Orientation & Success Targets

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

Read it once, slowly. The rest of the course builds on it.

The test at a glance

The Reading test has four parts and 38 scored questions. CELPIP's test-format page gives it 43 to 56 minutes in total.

The question counts are from the test-format page. The minutes are from CELPIP's Reading study pack, which gives each part its own time. Add the four together and you get 43 minutes, the low end of the official range.

Notice that the time is not shared equally. Part 1 gives you about one minute per question. Part 4 gives you the most, about 1 minute and 18 seconds for each one.

Paper, pen and the screen

At the test centre you get a pen and notepaper, and you hand them back at the end.

You cannot mark the text on the screen. CELPIP's study pack says: "You will not be able to make notes, highlight, etc. on the computer screen."

So anything you want to keep, such as a name, a time or a price, goes on your paper. Keep it short. The text stays on the screen the whole time, so you do not need to copy it, only the few details that are easy to mix up. Lesson 5 shows what to write for Part 1.

How your Reading 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 also scores zero. 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. Nobody reads your answers or judges them.
• 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 "31 out of 38" on your results. The number is something you only see 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 Reading.

For levels 3 to 12, your CELPIP level and your CLB level are the same number.

CELPIP calls this chart approximate. Under it they write that the number needed for a level "may vary slightly from one test to another."

Two things the chart shows

At the bottom, a level is wide. At the top, it is narrow. Level 4 covers seven different scores. Level 9 covers three. Near the top of the chart, one question can move you up or down a level.

Some scores sit in two levels at once. Find 31 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 except the lowest one. Count them and there are 11 scores that appear in two rows: 10, 11, 15, 16, 19, 20, 24, 25, 28, 31 and 33. That is more than one in four of all the scores you can get.

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 makes sure their final scores are comparable, so the person with the harder version is not punished for it.

This means 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, so at the borders it shows both levels.

🎥 Why 31 correct can be Level 8 or Level 9, and the number to aim for (7:07)

The chart built row by row, the 11 scores that sit in two levels, equating in plain English, and a target number for each level.

Jump to: 0:51 the rules, 38 questions and 1 point each · 1:36 building the chart · 2:17 the 11 scores in two levels · 3:13 what equating is · 4:18 the number to aim for · 5:04 add 2 more to be sure · 5:34 mock tests before you book · 5:54 the part that may not be scored

Your success target

The chart tells you where a level can start. It does not tell you the number that is safe. The last three 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. The target adds 2 more, because CELPIP says the line can move slightly between versions of the test.

For Levels 4 to 7 the safe number is 2 above where the chart starts, not 1, because two scores at each of those borders are shared with the level below. Level 3 shares nothing with M, so there the chart's number is already safe.

An example. You need CLB 9 in Reading. The chart says 31, but 31 is also in the Level 8 row. So 32 is your safe number, and with the margin of 2, your target is 34 correct, which means you can miss 4 of the 38.

When to book. Our suggestion: take full Reading practice tests under the real time limits, and book the test when you have reached your target 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 four parts, and where each one is taught

Part 1, Reading Correspondence (11 questions). You read an email or message and answer 6 questions about it. Then you read a short reply to it and fill 5 blanks. The full method is in Lesson 5: Reading Correspondence.

Part 2, Reading to Apply a Diagram (8 questions). You read a diagram, such as a schedule, a map, a price list or a floor plan, together with an email or message about it. The answers come from putting the two together. See Lesson 6: Reading to Apply a Diagram.

Part 3, Reading for Information (9 questions). A longer informational text, and questions about where information is and what it says. See Lesson 7: Reading for Information.

Part 4, Reading for Viewpoints (10 questions). An article in which different people hold different opinions. This part gives you the most time for each question. See Lesson 8: Reading for Viewpoints.

Before those four, Lesson 2 shows how the Reading 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 four parts, with the timer on. Do not pause it.
2. Count your correct answers for each part, and add them up.
3. Write down your total out of 38 and your target 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 target is the one number that tells you if your practice is working.

• Practise all four CELPIP Reading parts with a real timer
• Take a full CELPIP mock test under exam conditions

Related: Lesson 2: Test Mechanics & Interface Confidence · Lesson 9: Pacing & Time Control for a plan for each part's clock.