Prepare for CELPIP Test

A Necessary Condition of Post Graduate Work Permit (PGWP) and Immigration in Canada

In the last year, IRCC implemented the policy that to get PGWP, a graduated student must obtain English test at level of CLB 7 or higher. Meanwhile, when a graduate student wants to get permanent residency in Canada, he or she can go through the OINP stream. If the first language is English, a score of CLB 9 or higher can give the highest point in the category of language proficiency. Therefore, one needs to get reading, listening, writing, and speaking all over 9 in the CELPIP test.

Overview

After several months of struggling over the CELPIP test, I finally got the score of 9 in each section. I will share my experience and some tips for those who want to take the test. My reading and listening are 12, writing is 10, and speaking is 9. The most part I struggled with is speaking, which I believe is the hardest part for most test takers who are non-native speakers.

For a general overview, one needs to spend about 3 hours sitting in front of the computer, without any breaks. Test takers can leave for the restroom or drinking water but the test will continue. A big difference from the IELTS is that you only need to interact with the computer. Therefore, enforcement is very critical and in fact, sometimes, it is easy to get distracted by the noise. One thing I would always complain about CELPIP tests is that the environment is always noisy. Hence, when you have the conditions in daily practice, you can deliberately get yourself in a not so quiet place such as Tim Hortons or public libraries. However, it is hardly possible to get a satisfactory environment during the test, you still have the chance to write up the complain and report any issues during the test in between 24 hours after you take the test. This is a good point I would praise about the CELPIP.

Another advantage is that CELPIP has a lot of time slots and places that we can take the tests. Just taking the Toronto downtown as an example, there are three points in the downtown area. From the north-end of University of Toronto to the south-end. You can continuously take a lot of tests and usually the results will come out in 2 or 3 days, which is very fast. This advantage is extremely important if one is in urgent need of applying for PGWP or PR.

Speaking and writing are two hard parts where test takers should demonstrate that they are nearly at the level of a native speaker. The reason why speaking can be hard is that there is merely time for thinking. Usually the preparation time is about 30s, except for two questions with 60s. One needs to build up a coherent logic flow and convincing reasons to persuade or describe. Well, in fact, taking the question 3 of describing a picture and question 4 of predicting what will happen as examples, I would say even if I were required to do those tasks in my native language (Chinese), those would be pretty hard things. It is a test to find out one’s ability to organize language and then organize language in English. As a result, test takers should know how to think in English.

CELPIP is a test not only measuring one’s ability in English but also in culture, Canadian culture. When you are doing the speaking or writing section, you need to think about some common usage of language in Canadian culture. Some simple tricks are using some place names like University of Toronto, Markham, Brampton, etc. But more importantly, think about how usually Canadian people react in daily life.

Some Tips and Resources

  • Always know the benchmark
  • Practice every day
  • Think the reason of loss marks
  • Correction is more important than training
  • Always applying for remark
  1. First of all, always know how people mark the test. Here, I want to suggest the official score charts provided by the CELPIP. I would say this is the most important thing. Here is the link.
  2. Practice makes perfect. This is true. Just think something or talk to somebody every day. If you are on campus or in-person working, you won’t miss the chance.
  3. Combining those first two points, the third thing is necessary. Always know why you make mistakes.

Apart from these tips, I would suggest two free resources provided by CELPIP official: tests. Meanwhile, I would suggest the YouTube channel by Hzad Education. The channel helps me a lot during my studies, providing a lot of useful tips and solutions to increase the marks. Take a look when you have the chance!