Speaking Task 7
Task 7 asks what you think about a general question - should children get allowances, is remote work better - and gives you 90 seconds to answer on 30 seconds of preparation. It is the longest speaking window on the test, shared only with Task 1.
Walkthrough published by the official CELPIP Test channel.
Expressing Opinions is a short argument delivered out loud. The prompt is a general question with no right answer, and your job is to take a side and defend it for a minute and a half.
The ratio is what makes the task hard: 30 seconds of preparation against 90 seconds of speech, the tightest of the eight. Candidates who spend the preparation deciding what they genuinely believe arrive at the microphone with a side but no reasons.
The topics are everyday and social, never technical, and they are chosen so that both sides can be argued by anyone with no special knowledge.
Choose your side within the first 5 seconds of preparation and never revisit it. Spend the remaining 25 on two reasons and one concrete example for each, because the example is what stops a reason evaporating after a single sentence.
Then pace the 90 seconds deliberately: 10 seconds to state the position, 30 on the first reason with its example, 30 on the second, 10 on a concession, and the last 10 to restate the conclusion. If you are running behind at the concession, drop it and keep the conclusion - an answer cut off mid-argument sounds unfinished.
Ninety seconds on 30 seconds of preparation is the hardest ratio on the test, and it is beaten by preparation done long before test day. Build the reason bank, rehearse the five-part shape against a timer, and practise choosing a side in the first breath. Candidates rarely lose this task through weak English - they lose it by still deliberating when the recording starts.
Quick answers about Speaking Task 7.
Arguments are the fuel. Without two concrete reasons you run out of material around the 40-second mark, and the last 50 seconds are where answers unravel. Prepare stock reasons that fit many topics - money, time, health, family, fairness - and attach the day’s topic to them.
One concession sentence near the end ("Of course, some people argue… however…") shows range and complex grammar. More than one turns your opinion piece into a survey and dilutes your position. Concede once, refute briefly, then conclude.
Rehearse to a clock rather than to a script. If you are consistently short, develop each reason with a because-sentence and a for-example-sentence. If you overrun, cut the second example and never the conclusion - an answer that stops mid-argument sounds unfinished.
It is, but only if the side is chosen instantly. Five seconds to pick, then 25 to fix two reasons and an example each, is the split that works. Everything else - the opening phrasing, the linking words - should already be rehearsed rather than planned on the day.
No. Argue whichever side you can support with more concrete, specific reasons in English, which is not always the side you would choose in real life. Sincerity is not what is being measured, and it is a slow thing to consult under a 30-second clock.
Both run 90 seconds on 30 seconds of preparation, but Task 1 advises one named person about a decision they face, while Task 7 argues a general position for its own sake. Task 1 wants advice forms and warmth; Task 7 wants a position, reasons, and a conclusion.