CELPIP Speaking Task 3: Describing a Scene

Describe what is happening in an image.

~2 min each

0 of 28 sets done

Practice sets

1 A Chaotic Elementary Classroom FREE 2 A Busy Downtown Street Crosswalk 3 A Bustling Winter Cafe Interior 4 A Busy Lakeside Campsite Setup 5 A Crowded Indoor Shopping Mall 6 A Youth Ball-Hockey Goal Celebration 7 A Sunny Community Farmers' Market 8 A Chaotic Airplane Cabin in Flight 9 A Marine Park Sea-Lion Show 10 A Busy Hotel Lobby Check-In 11 A Bustling Lakefront Water-Sports Scene 12 A Busy Outdoor School Playground 13 A Busy Intersection Fender-Bender 14 A Family Kitchen Baking Together 15 A Lakeside Camping and Fishing Trip 16 An Outdoor Youth Sports Day 17 A Family Dinner Gathering At Home 18 A Suburban Family Moving Day 19 A Busy Daycare Playroom 20 A Community Summer Field Day 21 A Community-Centre Kitchen Meal Prep 22 A Working Farm on a Sunny Day 23 A Chaotic Office Break Room 24 A Busy Shopping-Plaza Parking Lot 25 A Bustling Amusement Park Midway 26 A Circus Under the Big Top 27 A Downtown High-Rise Construction Site 28 An Indoor Carnival Game Midway

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Guide

Task 3 shows you an illustration and asks you to describe it to someone who cannot see it. That last clause is not decoration: official rater notes dock responses that forget there is a listener on the other end.

What is CELPIP Speaking Task 3?

Paragon's description is "look at an illustration and describe what is happening." You get 30 seconds to prepare and 60 seconds to speak. The on-screen instruction is verbatim: "Describe some things that are happening in the picture below as well as you can. The person with whom you are speaking cannot see the picture."

Remember the illustration. You will need it again in about two minutes, because Task 4 reuses the same picture.

How CELPIP Speaking Task 3 is scored

Every CELPIP Speaking response is rated by trained human raters (Paragon says each performance is seen by three to five of them, working independently) on the same four dimensions: Content/Coherence, Vocabulary, Listenability and Task Fulfillment. Your Speaking level is a product of your scores across all eight tasks, so no single task can sink you, and no single task can carry you.

Paragon does not publish a per-task weighting, and you should be sceptical of any site that claims one. What the official rater commentary does show is which dimension tends to get flagged on which task, and that is what the notes below describe.

Vocabulary is the most exposed dimension here, because the whole task is lexical: people, clothing, objects, positions, actions. An official Level 8 response was told plainly that more complex vocabulary would improve it.

But the two weaknesses raters actually wrote down on that sample were structural, not linguistic: "Does not provide an overview of the scene before describing details" and "Does not directly address and describe the scene to another person." Both are free points, and both are lost by candidates whose English is otherwise fine.

CELPIP Speaking Task 3 strategies

Start with a general statement, then zoom in. "The picture I'm looking at is a busy office, and there's a lot going on."
You do not need to describe everything. This is official. Choose the parts you can describe well and develop them.
Build a picture for the listener. Spatial signposting does the work: "in the foreground", "on the left-hand side", "just behind her".
Describe appearance, actions and feelings. The third one is officially named and is where the higher-value language lives.
Use the present continuous. "She's reaching into her pocket", "a puppy is chasing something".

Common CELPIP Speaking Task 3 mistakes

No overview first. Diving straight into "There is a man in a blue shirt" is the single most-cited rater weakness on this task.
Forgetting the listener. The prompt says they cannot see the picture. Speak to them.
Inventorying the whole image and running out of time mid-sentence, with objects listed but no actions and no feelings.

Useful phrases for CELPIP Speaking Task 3

Overview: "The picture I'm looking at is..." / "It looks like a summer street festival, and it's quite busy."
Address the listener: "Let me describe it for you..." / "If you could see this, you'd see..."
Position: "In the foreground..." / "On the left-hand side..." / "Right in the middle..."
Feelings: "She seems thrilled." / "He looks completely overwhelmed."
Close: "So that's roughly what I'm looking at, a really lively, colorful scene."

Tip: While you describe the scene, bank two or three details you deliberately do not use. Task 4 hands you the same picture and asks what happens next, and those unused details are your prediction fuel.

CELPIP Speaking Task 3: frequently asked questions

Do I have to describe everything in the picture?

No. Paragon's official strategy says you do not need to describe everything, and advises choosing the things you are comfortable talking about. Pick three or four areas and develop them properly.

What tense should I use in CELPIP Speaking Task 3?

Mainly the present continuous, because you are describing what is happening now ("she's reaching into her pocket"), with present simple for static facts ("there are two windows behind them").

Am I describing the picture to someone?

Yes, and it is scored. The prompt states that the person you are speaking with cannot see the picture, and official rater feedback penalises responses that do not address that person.

What if I do not know the word for something?

Describe around it with common words: "a kind of machine you use to make coffee". Paragon endorses exactly this workaround, and raters credit a successful paraphrase far above a silence.

Should I guess how the people are feeling?

Yes. "Describe the people's appearance, actions, and feelings" is an official strategy, and feelings give you richer language than a bare list of objects.

Is CELPIP Speaking Task 3 the same picture as Task 4?

Yes. Paragon's study pack describes Task 4 as looking at "the same illustration from Task 3". Plan for it while you are still on Task 3.