CELPIP SPEAKING SAMPLES With Detailed Breakdown For a 10+
These CELPIP speaking samples as well as their detailed explanations are 3 of the 30 samples provided for the speaking exam included in our CELPIP Upgrade Course. Check out the details and explanations to understand what you need to do to score a 10 or higher in the CELPIP speaking test. It’s not that easy!
Question 1:
CELPIP Speaking Sample Answer:
Hey Jonathan.
How’s it going? I heard that life has not been going your way recently. I’ve been there, so I can relate! No worries, here’s what you need to do!
Firstly, try to go out more, my friend! I know you’re a hermit and would rather stay at home than enjoy the outdoors and people, however, you’re just digging yourself a deep hole of stress as well as angst. Don’t do that!
Secondly, and this might be hard for you to hear but… ask for help. Your mom is a psychiatrist. You literally have help at home available to deal with your mood swings! Trust me, competent professionals are the best resources you could use in times like these.
Thirdly, come over! You never meet up! If we were hanging out more often, I can guarantee, your mood swings would be a foregone issue.
I hope you find value in whatever I said because I’m looking out for you, as always.
Take care buddy!
Breakdown – Let’s analyze the answer in detail. What are some points the examiner will appreciate?
Hey Jonathan. (Simple/informal start)
How’s it going? (More unique phrasing than saying ‘how are you’. It’s also more informal) I heard that life has not been going your way recently. (Always try to use idiomatic expressions like these. ‘Life has not been going your way’ means ‘things have not been working out for you’. This is informal, unique, and a good use of an idiomatic expression) I’ve been there, so I can relate! (More idiomatic expressions: ‘I have been there’ and ‘I can relate’. ‘I can relate’ is also more high level phrasing than just saying ‘I understand how you feel’) No worries, here’s what you need to do! (Good lead-in to what we are about to say next)
Firstly, try to go out more, my friend! (Now, we are giving the body a structure by stating our three points with ‘firstly/secondly/thirdly’. Here we also used ‘my friend’ to signify that we are being informal. This is very important in CELPIP since a common mistake is when students become too formal when talking to friends. If you ever use something like ‘I look forward to talking to you’ when you are doing an informal speaking, forget a good mark!) I know you’re a hermit (fancy vocabulary here. Hermit means someone who is aloof from the society. Note that the friend in this story might not be a real hermit but we are using this word as an exaggeration to emphasize just how bad the friend’s condition is) and would rather stay at home than enjoy the outdoors and people, however, (by placing ‘however’ here, you are making this sentence complex. You need complex sentences like these! When you break down a long sentence into two parts, you have achieved this! Using connectors in the middle of sentences is a great way to get this done) you’re just digging yourself a deep hole of stress as well as angst. (Two great things we did here is used a fancy idiomatic expression like ‘digging yourself a deep hole’ and following that up with a fancy word like ‘angst’. You will score more points by using words like ‘angst’ instead of anxiety/depression which are common words). Don’t do that!
Secondly, and this might be hard for you to hear but… (this pause we are using here is a good break and a change of flow from the rest of our descriptive talk. The more variety of expression you use, the better! That’s why, just before this sentence, we said ‘Don’t do that’. This was a very short sentence. We are giving the examiner a range of sentences simple/complex/expressive/short/long. Every time you throw a variety at the CELPIP examiner, your marks go through the roof!) ask for help. Your mom is a psychiatrist. (We always recommend students to show some familiarity in informal questions. By assuming you know what this person’s life is about – in this case, you know his mom’s profession – you make the speaking look very realistic)
You literally (use of adverbs like ‘literally’ is very important to have a good range of vocabulary) have help at home available to deal with your mood swings! Trust me, (good informal phrase) competent professionals (instead of just saying ‘professional’, we are saying ‘competent professionals’. By adding ‘competent’, you are adding an adjective. The more adjectives and adverbs you use, the better your range of vocabulary becomes) are the best resources you could use in times like these.
Thirdly, come over! You never meet up! (Very informal tone used and it shows familiarity at the same time by using a real life example) If we were hanging out more often, I can guarantee, your mood swings would be a foregone issue. (‘A forgone issue’ means something that would be put in the past. It’s very unique phrasing and low frequency words like these will score you highly in the vocabulary part).
I hope you find value in whatever I said because I’m looking out for you, as always. (Nice informal conclusion! Short conclusions like these are best when you are running out of time but you need that one sentence to stick the landing! The words used here are also unique compared to something very common like ‘Talk to you soon’ or ‘Let me know what you think’).
Take care buddy! (Good informal finish!)
Question 2:
CELPIP Speaking Sample Answer:
There are many places I have been privileged to travel to. Among them, Greece stands out, in particular, Santorini.
Just the name of that place makes me reminisce the beautiful beaches full of white sand, the peaceful sound of seagulls, and the clearest water imaginable! Moreover, the outlandishly low prices for a tourist spot like that were too good to be true! I was equally stunned to see full meals priced at just 5 Euros, on top of no tipping requirements! Not only did the food price astonish me, the fairly priced shopping spree I went on left me having absolutely zero buyer’s remorse!
All in all, it was a trip completely worth the hype!
Breakdown – Let’s analyze the answer in detail. What are some points the examiner will appreciate?
There are many places I have been privileged (fancy vocabulary) to travel to. (This is a 10x better start than just saying “Today, I would like to talk to you about…”) Among them, Greece stands out (nice idiomatic expression ‘stands out’), in particular, Santorini. (Instead of just saying a simple sentence like ‘My favourite place was Santorini in Greece’, we are adding layers to it, separating our ideas with commas or pauses in speaking, which gives your speaking more depth. It also shows the examiner your ability to effectively separate information).
Just the name of that place makes me reminisce (fancy vocabulary) the beautiful (use of adjectives adds to your range of vocabulary) beaches full of white sand, the peaceful (adjective use) sound of seagulls, and the clearest (adjective use this time as a superlative, giving another layer of range) water imaginable (adjective use)! Moreover, (connector use) the outlandishly (use of an adverb adds to your range of vocabulary) low prices for a tourist spot like that were too good to be true (good idiomatic expression)! I was equally stunned (good use of adverb+adjective) to see full meals priced at just 5 Euros, on top of no tipping requirements (real-life examples are always the best for descriptions)! Not only did the food price astonish (adjective use) me, the fairly priced (adverb+adjective use) shopping spree I went on left me having absolutely (adverb use) zero buyer’s remorse (unique expression: ‘buyer’s remorse’ means the feeling of guilt after making purchases)!
All in all, (nice way to start the conclusion) it was a trip completely worth the hype! (‘Completely worth the hype’ is a unique and advanced idiomatic expression)
Note that you only have to keep 2-3 good quality points in part 2 speaking. Just make them well-defined instead of having several less defined points crammed together.
Question 3:
CELPIP Speaking Sample Answer:
The aspect that stands out most in this picture is the jubilation on the little girl’s face in the middle of the picture! I am assuming it’s her dad on the right trying to grab a mango for her while the little brother is eagerly waiting to catch it. Likewise, the mother seems to be doing the back-breaking work of picking up the fallen mangoes from the ground. Moving on to the left, the green mangoes there as well as towards the background represent the unripe ones which are clearly not on the agenda, as apparent from the current collection of just ripe mangoes. Finally, there are quite a bit of scattered leaves on the ground as well.
Breakdown – Let’s analyze the answer in detail. What are some points the examiner will appreciate?
The aspect (using ‘aspect’ here is much better than saying ‘thing’) that stands out (fancy idiomatic phrase) most in this picture is the jubilation (fancy vocabulary usage) on the little girl’s face in the middle of the picture! I am assuming (important to mention it’s an assumption since it’s not clear from the picture) it’s her dad on the right trying to grab a mango for her while the little brother is eagerly (good adverb use – the more adverbs, the better) waiting to catch it. Likewise, (good connector) the mother seems to be doing (keep mixing it up! Instead of saying ‘the mother is doing…’, we said she ‘seems to be doing’.
The more range of expressions you have, the better) the back-breaking (great complex adjective use) work of picking up the fallen mangoes from the ground. Moving on to the left, (note the other connectors were just one-worded connectors. This one ‘moving on to the left’ has four words. This is intentional to once again throw a range of vocabulary into the mix) the green mangoes there as well as towards the background (always point out where something is happening in the picture) represent the unripe ones which are clearly (adverb use again) not on the agenda (complex phrasing), as apparent from the current collection of just ripe mangoes (‘as apparent from’ is a complex phrasing again just like saying ‘as can be seen from.’). Finally, (good concluding word for the last sentence) there are quite a bit (‘quite a bit of’ is a lower frequency phrase than just saying ‘many’) of scattered (the more adjectives like these, the better it is for the descriptive nature of the picture and to score marks on the task response) leaves on the ground as well.
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