CELPIP Speaking Task 8: Describing an Unusual Situation
Task 8 closes the section. An object nobody can name, a listener who cannot see it, thirty seconds to prepare and sixty to speak, and a closing question that carries marks. Here it is inside a free full speaking test.
CELPIP Speaking Task 8 is Describing an Unusual Situation, and it is the last thing you do in the section. You are shown an object that has no obvious name, told that photographs are not allowed, and asked to telephone a specific person, describe it, and ask them something about it.
What Task 8 is really testing
Circumlocution. The skill of describing a thing you have no word for, using words you do have. That is a real-life language ability rather than a test artefact, which is why it closes the section: it is the hardest thing on the list and it cannot be prepared as content.
The second thing it tests is the closing move. Every Task 8 prompt names a person and names a question. Describing the object beautifully and never asking the question loses part of Task Fulfillment, and it is the most common single mistake on this task.
The object on this test
Speaking Test 11 puts you at an estate sale in an old farmhouse, where a brass object hangs on the kitchen wall: a wall-mounted brass horn on an oak backboard, with a spiral copper tube running down into a small hinged box. Photographs are not permitted inside the house. You call your cousin Aline, describe it, and ask her whether you should bid on it.
How to answer Task 8 in sixty seconds
- Start with overall size and where it is. About the length of my forearm, hanging on the wall.
- Then shape, then material, then the parts, in that order. Brass, oak, a spiral tube, a small hinged box.
- Use a comparison to something ordinary. It is shaped a little like an old gramophone horn is worth ten adjectives.
- Say what it seems to do, hedged. It looks as though something is meant to pour or sound through it.
- Ask the question you were told to ask, in a full sentence, before the timer stops. Should I bid on it, do you think.
The 8 questions on Test 11
Test 11 is rated Hard, and it is hard on the social tasks in particular.
Your friend adult daughter moved back into the family home last year, pays nothing toward rent, groceries or utilities, and has said nothing about looking for a place of her own. Your friend has asked what she should do.
Tests: ninety seconds of advice on a subject where the easy answer is unkind and the kind answer is vague.
Talk about a time when you had to admit you had made a mistake, at work or in your family. Tell your listener what the mistake was, what you actually said when you admitted it, and what happened afterwards.
Tests: reported speech under time pressure. The prompt asks what you actually said, which most answers skip.
Describe the picture to someone who cannot see it. It is a snow covered residential street the morning after a storm, with neighbours shovelling, scraping ice and pushing a stalled car.
Tests: placement and the present continuous, with three separate activities happening along one street.
In this picture, what do you think will most probably happen next? It is the same snowy street.
Tests: hedged futures. The stalled car is the obvious prediction and the ice scraping is the more interesting one.
Choose between a two-day workshop for everyone and individual course subsidies. Your manager is suggesting an on-site coach for six months instead. Persuade her that what you chose is more suitable.
Tests: persuading upward. The listener is your manager, which changes the register as well as the argument.
You coach a children soccer team. One parent, Gordon, has shouted at the teenage referees from the sideline at every game, and another family has said they will withdraw their son if it continues.
Tests: confronting somebody without escalating, in sixty seconds, with a second family waiting on the outcome.
Do you think that people should be paid to look after a family member at home? Explain your reasons.
Tests: ninety seconds on a policy question where the strongest counter-argument is a cost you have to name.
At an estate sale in an old farmhouse you find a brass object on the kitchen wall: a horn on an oak backboard, with a spiral copper tube running down into a small hinged box. Photographs are not permitted. Call your cousin Aline, describe it, and ask whether you should bid on it.
Tests: circumlocution, a comparison to something ordinary, and the closing question, which is scored.
CELPIP Speaking format: where Task 8 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 8 is scored
On the four criteria that score every task: Content and Coherence, Vocabulary, Listenability and Task Fulfillment. Task 8 loads unusually hard on Vocabulary, because precision is the whole task, and on Task Fulfillment, because of the closing question. Your report bands each criterion and estimates a CLB level from 1 to 12.
Free, all eight tasks recorded on the exam clock, with expert feedback.
FAQs
What is CELPIP Speaking Task 8?
Task 8 is Describing an Unusual Situation, the last of the eight tasks. You are shown an object with no obvious name, told photographs are not allowed, and asked to phone a named person, describe it to them, and ask them a specific question about it. Thirty seconds of preparation, sixty of speaking.
Do I have to ask the question at the end of Task 8?
Yes, and it is scored. Every Task 8 prompt names both a person and a question, and an answer that describes the object well but never asks loses marks under Task Fulfillment. It is the commonest mistake on this task.
What is the Task 8 object on speaking test 11?
A wall-mounted brass horn on an oak backboard, with a spiral copper tube running down into a small hinged box, found hanging in the kitchen at an estate sale in an old farmhouse.
How do I describe something I cannot name?
Work outward in a fixed order: overall size and location, then shape, then material, then the individual parts, then one comparison to something ordinary, then what it seems to do, hedged. The comparison does more work than any string of adjectives.
How hard is speaking test 11?
It is rated Hard, and the difficulty is social rather than lexical. Task 1, Task 6 and Task 7 all put you in positions where the direct answer is unkind and the kind answer is evasive, and the marks are in finding the third option.