Orientation & Success Targets

This page gives you the shape of the Listening test, how it is scored, and one number: how many correct answers you need on practice tests before you book.

Read it once, slowly. Every other lesson in this course builds on it.

The test at a glance

The Listening test has six parts and 38 scored questions. CELPIP's test-format page gives it 46 to 55 minutes in total.

The question counts are from the test-format page and the study pack. The minutes, speakers and audio lengths are from CELPIP's Listening study pack. Each time includes listening and answering.

Part 5 is the only part with a video. You watch three people talk, so you can see who is speaking.

Five rules that shape how you listen

1. You hear everything once. Every clip plays once, and there is no replay button. This is why notes matter so much in Listening.

2. Parts 1 to 3 and Parts 4 to 6 work differently.

3. You can change an answer until its time is up. You can change it as many times as you want while the clock for that question or section is still running.

4. You cannot go back. Once a part ends, it is closed, and there is no way back to it.

5. Notes go on paper. At the test centre you get paper and a pen. Your notes are not scored, and nobody marks them. So a name, a time or a price you want to keep goes on your paper, in a few words.

Lesson 2 shows how the screen works, step by step.

How your Listening is scored

• Each question is worth 1 point. There are 38 scored questions, so the most you can get is 38.
• A wrong answer does not lose points. A blank answer scores zero, the same as a wrong one. So never leave a question empty. A guess can win a point, and an empty answer never will.
• A computer scores it. Every answer is either correct or incorrect. No person reads or judges your answers.
• One part may not be scored. The study pack says there may be one unscored part, and you will not know which one. Give every part your full attention.
• Your score report shows a level, not a number. CELPIP turns your correct answers into a level. You will not see "33 out of 38" on your results. You only see that number on practice tests, which is why the chart below matters.

The official score chart

CELPIP publishes this chart to show how the number of correct answers matches a CELPIP level in Listening.

M is the row below Level 3. For levels 3 to 12, your CELPIP level and your CLB level are the same number.

CELPIP calls this chart approximate. The number you need for a level can be a little different from one test to the next.

Two things the chart shows

Some scores sit in two levels at once. Find 33 in the right-hand column. It is in the Level 8 row and also in the Level 9 row. The chart gives you two answers.

This happens at every border, even between M and Level 3. Count them and there are 13 scores that appear in two rows: 7, 11, 12, 17, 18, 22, 23, 27, 28, 30, 31, 33 and 35. That is one in three of all the scores you can get.

At the top, a level is narrow. Level 9 covers only three scores, 33, 34 and 35. Level 6 covers seven. Near the top of the chart, one question can move you up or down a level.

Why the chart cannot give one answer

Not everyone gets the same questions. CELPIP uses many different versions of the test, and some versions are a little harder than others.

To keep this fair, CELPIP corrects the final score for the difficulty of the version you took. This is called equating. CELPIP's own example: two people each get 30 correct, one on an easier version and one on a harder version. Equating corrects for that difference, so the person with the harder version is not punished for it.

So the same number of correct answers can lead to a slightly different level on a different day. The chart cannot know which version you will get, and at the borders it shows both levels.

Listening asks for more than Reading

Put the two official charts side by side. Level 9 starts at 31 correct in Reading and at 33 correct in Listening. If you studied with the Reading score chart, do not use its numbers here.

🎥 Why 33 correct can be Level 8 or Level 9, and the number to aim for (6:46)

The scoring rules, the chart built row by row, the 13 scores that sit in two levels, equating in plain English, and the number to aim for at each level.

Jump to: 1:07 no lost points for wrong answers · 1:30 the part that may not be scored · 2:01 the chart, row by row · 2:40 the 13 scores in two levels · 3:22 what equating is · 4:19 the number to aim for · 5:03 why it is 1 or 2 above the chart

Your success target

The chart tells you where a level can start. It does not tell you the number that is safe. The last two columns are ours, not CELPIP's. They are simple counting on CELPIP's chart.

The safe number is the lowest score that the chart does not also put in the level below.

For Levels 10 to 12, 9 and 3, the safe number is 1 above where the chart starts. For Levels 4 to 8 it is 2 above, because two scores at each of those borders are shared with the level below.

An example. You need CLB 9 in Listening. The chart says 33, but 33 is also in the Level 8 row. So your safe number is 34 correct, which means you can miss 4 of the 38.

When to book. Our suggestion: take full Listening practice tests, and book the test when you have reached your safe number on at least three of them. One good result can be luck. Three is a pattern.

None of these numbers is a promise. They are the most careful way to read a chart that CELPIP itself calls approximate.

The six parts, and where each one is taught

Part 1, Listening to Problem Solving (8 questions). A man and a woman talk about a problem that one of them has. You hear the conversation in three sections, with 2 or 3 questions after each one. The full method is in Lesson 5: Part 1 Mastery.

Part 2, Listening to a Daily Life Conversation (5 questions). A man and a woman have an everyday conversation. You hear it in one piece. See Lesson 6: Part 2 Mastery.

Part 3, Listening for Information (6 questions). A man and a woman talk, and one of them gives information to the other. At about 2 to 2.5 minutes, it is the longest clip in Parts 1 to 3. See Lesson 7: Part 3 Mastery.

Part 4, Listening to a News Item (5 questions). One person reads a short news report. From here on, you read the questions instead of hearing them. See Lesson 8: Part 4 Mastery.

Part 5, Listening to a Discussion (8 questions). You watch a video of three people discussing a topic. This part has the most time, about 9 minutes. See Lesson 9: Part 5 Mastery.

Part 6, Listening to Viewpoints (6 questions). One speaker talks about a topic on which people hold different views. At about 3 minutes, it is the longest single piece of audio in the test. See Lesson 10: Part 6 Mastery.

Before those six, Lesson 2 shows how the Listening screen works, and Lesson 3 looks at the kinds of questions you will meet.

Your first step: find your starting number

Before you study any method, find out where you are.

1. Take one practice set for each of the six parts. Play each audio once only, the way the real test does.
2. Count your correct answers for each part, and add them up.
3. Write down your total out of 38 and your safe number from the table above.
4. Look at which part lost you the most points. That is the lesson to read first.

Repeat this every two or three weeks, with new sets. The gap between your total and your safe number is the one number that tells you if your practice is working.

• Practise all six CELPIP Listening parts
• Take a full CELPIP mock test under exam conditions

Related:

• Lesson 2: Test Mechanics & Interface Confidence
• Lesson 13: Test-Day Playbook for the day itself.