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Score conversion

CLB to CEFR: there is no official conversion

Canada scores language on the Canadian Language Benchmarks, called NCLC in French. Europe uses the CEFR. No authority converts between them: not the immigration department, not the Council of Europe, not the body that owns the benchmarks. What exists is one research report, and it is worth knowing exactly what it claims.

Checked August 8, 2026

The 2018 research alignment, as its authors reported it
CEFRCLB / NCLC
C212
C110, 11
B28, 9
B15, 6, 7
A23, 4
A12
Pre-A11

This is a research recommendation, not a conversion table. The authors put three of the twelve benchmarks in genuine doubt, note that the relationship is clearer at lower levels than at higher ones, and warn against expecting a simple proportional fit between the two frameworks.

Where these numbers come from

Start with what does not exist. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada publishes charts converting each approved exam to a CLB level, and the CEFR does not appear anywhere in them. The benchmarks and the CEFR were built in parallel, in near-total ignorance of each other, on different methods.

What does exist is one report commissioned by the Centre for Canadian Language Benchmarks and written by Brian North and Enrica Piccardo, dated December 2018. It compared the two frameworks by content analysis and by having trained raters benchmark real performance samples, then recommended the alignment in the table above.

Treat it as background reading, not as evidence. It is fine for deciding roughly which CEFR materials suit a CLB 6 learner. It is not something to put in front of an admissions office or a visa officer, because neither of them recognizes it and the report never claimed they should.

Sources

How our own exam reports a level

Fennec360 Certified runs its own free CEFR exam, scored out of 100. These are the bands it uses. They are a separate thing from the tables above: our exam has its own questions, its own scoring, and its own scale.

LevelIn plain wordsOur score
A1Beginner0-34
A2Elementary35-49
B1Intermediate50-64
B2Upper Intermediate65-79
C1Advanced80-89
C2Proficiency90-100

This is not a conversion. A score on our exam does not become a score on any exam named on this page, and no exam board recognizes it as one. What it gives you is your own CEFR level, from a full exam you can sit today.

Questions people actually ask

So is there any official CLB to CEFR equivalence?

No. The immigration department's charts map exams to CLB levels and never mention the CEFR. The one alignment that exists is a research study, published by the body that owns the benchmarks but never adopted as an operational conversion.

Can I tell a university my CLB 8 is a B2?

You can say a research alignment places CLB 8 at B2, and you should say it that way. What you cannot do is present it as an equivalence, because nobody official backs one and a university that checks will find the same thing you would.

Which exams actually give a CLB level?

For Canadian immigration, the approved ones are CELPIP and IELTS General Training in English, and TEF Canada and TCF Canada in French. Each has its own official chart from the immigration department, per skill.

Why do I keep seeing CLB 7 called B2?

Because it sits on a boundary. The research put CLB 7 at a strong B1 with elements of B2, and explicitly answered the question by saying that having elements of B2 does not make it B2. Copies of the table have rounded it up ever since.

Where does the free Fennec360 exam fit in?

It gives you a CEFR level, free, in about 50 minutes. It has nothing to do with the CLB and is not accepted for Canadian immigration, which only takes the four exams listed above.

Not sure which level you are at yet?

Take a free CEFR exam and find out. About 50 minutes, four languages, no appointment and no card.

Take the free exam

Our exam gives you a CEFR level and a certificate anyone can verify. It does not replace any official exam.