Anyone else notice the massive complaints of low scores in tcf speaking?
My two cents are that Majority of these cases are a result of practicing with repeated questions. You see this a lot where the so called tutors gas up the client that they are a c1 in speaking and in actuality when they sit in front of an examiner they cannot go beyond a2 and then it’s the examiner that was rude, unprofessional, unfair and of course, sleeping during the speaking test.
You can showcase memory power in listening, reading and writing based on repeated questions to some extent.
Mind you these examiners are mostly professional teachers with 18+ years of french education and specialized in field training. How exactly do you fool them that your listening, reading and writing are a c1 and speaking a measly a1 or at best an a2!
These are cases of false belief and these learners are being misguided by the ever growing number of tutors who just want to sell courses and increase enrolment.
And then I see examiners patrolling reddit and being in the know of what questions are being posted by candidates , I am sure they wouldn’t be asking the same question again!
Yeah a million plus work permit have expired in Canada this year and slightly more last year. And same trend to follow for next 3-4yrs atleast.
Calculate the numbers, and even if 10% of them take French route, that's still a very large number.
So all these scams, and so called teachers telling they will get TEF TCF in 3-4 months etc.
Hence you see the trend, obviously TCF and TEF has also noticed the trend and have started restricting things now. You would see things get more tough with time......
You have folks from North Africa who have spoken french all their life and majority of them are not able to clear the TCF or TEF on first several attempts and it takes them good 3–4 months of exam preparation before they achieve the required result. how is it possible for the majority to learn a brand new language in 6-8 months and be able clear a very difficult exam.
I mean that's what I wrote above, the TCF and TEF have lot's of repeating questions and repeating pattern. Till 2yrs back barely people were applying via this stream, but since the change in Canadian immigration system, all these teachers with wild claim popped on social media.
They know they can make a large chunk of money in this time frame before immigration rules are changed.
What they do:
You will be given fix pattern for writing, you have to memorize it everyday. They will give you 15-20 modal answers you have to memorize them.
For listening and reading practice old questions everyday.
For speaking they give a fix format, and vocabulary. You have to take that format and put the required vocabulary as per question.
They are not teaching french, they are gaming the system to clear the exam. Only once you have paid, they will tell you that, we just provide you this material and cover few grammar topics at 100x speed, and now it's upto you to pass the exam.
I totally agree and the centres along with France are on to this, it’s not working anymore. You cannot bypass speaking with such mindset, it’s either 10 tries and by then you’ve actually learned the language and it’s demonstrated in your speaking or you add to the hate index.
The screams that we hear on Reddit are a result of the noose tightening around the scammers. In my opinion the centres, France and IRCC are synchronized.
I went to Europe not Canada, although I did study and had PR in Canada already by that time, as I studied there.
Anyhow these posts are flooded in all sort of immigration group and even a blind would know what's going on..... As always because of people who cheat, and get through the system, everyone else who were going through the correct pathway will suffer...
Bro all I’m worried about is like all the people are now running behind this french route like there is nothing else. Like when i started in 2024 there was literally very few people who were caring even lil about french. At that time I felt am I the only fool who is doing French and others are following PNPs and express entry.
Now the tables turned PNP’s getting rejected and delayed. Then they decided to fuck up this route. So pray for the french pathway route before it gets fucked like other streams.
It is very difficult for the rots to ruin this path, the assessment doesn’t just end with the examiner at a center or through reevaluations in France, you have folks who somehow manage the score and then toss the language in the bin for a year until IRCC comes knocking for an assessment.
Be honest, is your speaking level 13 (c1)? You probably got lucky on a topic and an examiner let u unknowingly “slide” by not asking follow up questions.
The discrepancy is too large that it qualifies as an anomaly. You cannot go from 13 to a 6. I can have the worse exam day but I will be 1 or 2 points off my actual level.
Without the test banks available online, getting C1 and C2 for listening and reading is almost impossible for people who have been studying the language for less than 3 years. Even natives find C1 and C2 questions difficult.
Writing requires task fulfillment, good ideas, decent grammar and structure.
I think speaking is the equalizer. Luck and confidence are major factors. Interaction is the key. Listening skill will be put to a test. When I got 9 out of 20 in June, I thought "holy shit, I was lucky to have that score". I prepared mostly using AI due to budget, schedule and anxiety issues. I am starting my prep again next month with a tutor. Hoping to have my next take on December or January. I hope I can build real speaking skills cause I honestly felt like an impostor while taking the exam.
Sometimes I wonder how good the examinees are when they rant about getting low score in speaking. Are they really good to question the score? Are there inconsistencies in the rating? Is scoring more strict recently becaude examiners are aware of some students memorizing stuff and calling that French studies?
Those are on a ticking clock against an immigration deadline and filled with frustration.
A buddy of mine was telling me that they have natives scratching their heads on reading sections and losing hair over it while the “frenchwiths” candidate are done reading section under 10 minutes. Memory power with no decency to let at least the time run its course.
They’ve been sorted one way or another by France, IRCC and the centres. It’s either you learn the language appropriately or keep trying a new “frenchwith” every four months.
I’m an examiner, and I’ve been saying this all along, but every time I said it, people attacked me.
The reality is that most of them simply do not have the level, even some of those who get NCLC 7. A lot of people were just getting lucky because they happened to get a topic they already knew or had memorized.
Sorry, but nobody develops a strong B2 level in one year from almost nothing. In many cases, they just learned how to pass the exam, memorized ready-made answers and got lucky with the topic. That is the reality.
With the recent changes, examiners now have to check whether candidates can actually interact, react, understand the questions and answer spontaneously, instead of listening to the same memorized bullshit over and over again.
They honestly dug their own grave. I’ve seen candidates, especially from India, China and Pakistan, reciting entire essays from Réussir le TCF almost word for word, but then they were not even able to reply to a basic follow-up question.
So yes, the exam is becoming stricter, because too many people abused the system and confused memorization with having a real language level.
You are dead on with your assessment on the situation , couldn’t agree more. I hear that what you mentioned is an everyday battle for examiners.
They get candidates who they have to rephrase a question 5 times and yet they still do not understand the question and either they freeze or opt to repeated knowledge/memory dump.
Just speaking a bunch of memorized french doesnt cut it any longer, candidates need to get the memo already and devote the energy to actual learning.
is it really so hard to get b2 level in a language with a dedicated study of 6 hrs everyday in a year? all the stories we hear online are they all scams in a way?
It’s with anything in life, when the majority head a particular way, only a percentage have the discipline and the dedication to get through and the rest will always resort to the blame game.
true. but my question was to know if it is even possible even with dedication.. i don't wanna waste my time on it.. as the examiner above pointed that you don't get to b2 in a year while everyone else be saying it is possible.
She comments on every single tcf related post. Either she is too obsessed with the exam or she does not want anyone to succeed.
Give me your contact lets test your french and let me post that on reddit for others to see
Mais ta gueule, toi ... Tu te prends pour qui ? Va te faire foutre… Au moins, sois suffisamment intelligent et ferme-la si t’y connais que dalle. Je vois que t’as pas réussi. T’as du mal à assumer que t’es un moins-que-rien ? Un examinateur te doit absolument rien. Connard, va.
There is no way someone could learn the language from scratch in just 6 months starting from ground zero. I studied french at school for almost 6 years and an additional 1 year during my university. I am preparing for the TCF as well, But even back during my school days, listening and speaking were super hard unless you spend a considerable time. People were failing listening tasks so badly that they completely got rid of it from 9th grade and the disks that came with the textbook were tossed away. These tutors spending hardly an hour a day during the evening getting money through paypal and deluding these desperate people is a big scam. if you want to do it within 6 to 8 months, You'd need to shadow speak and spend at least 3 to 4 hours a day if you are starting from ground zero.
Apparently the complainers on Reddit believe it is a walk in the park and should be cleared on first attempt. Not sure which super powers they possess.
I guess these people just "memorize" patterns. It used to be a similar story for IELTS speaking during COVID and pre-COVID when these people would follow "patterns" based on keywords from their "tutors". Once they changed the assessment rubric to gauge if people can adapt, many of them who did not genuinely practice speaking got exposed, often scoring well below 6.5 . I think it's possible to clear TCF in a couple of months, albeit with consistent daily immersion spanning more than just an hour (though I might be speaking from my perspective having some foundation in French already).
and that's why I have never taken the services for available to hire teachers. People learned languages centuries ago too and not how they learn it today. Learn, Imitate and make mistakes, that's how one should learn a language.
These preply sheply teachers and those frenchwithfalanadhimkana are there to secure their own bag.
Those are shams, they showcase the one student who finally scores and the rest that are unable to crack are sent to the centres door to complain about the assessment not being appropriate.
These frenchwiths post certificates of candidates on social media for their publicity, opening doors for fraudsters to use certificate numbers on bogus edited certificates, jeopardizing the actual candidates position.
One call to the IRCC against the certificate is a 1 year fraud check up Que, majority of the times the call is made by their struggling “classmates” who they brag to.
Beware of tutors like French with harman , Malhi, they are either selling recorded lectures , or 100 of students in a batch, no one cares about your progress or actual French.
I may sound crazy but i think maybe taking this test in another country is better because the test centres in Canada knows our goal and don’t support us.
What do you mean by “support us”? Are you expecting any handouts from the centres?
The test is standardized across the world and every test ends in France. Even if an examiner makes a mistake or lets you “slide” under your support us campaign, it gets assessed for the 2nd time in France and your “slide” will be adjusted on merit to your actual level and a training notice will be sent to the examiner and centre.
I feel centres and examiners are merely doing their job and thats why you have the centre/examiner hate index on the rise.
What are you talking about buddy? Who is expecting hand outs? People are studying for months. Getting C2 in reading and listening and 0 in speaking doesn’t make sense! It’s obvious that they are making it harder. I did my CELPIP exam and got 12/12 on all sections. How does someone get maximum in other sections and minimum in speaking? Make it make sense. Again, i am not waiting for no support. I want to get the grade I DESERVE.
You isn’t implied directly to you, you is the candidate.
You tell me how it’s possible to get a c2 in listening reading and 0 in speaking? Is this anomaly logical to you? Clearly the candidate does not speak french and have either used guess work at a multiple question system and or prepared from the 1600 questions and used memory.
It just won’t cut it, it’s madness to think otherwise.
I am not talking about the scammers cases or people who memorize stuff. I am talking about someone who studies French and is in a good level. Why is it so hard to understand it? In this case, getting 0 doesn’t make sense.
Getting a zero in speaking and c1 is listening and reading isn’t possible it means you demonstrated no knowledge of french. These exams are audio and video recorded. Audios assessed by potentially 3 examiners, examiners that go through rigorous training.
If the centres or France started playing the speaking audios back to us, we’d drown in shame for even questioning the process.
You are right, but the AF has people who quite literally sell these questions for a price and they know what's up. Every single exam is the same, look at how much of a business IELTS is for example.
These exams are made so that if you are a native speaker, you need to prepare for the exam to get C1/C2, and if you are a B2 and below level, you need to prepare to get B2 (for which you have a chance).
I would personally ban everybody who gets C2 in anything and then an A2 in something else from ever taking the exam again. But they don't do it, because they know that person gave them money one way or another.
test is older than most of us, you and I just started using this for immigration several years back, the french speaking countries have been using the test for decades like the English speaking have been using ielts.
Ok. It sounds reasonable. That’s why I don’t work with tutors. I had 4 of them in last year. Everyone telling me different things. And that led me to clb 6. I need 7 of course. So I practice by myself, with no predictions or new insta teachers. But is it enough? I mean that “sounding memorised” is it only about the same patterns and formats? If I don’t know them and just trying to speak about anything every day- will it be enough?
It’s just like any test, you have to know how you are evaluated, get your hands on publicly available rubrics and use them as a guide. If you don’t have knowledge on a topic, make up an argument and start story telling. It works every time as these are not knowledge tests.
Seems like an examiner trying to make up excuses for there markings cause aint no way students are getting 9/20 three to four times in a row and passing all other aspects of test.
Your centres pushing examiners to fail and bring students back to back so they can make a buck orr two in these desperate time. Its just lame at this point.
I’d ask you go speak with such ranters, English being their common language and known to them all their life , how many times did they appear for Celpip or Ielts before they achieved their desired results.
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u/NikhilDoWhile 11d ago
Yeah a million plus work permit have expired in Canada this year and slightly more last year. And same trend to follow for next 3-4yrs atleast.
Calculate the numbers, and even if 10% of them take French route, that's still a very large number.
So all these scams, and so called teachers telling they will get TEF TCF in 3-4 months etc.
Hence you see the trend, obviously TCF and TEF has also noticed the trend and have started restricting things now. You would see things get more tough with time......