--- title: "TCF and TEF Canada study planner" description: "Count the weeks to your test date, see the study hours that leaves per week, and which preparation tier fits the time you actually have." canonical: https://francaisprep.com/tools/study-planner last-updated: 2026-10-06 --- [Free tool](/tools) # TCF and TEF Canada study planner Put in your test date, your weakest ability today, and the hours you will genuinely study each week. The tool works out whether the calendar supports the target you have in mind, or whether something has to give. It uses a rule of thumb of 120 hours per level. By [Adèle Sason](/about), Français Prep · Updated 6 October 2026 Your test date If you have not booked yet, use the month you are aiming for. Hours a week you will really do2 hours4 hours6 hours8 hours12 hours Be honest rather than optimistic. A plan built on hours you will not do is not a plan. Your weakest ability today, and your target Now 45678910 Target 45678910 Pick a test date and your weakest current level to see how the calendar actually looks. The 120 hours per level this uses is a planning rule of thumb, not a measured figure, and it varies enormously with how much French you already use day to day. Treat the output as a sanity check on your calendar, not a promise about your result. ![Adèle, the native French teacher who runs Français Prep](/_next/image?url=%2Fadele.png&w=3840&q=75) Not sure which of this you actually need? A 15-minute video call works out which of your four abilities is furthest from the level your application needs. It is free, and some candidates leave with a plan and no purchase. Adèle Sason · Native French teacher - every class, every correction [Book the free call](/book) This planner does arithmetic on numbers you supply. It does not know your French, it cannot see your practice papers, and it has no view on whether your target is the right one. If the output surprises you in either direction, that is a good reason to have someone look at an actual writing sample rather than to trust the calculator. ## Why candidates run out of time The usual failure is not laziness. It is booking a test date first, because seats are scarce and the date feels like commitment, and only then working out what the gap actually is. By the time the arithmetic gets done the date is fixed, often paid for, and the plan has to be squeezed into whatever weeks are left. The second failure is spreading effort evenly. Four abilities, four equal blocks of study, feels fair and is usually wrong. Since your file is read on the weakest ability, hours moved from your strongest section to your weakest are worth more, sometimes several times more, even though it is the less enjoyable way to study. ## What to do with the answer If the tool says workable, the risk is consistency rather than volume. Four hours a week for twelve weeks beats [sixteen hours in the fortnight before the exam](/blog/is-one-month-enough-tcf-tef), because the productive skills need repetition and feedback rather than cramming. If it says tight or worse, you have three levers and only three: move the date, raise the hours, or lower the target. Work out which one is genuinely available before you spend money. Then check where you actually stand with the [score converter](/tools/score-converter). Questions ## About the exam study planner ### Where does the 120 hours per level figure come from? It is a planning rule of thumb used widely in language teaching, not a measured result from our students, and we would rather say so than dress it up. Real numbers vary enormously: a candidate who already works in French moves far faster than one who studies alone in the evenings. Use it to sanity-check a calendar, not to predict a score. ### Why does it ask for my weakest ability rather than my overall level? Because that is the ability your file is read on. Express Entry converts each of the four abilities separately and works from the lowest one, so the distance you need to travel is the distance from your weakest ability to your target, not from your average. ### What if I have less than 4 weeks? Then the honest answer is that you are not going to move a level, and the tool says so. Short runways are still worth using: learning the exam format, practising under the clock and finding out where you actually stand are all achievable in a few weeks, and any of them can be the difference between a wasted sitting and a useful one. ### Should I book the exam first or the preparation first? Book an assessment before you book the exam. Test centre seats are paid for and often non-refundable, and the most expensive mistake candidates make is booking a date that was never realistic. Fifteen minutes of assessment costs nothing and usually settles the question. ### The tool says my plan does not add up. Is it wrong? It might be. It knows four numbers about you and nothing else. If you are about to move to a French-speaking environment, take unpaid leave, or you already understand far more than you can produce, the arithmetic here will understate you. That is exactly the kind of thing a placement call sorts out in a few minutes. ## Keep reading - [TCF Canada preparation course 2026: from CA$9.99/week](/tcf-canada-course) - [How to pass the TCF Canada in 2026: there is no pass mark](/how-to-pass-tcf-canada) - [NCLC 7 on the TCF Canada 2026: 458 listening, 453 reading](/nclc-7) NEXT STEP ## Find out where your French actually stands Book a short assessment with Adèle: one writing task, one speaking task, and an honest plan for the weeks you have left before the exam. [Book an assessment](/book)[See the course tiers](/pricing) --- For agents: site index https://francaisprep.com/llms.txt, developer access https://francaisprep.com/developers, and TCF or TEF to NCLC conversion over a plain GET at https://api.francaisprep.com/v1/score/convert?exam=tcf_canada&listening=512&reading=470&writing=12&speaking=11 (exam is tcf_canada or tef_canada).