CELPIP Speaking Task 4: Making Predictions
Task 4 shows you the picture you have just described and asks what will most probably happen next. The material is used up and the grammar has changed. Here it is inside a free full speaking test.
CELPIP Speaking Task 4, Making Predictions, is the only task that depends on the one before it. It shows you the same picture you described in Task 3 and asks what you think will most probably happen next, with thirty seconds to prepare and sixty to speak.
The two things Task 4 tests
Future forms, and hedging. The words most probably are in the prompt for a reason. A flat prediction, the boy will drop the parcel, is weaker than a hedged one with a reason, I imagine he will struggle with it because it is bigger than he is. Modality is the grammar being sampled here and it is the easiest thing to prepare.
Whether you left yourself anything. Candidates who spend Task 3 listing everything in the picture arrive at Task 4 with nothing to say. The two tasks share one image and two minutes between them, so the sensible plan is to describe four things in Task 3 and predict for two or three of them here.
The picture on this test
Speaking Test 15 shows a post office counter before the holidays: clerks weighing parcels, a queue, a customs form and a parcel cage. It is a strong Task 4 picture because it contains an obvious prediction, the queue, and a better one, the customs form, which invites you to say what somebody will discover rather than what they will do.
How to answer Task 4
- Pick two or three people, not the whole scene. Sixty seconds is about 140 words.
- Every prediction gets a reason. Because, since, judging by. A prediction without a reason is a guess and it scores like one.
- Hedge deliberately. Probably, most likely, I would expect, it looks as though.
- Include one prediction that is not obvious. Everybody says the queue will move; not everybody says what the customs form will hold up.
- Close with a short overall prediction about the scene, which gives the answer an ending rather than a stop.
The 8 questions on Test 15
Your friend has been offered a job that pays much more than her current one, but with no benefits and no job security. She has asked whether she should take it. Give her your advice and explain your reasons.
Tests: ninety seconds of advice where the honest answer depends on facts you have to supply yourself.
Talk about a time you disagreed with a decision but had to accept it anyway, at work, at school or in your family. Describe what happened and how you dealt with it.
Tests: a story about a feeling rather than an event, which is harder to organise in sixty seconds.
Describe the picture to someone who cannot see it. It is a post office counter before the holidays, with clerks weighing parcels, a queue, a customs form and a parcel cage.
Tests: placement and the present continuous. Describe four things and leave two of them alive for Task 4.
In this picture, what do you think will most probably happen next? It is the same post office counter.
Tests: hedged future forms with a reason attached to each prediction. The customs form is the better hook than the queue.
Choose between a heat pump and new attic insulation with windows. Your father is suggesting a wood pellet stove instead. Persuade him that what you chose is more suitable.
Tests: persuading a family member, where the register is warmer but the argument still has to carry numbers.
You lead a volunteer committee for a spring event. Two members each believe they were promised the job of hosting, and both have told family and friends. The printed programme went out to eight hundred households naming Colette, and it cannot be reprinted.
Tests: delivering an outcome that cannot change, to somebody who has already told people otherwise.
Do you think that news should be free for everyone to read online? Explain your reasons.
Tests: ninety seconds on a question where the concession, who pays, is unavoidable.
A low wheeled cabinet with a cracked glass dome, a foot treadle, four rubber arms with hooks and a cut cable has been left beside the elevator in your building for a week. Call your friend Sanjay and ask whether you should report it or claim it.
Tests: circumlocution on a damaged object, where the damage is part of the description, plus the scored closing question.
CELPIP Speaking format: where Task 4 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 4 is scored
On the four criteria that apply to every task: Content and Coherence, Vocabulary, Listenability and Task Fulfillment. Task 4 samples modality more directly than anything else in the section, so hedged, reasoned predictions read as range rather than as caution. Your report bands each criterion and gives an estimated CLB level.
Free, all eight tasks recorded on the exam clock, with expert feedback.
FAQs
What is CELPIP Speaking Task 4?
Task 4 is Making Predictions. It shows you the same picture you described in Task 3 and asks what you think will most probably happen next, with thirty seconds of preparation and sixty seconds of speaking.
Is the Task 4 picture the same as Task 3?
Yes, exactly the same image. That is why Task 3 should describe about four things rather than everything: whatever you use up describing is not available to predict with.
What grammar does Task 4 test?
Future forms and hedging. The prompt says most probably, so predictions should carry modality and a reason: I would expect, it looks as though, probably, because, judging by. A flat prediction with no reason scores lower.
What is the picture on speaking test 15?
A post office counter before the holidays, with clerks weighing parcels, a queue, a customs form and a parcel cage.
How many predictions should I make?
Two or three, each with a reason, plus a short closing prediction about the scene as a whole. Sixty seconds is about 140 spoken words, which does not hold more than that.