Reading Part 1
In this part you read an email and a short reply to it. You answer questions about the email, then complete the reply by choosing the words that fit what the first writer actually said.
Walkthrough published by the official CELPIP Test channel.
Reading Correspondence is the first part of the CELPIP Reading test. You are given a message between two people - colleagues, friends, neighbours, a customer and a business - about an ordinary social or work situation.
The part comes in two halves. First you answer multiple-choice questions about the email itself. Then you read a short response to that email and fill in blanks, choosing the option that fits both the meaning and the tone of the original.
The tone is conversational and familiar but never slangy. Think of how you would write to a colleague you like, or a neighbour you know well.
Preview the email for about 30 seconds: who wrote it, who receives it, and what they want. Then work the first question set, roughly four minutes, letting the question keywords point you back into the text.
Give the blanks about four and a half minutes. Read the whole reply before choosing anything, because a later sentence often settles which word an earlier blank needs. Keep the last 30 seconds to check that every answer is filled and that the reply still reads as one consistent voice.
Practise on real everyday email until the format stops being the difficulty. Most marks lost here are not vocabulary marks - they are lost by skimming past one detail, or by choosing a word that fits the sentence but not the relationship. Read for the writer’s intent, then let the options compete against that.
Quick answers about Reading Part 1.
The second text is a short reply with blanks you complete using the main email. Pick the word that fits the meaning, the tone, and the relationship between the two writers. The wrong options are usually grammatical - they simply do not match what the first email actually said.
Everyday social and work messages: colleagues coordinating a project, friends arranging an event, a customer requesting a service, neighbours organising something local. The tone is friendly and conversational, without slang or overly affectionate language.
About eleven minutes for eleven questions, so roughly one minute each. A reliable split is 30 seconds to preview the email, about four minutes for the first question set, four and a half for the blanks, and 30 seconds to review.
Because the correct option paraphrases the email rather than repeating it. Focus on meaning instead of matching vocabulary, and watch for distractors that copy a phrase from the text but change one detail that makes them wrong.
No. All four Reading parts feed a single Reading CLB level. Each question is worth one mark and there is no penalty for a wrong answer, so it is always worth attempting every one.
Yes. The Reading test is self-paced, so you can move between questions and revise before you submit. Watch the overall clock, though - one timer runs across all four Reading parts rather than resetting for each.