CELPIP writing: tips for Task 1 and Task 2, timing and marking

Paragon's format page gives CELPIP writing as 53 minutes and two tasks (its IRCC page says 53-60 minutes): Task 1 is an email and Task 2 answers survey questions. Raters mark four things: ideas, vocabulary, readability and Task Fulfillment, which includes tone and word count. Paragon's own advice is to cover every part of the task, plan first, watch the word counter and leave time to revise.

Paragon runs CELPIP. These are the facts about the writing component that its own pages state. Our tips later on only make sense once you have them in your head.

Not every site agrees with Paragon. IDP, which offers IELTS, has a CELPIP versus IELTS page that describes the CELPIP writing test differently, so here is that sentence next to Paragon's. The test owner's own page is the one to follow, and it is the one our other numbers come from.

Paragon's sample prompts show how the two tasks look. If you have not seen them, our CELPIP writing samples page shows the format, the marking criteria and two original model answers, and the CELPIP writing topics page has prompts to practise on.

Paragon publishes a short list of writing tips. They are short and general, and they are sound. Most pages that offer CELPIP writing tips are restating this list, so it is worth reading the source. The second column is our reading of each tip, and it is ours, not Paragon's.

Paragon says each writing performance is marked on four dimensions. Every tip on this page serves one of them.

Two things stand out. First, tone and word count are listed under Task Fulfillment, with relevance and completeness, so staying on the task and sounding right for the reader are things raters look at, along with grammar. Second, grammar and spelling sit inside Readability with paragraphing and connectors, so a clean answer with no structure does not cover the dimension.

How the ratings are produced is described on two Paragon pages that do not read identically. The results page says four to six raters read each writing performance. The FAQ section of Paragon's Contact CELPIP page says the writing test is scored by an AI-human hybrid system and that all writing scores are reviewed by its rating team. We show both rather than choosing one.

The first task is Writing an Email. Paragon's blog on tone says the reader can be a manager, landlord, customer service representative, colleague or community organisation, and that the situation often needs a professional, respectful tone, even when you complain.

Our reading of what that means in practice:

1. Decide the relationship before you write the greeting. A manager gets a full greeting and a polite request, a friend gets a warmer and shorter one.
2. Put the reason for writing in the first or second sentence. The reader should know what you want before they know your life story.
3. Give one concrete detail for each point the prompt lists. A time, a place, a name or a number does more than an adjective.
4. Make requests with softeners such as would it be possible to, I would appreciate it if, or could you. Paragon's blog uses the first as its own example.
5. Complain about the problem, not the person. Keep to what happened and what you want done.
6. End with a short thank-you or a clear next step, then a sign-off that matches your greeting.

Task 2 is Responding to Survey Questions. Paragon's blog says you are usually sharing an opinion about two options, and that your tone can be a little more persuasive than in an email while staying respectful and organised.

Our reading of what that means in practice:

1. Choose the option you can support best with real examples, even if the other option is closer to your real view. You will write more clearly about a choice you can back up.
2. State your choice in your first sentence, then name your reasons. A reader should know your position at once.
3. Give each reason its own paragraph and an example from your own life, work or area. General claims such as it is good for everyone are weak.
4. Mention the other option once, calmly, and answer it. Do not mock it.
5. Do not add a new idea in the last sentence. End by repeating your choice.
6. Keep your voice level. Paragon's blog warns that some test takers become aggressive when defending their opinion.

Paragon's time advice is short. It says to plan first, revise last, and write in between.

Paragon's test format page says the writing component is 53 minutes for both tasks. Its IRCC page says 53-60 minutes. Our reading: the IRCC page is the weaker source, because it also carries placeholder text, but plan for the longer figure to be safe. None of the Paragon pages we read says how those minutes are divided between Task 1 and Task 2, or whether each task has its own timer, so read the screen on test day and watch it. Paragon says the test has a timer on the screen.

For practice only, here is a split we use. It is ours, not Paragon's. It treats the two tasks as roughly equal and applies Paragon's planning and revising rule to each.

Add them up and you get 26 minutes for each task, which fits inside 53. If you are a slow typist, move two minutes from revising to writing in your practice, and then work on typing speed.

Many people ask whether a chatbot or a writing checker can help with CELPIP writing. It can, as a reader of your own practice answers. It cannot do the work for you, and it cannot predict your CELPIP level. This section is our reading, set against what Paragon's pages say.

Two Paragon facts matter here. First, the test room does not allow phones or other devices, and the test itself has a built-in spell-checker, so the only help you will have on the day is the one in the test. Second, Paragon says responses that are not original may lose their score, so memorising an AI-written model answer is a risk.

Our rules for using a chatbot or checker:

1. Write first, then ask. Paste your own answer and ask one narrow question at a time: which parts of the prompt did I miss, does the tone suit a landlord, which grammar errors repeat.
2. Ask for explanations, not rewrites. A rewrite teaches you nothing, and an explanation of why a sentence sounds off can be reused.
3. Never memorise its model answers. Use them to see a shape, then write your own from a different prompt.
4. Do not trust a predicted level. A general chatbot has no access to the test owner's raters or score data, so a confident level prediction is a guess. Paragon lists an AI assistant in two paid packages without saying what it does, so we cannot say whether it predicts anything.
5. Check what it tells you. It can be wrong about grammar and can suggest wording that is too grand for the situation.
6. Keep the human step. A teacher, tutor or fluent friend who reads your answer will catch tone problems a tool misses.

A word on checkers. We found no writing checker on Paragon's free pages. Its store lists an AI assistant inside two paid packages, CELPIP Prep - Plus and CELPIP LS Prep - Plus, but the store page does not say what that assistant does, so we cannot tell you whether it checks writing. The checker you can count on is the spelling checker built into the test, and the one you build from your own list of repeat errors.

These plans assume you can write for about an hour a day. They are our own, and they do not depend on any one product.

One week

Four weeks

If you have longer, repeat the four-week cycle with new prompts from our CELPIP writing topics, and build vocabulary with our CELPIP vocabulary lists. The wider picture of preparation is on how to prepare for CELPIP.

Paragon says its free materials include a sample test and a practice test you get when you create a CELPIP Account, plus webinars. Its Pro webinars include writing sessions aimed at two score targets.

The writing score chart on our CELPIP writing score chart page shows how the levels line up with Canadian Language Benchmark levels.

Common questions