CELPIP® Speaking
15 min, 8 tasks, sat in order with the rest of the test.
- Time
- 15 min
- Tasks
- 8
- Scored questions
- Judged as a whole
What this section does to you
You will speak your answer to each task aloud, and it will be recorded.
Each task gives you preparation time, then recording begins on its own and stops on its own. There is no retake and no way to hear your answer back.
Each task is judged as a whole against the published Performance Standards dimensions, not on a checklist.
What is judged
Each task is judged as a whole on these dimensions, published as part of the Performance Standards. The level-by-level descriptors behind them are not published, so nobody — us included — can tell you exactly where one level ends and the next begins.
- Content/Coherence
- Vocabulary
- Listenability
- Task Fulfillment
Source: CELPIP Performance Standards for Writing and Speaking (PDF, © 2023 Prometric)
The tasks, in the order you meet them
How to approach each task
- Task 1: Giving Advice
Picture the person and their problem, choose a few suggestions in ranked order, and give each a reason and a concrete detail while you speak to them directly.
- Task 2: Talking about a Personal Experience
Choose a real memory that fits the kind of experience the task names. Tell it in time order with concrete detail, and finish by saying why it mattered.
- Task 3: Describing a Scene
Take in the whole scene, choose a route through it, then follow that route aloud, describing people, actions and telling details in a steady, ordered way.
- Task 4: Making Predictions
Find what is unfinished in the scene, turn each clue into a likely next event, and speak those events in a clear order that ends with an outcome.
- Task 5: Comparing and Persuading
Pick the option you can argue best for this person, set it against the options you rejected with concrete details, and end with a clear recommendation.
- Task 6: Dealing with a Difficult Situation
Commit to a response quickly, then talk straight to the person: say what you've chosen, why it makes sense, and what happens next, in a tone that fits your relationship with them.
- Task 7: Expressing Opinions
Pick a side quickly, back it with reasons tied to concrete everyday examples, and move clearly from your position to a close before the recording stops.
- Task 8: Describing an Unusual Situation
Give your listener the big picture first, then walk them through the details in a fixed order, so someone who cannot see it can build the image in their head.
Why this page has no sample answer
Because an answer you read here would not be yours, and yours is the one that is judged. This page teaches the structure of each Speaking task and how to approach it: what is asked, how to use the time and what is judged.
In a practice test, the feedback works on your own sentences: it points to the ones that cost you on the published dimensions and shows how to fix them, in your words.
The test provider warns that responses that are not original can lead to score cancellation. A sentence learned by heart is a risk to your result, not a shortcut.
Common questions
- How long is CELPIP® Speaking?
- 15 minutes for 8 tasks. Speaking is the last of the test's 4 components, all taken in one sitting. The test provider publishes the total for the component, not a time for each task.
- Source: CELPIP-General test format (celpip.ca)
- What are the tasks of CELPIP Speaking?
- In the order you meet them: Task 1, Giving Advice; Task 2, Talking about a Personal Experience; Task 3, Describing a Scene; Task 4, Making Predictions; Task 5, Comparing and Persuading; Task 6, Dealing with a Difficult Situation; Task 7, Expressing Opinions; Task 8, Describing an Unusual Situation.
- Source: CELPIP-General test format (celpip.ca)
- Can you pause or re-record your answer in CELPIP Speaking?
- No. Each task gives you preparation time, then recording begins on its own and stops on its own. There is no retake and no way to hear your answer back. The clock does not pause at any point in the test.
- Source: CELPIP-General test format (celpip.ca)
- What is CELPIP Speaking judged on?
- Each task is judged as a whole, not on a checklist, on the dimensions named in the published Performance Standards: Content/Coherence, Vocabulary, Listenability and Task Fulfillment. The level-by-level descriptors behind these names are not published.
- Source: CELPIP Performance Standards for Writing and Speaking (PDF, © 2023 Prometric)
- How is the CELPIP Speaking level reported?
- As one level for the Speaking component as a whole, from 3 to 12; each level corresponds to the Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) level of the same number.
- Source: CELPIP scoring and the Canadian Language Benchmarks (celpip.ca)
Further reading
- How CELPIP® results work: component levels and the CLB scale
Each CELPIP® component gets its own level, matching the CLB level of the same number. How those levels are set, how long results last, and why the weakest counts.
- Which CELPIP® skill is hardest? What the published results show
In the test provider's data report on a year of test takers, Reading has the lowest mean level. What each skill's figures show, and what they cannot tell you.
- How to structure your CELPIP® preparation, from target to test day
How to plan CELPIP® preparation: start from your program's target, test early, work on the biggest gaps, rehearse the mechanics, then check your progress again.
- How celpip9 estimates your level, and what the estimate cannot tell you
How celpip9 turns your practice into a CLB range, why it is never a CELPIP® result, what we measure about ourselves, and what an estimate cannot tell you.
- CELPIP® Speaking: the mistakes to listen for in your own answers
The mistakes to listen for in CELPIP® Speaking, grouped by the dimension each relates to, and how to catch them by recording and replaying your practice answers.
- How to use your time in CELPIP® Writing and Speaking
Each CELPIP® Writing and Speaking task runs on its own clock. Here is how to plan, pace and finish every task, and how to rehearse the timing before test day.
Reading about it only gets you so far
The test drive puts every mechanic in front of you once — single-play audio, the live word count, the recorder that starts and stops on its own. It is untimed, unscored, and it does not use a test from your quota.