What happens on CELPIP® test day, component by component

The order and length of the whole test

The CELPIP General test is made up of 4 components: Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking. They always come in that order, and you take them all in a single sitting. Together they hold 20 parts and tasks, and the whole test takes 157–179 minutes. These figures come from the test provider's test format page. That page is also where to check anything about the day that goes beyond the format itself.

Here is how the time and the parts are divided. Listening takes 46–55 minutes across 6 parts. Reading takes 43–56 minutes across 4 parts. Writing takes 53 minutes for 2 tasks. Speaking takes 15 minutes for 8 tasks. The test provider gives a length for each component but not for each part or task within it. Any timing you see for a single part is someone's estimate, not a published figure.

This makes stamina a practical concern. Once a section has begun, its clock does not pause, and the sections follow each other in the same sitting. Speaking comes at the very end, when your attention is most likely to be running low. Plan your concentration for the whole sitting, not just for the component you worry about most.

Listening: each recording plays once

Listening has 6 parts, and each recording in them plays once. There is no replay. The clock keeps running while the recording plays, so the listening itself uses up the component's time. If you miss a detail, it is gone. The useful habit is to let it go and keep listening, rather than stay stuck on what you missed while the next part of the recording plays.

The Listening guide explains what each part asks, from Listening Part 1 on problem solving to Listening Part 6 on viewpoints. If you plan to take notes, our post on note-taking when each recording plays once covers what is worth writing down and what is not.

Reading: move between parts, but not back into the section

Reading has 4 parts under a single clock for the whole component. Within the section you can move between the parts, so you can go back to a question you skipped in an earlier part as long as time remains. Once you leave the Reading section, though, you cannot return to it. Treat leaving as final. Before you move on, check any answers you meant to revisit, and remember that an unanswered question cannot be counted as correct.

How to spread that clock across the parts is a topic of its own, covered in managing your time in CELPIP Reading. The Reading guide describes the parts themselves, from correspondence in Reading Part 1 to viewpoints in Reading Part 4.

Writing: a live word count and an automatic submit

Writing has 2 tasks, writing an email and responding to survey questions, within 53 minutes. A word count updates as you type, so you can see how long your response is without counting by hand. When time runs out, whatever you have written is submitted as it stands. There is no extra moment to finish a sentence, so leave some time at the end of each task to read over your response and fix what you can.

Write your responses in your own words. The test provider warns that responses that are not original can put a result at risk, for example by being cancelled. For that reason, celpip9 publishes no templates or set phrases to learn by heart. The Writing guide explains what each task asks.

Speaking: preparation and recording run on their own

Speaking has 8 tasks in 15 minutes. Each task gives you preparation time and then recording time, and the switch between them happens automatically. Recording starts when preparation ends, and it stops when the recording time is over. You cannot retake a task or play back what you said. Whatever was recorded is your answer, and the next task begins.

Since there is no retake, use the preparation time well. Choose a few ideas and put them in order, rather than scripting sentences you would then have to recall under the clock. Here too, responses that are not original can put a result at risk. The Speaking guide covers each task, from giving advice to describing an unusual situation. Our post on using the clock in Writing and Speaking goes further into timing.

Why every question and every minute deserves the same care

Listening has 38 scored questions and Reading has 38 scored questions, but both components can include extra questions that are not scored. These are trial questions, and nothing tells you which ones they are. A question that feels unusual, harder or easier than the rest may count or may not. Give every question the same effort, and don't spend energy guessing which ones matter.

The same thinking applies to the clock. No section pauses once it has begun, so time spent on one hard question comes out of the time left for the rest of that section. If you cannot settle a question, make your best choice and move on. Come back to it only if the component allows it and time remains.

How to rehearse the day before it comes

The most useful rehearsal is a full-length, timed practice test taken in a single sitting and in the same order as the test: Listening, Reading, Writing, Speaking. It shows how your concentration holds up over 157–179 minutes and where in the sitting it starts to slip. On celpip9, Listening and Reading give you an estimate on the CLB scale, shown as a range. It is based on your number of correct answers, read through the approximate chart the test provider publishes. It is an estimate, not a CELPIP score, and our practice tests are not yet equated to the scale the test uses. Writing and Speaking responses are kept in your report but are not scored yet. The status page shows what is live today.

Separately, the test drive lets you try each rule described here, untimed and unscored: single-play audio, the live word count, and the recorder that starts and stops on its own. It needs a free account. Once you have seen these rules in practice, they will not catch you off guard on test day. The guide describes every part and task. Our methodology explains how practice items are written from the published format and checked, and they are never taken from the test provider's materials.

celpip9 is an independent practice platform. It is not connected to, approved by or endorsed by the test provider or IRCC. If you are taking the test for an immigration application, IRCC's own pages are the authority on what it requires. A good place to start is its page on language test results for Express Entry. This article is general information, not immigration advice.