Speaking is the last section of the CELPIP-General test and takes about 15 minutes. You answer eight tasks into a microphone, each with a short preparation time and a fixed speaking time, from giving advice to describing an unusual object. This guide explains every task with its timing, a quick plan and a new practice prompt, then what raters listen for, a daily practice routine and how Prepiva rates your Speaking.
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| Task | Preparation | Speaking |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Giving Advice | 30 seconds | 90 seconds |
| 2. Talking about a Personal Experience | 30 seconds | 60 seconds |
| 3. Describing a Scene | 30 seconds | 60 seconds |
| 4. Making Predictions | 30 seconds | 60 seconds |
| 5. Comparing and Persuading | 60 seconds to choose, then 60 seconds | 60 seconds |
| 6. Dealing with a Difficult Situation | 60 seconds | 60 seconds |
| 7. Expressing Opinions | 30 seconds | 90 seconds |
| 8. Describing an Unusual Situation | 30 seconds | 60 seconds |
The CELPIP-General LS test, which has only Listening and Speaking, has the same Speaking section. For the whole test, see the CELPIP test format.
Preparation: 30 seconds · Speaking: 90 seconds
What it asks: a short description of someone you know, such as a friend, a relative or a coworker, who has a problem or a decision to make. You speak to that person and give advice.
A quick plan:
Your friend Adrian is 35 and has never learned to swim. He would like to learn, but he feels embarrassed about taking lessons in a pool full of children. Give Adrian advice about how he can learn to swim.
Speak to Adrian (“Adrian, I’d start with…”), not about him. Ninety seconds is long: two well-developed pieces of advice fill it better than five quick ones.
Preparation: 30 seconds · Speaking: 60 seconds
What it asks: a prompt that begins “Talk about a time when…”, with a few ideas and one or two questions to guide you. You tell a short story from your own life.
A quick plan:
Talk about a time when a plan you made did not work out the way you expected. It could be a trip, a party or a weekend project. What happened, and what did you do?
Choose a story you can tell easily; a small everyday moment works as well as a big event. Keep the past tense steady: went, saw, decided.
Preparation: 30 seconds · Speaking: 60 seconds
What it asks: a picture of a busy public place, such as a park, a market or a station, with many people doing different things. You describe what is happening as clearly as you can.
A quick plan:
Picture, described in words here (the test shows a drawing): a winter carnival in a town square on a sunny afternoon. Children are skating on an outdoor rink, and a long line-up has formed at a hot chocolate stand. A woman is photographing an ice sculpture of a bear, a dog is pulling a small sled with a toddler in it, and a teenager’s hat has just blown off. A man on a ladder is fixing a string of lights, and a sign says “Snow Maze opens at 2 p.m.”
Describe as much as you can about what is happening in the picture.
While you describe, notice anything that is about to happen: Task 4 uses the same picture.
Preparation: 30 seconds · Speaking: 60 seconds
What it asks: the same picture as Task 3. You say what you think will happen next.
A quick plan:
Look at the same winter carnival. What do you think will most likely happen next?
Two predictions for this scene: “The teenager is probably going to chase his hat across the square.” “When the snow maze opens at 2 p.m., the line-up for hot chocolate might get even longer.”
Preparation: 60 seconds to choose, then 60 seconds · Speaking: 60 seconds
What it asks: two parts. In Part 1 you see two options, each as a picture with a few facts, and you have 60 seconds to choose one; you do not speak yet. In Part 2 someone prefers a third option, and you have 60 seconds to prepare and 60 seconds to persuade them that your choice is better.
A quick plan:
Your sister is choosing a place to celebrate her 30th birthday with about 12 friends. She has found two options and asked for your help. Choose the one you prefer.
Karaoke room
Pottery-painting studio
Your brother thinks a rooftop restaurant would be a better choice. Persuade him that your choice is better.
Rooftop restaurant (the other person’s choice)
Use facts from both cards. In Part 2 you are talking to a person you like, so keep it friendly: persuading is not arguing.
Preparation: 60 seconds · Speaking: 60 seconds
What it asks: a situation with a conflict between people. You choose one of two people to talk to, and you speak to that person directly, as if they were in front of you.
A quick plan:
Your book club meets at your home on the first Thursday of every month. One member, Rita, almost always arrives about 45 minutes late and then asks the group to go over what she missed. Some members are annoyed, and the club’s organizer, Ken, has asked you to help.
Choose ONE:
EITHER Talk to Rita. Explain how her late arrivals affect the group.
OR Talk to Ken. Suggest a change to the way the meetings run.
Tone is part of Task Fulfillment: be honest about the problem without blaming anyone. Phrases such as “I wanted to talk to you about…” and “Would it help if…?” keep it friendly.
Preparation: 30 seconds · Speaking: 90 seconds
What it asks: a question about an everyday issue that begins “Do you think…?”. You give your opinion and your reasons.
A quick plan:
Do you think it is better to take one long holiday each year or several short breaks? Explain your reasons.
Choose the side you can explain best, not the one you think a rater wants to hear. Ninety seconds needs two developed reasons.
Preparation: 30 seconds · Speaking: 60 seconds
What it asks: a picture of an unusual object and a situation: you are on the phone with someone who cannot see it. You describe the object and ask the question the task gives you, such as whether to buy it.
A quick plan:
You are shopping for a birthday present for your brother and see an unusual pair of winter boots. Call your brother. Describe the boots and ask whether he would like you to buy them for him. He cannot see the boots.
Picture, described in words here: tall black boots with metal ice grips that fold down from the heel, small lights at the toes and a zippered pocket on the side of each boot.
Use comparisons the listener can picture: “about as tall as…”, “shaped like…”, “the colour of…”.
CELPIP raters rate every Speaking response on four dimensions:
| Dimension | What raters listen for | In plain words |
|---|---|---|
| Content/Coherence | The number and quality of your ideas, how you organize them, and your examples and supporting details | Do you say enough, in a clear order, with real examples? |
| Vocabulary | Word choice, using words and phrases suitably, range, and precision and accuracy | Do you have the right words, and enough different ones? |
| Listenability | Rhythm, pronunciation and intonation; pauses, fillers and self-correction; grammar and sentence structure; a variety of sentence types | Is your speech easy to follow? |
| Task Fulfillment | Relevance, completeness, tone and length | Did you answer this task, for this listener, using the time? |
No account or card to start. Free account to see your report.
Twenty minutes a day is enough to build the habit:
| Step | Time | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Warm up | 2 min | Describe a photo on your phone out loud, as in Task 3. |
| Timed tasks | 10 min | Answer two or three tasks with a real timer for preparation and speaking, and record yourself. |
| Listen back | 5 min | Note long pauses, fillers such as um, repeated words and the moment you ran out of ideas. |
| Answer again | 3 min | Answer one task again, fixing one thing you noticed. |
Once a week, answer all eight tasks in order, as on the test: about 15 minutes.
Prepiva’s free CELPIP mock test ends with all eight Speaking tasks, with the test’s preparation and speaking times, and the Speaking practice test runs them on their own. With a free account, each recording of your first full mock test and of your first Speaking practice is turned into a transcript by a speech-recognition model, and an AI language model rates the transcript on the four dimensions, giving each one a level from 0 to 12 with a reason, plus one strength and one next step.
Its limits: the rating reads a transcript, so it cannot hear your pronunciation, stress or intonation, which CELPIP raters judge under Listenability, and a speech-recognition mistake can change what it reads. It is one AI model, not a panel of trained raters, so treat the result as a practice estimate, not a CELPIP result.
Read five CELPIP Speaking samples, transcripts of model answers from about level 5 to level 10 with notes on each dimension. Then try all eight tasks under time in the free CELPIP Speaking practice test. For the section just before Speaking, see the CELPIP Writing guide.
No account or card to start. Free account to see your report.
About 15 minutes for eight tasks.
30 seconds for most tasks and 60 seconds for Tasks 5 and 6. In Task 5 you also get 60 seconds to choose between two options before you prepare.
90 seconds for Task 1 (Giving Advice) and Task 7 (Expressing Opinions), and 60 seconds for the other six.
No. Recording starts after the preparation time and stops when the speaking time ends, and the test moves on by itself.
Four dimensions: Content/Coherence, Vocabulary, Listenability and Task Fulfillment. Listenability covers rhythm, pronunciation and intonation, pauses and fillers, and grammar.
Yes. The CELPIP-General LS test has only Listening and Speaking, and its Speaking section is the same as in the CELPIP-General test.
Yes. With a free account, Prepiva rates all eight Speaking tasks of your first Speaking practice and of your first full CELPIP mock test. It rates a transcript of your recording, so it cannot judge pronunciation, and the result is a practice estimate, not a CELPIP result.
