CELPIP Speaking's eight tasks look different on the surface — giving advice, describing a scene, expressing an opinion — but nearly all of them respond well to the same underlying structure: a direct opening statement, two developed supporting points, and a brief close, planned during the thirty-second preparation window rather than improvised mid-response.
The Eight Tasks at a Glance
CELPIP Speaking consists of eight short, distinct tasks, each with its own thirty-second preparation time and a response window of roughly sixty to ninety seconds depending on the task:
- Giving Advice
- Talking About a Personal Experience
- Describing a Scene
- Making Predictions
- Comparing and Persuading
- Dealing With a Difficult Situation
- Expressing Opinions
- Describing an Unusual Situation
Each task tests a different communicative function, but the underlying scoring criteria — content, vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, and coherence — reward the same structural discipline across all eight, which is why a single flexible framework is worth mastering rather than treating each task as an unrelated challenge.
The Core Structure: Open, Develop, Close
For the majority of the eight tasks, this three-part shape works reliably:
- Open with a direct statement that immediately signals your answer, position, or main point — the advice you'd give, the opinion you hold, the prediction you're making — in the first sentence, without a long lead-in.
- Develop two supporting points, each with a brief, specific elaboration or example rather than a bare restated reason. Two well-developed points consistently score better than three underdeveloped ones, because CELPIP's scoring rewards coherent development, not sheer quantity of ideas.
- Close briefly, summarising or reinforcing your main point in one short sentence if time allows — never sacrifice development of your second point just to leave room for a formal conclusion.
