TEF Practice reading benchmarks

Name: TEF Practice reading benchmark, 29 October 2026
Creator: TEF Practice
Published: 2026-10-29

Analysis by TEF Practice · Snapshot: 29 October 2026

How 89 learners scored on reading mock 1, which parts cost them the most points and how the numbers were counted. These are results on our practice questions, not official TEF scores.

Learners: 89
Average score: 24.5/40
Median score: 26/40
Middle half: 19 to 31

Where does your mock 1 score land?

Move the slider to your reading mock 1 score out of 40. The chart shows how the 89 learners in this snapshot spread across the same 40 questions, on their first timed attempt.

Your reading mock 1 score

Use your first timed attempt, before reviewing the solutions. Everyone in this chart is on their first try.

26/40 is at or above the median of 26/40 and below the upper quartile of 31/40.

37 of 89 learners (41.6%) scored 20 to 29.

Reading mock 1 scores, 89 learnersLearners in each score range. The 30–40 range holds 11 scores, so its column is a little wider. The band underneath is the middle half of the group.

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Show the numbers

First timed submissions with no earlier assignment of these questions, n = 89
Score out of 40	Learners	Share
0 to 9	6	6.7%
10 to 19	17	19.1%
20 to 29	37	41.6%
30 to 40	29	32.6%

Which reading parts were harder?

The paper starts with everyday documents and ends with press articles. Each rate divides correct answers by every question assigned in that part, so it is a question-level rate, not the share of people who passed the part. It does not establish official difficulty levels for these parts.

Everyday documentsQuestions 1 to 7
84%
Text completionQuestions 8 to 17
56%
Texts and chartsQuestions 18 to 22
70%
Professional documentsQuestions 23 to 32
59%
Press articlesQuestions 33 to 40
46%

Show the numbers

Reading mock 1, with wrong and unanswered questions scored zero
Reading part	Questions	Correct / assigned	Correct
Everyday documents	1 to 7	523 / 623	83.9%
Text completion	8 to 17	494 / 890	55.5%
Texts and charts	18 to 22	311 / 445	69.9%
Professional documents	23 to 32	522 / 890	58.7%
Press articles	33 to 40	328 / 712	46.1%

How much do unanswered questions cost?

About one answer in ten was unanswered or invalid: 369 of 3,560, counting early submissions and answers cut off by the timer. Learners who answered at least 36 questions scored higher, but they are a different group, so the gap cannot be read as the effect of answering more.

All 3,560 answers from 89 learners

Correct: 61.2%2,178 answers
Wrong: 28.5%1,013 answers
Unanswered or invalid: 10.4%369 answers

Middle half and median, out of 40

All 89 learnersAverage 24.5/40
192631
76 who answered at least 36Average 27.1/40
2327.532

Track two numbers after every mock: your correct total and how many questions you left unanswered. Reviewing wrong answers and fixing your pacing solve different problems.

How we calculated the benchmark

Each learner counts once, on their first timed attempt at these 40 questions. The listening benchmarks follow the same rules.

1
111 submissions completed timed mock 1 reading forms
2
102 learners made those submissions; their earliest sitting is kept
3
89 learners remain after excluding 13 who had seen these questions before

Which records were counted

We read retained signed-in practice records before 12:00 Vancouver time on 29 October 2026. Known owner and test accounts, guests and deleted records were excluded. Only completed timed-mode sessions that assigned all 40 reading questions from mock 1 qualified, including the reading part of a full mock.

Each learner's earliest eligible sitting was kept. Learners with an earlier retained assignment of any question in this form were excluded, leaving 89. Earlier guest practice, removed records or exposure elsewhere may still be missing.

How scores and quartiles were calculated

A correct answer received one point. Wrong, invalid and unanswered choices received zero, and the score denominator was always 40. Quartiles use the nearest-rank method. The median averages the two middle scores when there is an even number of learners.

Retained choices were checked against the current answer key. Historical sessions did not preserve immutable question snapshots, so these are reconstructed results rather than preserved original grades.

Limits of this sample

The sample is small and self-selected. Home practice is unsupervised, and outside help and real working time cannot be verified. Percentiles may shift as the group changes. This snapshot applies to the documented mock 1 content, not automatically to revised questions or other mocks.

Of 600 observed reading questions across 15 mocks, only mock 1's 40 questions reached our internal screening floor of 30 first-answer learners per question. That floor permits an initial review; it does not establish reliable official calibration.

What the question review found

All 40 answer keys had a defensible answer supported by the text. An in-session editorial review and item analysis found a spread from basic recognition to inference. Two priority follow-ups are clearer access-rule wording and more plausible alternatives for the final press question. These need a separately versioned pilot with fresh results.

Difficulty and quality are different. An easy introductory question can be useful; a low correct rate can also reflect unclear wording. The editorial review was AI assisted. Independent TEF teacher calibration remains outstanding.

Download the data (JSON)

Includes the form fingerprint, part totals and both groups. No learner identities, response histories, individual answer choices or answer keys.

Can this predict an official TEF score?

Not yet. We have not established how these practice results relate to official TEF Canada scores.

What this benchmark shows

How your mock 1 result compares with other learners on the same 40 questions
Which reading parts cost this group the most points
How much unanswered questions pull a timed score down

What it cannot tell you

Your official TEF score. CCI converts raw correct-answer totals into calibrated scores that account for test difficulty.
Your NCLC level. The TEF to NCLC tables apply to official scores, not to the percentages on this page.

CCI's official reading sample booklet says its sample questions do not reflect the real test's difficulty, so we use it to check format and task coverage only. The next validation step is to pair learners' fixed-form practice results with their recent official TEF results.

Read how CCI calculates TEF Canada results and the official examination conditions: reading has 40 questions in 60 minutes, with wrong and unanswered questions receiving zero. Once you have an official score, convert it with the TEF to NCLC tables or the score calculator.

Take a full reading mock for free and see where you fit

Reading mock 1 is the same 40 questions and 60-minute timer the 89 learners on this page took. Finish it, then put your score on the chart above.

What you get

40 questions across all five reading parts
The real 60-minute timer
Your score, then every solution to review

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