CELPIP Writing Mock Test 13
A hard-rated writing test on the real clock: 27 minutes for a formal email that has to complain without blaming, then 26 for a survey where both options leave somebody out.
Writing Mock Test 13 is rated Hard, and the difficulty is tone rather than grammar. Both tasks put you in a position where the obvious way of writing costs you marks.
Task 1: the formal email
Your son Arjun is in grade 6 at Fairhaven Public School in Mississauga. He was left behind at school during last week class trip because the $95 fee had not been paid, although you submitted the school subsidy form in October and never received a reply. This is the second of three trips this year he has missed for the same reason. The three bullets ask for his full name and grade, the date you submitted the form and the $95 fee; an account of what happened on the morning of the trip and what he was asked to do for the rest of the day; and a specific remedy before the third trip, framed so that it is clear you are not blaming his teacher, together with what you want the school to change.
That last bullet is the hard one. You are angry, the prompt requires you to be formal, and it explicitly asks you to exclude one person from the complaint. Holding all three at once inside 200 words is what makes this a CLB 9 task.
Task 2: the survey
The School Meal Programme Survey. A board has $260,000 a year for eight schools. Option A is free breakfast for every student: toast, fruit and milk before class in all eight schools, no forms, reaching about 2,600 students, but needing 20 volunteers every morning and offering nothing at lunchtime. Option B is subsidised hot lunches for families who apply: five days a week for about 700 students, cooked in one central kitchen, requiring an income form every September that some eligible families never complete.
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 your writing is scored
Both tasks are evaluated against the official descriptors on Content and Coherence (30%), Vocabulary (20%), Readability (25%) and Task Fulfilment (25%), each banded 1 to 12 and combined into a weighted overall band. Your report includes the criterion breakdown, error highlights with corrections, and a high-band rewrite of your own content.
Tips for this test
- Separate the complaint from the person. The prompt asks you to exclude the teacher, so name the process instead.
- Give the school something to do. A formal complaint with no requested action scores lower on Task Fulfilment than one with a date attached.
- In Task 2, name the group each option leaves out. That is the concession this prompt is built for.
- Do not let the anger reach the vocabulary. Precision reads as strength here and exaggeration reads as weakness.
- Stay inside 150 to 200 words on both tasks, and check bullet coverage before you check spelling.
Free, both tasks on the exam clock, with expert feedback and a CLB band.
FAQs
What is on writing test 13?
Task 1 is a formal email to a school principal after a grade 6 student was left behind on a class trip over an unpaid $95 fee, despite a subsidy form submitted in October that was never answered. Task 2 is a survey on whether a school board should fund free breakfast for every student or subsidised hot lunches for families who apply.
Why is writing test 13 rated hard?
Because both tasks are tone problems rather than grammar problems. Task 1 asks you to complain formally while explicitly not blaming the teacher, and Task 2 gives you two options that each exclude a different group, so a strong answer has to name what it is giving up.
How long is the writing section?
Fifty-three minutes: twenty-seven for Task 1 and twenty-six for Task 2, with an automatic advance when the first timer ends.
Is this test free?
Yes, including the evaluation. You get an overall CLB band, a band on each of the four criteria, error highlights and a high-band rewrite.