CELPIP Writing Task 2 Structure
Task 2 is a survey response, not an essay and not an email. It has a structure that scores and a set of habits that do not. Here is the shape, and a free test that uses it.
CELPIP Writing Task 2 gives you a scenario and two options and asks which you prefer and why, in 150 to 200 words and 26 minutes. It is the second of the two tasks and it is the one candidates most often write in the wrong genre, either as an academic essay with a thesis and a conclusion or as a second email with a greeting on the front.
The structure that scores
- Sentence one: your choice. Name the option and commit. Every word spent arriving at a choice is a word not spent supporting it, and there are only 200 of them.
- Paragraph two: your first reason, developed. Developed means a reason, its consequence, and who it affects. One reason with all three beats three reasons with one each.
- Paragraph three: your second reason, developed the same way. Two is the right number at this length.
- Paragraph four: one honest concession, then your answer to it. Name a real advantage of the option you rejected and say why it does not change your decision. This is the move that most reliably separates a CLB 9 answer from a CLB 7 one.
- Final sentence: restate the choice. Short. Never introduce a new argument and never soften into neutrality.
What the structure must not include
No greeting, no sign-off, no subject line. Task 2 needs no email format at all, and adding one costs marks under Task Fulfilment for genre as well as wasting words. There is also no requirement to be balanced. Weighing both sides evenly and declining to prefer one reads as thin content rather than as fairness, and the prompt explicitly asks which you prefer.
The Task 2 survey on this test
Writing Test 11 gives you the Library Renovation Survey. The public library has $350,000 to renovate one part of its main branch, and both plans use the same second floor, so only one can happen. Option A is a quiet study floor: sixty individual desks with power outlets and dividers, open 70 hours a week, but the floor could no longer host community events, of which there were 90 last year. Option B is a children and family wing: a story-time room with 40 seats and a toy library used by about 200 families a week, noisy for most of the day, taking the whole space the 60 study tables occupy now.
This prompt is well built for practising the concession, because each option destroys something specific and countable that the other one protects. Sixty desks against ninety events against two hundred families. An answer that never mentions the number it is giving up has not conceded anything.
Task 1 on this test
Task 1 is a hard formal email to the human resources manager at your workplace. You have been a dispatcher at Northline Freight in Brampton for three years, your position was reclassified in April and you have done the higher-grade scheduling work ever since, but your pay has not changed. Your supervisor agrees with you in writing and says the decision sits with human resources, who have not replied to either of your messages. The bullets ask for your employee number, the reclassification date and the hourly difference between the grades; the extra duties and how your working day has changed; and a request for a meeting by a specific date that acknowledges the department has been short-staffed since spring while making clear you are not letting the matter drop.
CELPIP Writing format: tasks, length and time
| Task | Length | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Writing an EmailEmail to a named recipient, three bullet points | 150 to 200 words | 27 min |
| 2. Responding to Survey QuestionsChoose option A or B and argue for it | 150 to 200 words | 26 min |
| Total | 2 tasks | 53 min |
How Task 2 is scored
Task 2 is scored on the same four criteria as Task 1: Content and Coherence at 30 per cent, Readability at 25, Task Fulfilment at 25 and Vocabulary at 20. Structure pays into Content and Coherence and into Task Fulfilment at once, which is 55 per cent of the band, and it is the part of the score that does not depend on your level of English.
Free, both tasks on the exam clock, with a band on all four criteria.
FAQs
What is the structure of CELPIP Writing Task 2?
Your choice in the first sentence, then one paragraph for each of two developed reasons, then one paragraph conceding a real advantage of the option you rejected and answering it, then a short restatement of your choice. About 150 to 200 words in 26 minutes.
Does Task 2 need an email format?
No. Task 2 is a survey response and needs no greeting, no sign-off and no subject line. Adding them costs marks under Task Fulfilment and spends words you do not have.
Should I argue both sides in Task 2?
Only as a concession. Pick a side in the first sentence, support it, then acknowledge one real advantage of the other option and explain why it does not change your view. A genuinely balanced answer that never prefers one option scores as thin content.
How many reasons should Task 2 give?
Two, each fully developed with a reason, a consequence and somebody it affects. At 150 to 200 words, three reasons almost always means three undeveloped ones, and Content and Coherence rewards development over count.
What is the Task 2 survey on test 11?
A library with $350,000 to renovate one part of its main branch, choosing between a quiet study floor of sixty desks that would end the 90 community events held there last year, and a children and family wing used by about 200 families a week that would take the space the study tables use now.