Task 2 — Survey Response

What you'll learn: how to structure a persuasive, well-supported response to a two-option survey question in 26 minutes, how to find two strong reasons quickly, and what separates a CLB 7 paragraph from a CLB 9 one.

What Task 2 actually tests

Task 2 presents a short survey — often about a community, workplace or school decision — with two options, Option A and Option B. You choose one and explain why, in 150–200 words and 26 minutes. It is always a choice between the two options given, never an open essay question, so your first job is to pick one. It's not testing which option you pick; it's testing whether you can build a clear argument with specific reasons and examples.

The argument structure

1. State your choice clearly in the first sentence — don't hedge.
2. Reason 1 with a specific supporting example.
3. Reason 2 with a specific supporting example.
4. Brief acknowledgment of the other option, then why yours still wins (optional, but it shows control).
5. Closing sentence restating your position in new words.

Two well-developed reasons leave room for detail; four shallow ones leave none.

The two-option choice pattern

The structure above works for any opinion. These five moves are what make it fit a two-option survey specifically. Learn them as moves, not as sentences to memorize.

• Pick the side you can argue, not the side you prefer. Spend your first minute listing one or two reasons for each option, then take whichever has the more concrete support. The survey is a writing task, not a poll of your real views.
• Name the option in words, not just its letter. I would choose Option A, adding more buses to the routes we already have. The reader should not have to look back at the prompt to know what you chose.
• Compare as you go. Each reason is stronger when it says why your option beats the other one, not only why it is good. A pool would mainly help people who already swim; a library would serve every age group.
• Give the other option one real point, then answer it. One sentence of concession and one of reply is enough. I understand that bike lanes are cheaper to build. However, they would sit empty for four months of the year.
• Close with the comparison. For these reasons, a library would help more residents than a pool would. A close that names both options sounds decided rather than repeated.

For a fill-in version of this pattern, with sentence frames for each move, use the free CELPIP Writing Task 2 template.

Choosing strong reasons quickly

Under time pressure, the fastest way to generate two solid reasons is to run through five categories and keep the two that fit best: cost, time, fairness or access, safety, long-term impact. Most Task 2 prompts yield at least two strong reasons from this list within a minute.

Take a workplace survey that offers Option A: a free team lunch every Friday or Option B: a monthly transit pass for every employee. Running the list for Option B gives:

• Cost: a pass saves each employee real money every month, more than one lunch a week would.
• Fairness or access: part-time staff who don't work Fridays would still benefit.
• Long-term impact: staff who get used to taking transit tend to keep doing it, which would ease pressure on the office's small parking lot for years.

That is three usable reasons in under a minute. Keep the two that come from the most different angles (here, cost and fairness), because two reasons from the same angle tend to read as one idea said twice.

Worked example

Prompt: Your community centre has money for one new facility and is asking residents which they prefer. Choose the option you prefer and explain the reasons for your choice. Write about 150–200 words.

• Option A: a swimming pool
• Option B: a library

I prefer Option B, a new library, because it would serve far more people in our neighbourhood.

First, a library is useful to almost every age group. After school, children need a quiet place to do homework, and many of them do not have one at home. Adults could use the computers to look for work or take online courses, and seniors could join a book club or simply read the newspaper somewhere warm and safe. A pool, by contrast, would mainly benefit people who already swim regularly.

Second, a library is much cheaper to run. A pool needs lifeguards on every shift, constant chemical treatment and expensive repairs, and those costs would probably mean higher membership fees for every family that uses the centre.

I understand that a pool would encourage people to exercise, which is important. However, there is already a public pool ten minutes away, while the nearest library is a thirty-minute drive.

For these reasons, a library would help more residents than a pool, at a lower cost, and I hope the centre chooses it.

179 words

Notice the shape: the choice in sentence one, two reasons from different angles (who it serves, then what it costs), a counter-argument that grants the pool something real before answering it, and a close that rephrases rather than repeats. The first reason also compares as it goes: its last sentence says why the pool falls short, not only why the library helps.

CLB 7 vs CLB 9: the same paragraph

Here is one reason paragraph from a response to a school survey, written twice. The survey asks parents to choose between Option A: a longer lunch recess and Option B: a free after-school homework club. The writer chose Option B. The level labels are our estimate of how each version reads; they are not an official CELPIP score.

CLB 7 version

First, the homework club is good for parents. Many parents work until five o'clock. They cannot help their children with homework. The club can help the children. Also it is free, so it is good for families. I think this is the most important reason.

CLB 9 version

First, a homework club would solve a practical problem for working parents. Many of us finish work at five, so our children spend the hours after school at home alone, often with homework they cannot finish without help. A supervised club would give them that help at no cost, which matters most to families who cannot afford a tutor.

What changed:

• Wording. The CLB 7 version uses good twice and help twice without saying what the help is. The CLB 9 version names the problem (the hours after school at home alone), the solution (a supervised club) and who gains most (families who cannot afford a tutor).
• Organization. The CLB 7 version is six short sentences that each stand alone, ending with a line that announces importance instead of showing it. The CLB 9 version opens with a topic sentence, then moves from problem to solution to benefit, joined by so and which.
• Task coverage. The CLB 7 version mentions the cost in passing. The CLB 9 version ties the cost to a specific group of families, which gives the reason a detail the reader can check against their own situation.

The CLB 9 version is only a little longer. The difference is how much each sentence tells the reader.

Task 2 checklist

• Option A or B chosen unambiguously in the first sentence, named in words as well as by letter
• Two distinct reasons from different angles, each with a concrete example — not one idea restated twice
• No hedging or switching sides mid-response
• Counterpoint kept to two sentences — one concession, one answer — not allowed to dominate
• Closing sentence restates or reinforces the position without introducing a new idea
• Length is 150–200 words

Common mistakes

• Sitting on the fence — listing pros and cons of both options without ever committing.
• Giving reasons with no supporting detail ("it's better because it's more fun").
• Restating the same reason twice in different words instead of finding a genuinely second reason.
• Letting the counterpoint grow so long it undermines your stated position.
• Choosing the side you believe in when you have no concrete reasons for it — pick whichever side is easier to support.
• Running out of time because the plan wasn't set before writing (see Lesson 3).

Recap

Task 2 is an argument, not an essay quiz — pick a side immediately, back it with two specific reasons from different angles, give the other option one fair sentence, and close by restating your position. The cost, time, fairness, safety and long-term impact categories find those reasons fast. The step from CLB 7 to CLB 9 is mostly specificity: name the problem, the solution and who gains, and join the sentences so each one builds on the last.