CELPIP Speaking Mock Test 8
Eight tasks, a fixed order, about fifteen minutes, and one recording per task with no second attempt. Here is the format in full, and a free test that runs on exactly it.
The CELPIP speaking section is eight tasks long and its structure never varies. Each task gives you a preparation window with no recording, then a speaking window that starts by itself and stops by itself. There is no pause, no replay and no retake, and every one of the eight is scored.
The timing table
| 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 |
Two of those rows are not what candidates expect. Task 5 has three screens, not two: a silent minute to choose between two options in which nothing is recorded, then a minute of preparation, then a minute of speaking. If you do not choose, the computer chooses for you and you argue for whatever it picked. And Task 6 asks you to pick your listener before you say anything, because most Task 6 prompts allow two different people to address and the register is different for each.
What each task is actually for
- Tasks 1 and 7 are the long ones at ninety seconds, and they test sustained argument rather than range. They are also the two where candidates most often run dry at second sixty.
- Tasks 3 and 4 share one picture. You describe it, then you predict what happens next in it, so anything you spent on description is gone when the prediction screen arrives.
- Task 5 is the only one with a decision in it, and the decision is not scored. Only the persuading is.
- Task 6 is the register test. Apologising to a customer and briefing a manager are different speeches.
- Task 8 always ends with a question you must actually ask. Describing the object beautifully and forgetting the question loses part of Task Fulfillment.
The 8 questions on Test 8
Test 8 is rated Medium. Every question is original to this test.
Your co-worker wants to go back to college part time while keeping his full-time job. He has asked you whether you think he can manage both at once. Give him your advice.
What it tests: ninety seconds of practical advice. He asked a yes or no question, so answer it and then support the answer.
Talk about a time when you had to wait much longer than you expected for something: a delayed trip, a medical appointment, a repair, or an answer you were waiting on. Describe the wait and what you did with the time.
What it tests: one story with a shape. The prompt asks what you did with the time, which is the half candidates skip.
Describe what is happening in the picture to someone who cannot see it. On this test it is a ferry terminal waiting hall on a windy afternoon, with a glass ticket window, rows of benches, a vending machine and a departure board.
What it tests: orientation before detail. Four fixed landmarks make this an easy scene to organise and an easy one to wander around.
In this picture, what do you think will most probably happen next? It is the same ferry terminal picture.
What it tests: hedged future forms. The departure board is the obvious hook and the ticket window queue is the better one.
Choose between a second-hand trumpet and a rented clarinet for your daughter first year in the school band. She is suggesting an electric keyboard instead. Persuade her that what you chose is more suitable by comparing the two options.
What it tests: the choosing screen is silent and unscored. Decide fast, then argue your instrument against the keyboard only.
You run the front desk at a dental clinic. Ingrid was booked for four o clock and has now been waiting seventy minutes because an emergency appointment ran long. The five o clock patient has just arrived on time and is at the desk.
What it tests: register and choice of listener. Speaking to Ingrid and speaking to the patient who is on time are two different sixty-second answers.
Do you think that schools should teach students how to manage money? Explain your reasons.
What it tests: ninety seconds on a question most people agree with, which makes finding two distinct reasons the real work.
At a university surplus sale you find a black metal base holding three glass domes of different heights, with a brass dial and a foot pedal on a cord. Photographs are not allowed. Call your friend Halina, describe it, and ask her what she thinks it was used for.
What it tests: circumlocution and a closing question. Three domes of different heights is the detail that makes the object describable.
How your answers are scored
Every answer is recorded, transcribed and scored on Content and Coherence, Vocabulary, Listenability and Task Fulfillment. The band is a product of all eight answers, and the report returns feedback per criterion plus an estimated CLB level from 1 to 12. The CELPIP speaking score chart sets out the descriptors behind those four.
Free, all eight tasks recorded on the exam clock, with expert feedback.
FAQs
What is the CELPIP speaking test format?
Eight tasks in a fixed order, taking about fifteen minutes in total. Each task gives you a preparation window with no recording and then a speaking window that starts and stops on its own. There is no pause, no replay and no second attempt, and all eight tasks are scored.
How long is CELPIP speaking?
About fifteen minutes of preparation and recording combined. Tasks 1 and 7 give 90 seconds of speaking each and the other six give 60, with 30 seconds of preparation on most tasks and 60 on tasks 5 and 6.
Why does Task 5 have three screens?
Because you have to make a choice before you can persuade anybody of it. The first screen gives you sixty silent seconds to pick one of two options with nothing recorded, then you get sixty seconds to prepare and sixty to speak. If you do not choose, the computer chooses for you.
Can I re-record a CELPIP speaking answer?
No. Each task records once, the timer starts by itself, and when it stops the test moves on. That is true of the real exam and it is how this test runs.
What is on speaking test 8?
Eight tasks rated Medium: advice for a co-worker returning to college part time, a long wait you remember, a windy ferry terminal to describe and predict, a trumpet or clarinet against an electric keyboard, a dental patient who has waited seventy minutes, an opinion on teaching money management in schools, and unnamed laboratory equipment at a university surplus sale.