TCF Canada expression écrite: the three tasks, timed and marked
Sixty minutes, three tasks, one mark out of 20 that becomes your NCLC writing level. Here is what each task asks for, what the marking criteria reward, the structures to walk in with, and the mistakes that cost candidates the most points.
- Three tasks, 60 minutes, one mark out of 20
- Marked by Adèle against the published criteria
- Written for candidates targeting NCLC 7 and above
The TCF Canada expression écrite is a 60-minute written test made of three tasks that get harder as you go: a short practical message of 60 to 120 words, a piece written for a readership you do not know of 120 to 150 words, and a comparison of two short texts that disagree, plus your own position, in 120 to 180 words.
It produces a single mark out of 20, and that mark is what converts into your NCLC writing level for Express Entry. Most candidates lose points on the third task and on the clock rather than on grammar, which is why this page spends more time on task structure and timing than on verb tables.
The three expression écrite tasks
The three tasks are sat back to back inside one 60-minute block. You choose how to split the hour, which is itself part of the test.
| Task | What the instruction asks for | Length and suggested timing |
|---|---|---|
| Tâche 1 - a short practical message60 to 120 words | You write to one person you already know: a friend, a neighbour, a colleague, a landlord. You give news, describe a situation, invite, apologise, ask for something or explain a change of plan. Everyday register, one clear purpose, one reader. | 60 to 120 words. Budget about 15 of your 60 minutes, including one minute to reread it. |
| Tâche 2 - writing for a readership120 to 150 words | You write for people you have never met: a forum post, a blog entry, a letter to a magazine, a message to a group. You recount an experience or a situation and take a position on it, so the text has to stand on its own without the reader knowing you. | 120 to 150 words. Budget about 20 minutes, and leave the last two for agreements and verb endings. |
| Tâche 3 - compare two texts, then take a side120 to 180 words | You are given two short texts on the same subject that reach different conclusions. You restate both positions in your own words, then give a reasoned point of view. This is a comparison task with a personal conclusion, not a free essay on the theme. | 120 to 180 words. Budget about 25 minutes. This is the task to protect time for, and the one candidates most often hand in unfinished. |
Scroll the table sideways to see both columns.
A skeleton for each task you can hold in your head
Under exam pressure the structure is what goes first. These are skeletons, not model answers to memorise: examiners recognise a recycled opening immediately, and a template that ignores the instruction costs you the first criterion on the grid.
Tâche 1
60 to 120 words
- A greeting fitted to the reader the instruction names (Salut Léa, or Bonjour Madame Roy,).
- One sentence saying why you are writing at all.
- Two or three sentences of concrete detail: what happened, when, where.
- The request, the proposal or the apology, stated plainly in one sentence.
- A closing line and a sign-off in the same register as the greeting.
Tâche 2
120 to 150 words
- An opening line that names the subject and signals your angle on it.
- The experience or situation, told in the past, anchored with a date, a place or a number.
- What you take from it, with one connector doing genuine logical work.
- One sentence acknowledging the opposite view, so the text is not a monologue.
- A closing line addressed to the readership: a question, or an invitation to react.
Tâche 3
120 to 180 words
- One sentence naming the subject and the fact that the two texts reach different conclusions.
- The first text’s position in your own words, with the one piece of support it leans on.
- The second text’s position, same treatment, introduced by a contrast connector.
- Your own position, with one concrete reason rather than three vague ones.
- One nuance or limit, so the conclusion does not read as a slogan.
What the examiner is actually looking at
Your three tasks are marked against the same families of criteria. Knowing them changes what you do with your last five minutes.
| Criterion | What earns marks | What costs marks |
|---|---|---|
| Doing what the instruction says | The same task type, the same purpose and the same reader the instruction names. Tâche 3 answered as a comparison of the two texts, tâche 1 answered as a message to one person. | Answering the nearby question you would rather answer, dropping one of the two source texts, or expanding tâche 1 into an essay. |
| Register and reader | One pronoun held from start to finish, a greeting and a sign-off that suit the reader, formality that matches a forum post rather than a formal letter. | Sliding between tu and vous inside one text, or opening a note to a friend with the formulas of a business letter. |
| Coherence and cohesion | One idea per paragraph, connectors that carry real logic (d’une part, en revanche, ce qui explique que), and a final sentence that closes the text instead of stopping it. | A single undivided block of text, or connectors sprinkled as decoration with no logical relation behind them. |
| Range and accuracy of vocabulary | Precise words for the topic, spelled correctly, and reformulation in your own words when you restate a source text. | Lifting phrases straight out of the tâche 3 texts, or one all-purpose word carrying the whole paragraph. |
| Grammatical control | Tenses that stay consistent inside a narration, agreements checked, pronouns that refer to something, and at least some structures beyond simple sentences. | Past narration drifting between passé composé and présent, and adjective or past-participle agreements left unchecked. |
| Length | Inside the range printed for that task, with the longest task still finished. | Well under the minimum, which leaves too little text to demonstrate anything; or far over it, which eats the minutes the next task needed. |
Scroll the table sideways to see both columns.
What your writing mark is worth in NCLC levels
Your expression écrite mark converts to a single NCLC writing level, and that level is what earns CRS points. Only the writing column is filled in here; the other three sections are on the TCF Canada score chart.
| NCLC level | TCF Canada expression écrite (mark out of 20) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Listening | Reading | Speaking | Writing | |
| NCLC 10 | - | - | - | 16-20 |
| NCLC 9 | - | - | - | 14-15 |
| NCLC 8 | - | - | - | 12-13 |
| NCLC 7 Level highlighted on this pageThe level most Express Entry profiles are aiming for | - | - | - | 10-11 |
| NCLC 6 | - | - | - | 8-9 |
| NCLC 5 | - | - | - | 6-7 |
| NCLC 4 | - | - | - | 4-5 |
Scroll the table sideways to see all four abilities.
The four mistakes that cost the most points
Adèle sees the same four patterns in the writing candidates send her, and none of them is really about grammar.
Treating tâche 3 as an opinion essay
The third task hands you two texts that disagree. If your answer never shows what each of them claims, you miss the criterion the task exists to test, however good your French is.
Spending half the hour on tâche 1
Tâche 1 is the shortest and the most tempting to over-polish. Candidates who write it slowly reach the hardest task with twelve minutes left and hand in something unfinished.
One register for three different readers
The same neutral semi-formal voice for a note to a friend, a public forum post and a comparison of two texts reads as a memorised template. Match the pronoun, the greeting and the closing to the reader named in the instruction.
Leaving no time to reread
Two minutes per task spent on agreements, verb endings and gender is worth more than two extra sentences. The same accord errors turn up on almost every paper Adèle marks.
Timed, by hand, then marked
The writing paper does not test what you know about French. It tests what you can produce in a fixed number of minutes, to a set length, on a subject you have not seen before. Practice that removes the clock has removed the thing being tested.
So the loop is deliberately narrow: write one task to time, hand it in, get it back marked against the same criteria the examiners use, then rewrite only the part that lost the marks. Volume matters far less than whether anything you wrote was ever read by someone who could tell you why it scored what it did.
You register with a test centre, not with us
The TCF Canada is administered by France Éducation International through approved test centres. You book a session with a centre directly, and the expression écrite is sat as part of the full TCF Canada, alongside the listening, reading and speaking sections. Each centre sets its own calendar, its own seat count and its own price in local currency, which is why the answers below have to come from your centre rather than from us.
One question worth asking at registration: whether your centre runs the expression écrite on paper or on screen. It changes how you should practise, and it is the single most common surprise our candidates report on test day.
TCF Canada expression écrite: common questions
How long is the TCF Canada expression écrite?
How many words do I have to write?
What writing mark do I need for NCLC 7?
Which task do candidates struggle with most?
Is the expression écrite handwritten or typed?
Can I use a dictionary?
Do spelling mistakes matter?
Can Adèle mark my writing before the exam?
Can I retake only the expression écrite?
Writing improves when someone marks it
Every tier includes marked writing tasks. If the expression écrite is the section standing between you and your target NCLC level, the one-to-one tier exists for exactly that.
Self-paced
The full lesson library plus timed practice tests for all four sections, worked on your own schedule.
Start self-pacedCA$149one-timeOne payment, no subscription. Lifetime access to the library.
- Lesson library for all four exam sections
- Timed full-length practice tests
- Model answers for every writing and speaking task
- NCLC score tracker
- Most popular
Small-group live
Weekly live classes with Adèle, in groups small enough that everyone speaks, plus marked writing and speaking.
Join a small groupCA$449per 8-week blockCovers all eight weeks, about CA$56 a class.
- Everything in self-paced
- Weekly live class with Adèle
- Marked writing submissions every week
- Marked speaking recordings every week
One-to-one tutoring
Private sessions scheduled around your test date, with a study plan built from your diagnostic results.
Book one-to-oneCA$950per 10 sessionsCA$95 a session, booked around your test date.
- Everything in small-group live
- Private sessions scheduled around your test date
- Study plan built from your diagnostic test
- Unlimited marked writing and speaking during your block
Not sure which tier fits? Book a free 15-minute video call.
Prices are in Canadian dollars and include any tax that applies. Exam registration fees are paid directly to your test centre and are not included in any tier.
Preparation built around the exam you are actually sitting
Four things every tier includes, whether you study on your own or work with Adèle every week.
A native French teacher marks your work
Adèle reads every writing task and listens to every recording, then tells you which specific mistakes are costing you the most points.
Timed practice in the real exam format
You practise each section under the clock, in the order and the length you will meet on test day, so the paper itself is never the surprise.
Every result mapped to an NCLC level
Practice results are converted to NCLC levels using the published conversion tables, so you always know how far you are from the level your profile needs.
Study from anywhere, in your timezone
Lessons run online for candidates in Morocco, Algeria, Cameroon, Senegal, France and Canada. If you cannot attend live, the recording and the correction still reach you.
What we promise, and what we will never claim
Your result is decided by official examiners we have no contact with, so no honest preparation service can promise you a score. What we can commit to is the work: the corrections, the practice papers and the teaching hours you paid for.
What we do not claim
- We do not guarantee a TCF Canada or TEF Canada score, an NCLC level, or a number of CRS points.
- We do not register you for the exam, and we have no influence over marking, exam dates or seat availability.
- We are an independent preparation service, not an examiner and not an official test centre.
Our commitment, in writing
- Every writing and speaking task you submit is marked by Adèle herself.
- Prices are in Canadian dollars and include any tax that applies. Exam registration is never included: that fee goes to your test centre.
- We will never invent a testimonial, a statistic or a pass rate.
Send Adèle one expression écrite and see where you stand
One timed task, marked against the criteria on this page: the mark out of 20, the criterion that cost you the most, and a rewritten version of your weakest paragraph.
Prices are in Canadian dollars and include any tax that applies. Exam registration is paid to your test centre and is never included.