CELPIP Speaking Task 5 Template: Comparing and Persuading

Task 5 comes in two steps.

1. Choose. Two options appear on screen — two apartments, two cars, two vacations — each with a picture and a few details. You have 60 seconds to choose one. You don't speak yet.
2. Persuade. A new picture then shows a different option, and you're told a family member prefers it. You get 60 seconds to prepare and 60 seconds to persuade them that the option you chose is better than theirs.

The comparison you speak about is always your choice against their new option. The option you turned down in step 1 is out of the picture, and nobody needs to hear about it again.

Use this as a shape to fill, not a script to memorize. Raters score Content/Coherence, Vocabulary, Listenability, and Task Fulfillment, and Task Fulfillment here has two halves: a genuine comparison of your choice with the family member's option, and genuine persuasion. A neutral pros-and-cons list fails the second half no matter how fluent it sounds.

The five-part structure

Step 1 — Choose fast, and remember why

In the first 60 seconds you only have to pick. You don't know yet what the family member will prefer, so don't agonise: choose the option with one or two clear strengths, and fix those strengths in your head — they are the start of your argument in step 2. Either option is defensible; hesitating is what costs you.

Step 2 — When the new option appears, plan the comparison

Now you know what you're arguing against. Use the 60 seconds of prep to write fragments, not sentences — two columns, your choice against theirs:

My choice            Their choice
+ 15-min walk        + $350 cheaper
+ rest after shifts  + extra bedroom
- $350 more          - 45-min commute

Then ask one question: which point matters most to the family member named in the prompt? That hands you your opening argument. Also spot the one real advantage their option has, because you'll need to answer it.

Step 3 — Commit in the first sentence

The listener should know your position before you explain anything. Name their option, then yours.

I know you like [their option], [Name], but I really think [your choice] is better — hear me out.

Applied:

I know you like the suburban job, Priya, but I really think the downtown one is better for you — hear me out.

Step 4 — Compare, don't just describe

Describing your choice on its own is only half of Task Fulfillment. Every reason should set your choice against theirs. Comparative language is what makes the contrast audible:

The main advantage of [your choice] over [their option] is [factor] — [your choice] gives you [benefit], whereas [their option] means [cost].

Applied:

The main advantage of the downtown job over the suburban one is time: you'd walk to work in ten minutes, whereas the other role means a forty-minute commute each way.

Step 5 — Admit where their option wins, and answer it

Pretending your option has no downside makes you sound like an advertisement. Naming the real advantage of their choice and dealing with it is what pushes a response toward the higher scores — it shows you're arguing, not reciting.

I know [their option's genuine advantage] matters. But [reframe, offset, or comparison that shrinks it].

Applied:

I know the higher salary matters. But once you subtract fuel and parking for that commute, the actual gap is a lot narrower than it looks on paper.

Step 6 — Speak to the person, not about the situation

The prompt names a family member. Use you and your, and tie each benefit to something that person actually wants. "Some people prefer a shorter commute" is a neutral observation; "you'd get an hour of your evening back" is persuasion.

That matters for you specifically because [something the listener cares about].

Step 7 — Close by restating the choice

Your last sentence should be the same recommendation as your first, sharpened by everything in between.

So even though [their option] looks better on [one factor], [your choice] is the stronger call for you.

Worked walkthrough

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

Step 1 prompt: Your sister Maya has just started a job at a hospital and needs an apartment. Choose the one you think is better for her.

You choose Riverdale: the walk to work is the big win.

Step 2 prompt: Maya prefers a different apartment. Persuade her that the one you chose is better.

1. Read it for who, what, and the ask.
You've already chosen Riverdale. Now Maya wants Oakwood, so the comparison is Riverdale against Oakwood — Elm Street is gone. The task has two halves: genuinely compare those two, and genuinely persuade Maya toward yours.

2. Plan — notes only.
In your 60 seconds of prep, jot fragments in two columns, then ask which factor matters most to Maya — that gives you your opening argument.

3. Turn each note into a line.

Commitment:

I know you like the Oakwood place, Maya, but I really think Riverdale is the right call for you.

Strongest comparison:

The main advantage is the commute: Riverdale is a fifteen-minute walk to the hospital, whereas Oakwood means forty-five minutes on transit each way. With the shifts you work, that's an extra hour and a half of your day, every day.

Drawback + answer:

Now, the three-hundred-and-fifty-dollar rent gap is real — but once you take off a monthly transit pass and the coffees you'd need to survive that commute, the actual difference shrinks a fair bit.

Second reason:

Oakwood does have the second bedroom, and if you needed a home office I'd point you there. But you don't — you need sleep between twelve-hour shifts, and that short walk home is what lets you actually rest.

Close:

So even though Oakwood looks cheaper and bigger on paper, Riverdale is the one that'll still be working for you in six months.

4. Read it back.

I know you like the Oakwood place, Maya, but I really think Riverdale is the right call for you. The main advantage is the commute: Riverdale is a fifteen-minute walk to the hospital, whereas Oakwood means forty-five minutes on transit each way. With the shifts you work, that's an extra hour and a half of your day, every day. Now, the three-hundred-and-fifty-dollar rent gap is real — but once you take off a monthly transit pass and the coffees you'd need to survive that commute, the actual difference shrinks a fair bit. Oakwood does have the second bedroom, and if you needed a home office I'd point you there. But you don't — you need sleep between twelve-hour shifts, and that short walk home is what lets you actually rest. So even though Oakwood looks cheaper and bigger on paper, Riverdale is the one that'll still be working for you in six months.

5. Check before you stop speaking.

• The choice lands in the first sentence, named against Maya's option, and the last line restates it.
• Every reason sets Riverdale against Oakwood — the main advantage, whereas, even though do the contrasting — and Elm Street never comes up.
• Oakwood's real advantages (the lower rent, the extra bedroom) are named and answered rather than dodged.
• It's aimed at Maya — her shifts, her rest, her money — using you throughout, and it fills the full 60 seconds.

Full model answer

Step 1 prompt: Your family is planning a week-long summer vacation. Choose the option you prefer.

You choose the lakeside cabin.

Step 2 prompt: Your father prefers a different option. Persuade him that your choice is better.

Dad, I know the beach resort sounds relaxing, but I really think the lakeside cabin is the better choice for us. The biggest difference is cost. The cabin is fourteen hundred dollars for the week, whereas the resort is over three thousand, so we'd save enough to fix the car before winter. I'll admit the resort has one big advantage: all the meals are included, so you wouldn't have to cook. But at the cabin we can take turns, and honestly, barbecuing by the lake is half the fun. On top of that, it's a three-hour drive instead of a five-hour flight, so there's no airport stress, and you know how much you hate flying. We'd also do things together, like canoeing and hiking, instead of lying by a pool all week. So even though the resort looks more luxurious, the cabin would give us a better vacation for less than half the price.

Timing check: ≈150 words ≈ 60 seconds at a calm pace, and this answer is about 155.

Why this scores well: the choice lands in the first sentence, set directly against Dad's preference. Every reason compares the cabin with the resort — cost, travel, what the family would do — and the city hotel rejected in step 1 never comes up. The resort's genuine advantage (meals included) is conceded and then answered, and the whole thing is aimed at Dad: his cooking, his dislike of flying, the car he'd have to pay for. The close restates the recommendation with the sharpest fact in the answer.

Model answer at two levels

Before you speak

• You chose in step 1 and know the one or two reasons why
• Your notes compare your choice with the family member's option, in fragments
• Your first sentence names their option and yours
• Every reason sets your choice against theirs, not against the option you rejected
• At least one comparative phrase per reason
• One real advantage of their option is named and answered
• You speak to the family member directly — you throughout
• Your last sentence restates the choice

Common mistakes

• Arguing against the wrong option. The option you rejected in step 1 no longer matters. The family member is asking about their option, so compare yours with theirs.
• Staying neutral. Listing strengths and weaknesses of both options without ever committing reads as a summary, not persuasion. Task Fulfillment drops even if the language is strong.
• Burying the choice. Building to your decision at the 45-second mark leaves no room to defend it. Lead with it.
• Describing one option only. Praising your pick without ever referencing theirs is not comparison. If the phrases whereas and compared with never appear, check the response.
• Pretending their option has no upside. A comparison where theirs has zero advantages sounds rehearsed. Concede one and answer it.
• Talking about people instead of to your listener. "Many people would prefer..." abandons the persuasive frame the prompt set up. Say you.
• Agonising in step 1. Spending the choice time weighing both options means you reach step 2 with no reasons in mind. Choose fast, remember why, and save your planning for the comparison.

For five more Task 5 prompts to practise with, each with a short answer plan, see CELPIP Speaking practice questions.

The reasons in comparisons like this are easier to state with the collocations in the work and careers, money and finance and travel and transportation pages of the Collocations Kit, and the natural spoken phrases for CELPIP Speaking help you persuade without sounding scripted.