You do not need to read every word of every text in CELPIP Reading. You need to know which kind of reading each question asks for, and how to do it quickly.
CELPIP's study pack names the skills. This lesson shows how to use each one.
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The four reading skills CELPIP names: skimming, scanning, keywords and paraphrase. What each one means, how to use it on the test, and how to tell a safe paraphrase from a changed meaning.
You do not need to read every word of every text in CELPIP Reading. You need to know which kind of reading each question asks for, and how to do it quickly.
CELPIP's study pack names the skills. This lesson shows how to use each one.
These definitions come from CELPIP's 2026 Reading study pack.
| Skill | CELPIP's definition |
|---|---|
| Skimming | "Skimming is looking over part or all of a text to get a sense of its main features" |
| Scanning | "Scanning is looking quickly through a reading passage to find a specific piece of information" |
| Keywords | "A keyword is a word or short phrase in a question that can help you to quickly identify the part of the reading where you can find the answer" |
| Paraphrase | "Paraphrase is expressing the same idea in different words" |
Each skill fits one of the three question types from Lesson 3. Skimming helps most with General Meaning questions. Scanning with keywords helps most with Specific Information. Paraphrase and strength help most with Inference, and with every type in the end.
The method below is ours.
Example, the Main Street article from Lesson 8: the street is closed to cars on weekends; a café owner is happy; a resident is worried; a store manager is angry.
One line: a street closure, and what different people think of it. That line answers most "mainly about" questions before you read any option.
Skimming is not reading slowly. It gives you a map. You read carefully later, only where a question sends you.
Take the keyword from the question, then look for it, or for its meaning, in the text.
Example, the skating guide from Lesson 6. The question: How much does skate rental cost at Iceplex Arena?
Names, numbers, days and places are the easiest keywords, because they are hard to say in other words. A name in the question is almost always a name in the text.
When the keyword is an ordinary word, like rental or damage, the text may use a different word for it. That is where paraphrase begins.
CELPIP's pack is clear about this: "You should never expect the correct answer choice, or any answer choice, to be written in the very same words that appear in the text."
So the skill is to recognise the same idea in new words, and to notice when new words have changed the idea.
| Same idea | Changed idea |
|---|---|
| tubing and pipes | helped reduce and solved |
| buckets and containers | may and will |
| every year and annually | some and all |
| wiped out and destroyed | free and cheaper |
| relief and help | not later than 5 pm and not until 5 pm |
One check for every paraphrase, ours: put the option's words back into the sentence in the text. If the sentence still says exactly the same thing, at the same strength, it is the same idea. If anything got stronger, weaker, wider or opposite, it is a changed idea.
Look at the small words that show how sure or how strong a writer is.
| Strong | Soft |
|---|---|
| clearly, must, always, never, the best, deliberately | may, might, could, seems, some, perhaps |
The right option has the same strength as the text. Not stronger, and not softer. Lesson 8 shows this with real opinions.
Four simple labels cover most messages and articles. These labels are ours.
| Purpose | The writer wants to... |
|---|---|
| inform | tell you something: a change, a fact, a plan |
| request | get you to do something or send something |
| persuade | make you agree with an opinion |
| complain | report a problem and get it fixed |
A quick test: if you replied, what would you do? If you would take an action, it is probably a request. If you would agree or disagree, it is probably persuasion.
Some questions ask what the text means, not only what it says. A small step of logic is fine. A big step is not.
Example, the maple syrup text from Lesson 7: the text says most of the water leaves as steam.
The check: can you point at the words? If you need your own knowledge to make the option true, it goes too far. In Part 3, a statement that goes too far, or that is simply not in the text, is answer E. Lesson 7 covers this in full.
🎥 Skimming, scanning and paraphrase on one real text (12:27)
One word for each paragraph in the first minute, then statements matched by the same words, by different words, and not at all.
Jump to: 2:10 skimming: one word for each paragraph · 4:19 the same words · 4:53 different words, same meaning · 5:54 one word in two paragraphs · 7:21 true in real life, not in the text
These drills are ours. Each one takes a few minutes, and you can use any English text: a news article, a notice, an email.
1. One line (3 min). Read only the first sentence of each paragraph of a news article. Write one word for each, then one line for the whole article. Read the full article and check your line.
2. Keyword race (3 min). Write three questions about a schedule or a price list. Underline the keyword in each question on your paper, then time how long it takes to find each answer.
3. Same or changed? (5 min). Take five sentences. Rewrite each one twice: once with the same meaning in new words, once with one small change of strength or meaning. Then swap with a friend and see if they can tell which is which.
4. Point at it (5 min). In a practice set, before choosing each answer, find the exact line in the text that supports it.
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