Every French certificate places you on the same six-level European scale, so the level matters more than the exam that awarded it. Here is what each one means in the life you will actually be living.
A1 — you can survive a transaction. Introduce yourself, ask for something in a shop, understand a slowly spoken address. Roughly 60 to 100 hours of study. Sometimes required for a spouse visa, almost never for a degree.
A2 — you can handle routine life. Open a bank account with help, follow a simple set of instructions, write a short message about something familiar. 160 to 200 hours. This is the level often needed for residence purposes rather than admission.
B1 — you can live there, not yet study there. Handle most situations that arise while travelling, describe experiences, give reasons, follow a clear discussion about familiar things. 350 to 400 hours. B1 is the level several French-language pathway and foundation years accept, and it is also the common requirement for naturalisation-type purposes.
B2 — the working level for a French-taught degree. Follow a lecture, argue a point of view, read specialised articles in your own field, write a structured argument. 550 to 650 hours. Most French-taught bachelor's and master's programmes ask for B2, and this is the target for nearly everyone reading this.
C1 — the demanding programmes and anything clinical. Follow rapid speech with implied meaning, write well-structured complex text, use the language flexibly and almost without searching. 800 to 1,000 hours.
C2 — the level of an educated native user. Rarely required for study.
What this means for your plan. From no French to B2 is a genuine one-to-two year project for a working adult, and no course shortens it much — it is contact hours. If your programme is taught in French and you are starting now, work backwards from the application deadline, not forwards from today, and decide honestly whether the intake you want is reachable.
And check whether you need it at all. A great many French universities and grandes écoles teach master's programmes entirely in English and require no French for admission. You will still want A2 or B1 to live there — but that is a different deadline, and a much gentler one.