealing light. Of course, it takes years of effort and constant practice to learn a foreign language; I do not think even Mensa(TM) members can claim to be able to learn an unknown language in just one year, and those of them who can, indeed, accomplish such a feat are kept deep underground for brain experiments anyway.

No, what I'm talking about here is learning enough French to pass a standardized test, more specifically TEF, or Test d'Evaluation de Français. The reasons why I needed to pass this test are quite simple - I am currently in the process of emigrating to Canada, and the knowledge of both of their official languages gives the applicant a significant boost on the immigration score. I already knew enough English for it not to be a problem, but I had only studied French for one semester in High School, more than 12 years ago, and could only remember small bits and pieces of what I had learned, mostly the general pronunciation rules, and even some of those incorrectly.

So, realizing that knowing enough French to get decent scores on TEF could have had life-altering effects in my case, I have decided to embark on a quest to learn as much French as I could in one year. I started in August 2003, and I have taken my exam in May of 2004, getting enough points to qualify as "advanced" in most areas. This little write-up is a description of my experiences and methods I have used - perhaps they will be useful to someone else with a similar goal in mind.

...

There are a lot of threads about this and I replied to a few ones.
As Betty mentioned, French is a hard language to learn (it is not the hardest but it is harder than English for instance)
On top of that the TEF is a difficult test. I am French and I scored the max but I am pretty sure most of the "average" French people in my country wouldn't score the max.
For this test you have to write a short essay about an article (and it is not an article from a people tabloid, it is about society, economy, politics etc...). You have to be able to express your point of view about such topics.
You have also to discuss with a jury about a random situation. I had to convince them to install solar panels on their roof.
If you feel like learning French everyday at least 1h, go to the Alliance française take courses, meet French people and talk with them on a very regular basis, Write everyday etc.. you may have a chance to score enough for your application in a few years.

From what you say your CRS is currently 456 and the threshold right now is more 480... Meaning you need to score 24 points with French out of 26.
I do not want to discourage you to learn a new language, if you feel like it go ahead, it can only be positive but your chances to increase your CRS on the short/medium term are pretty slim...

Good luck

 

[scylla]

You were being a little pessimistic there. Quite a few years ago, I read an article about how a Russian man managed to score Advanced in TEF after less than 1 year of studying French.

No - not pessimistic. Realistic. The man who learned French well enough in 10 months to achieve an advanced standing in the test is an exception. This isn't realistic for most.

 

[ybjianada]

It was certainly exceptional, but it shows what is humanly possible, if you have enough determination. By the way, I found a link to the complete article after all, and provided in my reply post above. He did not put his entire life on hold to learn French. He had a full time job and just used whatever spare time he had. But his method was quite unusual, and not for everyone, I must say.

No - not pessimistic. Realistic. The man who learned French well enough in 10 months to achieve an advanced standing in the test is an exception. This isn't realistic for most.

 

[Mallikaasharmaa]

Hi,

I myself am learning French to improve my score. I have been studying it for a little over 4 months and I practice well at home. I roughly spend 2 hours everyday at home and this is apart from what I study at the institute. And right now I can easily read French articles and newspapers and understand 70-80 % of the content. I am sure in a one or two months more I can manage to get CLB 5 / 6 level on TEF which will fetch me 4 points. So you might be looking at 6 months hard work to get 4 points.

Of course there are no guarantees. Your score is good. CRS has a good chances of dropping to that level again perhaps later this year. But if you have made up your mind, it is possible and most importantly its a very interesting language and I have fallen in love with it, and so have many other like me who study with me.

Another thing, ( in my opinion ) it's an easy language. Think of it this way how does a child learn to speak... by talking... So the trick to learning a language is repetition. read as much as you can. read loud and you learn. It is not science or math. It doesn't have formulas.

So think hard and if you have any good institute in your city, it's certainly a good option to join it as communication really helps.

 

[mce.sahil]

Thank you all for your feedback and replies.
I think it's really important to be realistic and from what all of you have mentioned it seems that getting a good score in TEF is going to be a hard job. So, since I have already maxed out on my IELTS score and my work experience, this seems to be the only option left for me to increase my score and gain a skill at the same time. Therefore, I am definitely going to give it a shot and see if I take a fancy to it. My current profile is valid till June next year, so, I will try to prepare for atleast 6-7 months before I take the test, so, that should still give me a chance at 5-6 draws after the updated score.

I am a working professional with an extremely busy schedule and I will try to join an institute but it will be easier for me to pay somebody online and learn at my own pace and time if there exists such a service. So, can someone guide me on where to start. Meanwhile, I am preparing a list of all the french movies I have seen with subtitles. It should be fun.

Regards
Sahil

 

[betty44]

My intentions were not to discourage any one but to give a clear point of view. I have been studying french for 7 moths now so im talking from experience. I have tested mymelf and I am level A2 almost B1 hopefully reached the B2 level by the end of the year. I study about 3 to 4 hours a day. 1 hour of listening to french radio or french tv. After I bought the tef prearation guides and will start preparing myself soon. The tef is not a free test one s got to pay for it so if you are goin to spend your money on it you gotta make sure will acheive the B2 level or you will be wasting your money, time and get no points

 

[LokiJr01]

Learning French from scratch with the intention to claim additional points is a bit of a stretch, but not impossible, especially for someone who really wants to learn the language.

On another matter, can you guys recommend a good resource to learn French and test your progress? (I know there are a lot out there)

 

[Rohit Chhabra]

Hello All,

My CRS score is 456 and it's hard to say how long it will take for that to be good enough for an ITA. So, rather than hoping and waiting, I was thinking of making the best use of time and going in for a second language test to increase my score. I have never studied French in my entire life before this but I consider myself a good learner, so, can someone please guide me as to how long should I study before taking the test. Also, what is the reasonably minimum number of points (considering I am a beginner in french) I can increase by going down this path. Furthermore, can someone tell me sources to prepare for this exam.

Regards
Sahil

Hey Sahil, I'm in a similar situation & since morning, I was thinking about going down the same path. How did it work out for you eventually? Did you continue learning French after getting PR?

 

[Jatinder_singh]

Hey Sahil, I'm in a similar situation & since morning, I was thinking about going down the same path. How did it work out for you eventually? Did you continue learning French after getting PR?

I am also in the same boat.

 

[Jatinder_singh]

I am also in the same boat.

Pls Suggest what should I do

 

[Jatinder_singh]

What is the difference TCF and TEF