CELPIP Reading Part 3: Information

Match statements to a longer, multi-paragraph informational passage.

~10 min each

0 of 100 sets done

Practice sets

1 The Arctic Muskox FREE 2 The Monarch Butterfly Migration 3 The Story of Maple Syrup 4 Polar Bear Provincial Park 5 Bay of Fundy Tidal Power 6 The Common Loon of Canada 7 Building the Canadian Pacific Railway 8 Canadian Municipal Waste Management 9 The Atlantic Puffin Seabird 10 The Forks Winnipeg Heritage Site 11 The Pacific Sea Otter 12 The Canadian Museum of History 13 The Elusive Canadian Wolverine 14 The Beaver in Canada 15 The Atlantic Puffin 16 The Bluenose on the Dime 17 The Canadian Beaver 18 Long Distance Canoe Marathon Racing 19 Sun Dogs in the Sky 20 The Quebec Winter Carnival 21 The Beluga Whale Explained 22 The History of Stanley Park 23 Sea Otter Conservation 24 Grizzly and Black Bears 25 The Birchbark Canoe in Canada 26 Totem Poles of British Columbia 27 The Calgary Stampede Festival 28 Point Pelee National Park 29 The Wolverine of the North 30 The Diving Common Loon 31 The Peregrine Falcon's Comeback 32 The Point Pelee Sandspit 33 The Rise of Vertical Farming 34 The Dam-Building Beaver 35 Building the Confederation Bridge 36 Canadian Winter Road Clearing 37 The Beaver as Ecosystem Engineer 38 The Gold Rush Town of Barkerville 39 Tapping the Sugar Maple 40 The Royal Tyrrell Museum 41 How Maple Syrup Is Made 42 Canada's Maple Syrup Harvest 43 The Spirit Island of Manitoulin 44 The Canadarm in Space 45 The Craft of Maple Syrup 46 Keeping Bees in the City 47 The Light Pillar Phenomenon 48 The Story of the Stampede 49 The Rideau Canal 50 The Islands of Parc Jean-Drapeau 51 The Monarch and the Milkweed 52 Community Theatre and Choir 53 Bombardier and the Snowmobile 54 The Bluenose of Lunenburg 55 Inside the Quebec Winter Carnival 56 Waterton Lakes National Park 57 The Barren-Ground Caribou 58 The Canada Lynx 59 Harnessing the Bay of Fundy 60 Grasslands National Park 61 Geothermal Power Beneath the Prairies 62 Caribou on the Canadian Quarter 63 Building the Icefields Parkway 64 The Value of Public Transit 65 The Great Northern Loon 66 Sainte-Marie Among the Hurons 67 The Beaver Wetland Engineer 68 The McMichael Art Collection 69 The Beaver's Dam-Building Instinct 70 The Loon and the Loonie 71 The Sands of Sable Island 72 The Beaver on the Nickel 73 The Canadian Snowmobile 74 Snowshoe Racing in Canada 75 Night-Shining Noctilucent Clouds 76 The Montreal Jazz Festival 77 The Sugar Maple Tree 78 Regina's Wascana Lake Park 79 The Frozen Wood Frog 80 Fall Fairs and Farmers Markets 81 The Robertson Square Screw 82 The Château Frontenac Hotel 83 The Fergus Highland Games 84 Prince Albert National Park 85 The Arctic Fox 86 The North American Beaver 87 The Story of Wild Rice 88 Riding Mountain National Park 89 Newfoundland's Green Hydrogen 90 The Polar Bear 91 Building the CN Tower 92 Canada's Public Recreation Services 93 The Resourceful Arctic Fox 94 Fort William Historical Park 95 The Diving Loon 96 The Canadian Museum of Nature 97 The Loon on the Loonie 98 The Boreal Moose 99 The Islands of Haida Gwaii 100 The Maple Leaf Flag

Up next in Reading Part 4 · Reading for Viewpoints Preview

Guide

Reading Part 3 gives you a passage split into labeled paragraphs and a set of statements to match back to them. It also gives you a fifth option that is not a paragraph at all, and that option is where most of the difficulty lives.

What is CELPIP Reading Part 3?

You read a longer passage divided into labeled paragraphs (A, B, C, D), then match each statement to the paragraph it belongs to.

Questions	Time	Format
9	~10 minutes	Paragraph matching, options A to E

The critical detail: there is an option E, meaning "not stated". Some statements do not belong to any paragraph, and choosing "not stated" is the correct answer for them. Paragon does not publish how many of the nine that applies to, and neither should anyone else.

How CELPIP Reading Part 3 is scored

One point per question, computer-scored, no guessing penalty, from a Reading total of 38 scored questions. Part 3 runs about 10 minutes, and like every part, it advances on its own and cannot be revisited.

Watch out here: several popular prep sites tell candidates to budget 13 or 14 minutes for Part 3. The official figure is about 10, and the part will move on without you.

How to use option E in CELPIP Reading Part 3

Option E is not a trick, but it is a discipline. Candidates lose points in both directions:

They pick a paragraph that discusses the topic of the statement, even though it never actually makes that claim. Topic overlap is not the same as the statement being stated. And in the other direction, once they have chosen E once or twice, they get nervous and stop choosing it, forcing a match that is not there.

The test for E is narrow: is this specific claim made anywhere? Not "is this subject mentioned?"

CELPIP Reading Part 3 strategies

Skim the four paragraphs for their function before reading any statement. One sentence each in your head: what is this paragraph for? That map is what you will match against.
Match on claim, not on topic. The paragraph that mentions the same subject is the most common wrong answer.
Trust option E. "Not stated" is a real answer, and refusing to use it costs points.
Expect paraphrase. Paragon's official rule applies here with full force: the statement will not reuse the paragraph's wording.
Budget about 10 minutes, not 14. The part is shorter than the prep-site consensus claims.

Common CELPIP Reading Part 3 mistakes

Matching on topic overlap instead of on whether the claim is actually made.
Avoiding option E and forcing a paragraph match for a statement that was never stated.
Over-budgeting the time on bad advice, then being cut off mid-question when the part auto-advances.

Tip: Before you look at a single statement, write one short phrase per paragraph describing what it does ("A: history", "B: the objection", "C: costs", "D: what happens next"). Matching against four functions is fast. Re-reading four paragraphs nine times is not.

CELPIP Reading Part 3: frequently asked questions

How many questions are in CELPIP Reading Part 3?

Nine, each matched to a labeled paragraph or to option E, "not stated".

What is option E in CELPIP Reading Part 3?

It means the statement is not stated in any of the paragraphs. It is a genuine, correct answer for some statements, and candidates who refuse to use it lose points by forcing a match that is not there. Paragon does not publish how many answers are E, so be suspicious of anyone who claims a number.

How long is CELPIP Reading Part 3?

About 10 minutes. Several prep sites say to budget 13 to 14 minutes, which is wrong: the part is separately timed and will advance without you.

Why do the statements never use the same words as the passage?

By design. Paragon states officially that you should never expect the correct answer to appear in the very same words as the text. Match on meaning, not on vocabulary.

Should I read the passage or the statements first?

Skim the paragraphs first, just for what each one does. Nine statements matched against a four-paragraph map is much faster than re-reading the passage for every statement.

Can I go back to a previous Reading part?

No. Each part is separately timed and cannot be revisited once it advances.