CELPIP Writing has two tasks - an email and a survey response - each asking for 150-200 typed words. Below is a complete model answer for both, written to a high CLB standard and annotated against the four dimensions raters actually score. These are original samples for CELPIP-style situations, meant to show you the bar; the reusable structures behind them live in the free answer templates.
What the raters score
- Content and coherence - every requested point addressed, in a flow a reader can follow.
- Vocabulary - range and precision, not rare words for their own sake.
- Readability - grammar, spelling, punctuation, paragraphing.
- Task fulfillment - right format, right tone for the recipient, right length.
The order matters: a beautifully written email that skips one requested bullet caps itself on content and task fulfillment no matter how clean the grammar is. Coverage first, polish second.
Task 1 sample: an email (150-200 words, ~27 minutes)
Sample prompt: You recently moved into an apartment, and the heating in your unit has not worked for a week despite a previous complaint. Write an email to your building manager: describe the problem, explain how it is affecting you, and say what you want done.
Dear Mr. Alvarez,
I am writing about the heating in unit 402, which has now been out of service for a full week. I reported the fault to your office last Tuesday and was told a technician would visit within two days, but no one has come and I have received no update since.
The situation is becoming difficult to live with. Overnight temperatures have dropped below freezing, and the apartment rarely gets warmer than 15 degrees. I have been relying on a small electric heater, which is driving up my electricity bill, and my home office has become too cold to work in comfortably.
Could you please arrange for a repair visit within the next two business days? If the system cannot be fixed by then, I would appreciate a portable heater from the building and a written timeline for the permanent repair.
Thank you for your prompt attention.
Kind regards,
Daniel Osei
Why this scores well
- All three requested points appear, one per paragraph: the problem (with dates), the impact (specific and concrete), the request (actionable, with a deadline).
- The tone is firm but courteous - correct register for a tenant-to-manager complaint. No contractions, no anger.
- Precise everyday vocabulary does the work: "out of service", "driving up my electricity bill", "written timeline" - nothing showy, everything exact.
- At roughly 180 words it stays inside the range with time left to proofread.
Task 2 sample: a survey response (150-200 words, ~26 minutes)
Sample prompt: Your city has budget for one project on a vacant lot: a community garden or additional parking. A survey asks which option you support and why.
I support building the community garden, even though I own a car and occasionally struggle to park downtown.
My main reason is that a garden serves everyone in the neighbourhood at once. Families without balconies get space to grow food, seniors get a reason to leave the house daily, and children see where vegetables actually come from. A parking lot, by contrast, benefits only the drivers who happen to arrive early enough to find a spot.
The garden is also the choice we cannot easily reverse. If parking pressure grows, the city can add spaces elsewhere or improve transit; but once a lot is paved, it is effectively permanent. Keeping the last green space open preserves options for the future.
Parking is a real inconvenience, but an inconvenience is not the same as a loss. On balance, the garden gives the neighbourhood far more than it takes.
Why this scores well
- The position is stated in the first sentence - raters should never have to hunt for your opinion.
- Two distinct, developed reasons, each in its own paragraph, plus a concession ("I own a car...") that shows the opposing view was considered rather than ignored.
- Linking language is varied and natural: "by contrast", "on balance", "even though" - connectors, not decorations.
- Neutral opinion-piece register throughout: no slang, no formal stiffness.
The mistakes that cap writing scores
- Skipping a bullet point in the Task 1 prompt - the single most common cap on otherwise strong emails.
- Memorized paragraphs that half-fit the prompt; raters see them daily and off-topic content costs task-fulfillment marks.
- Wrong register - contractions in a formal complaint, or stiff legalese in a note to a friend.
- No time to proofread - writing to 250 words instead of 190 trades away the editing pass that catches typos.
- One-paragraph walls of text - paragraphing is scored under readability, and it is the cheapest marks on the test.
The structures behind both samples - openings, paragraph order, connector phrasing - are broken down task-by-task in the free Task 1 email template and Task 2 survey template. When you are ready to write your own, practice writing tasks here are scored instantly on the same four dimensions the real raters use, with per-dimension feedback. The full section timing sits in the test format guide.