CELPIP Speaking Task 1 Template: Giving Advice

Task 1 gives you a short scenario — a friend, a relative, or a coworker facing a decision — then 30 seconds to prepare and 90 seconds to speak. Task 1 is one of the two 90-second tasks on the Speaking test (Task 7 is the other), so the real danger isn't running out of time. It's running out of things to say at the sixty-second mark.

Use this as a shape to fill, not a script to memorize. Raters score Content/Coherence, Vocabulary, Listenability, and Task Fulfillment, and Listenability means how clearly a listener can follow you. A rehearsed answer that ignores the scenario in front of you loses marks on all four.

The five-part structure

The support section is the engine of the answer. If you find yourself finishing early, that is the section that was too thin.

Step 1 — Use your 30 seconds of prep on content, not wording

Do not try to draft sentences in your head. You will lose them the moment the microphone opens. Instead, note three things: the recommendation, the two reasons, and one example you could tell in about twenty seconds. Everything else you can improvise, because the frames below carry the grammar for you.

Step 2 — Acknowledge the situation in one sentence

This buys you a natural opening and proves you heard the prompt. Keep it to one sentence — restating the whole scenario is the single biggest waste of response time.

That's a difficult position to be in, because [the tension in the situation].

Applied:

That's a difficult position to be in, because both options have something real going for them.

Step 3 — State the recommendation before you justify it

Give the advice first, then defend it. If you build up to the recommendation, a rater may reach the end of your answer unsure what you actually advised, and Task Fulfillment drops.

Here's what I'd tell [him / her / them]: I'd recommend [the specific action].

Other openers that do the same job:

• My advice would be to [action].
• If I were in [his / her / their] shoes, I'd [action].
• I think the better choice here is [action].

Step 4 — Support the advice for a full 45 seconds

This is where answers typical of CELPIP level 9+ responses pull away from weaker ones. Two developed reasons, or one reason and a real example, will fill the time. A list of four undeveloped reasons will not.

Reason one:

The main reason is that [consequence of taking your advice], and [why that matters to this person].

Reason two, or an example:

For example, [a person you know] was in a similar spot when [situation], and [what happened as a result].

An invented but plausible example is fine — nobody is fact-checking your coworker. What matters is that it is specific enough to sound lived-in: a timeframe, a place, an outcome.

Step 5 — Add a caveat to show judgement

The caveat is the most underused twenty seconds in Task 1. It extends your answer without padding, and it shows you can hold two possibilities at once — which reads as sophistication, not indecision, as long as it comes after a clear recommendation.

That said, if [condition changes], I'd suggest [alternative action] instead.

Step 6 — Close on the recommendation

Land the plane. One short sentence, and stop talking.

But assuming [the usual case], I'd tell [him / her / them] to [restate the advice].

Worked walkthrough

Here is the whole process on one prompt, from a blank screen to a finished answer.

Prompt: Your friend is deciding whether to move out of the city to a cheaper town about an hour away, or stay put and keep paying higher rent. She has asked what you think she should do. What advice would you give her?

1. Read it for who, what, and the ask.
A friend is weighing a money-saving move against everything she'd leave behind in the city, and she wants a recommendation — not a list of pros and cons.

2. Plan — notes only.
In your 30 seconds of prep, jot the recommendation, two reasons, and one example — not sentences.

3. Turn each note into a line.

Acknowledge:

That's a genuinely hard call, because the rent gap is real but so is everything she'd be leaving behind in the city.

Recommend:

Here's what I'd tell her: I'd recommend staying in the city for now, but moving to a smaller, cheaper unit in the same neighbourhood rather than relocating a full hour out.

Support:

The main reason is that the savings on paper rarely survive the commute. An hour each way is two hours a day, plus gas or a train pass, and that eats a big chunk of whatever she'd save on rent — except now she's also tired and has no evenings. The second reason is that her whole support network is where she already lives: her job, her friends, the people she'd call if her car broke down. For example, a friend of mine moved out to a town about ninety minutes away for a cheaper place, and within six months he was driving back into the city three nights a week anyway, so most of the savings went on fuel and takeout.

Caveat:

That said, if her job goes mostly remote, or if her lease is ending and prices in her building have jumped, then the math changes and the move out might genuinely be worth it.

Close:

But assuming she's still commuting in every day, I'd tell her to stay close and just downsize for now.

4. Read it back.

That's a genuinely hard call, because the rent gap is real but so is everything she'd be leaving behind in the city. Here's what I'd tell her: I'd recommend staying in the city for now, but moving to a smaller, cheaper unit in the same neighbourhood rather than relocating a full hour out.

The main reason is that the savings on paper rarely survive the commute. An hour each way is two hours a day, plus gas or a train pass, and that eats a big chunk of whatever she'd save on rent — except now she's also tired and has no evenings. The second reason is that her whole support network is where she already lives: her job, her friends, the people she'd call if her car broke down. For example, a friend of mine moved out to a town about ninety minutes away for a cheaper place, and within six months he was driving back into the city three nights a week anyway, so most of the savings went on fuel and takeout.

That said, if her job goes mostly remote, or if her lease is ending and prices in her building have jumped, then the math changes and the move out might genuinely be worth it.

But assuming she's still commuting in every day, I'd tell her to stay close and just downsize for now.

5. Check before you stop speaking.

• The answer fills the full 90 seconds — the support section carries two developed reasons plus an example, not four thin ones.
• The recommendation lands in the first fifteen seconds and is specific enough to act on.
• The caveat comes after the advice, adding nuance without retracting it.
• Linkers vary — the main reason, the second reason, for example, that said — so it stays easy to follow.

Full model answer

Prompt: Your cousin is thinking about going back to school part-time to finish a diploma, while continuing to work full-time. She has asked whether she should do it. What advice would you give her?

That's a tough call, because doing both at once means giving up most of her free time for about two years. Here's what I'd tell her: I'd recommend going ahead with it, but starting with just one course in the first term rather than a full load.

The main reason is that the diploma opens doors that experience alone won't — a lot of employers screen on credentials before they ever look at a resume, so finishing it removes a barrier she can't argue her way past. The second reason is momentum. People who wait for a quieter year usually find that the quiet year never arrives, and the longer the gap gets, the harder it is to go back to studying at all. For example, a friend of mine kept postponing her certification until her kids were older, and by the time she started, she'd been out of a classroom for eleven years and found the first semester genuinely brutal.

That said, if her workplace is heading into a busy season, or if she's the only person at home handling childcare, I'd suggest waiting one term and enrolling in the winter instead, when things settle down.

But assuming her schedule is reasonably stable, I'd tell her to sign up for that first course now.

Timing check: ≈150 words ≈ 60 seconds at a calm pace, so a 90-second answer needs roughly 200–230 words. This one is about 215.

Why this scores well: the recommendation lands in the first ten seconds and is specific enough to act on, both reasons are developed rather than listed, the example carries a concrete detail (eleven years out of a classroom), the caveat adds nuance without retracting the advice, and the closing line leaves the listener with the same recommendation they heard at the start. The linking phrases — the main reason, the second reason, for example, that said — are what make it easy to follow, which is exactly what Listenability measures.

Model answer at two levels

This pair uses a different prompt, so you can see the same structure applied to a second situation.

Before you speak

• You know your recommendation before the prep timer ends
• The advice is stated in the first fifteen seconds
• You have two reasons, not four half-reasons
• One example includes a specific detail — a number, a place, a timeframe
• The caveat comes after the recommendation, never before it
• You have a closing line ready so you don't trail off
• Your linking phrases vary — not "and then" five times

Common mistakes

• Advice with no reasoning. "She should just do it, it's a good idea" is grammatically fine and scores badly on Content/Coherence. Every recommendation needs a because.
• Retelling the prompt. Spending thirty seconds summarizing the scenario back leaves under a minute for the part that is actually assessed.
• Hedging until no advice survives. "Maybe, it depends, I don't really know" fails Task Fulfillment outright — the task asks for advice, so give one.
• Finishing at fifty seconds. Dead air at the end reads as thin content. If you run dry, add the caveat and then a second example; that is what the structure is for.
• Reaching for rare vocabulary. Vocabulary is scored on precision, not difficulty. A clear common word used correctly beats a formal one used slightly wrong.

For five more Task 1 prompts to practise with, each with a short answer plan, see CELPIP Speaking practice questions.

Advice prompts tend to come from the topics in the relationships and family, health and wellness and study and education pages of the Collocations Kit, and the natural spoken phrases for CELPIP Speaking help your answer sound unrehearsed.