TEF / TCF Canada to CLB Calculator

Enter your four section scores to see the CLB (NCLC) level each one converts to, which of them governs your eligibility, and how many CRS points your French is worth for Express Entry. Nothing is uploaded and no account is needed — the conversion runs in your browser.

Every ability is reported out of 699.

ReadingCompréhension écrite0–699WritingExpression écrite0–699ListeningCompréhension orale0–699SpeakingExpression orale0–699

Your English level for the CRS bonus

How to read your result

Your four abilities are converted independently, and then the lowest of the four governs. This is the single most misunderstood part of the process. If you score NCLC 9 in reading and NCLC 6 in speaking, you are treated as NCLC 6 for eligibility — not as an average of the two, and not as your best result. There is no rounding up and no trading a strong skill against a weak one.

That rule is why targeted practice beats general study once you are close to a threshold. A candidate sitting at NCLC 7 in three abilities and NCLC 6 in the fourth gains nothing from more reading practice; the entire benefit is in the one weak skill. Find your weakest ability in the table above and put your hours there.

TEF Canada score bands

Every ability is reported out of 699. Each ability is converted on its own scale, so the same raw number means different levels in different sections — 400 is NCLC 7 in reading but NCLC 8 in writing.

CLB / NCLC	Reading	Writing	Listening	Speaking
CLB 4	120–180	110–150	120–180	120–140
CLB 5	190–280	160–240	190–280	150–200
CLB 6	290–380	250–330	290–380	210–280
CLB 7	390–450	340–400	390–450	290–350
CLB 8	460–530	410–480	460–530	360–420
CLB 9	540–600	490–560	540–600	430–480
CLB 10+	610–699	570–699	610–699	490–699

TCF Canada score bands

Reading and listening are reported out of 699; writing and speaking are marked out of 20. Because the productive sections use a 20-point scale, the bands are much tighter — a single mark can move you a whole level, and full marks (20) cannot distinguish NCLC 9 from NCLC 10, which is why the table stops at 9+.

CLB / NCLC	Reading	Writing	Listening	Speaking
CLB 4	140–200	7–9	140–200	7–9
CLB 5	210–300	10–12	210–300	10–12
CLB 6	310–400	13–15	310–400	13–15
CLB 7	410–490	16–17	410–490	16–17
CLB 8	500–570	18–19	500–570	18–19
CLB 9	580–650	—	580–650	—
CLB 9+	—	20–20	—	20–20
CLB 10+	660–699	—	660–699	—

What your French is worth in CRS points

French earns points in two separate ways, and conflating them is a common source of disappointment. The additional French bonus below is the headline number. Separately, your first official language earns core points per ability, which are scored individually and depend on whether you have a spouse or common-law partner — not on your age. This calculator reports the bonus only; read the core rates off IRCC's grid, since they are revised more often.

Your French (all four abilities)	Your English	Additional CRS points
NCLC 7+	CLB 4 or lower, or no test	25
NCLC 7+	CLB 5 or higher	50

Two things follow from that table. First, 50 is the ceiling: once you hold NCLC 7 across all four abilities and CLB 5 English, pushing French to NCLC 9 adds nothing more to this bonus. Second, the bonus is all-or-nothing — NCLC 6 in one ability and NCLC 8 in the other three earns zero, because the lowest ability governs here too. For most candidates the cheapest points on the board are the jump from "no English test" to CLB 5 English, which doubles 25 into 50.

A worked example

A candidate sits TEF Canada and scores 420 reading, 350 writing, 445 listening, 310 speaking. Reading 420 lands in the 390–450 band, so NCLC 7. Writing 350 is inside 340–400, so NCLC 7. Listening 445 is NCLC 7. Speaking 310 falls in 290–350, NCLC 7. All four are at least 7, so the governing level is NCLC 7 and the French bonus applies. With CLB 5 English they claim 50 CRS points; with no English test, 25.

Change one number and the picture changes completely. Drop speaking to 285 and it becomes NCLC 6 — the governing level falls to 6, and the bonus goes to zero. Five marks in one section, fifty points on the board. That asymmetry is the argument for knowing your weakest ability precisely before you book the exam.

CLB or NCLC — which applies to me?

Both, depending on the language. CLB (Canadian Language Benchmarks) measures English; NCLC (Niveaux de compétence linguistique canadiens) measures French. They run on the same 1–12 scale and IRCC treats a given level as equivalent, so a French result reported as NCLC 7 counts as CLB 7 wherever a program states a CLB requirement. Because of that equivalence, most tools and guides — this one included — use "CLB" for both.

NCLC is not the same thing as NOC, the National Occupational Classification, which is the unrelated system of job codes used to describe your work experience. The abbreviations look similar and get mixed up constantly, including in published guides.

Before you rely on this

The conversion bands are approximations of IRCC's correspondence tables and the exact boundaries can shift between updates. This tool is for planning your study, not for completing an application. Confirm your own figures against the official language requirements and the CRS grid before acting, and take questions about your own profile to a lawyer or an authorised immigration consultant.

Rules as of 2026-07-26.