One email, one survey response
Writing is the third CELPIP-General component. You type both responses on the computer in 53 minutes. Task 1, Writing an Email, takes about 27 minutes. Task 2, Responding to Survey Questions, takes about 26. The suggested length for each response is 150–200 words.
| Task | Your job | Main decisions | Approx. time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 · Email | Write to a named person about an everyday situation | Purpose, requested points, relationship, tone, opening, and closing | 27 min |
| 2 · Survey | Choose one of two options and support the choice | Position, developed reasons, examples, comparison, and audience | 26 min |
The screen includes a word counter and an automatic spelling checker. Those tools do not plan the response or decide whether a suggested replacement is the word you mean. Keep watching the timer, because the section ends after the allotted time.
The four dimensions work together
The number and quality of ideas, their organization, and the details or examples that develop them.
The range, precision, accuracy, and natural use of words and phrases for the situation.
Paragraphing, transitions, grammar, sentence structure, spelling, and punctuation as they affect ease of reading.
Relevance, completeness, tone, and word count in relation to the audience, purpose, and instructions.
Grammar belongs inside Readability. It is not a separate error tally. A response with a few local mistakes can still communicate well, while a nearly error-free response can remain weak if it is vague, thin, or off task.
Keep the two response jobs separate
Task 1: Writing an Email
The prompt gives an everyday situation, a recipient, and several things to address. Decide whether the relationship is informal, semi-formal, or formal before choosing a greeting, request style, and closing. State the reason for writing early. Then develop the requested points in an order that makes sense to the reader.
A useful email usually needs more than one sentence per major point. If you are explaining a problem, show what happened and why it matters. If you are requesting action, make the action specific. Polite language should make the request workable, not hide it behind several lines of apology.
Task 2: Responding to Survey Questions
Choose one of the two options and state the position near the beginning. Both options are meant to be plausible, so your job is to build the stronger case, not discover a secret correct choice. Develop two or three reasons with examples or consequences and compare the rejected option where the comparison helps your argument.
This is persuasive writing for a real audience, not a school essay. A workplace survey, a community decision, and a message to a service provider can all support a firm position, but the vocabulary and tone should fit the people who will read it.
Plan, draft, and review on purpose
- Turn the prompt into a checklist.Write the audience, relationship, purpose, required points, tone, and response type in short notes. For Task 2, circle the option you will defend.
- Choose two or three main ideas.Add one consequence, example, or concrete detail under each. Put the ideas in an order the reader can follow.
- State the purpose early.Open an email with the reason for writing. Open a survey response with a clear choice in your own words.
- Draft in paragraphs.Give each main idea enough room. Use transitions only when they express a real relationship such as cause, contrast, sequence, or result.
- Review from meaning to mechanics.Check instruction coverage and tone first, then paragraph flow, unclear wording, grammar, word form, spelling, and punctuation.
A workable time split
For Task 1, try four minutes to plan, about nineteen to draft, and four to review. For Task 2, use roughly four, eighteen, and four. Adjust after timed practice, but keep a protected review window. Starting to type immediately often saves less time than it seems because the response later needs rearranging.
Build the response from the reader’s problem
Your apartment building has replaced the key to its bicycle room with a phone-based access system. Your phone cannot run the required app. Write an email to the building manager. Explain the problem, describe how it affects you, and request a workable solution.
Plan: manager · polite and direct · app will not install · bicycle needed for early shift · request fob or temporary code · offer device details.
Sample responseSubject: Bicycle-room access
Dear Ms. Ortega,
I’m writing about the new phone access system for the bicycle room. The required app will not install on my phone because its operating system is no longer supported.
This has left me unable to collect my bicycle before my early shifts at the hospital. On Monday, I had to take a taxi when the first bus did not arrive, and I cannot afford to do that regularly. My bicycle is registered with the building, and I still have the old room key if you need to confirm my access.
Could you please provide a key fob or another way to open the room? A temporary door code would also help while management reviews a longer-term option for residents with older phones. I can send you my phone model and app error message this afternoon.
Please let me know which solution is possible before my next early shift on Friday.
Sincerely,
Nora Patel
The purpose appears in the first paragraph. The taxi and early shift explain the consequence rather than merely calling the system inconvenient. The request is specific, offers two workable alternatives, and stays polite without becoming vague. The example is original PrepEx teaching material and is not assigned an official CELPIP level.
Problems that a word counter cannot catch
- Writing before choosing the purpose. The opening circles the topic but does not tell the reader why the message exists.
- Repeating the prompt. Familiar wording uses space without showing range, development, or independent control.
- Naming reasons without support. “It is convenient, cheaper, and better” gives three labels and no usable explanation.
- Forgetting the audience. A complaint becomes rude, an email to a friend sounds like a legal notice, or a survey answer reads like an academic essay.
- Using transitions as decoration. “Moreover” and “on the other hand” appear where there is no addition or contrast.
- Editing only spelling. Every word is spelled correctly, but a requested point is missing or a pronoun has no clear reference.
- Finishing at the last second. The response has no time for a coverage check, paragraph break, or repair of a sentence whose meaning changed during drafting.
Replace a vague reason with usable detail
Survey position: The community centre should keep its weekday evening classes.
Which supporting sentence is strongest?
- Evening classes are very good and helpful for many people.
- Keeping them is the best option because cancelling them would be bad.
- Residents who finish work at six can still attend the 7:00 p.m. classes, so the schedule gives working adults a realistic chance to use the centre.
- There are many reasons why the centre should make this important decision.
Reveal the answer
C. It identifies the affected group, gives a concrete time, and explains the consequence. The other choices state approval without developing it.
Read once as the intended recipient
- Is my purpose or survey choice clear near the beginning?
- Have I answered every requested point without changing the situation?
- Does each main idea have a reason, consequence, example, or concrete detail?
- Would this audience find the tone suitable and the request or position easy to understand?
- Do the paragraphs and transitions show the real structure of the response?
- Have I checked my usual grammar and word-form errors instead of trusting spellcheck alone?
- Is the response within the suggested 150–200 words?