CELPIP Speaking Task 5: Comparing and Persuading
Task 5 is the one candidates lose to the interface rather than to the English. Three screens, a silent choosing minute, and an option that vanishes once you have rejected it. Here it is inside a free full speaking test.
CELPIP Speaking Task 5, Comparing and Persuading, is the only task in the section with a decision inside it, and the decision is not what is scored. You get sixty seconds to compare two options and choose one, with nothing recorded. Then the option you rejected disappears, a third proposal from another person appears, and you get sixty seconds to prepare and sixty to persuade them that your choice is better than theirs.
The three things that go wrong
- Not choosing. If the silent minute ends without a choice, the computer picks for you and you argue for whatever it selected. Decide in twenty seconds and spend the rest planning.
- Arguing against the wrong option. The one you rejected is gone. You are persuading somebody about their proposal, not justifying your shortlist.
- Describing instead of persuading. Content and Coherence rewards reasons aimed at this listener. Two benefits addressed to the person in front of you beat five neutral features.
Task 5 on this test
Speaking Test 10 gives you twelve hundred dollars of neighbourhood money and two ways to spend it: a set of solar path lights or a shared tool shed. Your neighbour is suggesting twelve doorbell cameras instead. You choose one of the first two in silence, and then argue it against the cameras.
It is a good Task 5 because the third option is not obviously worse. Cameras are a real answer to a real worry, so a persuasive answer has to acknowledge that and then say why light or shared equipment does more for the same money.
The 8 questions on Test 10
Your friend has been offered her manager job, which would mean supervising the two people she is closest to at work. She has asked what she should think about before she answers. Give her your advice.
Tests: ninety seconds of advice on a genuine dilemma, with the friendship named rather than avoided.
Talk about a time when you had to work closely with someone you found difficult. Tell your listener what the person did, how you handled it, and how the situation turned out.
Tests: a story with a resolution. Sixty seconds, three named beats, no second story.
Describe the picture to someone who cannot see it. It is a veterinary clinic waiting room, with a receptionist at the counter, owners holding a cat carrier and a straining dog, and a rabbit hutch on a chair.
Tests: placement and the present continuous, with three animals to keep apart.
In this picture, what do you think will most probably happen next? It is the same veterinary waiting room.
Tests: hedging. The straining dog answers itself; the rabbit hutch is the better prediction.
Choose between a set of solar path lights and a shared tool shed for the neighbourhood. Your neighbour is suggesting twelve doorbell cameras instead. Persuade him that what you chose is more suitable by comparing the two.
Tests: the whole three-screen mechanic, plus a concession, because cameras are a reasonable answer to a real concern.
You promised weeks ago to drive your elderly neighbour Bernice to a hospital appointment this afternoon, and she has no other way there. The daycare has just phoned to say your son is unwell and must be collected within thirty minutes.
Tests: choosing a listener and holding a tone. Two obligations, thirty minutes, and no version where everybody is happy.
Do you think that people should have to retire at a certain age? Explain your reasons.
Tests: ninety seconds on a question with strong arguments on both sides, which makes the concession easy and the commitment hard.
In a free pile at the end of a driveway you find a narrow upright grey metal frame holding three stretched canvas sleeves, with one wheel, a wooden crank and a frayed cord on a spool. Call your friend Teodor and ask whether it is worth carrying home.
Tests: describing a mechanism you cannot name, then asking the question. Nobody is there to ask, which is why the call matters.
CELPIP Speaking format: where Task 5 sits
| Task | Preparation | Speaking time |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Giving AdviceAdvise one named person on a decision | 30 sec | 90 sec |
| 2. Talking about a Personal ExperienceTell one story from your own life | 30 sec | 60 sec |
| 3. Describing a SceneDescribe a picture to someone who cannot see it | 30 sec | 60 sec |
| 4. Making PredictionsSay what happens next in the same picture | 30 sec | 60 sec |
| 5. Comparing and PersuadingChoose in a silent 60 sec, then argue for it | 60 sec | 60 sec |
| 6. Dealing with a Difficult SituationPick a listener, then resolve it | 60 sec | 60 sec |
| 7. Expressing OpinionsTake a side on a general question | 30 sec | 90 sec |
| 8. Describing an Unusual SituationDescribe an unnamed object, then ask | 30 sec | 60 sec |
| Total | 8 tasks | About 15 min |
How Task 5 is scored
On Content and Coherence, Vocabulary, Listenability and Task Fulfillment, like every other task. The choice itself carries no marks at all, so there is no safer option to pick. What is scored is whether your reasons are developed, aimed at this listener, and delivered without the long pause that follows a candidate who is still deciding.
Free, all eight tasks recorded on the exam clock, with expert feedback.
FAQs
What is CELPIP Speaking Task 5?
Task 5 is Comparing and Persuading. You get sixty silent seconds to choose between two options with nothing recorded, then the rejected option disappears and a third proposal from another person appears, and you get sixty seconds to prepare and sixty to persuade them your choice is better.
What happens if I do not choose in Task 5?
The computer chooses for you when the silent minute ends, and you then have to argue for whatever it selected. Deciding quickly matters more than deciding correctly, because the choice itself is not scored.
Is one Task 5 option better than the other?
No. The two options are designed to be equally arguable and neither carries marks. All the score is in how well you persuade the third person, so pick whichever you can support in sixty seconds.
What is the Task 5 choice on speaking test 10?
Solar path lights or a shared tool shed for twelve hundred dollars of neighbourhood money, argued against a neighbour who wants twelve doorbell cameras instead.
Should I mention the option I rejected?
Only in passing if it helps. The rejected option is removed from the screen and the person you are speaking to has proposed something else entirely, so your reasons have to be aimed at their proposal rather than at your own shortlist.