You glance at the timer and see ten seconds left. You’re still explaining your first idea. You speed up, squeeze in another suggestion, and the recording ends halfway through your sentence.
If this happens during CELPIP Speaking practice, listen back to where your time went. A long introduction, repeated advice or an example with too much background can leave you rushing the part that answers the question.
The exercise below helps you practise making those decisions before the clock becomes a problem. You’ll record an answer, compare it with a worked example and make one specific change on your next attempt.
Try this before reading the sample
We’ll use Task 1, Giving Advice. You have 30 seconds to prepare and 90 seconds to speak, according to the official CELPIP Speaking Pro study pack. Other tasks have different timings, so check the instructions for each one.
This is an original practice prompt. It isn’t an official CELPIP question, and the sample below hasn’t been assigned a test score.
Your friend Sam has started a full-time job and signed up for an evening course. After the first week, Sam is already struggling to keep up with the assignments and is thinking about quitting the course. Give Sam advice on how to manage studying alongside work.
Set a 30-second preparation timer. When it ends, record yourself for up to 90 seconds. Keep your first attempt, including pauses and unfinished sentences. You’ll use it to find what needs changing.
Give each idea somewhere to go
During preparation, write short notes that connect a suggestion to a useful detail. For Sam, your notes could look like this:
- Plan the week: deadlines beside shifts; spot busy evenings.
- Split the assignment: outline Tuesday, draft Thursday; avoid one late night.
- Ask the instructor: explain work hours; ask how much weekly study to expect.
These notes give you three different ways to help Sam. Each also gives you something to explain after the first sentence. The official study pack recommends at least three suggestions for this task, supported by reasons or examples.
With a note such as “time management”, you still have to decide what Sam should actually do while the clock is running. “Outline Tuesday, draft Thursday” already gives you a practical example.
Spend your preparation time choosing those details. A brief opening such as “Sam, I’d try changing your weekly routine before you decide to quit” is enough to begin. You don’t need to write it out in advance.
Read the sample and follow the plan
Sam, I’d try changing your weekly routine before you decide to quit. The first week can feel overwhelming when you’re getting used to a new job as well.
First, put your assignment deadlines and work shifts on the same calendar. That way, you can see which evenings are already busy and choose study times you can actually keep. Leave one evening free in case something takes longer than expected.
I’d also split each assignment into smaller steps. For example, you could make an outline on Tuesday and write the first draft on Thursday. Then you won’t be trying to finish everything after work the night before it’s due.
Finally, speak to your instructor this week. Explain your work schedule and ask how much study time you should allow each week. That will help you judge whether your plan is realistic.
Try that routine for a couple of weeks, then decide whether the course fits around your job.
Each suggestion has a purpose: see the workload, spread out the work, and check whether the plan is manageable. The response speaks directly to Sam and stays with the problem in the prompt.
Read it aloud with a timer. Your pace and pauses will affect how long it takes. Use it to study how the ideas develop, then close it and answer in your own words.
Find the sentence that’s using too much time
Listen to your first recording and note when you begin each suggestion. If your second suggestion starts with only twenty seconds left, look at what came before it.
Consider this opening:
Sam, I know you started a new job recently, and you also enrolled in an evening course. You told me the assignments are difficult to manage, and now you’re considering quitting because you feel very busy.
It repeats information Sam already knows. You can replace it with the sample’s first sentence and get straight to useful advice.
Now consider an overlong explanation:
You could use a paper calendar or a calendar on your phone. There are lots of apps available, and some let you use different colours. You could choose one colour for work and another colour for your classes…
The response has drifted into choosing a calendar. Keep the reason it helps Sam: putting deadlines beside work shifts reveals which evenings are available. Then move to the next suggestion.
For this 90-second practice task, try reaching your second suggestion with roughly a minute remaining and your third with roughly half a minute remaining. These are rehearsal checkpoints, not scoring rules. Adjust them after listening to your recording so you can develop each point without rushing.
Handle the final seconds without starting over
If you have about fifteen seconds left and haven’t reached your final suggestion, give the action and its reason briefly:
Also, ask your instructor how much weekly study the course needs, so you can check whether your schedule is realistic.
You can leave out a separate closing sentence if there isn’t room. Finish the useful point you’re making. Adding “In conclusion” won’t repair an answer that hasn’t addressed the situation.
If you finish with thirty seconds left, check whether you explained your suggestions. “Make a schedule and study regularly” leaves Sam with very little to act on. Add a detail that shows how: “Set aside Tuesday for the outline and Thursday for the first draft, so you’re not doing the entire assignment in one evening.”
CELPIP’s speaking performance standards consider how ideas are developed, how easy the response is to follow and how fully it addresses the task. Finishing within the time limit is only one part of a good response.
Make your next recording test one change
Choose the biggest problem in your first attempt. If your opening was too long, shorten it to one sentence. If you listed suggestions without explaining them, add one practical detail to each. Record again using only your brief notes.
Compare the two recordings. Check where you reached your last suggestion and whether you finished its explanation. Ask a listener to tell you what Sam should do; if they can’t identify your advice, revise the unclear part before adding more content.
Then try a fresh prompt with the same 30-second preparation and 90-second recording limits:
Your friend Maya wants to start cooking at home to save money, but usually orders takeout because she’s tired after work. Give her advice on making home cooking easier to fit into her week.
Make new notes for Maya’s situation. Keep the recording and write down one exact change for your next attempt, such as “Explain what to prepare ahead of time, instead of repeating that cooking saves money.”
For a similar exercise in checking your own work, try CELPIP reading practice: how to spot a convincing wrong answer.
Kerem is the founder of CELPIP Practice and TEF Practice. He built study tools while preparing for his own language exams and later made them available to others.
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