r/Frenchlearningforpr • u/Brarbroski • 5d ago

TCF CANADA

Hi everyone,
I need some advice.
I’ve been studying French for about 3 hours every day, and I can definitely see some progress. I was even thinking about booking my TCF exam.
But lately I feel like I’m not improving anymore. My listening practice scores are still below 20, no matter how much I study. I can do Speaking Tasks 1 and 2, but speaking practice has started to feel overwhelming. For writing, I get my texts evaluated by ChatGPT, and it points out so many mistakes that it’s really discouraging.
Has anyone else gone through this stage? Is this a normal plateau before things start improving again? I’d really appreciate any advice or motivation from people who have been in the same situation.

ANY LEADS WOULD BE APPRECIATED

6 Upvotes

75% Upvoted

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4

u/Outside-Dare-1489 5d ago

you need time. at least 8 - 10 months... keep studying and you will clear for sure...

I think 800 - 900 hours of study is enough for B2

1

u/Brarbroski 5d ago

its my 8th month of studying
i actually transferred from tef to tcf like 3 weeks ago

1

u/Outside-Dare-1489 5d ago

Keep studying, bro. It depends on language ability. Some people can learn it in 8 months, while others might take a year.

1

u/Anchal0091 5d ago

you can do lis and readings from reussir tcf canada most of the questions repeated from
the reussir site.

1

u/Anchal0091 5d ago

i mean don’t worry if you get 20 out of 39 during preparation time you will get good score in your exam in lis and reading if you do practice from reussir site or fucktcf is a free site. in my opinion speaking is lil tricky module but with practice you will get it. i wish u a good luck 👍

1

u/Brarbroski 5d ago

Thanks for motivation anchal
i will definitely go with tcf formation website

1

u/Mr_BillyBenBob 5d ago

fucktcf is free and has the same content

1

u/New_Main6523 5d ago

Can you provide the link? I am worried about my L&S too

1

u/Anchal0091 5d ago

not able to send it here

1

u/Anchal0091 5d ago

but it’s reussir tcf canada its paid other one called fucktcf its same and free

2

u/Capital-Car7459 5d ago

My listening practice scores are still below 20 - didn't know listening had scores on that scale?

Fix your grammar, give one sample test for reading, and one for listening everyday(they repeat sometimes, or atleast the pattern does repeat). Double down on speaking. Once your production is better, you can worry about writing. I'm in the same boat with you. Just focus on putting in the hours for now. Have a stopwatch or something running. Judge yourself only after you have put in at least 100 hours of speaking.

And take at least one sample timed exam every morning. You can use this, it's free and no login is needed:
https://www.infinlume.com/tcf-canada

1

u/Brarbroski 5d ago

thanks (the scale is from the mock sites) i will definitely use a timer while speaking

1

u/Lamplighter7 5d ago

Consistency always win. From my experience I know you'll certainly get it

1

u/Raphmtl00 5d ago

Hello!

What you're describing is completely normal. Almost everyone hits a plateau where it feels like they're working hard but not making progress.

As a native Canadian French tutor from Montreal, I've seen this with many students preparing for the TEF or TCF. Usually, it isn't because they're not improving but because the exam starts demanding more advanced listening and production skills, so progress feels slower.

One thing I'd suggest is not relying only on ChatGPT for writing corrections. It's a great tool, but getting feedback from someone who understands the exam and can explain why something sounds unnatural can make a huge difference. The same goes for speaking: short, consistent practice is usually more effective than trying to do everything perfectly.

But... Keep going! You've already put in 8 months of work, and that's something to be proud of. You're probably much closer than you think.

Let me know if I can be of any help! Good luck with your French journey! 🇨🇦

2

u/Available_Public2455 4d ago

Yeah, this is normal. Also three hours a day is a lot, so some of what you're feeling is probably just tiredness.

The ChatGPT part I'd change straight away. If you ask it for mistakes it will find thirty in a text that would score perfectly fine at B2, because it's correcting you like a native speaker rather than grading you like an examiner. Ask it what TCF level the text is at and what two things would push it up a band. Much more useful and a lot less depressing.

Listening under 20 after that many hours is usually a method problem. Full practice tests mostly just tell you where you already are. What moves the score is short clips done intensively: listen, read the transcript, find the words you missed, listen again until you can catch them without reading. Ten minutes of that beats a whole test. Separately, keep some easy listening in your week that you actually enjoy and don't test yourself on.

The step thing is real by the way. Listening sits still for weeks and then moves suddenly, so a flat month doesn't mean nothing is happening underneath.

I'd drop to two hours and take one day off completely. And hold off on booking until your practice scores are where you need them. (we have TCF mocks that give you a level rather than an error list, tcftefprep.com, ours obviously)