This time, no introduction; no side talk; straight to the point. Here is how the TCF (Test de Connaissance en Françcais) went for me.

The exam had 4 parts overall:

I- Listening (Comprehension orale):

This part consists of listening to 29 short passages ONLY ONCE and choosing an answer out of 4 choices for each passage. The hard part here is that some of them were in some unusual accent or had some noise or music in the background or even were like a phone call with bad reception. Anything that could make us get annoyed or worse, lose concentration. The listening part lasted 25 minutes.

II- Reading (Comprehension écrite):

Here we had to answer 29 questions about 29 short-ish texts in only 45 minutes. I think you got the idea!

III- Writing (Expression écrite):

In this part, we were asked to write three essays. The first one should have between 60 and 120 words, the second between 120 and 150 and the third... well that one was another story itself. It was an argumentative essay that had two parts, one between 40 and 80 words (and I'm not sure if the introduction is included) and the second had between 80 and 120 words. I made sure to respect the word count in the first two essays, then I lost control during the third. I actually barely finished it to proofread or edit or check the word count.

IV- Speaking (Expression orale):

Normally this part should be separated from the others. Unlike the other parts, the candidates pass this one individually. So people get to rest between the first three parts in the morning and the last one in the afternoon. But not me. I only had 15 or 20 minutes of rest. But I was actually happy about that. Because I had other appointments in the afternoon.

The speaking test had three parts. 2 minutes of introduction first. Then 2 minutes for preparation and 3.5 minutes of discussing a given subject, and finally 4.5 minutes discussing another random subject with no time for preparation first.

My expectations:

• For listening, I want a C1 and I think I can get it.
• For reading, I also want a C1 but I expect a B2 instead.
• For writing, I can only wish for a B2. I'll probably get only a B1.
• For speaking, I aimed for a C1 but I think I'll get a B2.

That would give me a B2 overall, unfortunately.

That would be proof that English has become my second language, not French.