CELPIP Learn · Listening Part 6

Listening Part 6: Viewpoints

A single speaker can carry several people’s opinions through one formal presentation. Map the issue, keep every position attached to its owner, and separate the speaker’s conclusion from the views being reported.

Kate Feng
By Kate Feng, Language Education Specialist Published August 27, 2026 · 10 minute read
Approximate time8 minListen once and answer the question group
Questions6Written sentence completions with four choices each
Recording1 speakerOne formal audio clip, about 3 minutes
Answer flowGroupedAll questions appear together under one section timer
Task snapshot

A sustained presentation with several positions inside it

Part 6 uses one prepared, relatively formal recording of about three minutes. One speaker presents a community issue, a technological or social development, or possible responses to a problem. The language may include less frequent or more specialized vocabulary than earlier parts, and the content can move through concepts, possibilities, and analysis.

After the recording, about six written sentence-completion questions appear together. As in Parts 4 and 5, the choices must complete the sentence grammatically, all questions share the remaining part time, and you may answer them in any order before the screen advances.

One voice does not mean one viewpoint. The narrator may report the positions of officials, residents, researchers, or organizations. Keep the source of every claim in your notes.
What it measures

Structure, attribution, support, and degree of certainty

Part 6 tests whether you can follow an extended explanation rather than collect isolated facts. A claim may be followed by a reason, evidence, an example, a limitation, a counterpoint, and a conclusion. The question may paraphrase any one of those relationships.

Certainty matters. Will, may, is likely to, and could under certain conditions do not make the same claim. Likewise, the presenter can describe a proposal without supporting it. Note reporting verbs such as argues, warns, predicts, and acknowledges; they reveal both ownership and attitude.

Repeatable method

Build an issue-and-voices map

  1. State the issue.Use the introduction to write the question, proposal, or problem in one short line.
  2. Create a row for each name or group.Record surname or role, then position and reason. Do not leave a claim without an owner.
  3. Mark the logic.Use arrows for cause and result, +/− for benefits and risks, and ex for an example that illustrates rather than proves a separate claim.
  4. Catch contrast and limits.Circle words such as however, although, only if, and in the short term. They narrow what is actually supported.
  5. Write the ending separately.Note whether the presenter recommends, predicts, remains neutral, or leaves the issue unresolved.

When a specialized word is unfamiliar, keep listening. Decide its grammatical role and whether the surrounding sentence treats it as helpful, harmful, costly, temporary, or uncertain. The relationship may be enough to solve the question even when the exact definition is not.

Worked example

Do not turn a condition into a guarantee

This original written rehearsal is not a real announcement or an official CELPIP item.

Viewpoint map: evening access at a public workshop

Issue: Should the workshop extend access beyond daytime hours?

Coordinator Patel: supports two late evenings; shift workers currently miss programs; test for three months.

Safety manager Leblanc: supports only if a second staff member closes; equipment checks cannot be done alone.

Neighbour group: concerned about parking noise; asks visitors to use the east entrance after 8 p.m.

Presenter’s conclusion: trial is practical if staffing and entrance conditions are built into the plan.

Complete the sentence: Leblanc considers later access acceptable provided that _____.

  1. two employees handle closing procedures
  2. all equipment checks occur in daytime
  3. visitors avoid the workshop after eight
  4. the trial continues for a full year

Evidence path: Only if creates a condition, and the condition is a second closing staff member. A restatement using “two employees” preserves that meaning, so A is correct.

Common errors

How a long recording produces a wrong relationship

  • Writing one undivided paragraph of notes. Claims and speakers become impossible to reconnect when questions appear.
  • Assigning every view to the narrator. The presenter reports a person’s concern, but the answer treats it as the presenter’s own conclusion.
  • Collecting examples without claims. A vivid example is remembered, but the learner cannot identify what idea it was meant to illustrate.
  • Ignoring degree. A possibility becomes a certainty, or a conditional recommendation becomes unconditional support.
  • Stopping at an unfamiliar term. The next contrast or definition is missed while the learner tries to reconstruct one word.
  • Choosing a true detail for the wrong relationship. The recording mentions staffing and parking, but only one completes a sentence about a safety condition.
Short drill

Separate an example from the main conclusion

Notes: proposal—library tool lockers / supporters: pickup after hours / example: nurse collected drill at 6 a.m. in pilot / concern: returns need inspection / conclusion: useful only with staffed return window

Complete the sentence: The early-morning pickup is mentioned to show that the lockers _____.

  1. can serve people outside regular hours
  2. remove the need to inspect returned tools
  3. are intended mainly for health workers
  4. should replace the staffed service desk
Reveal the answer

A. The nurse is one example of the access benefit. The speaker keeps a staffed return condition, so the example does not support B or D.

Self-review

Check the logic, not only the remembered nouns

  • Could I state the central issue or proposal in one line?
  • Did every named person or group have a separate position and reason?
  • Could I distinguish a claim, its support, and an example?
  • Did I mark counterpoints, limits, conditions, and degree of certainty?
  • Did I keep reported viewpoints separate from the presenter’s conclusion?
  • Did I continue listening through unfamiliar vocabulary and use context?
  • Did I answer every grouped question before time expired?
Your next step

Map one issue and every voice inside it

Open the free Part 6 preview. Write the issue first, create a row for every named viewpoint, and keep the presenter’s ending separate before opening the grouped questions.

Practise Listening Part 6