CELPIP Speaking Task 7: Expressing Opinions
Task 7 gives you the longest speaking window in the section, ninety seconds, and only thirty to prepare it. Sustaining an argument that long without repeating yourself is the whole difficulty. Here it is inside a free full speaking test.
CELPIP Speaking Task 7, Expressing Opinions, asks a general question and gives you ninety seconds to answer it, with thirty seconds of preparation. It shares the longest speaking window with Task 1, and unlike Task 1 there is no named person to address and no situation to hold on to. It is you and a position.
What ninety seconds actually needs
About 210 spoken words. That is more than most candidates plan for, and the failure mode is visible: a strong first thirty seconds, a restatement at forty, and thirty seconds of filler at the end. The cure is structural. Two reasons, each with a concrete example, plus one concession that you answer, fills the time without repetition and scores better than three unsupported reasons.
The second rule is to take a side in the first sentence. Balanced answers that decline to prefer either position read as thin content under Content and Coherence, not as fairness. You can concede a great deal later; what you cannot do is never commit.
The Task 7 question on this test
Speaking Test 14 asks: do you think that a company should be allowed to replace its workers with machines? Explain your reasons.
It is a good question for practising the concession, because the strongest counter-argument on either side is concrete and countable. Whichever side you take, the honest objection is a specific group of people who are worse off, and naming them is what a CLB 9 answer does.
How to answer Task 7
- Sentence one is your position. No preamble about how interesting the question is.
- Reason one, then a concrete example. Reason two, then a concrete example. Examples are what stop the repetition.
- Then the concession, signalled clearly. That said, the obvious objection is.
- Answer the concession rather than dismissing it, and then restate your position in one sentence.
- Watch the second half. If you have finished at sixty seconds you have thirty left, so plan the second reason properly rather than hoping.
The 8 questions on Test 14
Test 14 is rated Hard, and several of its tasks put you in an authority role.
Your friend is looking after a new baby and her elderly father at the same time, and her two brothers have never offered to help with either. She has asked how she should go about asking them.
Tests: advice on how to have a conversation, which is harder than advice on what to do.
Talk about a time when you had to speak in front of a group of people, at work, at school or at a family gathering. Tell your listener what the situation was and how you got through it.
Tests: a story with a method in it. How you got through it is the part that earns the marks.
Describe the picture to someone who cannot see it. It is a busy indoor hockey arena during a youth game, with the ice, the players bench, the stands and a concession hatch all visible.
Tests: placement across four zones on different levels, which is the hardest kind of scene to organise.
In this picture, what do you think will most probably happen next? It is the same hockey arena.
Tests: hedged futures with several independent things in motion at once.
Choose between replacing the lobby roof section and repaving the parking lot. The board chair is suggesting a set of security cameras instead. Persuade her that what you chose is more suitable.
Tests: persuading a chair, where maintenance has to be argued against something more visible.
You are a shift supervisor at a grocery store. Marguerite, a cashier of fifteen years, has been giving elderly customers an unauthorised discount. A newer employee reported it, and since then the team has stopped speaking to her.
Tests: two problems at once, the discount and the freeze-out, in one minute and one register.
Do you think that a company should be allowed to replace its workers with machines? Explain your reasons.
Tests: ninety seconds of sustained argument, with a concession that names specific people rather than gesturing at a downside.
At a community repair workshop nobody recognises a dark red metal machine the size of a shoebox, with a canvas bellows, a copper spiral, a shoulder strap and a small round gauge. Call your cousin Delphine and ask whether it can be brought back to life.
Tests: describing a machine with moving parts, and the closing question, which is scored.
CELPIP Speaking format: where Task 7 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 7 is scored
On Content and Coherence, Vocabulary, Listenability and Task Fulfillment. Task 7 is where Content and Coherence is most exposed, because ninety seconds of unstructured opinion is audible as repetition. Your report bands each criterion separately 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 7?
Task 7 is Expressing Opinions. You are asked a general question and given thirty seconds to prepare and ninety seconds to answer it, which is the longest speaking window in the section alongside Task 1.
How much do I need to say in ninety seconds?
About 210 spoken words. In practice that is two reasons with a concrete example each, one concession that you then answer, and a one-sentence restatement of your position.
Should I give a balanced answer in Task 7?
No. Take a side in the first sentence. An answer that weighs both positions and never prefers one is scored as thin content rather than as fairness. Concede as much as you like afterwards, but commit first.
What is the Task 7 question on speaking test 14?
Whether a company should be allowed to replace its workers with machines, with your reasons.
What is the most common Task 7 mistake?
Running out of argument at about sixty seconds and filling the last thirty by restating what you already said. Planning the second reason properly during the preparation window is what prevents it.