CELPIP Writing Questions

The Writing section of the CELPIP measures how clearly you express yourself in the everyday writing that life in Canada demands: an email to a landlord or a manager, and a reasoned response to a survey. It runs about 53 minutes and has just two tasks — but each is timed on its own clock, so planning and pace matter as much as the words themselves.

The two tasks at a glance

Task	Time	Length	What you do
1 · Writing an Email	~27 min	150–200 words	Respond to a described situation in an email
2 · Responding to Survey Questions	~26 min	150–200 words	Choose one option and argue for it

The clock is per task, so you cannot move a spare minute from one to the other.

How the two tasks work

Task 1: Writing an Email. You are given a situation and asked to write an email responding to it. The prompt usually lists specific points you must cover, and the situation tells you who you are writing to — which decides your tone. An email to a boss or a company is formal; a note to a friend is relaxed.

Task 2: Responding to Survey Questions. You read a survey-style scenario that offers two options, choose one, and argue for it with clear reasons and supporting details. Despite the "survey" framing, this is a persuasive opinion task: pick a side and defend it rather than sitting on the fence.

A great score is never one brilliant paragraph — it is balance across all four criteria at once.

How Writing is scored

Your writing is rated on four dimensions, and a strong result needs balance across all of them — excelling at one will not cover a weak one:

Content / Coherence — the number, quality and organization of your ideas, plus the examples and details that support them.
Vocabulary — precise, varied and accurate word choice.
Readability — paragraphing, transitions, grammar, sentence structure, spelling and punctuation.
Task Fulfillment — relevance, completeness, appropriate tone, and word count.

CELPIP scores Writing with an AI-and-human system in which trained human raters review and confirm every result. Your final level runs from 1 to 12 and maps one-to-one to the Canadian Language Benchmarks, so a Writing level of 9 is CLB 9.

Good to know

Word count is itself assessed, so 150–200 words is a target to hit, not just a suggestion.
Tone is scored too — a formal email that opens with "Hey!" loses marks under Task Fulfillment.
CLB 9 is a competitive Express Entry level, and CLB 10 is the ceiling for language points, so 11–12 add none (always check current IRCC requirements).

How to practice effectively

The highest-value habit is to plan before you type: spend two or three minutes turning the prompt's points into a quick outline so nothing is missed and your paragraphs stay organized. Treat the email's bullet points as a checklist, match your tone to the reader, and leave a few minutes at the end to proofread for the grammar and spelling that Readability rewards.

Write under the real per-task clock from the start. Every set on this page is timed like the exam and comes back with AI feedback on the same four criteria, so you can see exactly which dimension is holding your level back.

Tip: Read the email prompt's bullet points twice and treat them as a checklist. Missing even one is the quickest way to lose marks on Task Fulfillment — covering them all clearly is the quickest way to gain them.

Frequently asked questions

How many writing tasks are there?

Two. Task 1 is an email responding to a described situation, and Task 2 is a survey response where you choose a position and argue for it.

How long is the Writing Test?

About 53 minutes — roughly 27 minutes for the email and 26 for the survey response. The clock is per-task, so you cannot borrow time from one task for the other.

How many words should I write?

Aim for about 150–200 words on each task. Word count is an assessed factor, so falling well short can hurt your score, while padding past 200 with filler just wastes time you could spend proofreading.

Should my email be formal or informal?

It depends on who the prompt says you are writing to. Match your tone to the reader — formal for a manager, company or official; friendly for a close friend — and keep your greeting and sign-off consistent with it, since tone is scored under Task Fulfillment.

Can I use a template?

A light structure — greeting, clear paragraphs, closing — helps, but memorised, generic templates score poorly. Raters reward relevant, task-specific content, so fill any framework with details drawn from the actual prompt.

Do spelling and grammar count?

Yes. Spelling, punctuation, grammar and sentence structure all fall under the Readability criterion, so clean, varied writing scores higher than error-prone or repetitive sentences.

How is the Writing Test scored?

On four criteria — Content/Coherence, Vocabulary, Readability and Task Fulfillment — using an AI-and-human system in which trained human raters review every score. Results are reported as levels 1–12 that map directly to CLB.

Are these tasks like the real exam?

Each task is written to match the official CELPIP format and is scored on the same four criteria. They are practice materials designed to prepare you. They are not retired official test questions.