CELPIP Writing Task 2 Template: Responding to Survey Questions

Task 2 gives you a survey with two options and asks which you would choose. You have 26 minutes and 150–200 words.

The single biggest mistake is treating this as an essay about both options. It isn't. It's an argument for one of them.

Pick the option you can defend, not the one you believe

There are no marks for sincerity. Choose whichever option gives you two concrete reasons and a specific example fastest. Spend thirty seconds deciding, then commit — a response that wobbles between both options loses Coherence marks.

The five-part structure

Step 1 — State your position immediately

I would choose [option] because [one-line reason].

No preamble about how it's a difficult decision. Examiners are marking whether you take a clear stance.

Step 2 and 3 — Two reasons, two different angles

Weak responses give the same reason twice in different words. Pick two genuinely different categories:

Each reason follows the same shape:

[Reason]. [One sentence expanding it.] For example, [a specific, concrete instance].

The example is doing the heavy lifting. "It would save money" is a claim; "our team currently spends about two hours a week on this" is evidence.

Step 4 — The counter-argument paragraph

This is what most test-takers skip, and it's the clearest single upgrade available on Task 2.

I understand that [other option] would [genuine benefit]. However, [why your choice still wins].

Grant the other side something real. A counter-argument that dismisses the alternative as obviously bad shows less control than one that concedes a genuine point and answers it.

Step 5 — Close without repeating yourself

For these reasons, [option] is the better choice for [context].

Rephrase — do not copy your opening line back. Repeated phrasing costs Vocabulary marks.

Worked walkthrough

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

Prompt: Your local library is surveying members about opening hours. Option A: extend weekday hours to 9 p.m. Option B: open on Sundays. Which do you support?

1. Read it for who, what, and the ask.
The library wants members to pick one of two changes to its hours, and defend the choice. This is an argument for one option — not a weighing of both.

2. Plan — notes only.
A quick plan: pick the side you can back with two different angles and a concrete detail, then commit.

3. Turn each note into a line.

Position:

I support Option B, opening the library on Sundays.

Reason 1:

My main reason is access for people who cannot come during the week at all. Parents on weekday shifts and students in evening classes already find the library closed by the time they are free, and Sunday is the one day most households share. A nurse on my street, for example, has not been able to borrow a book in months.

Reason 2:

Sundays also fit how the branch is actually used. It is busiest on Saturdays, so a Sunday would extend that weekend rhythm rather than stretching tired staff across five late weeknights that often sit half-empty after eight o'clock.

Counter:

I recognize that later weekday hours would genuinely help commuters who want to drop in on the way home. However, that group can already visit on Saturdays, whereas the Saturday-shift workers Option B serves have no alternative day at all.

Close:

For these reasons, a Sunday opening reaches more of the community than a few extra weeknight hours would.

4. Read it back — the finished model answer.

I support Option B, opening the library on Sundays.

My main reason is access for people who cannot come during the week at all. Parents on weekday shifts and students in evening classes already find the library closed by the time they are free, and Sunday is the one day most households share. A nurse on my street, for example, has not been able to borrow a book in months.

Sundays also fit how the branch is actually used. It is busiest on Saturdays, so a Sunday would extend that weekend rhythm rather than stretching tired staff across five late weeknights that often sit half-empty after eight o'clock.

I recognize that later weekday hours would genuinely help commuters who want to drop in on the way home. However, that group can already visit on Saturdays, whereas the Saturday-shift workers Option B serves have no alternative day at all.

For these reasons, a Sunday opening reaches more of the community than a few extra weeknight hours would.

166 words

5. Check before you submit.

• The choice is stated in sentence one and never wobbles.
• Length is inside 150–200 words.
• The two reasons come from different angles — access, then practical use — and the first carries a concrete example.
• The counter concedes a real benefit of Option A before answering it, and the close rephrases rather than repeats.

Full model answer

Prompt: Your building management is surveying residents about the shared courtyard. Option A: convert it into additional parking. Option B: keep it as a garden with seating. Which do you support?

I support Option B, keeping the courtyard as a garden with seating.

My main reason is that the courtyard is the only shared outdoor space in the building. Families with young children use it every afternoon, and older residents sit there in the evenings. Removing it would leave roughly forty households with nowhere outdoors to go without leaving the property.

The garden also does practical work that parking cannot. The trees keep the west-facing apartments noticeably cooler in summer, which matters in a building without air conditioning, and the planting absorbs rainwater that would otherwise pool near the entrance.

I recognize that parking is genuinely tight, and residents who drive have a fair complaint about circling the block after work. However, the courtyard would add only six or seven spaces, while the street permit scheme the city introduced last year is already reducing that pressure.

For these reasons, preserving the courtyard serves more residents, more of the time, than a small parking gain would.

164 words

Why this scores well: the position is stated in line one, the two reasons come from different angles (social, then practical), each carries a specific detail, the counter-argument grants a real point before answering it with a number, and the close rephrases rather than repeats.

Model answer at two levels

Before you submit

• Your choice is stated in the first sentence
• Two reasons from genuinely different angles
• Each reason carries a concrete example, number, or detail
• One paragraph concedes a real benefit of the other option
• Closing rephrases rather than repeats
• Length is 150–200 words

Common mistakes

• Fence-sitting. "Both options have advantages" with no commitment reads as an unanswered question.
• Two versions of one reason. "It's cheaper" and "it costs less" is one reason, not two.
• Skipping the counter-argument. It's the difference between an opinion and an argument.
• Abstract reasons only. Without a specific example, every claim reads as filler.

For five more Task 2 prompts to practise with, each with a short answer plan, see CELPIP Writing practice questions.

Survey prompts often sit in the topics covered by the arts and entertainment, government and law and time and productivity pages of the Collocations Kit, and the formal phrases for CELPIP Writing give you ready-made sentence frames.