For the following reasons:

• personal: this test focuses on French knowledge (oral and written comprehension or expression ), with a view to potential fluency; it is in some ways a linguistic snapshot of the level of French at the time the candidate takes the test;

• professional: it provides objective information that a candidate can present to an institution with a view to recruitment or promotion;

• academic: it provides, according to international standards, a reliable evaluation of the linguistic abilities that will be taken into account for admission into a higher learning establishment (universities, colleges, art schools, architecture schools, business schools, etc.).

Note: candidates wishing to apply (white, green or yellow form for the demande d'admission préalable (preliminary admission application) - DAP) must apply for a specific version of the TCF, called the TCF for DAP. Click on this link for more information www.ciep.fr/en/tcf-dap [2].