Here is the official description of Task 6:
Explain a decision to a friend, family member, acquaintance, or customer.
Three things in that sentence decide how you answer it.
A decision. The prompt gives you a situation with two ways out. You choose one. Then you explain that choice. You are not asking anybody for anything, and you are not solving a problem with them. You have already decided.
To a person. Every other speaking task has you talking to a general listener. This one names somebody, and they are standing in front of you, and what you are about to say affects them.
Usually unwelcome. The decision is difficult because the person will not like it. That is the whole test.
You get 60 seconds to prepare and 60 seconds to speak. The preparation minute is double what most tasks give you, so use all of it.
🎥 The same answer said to you, then said about you (11:06)
The video opens by talking about you in the third person, to your face, so you feel the mistake before it is explained. Then you are cast as the person receiving the news, and the full answer is delivered to you.
Jump to: 0:27 what the examiner wrote · 1:40 what Task 6 is · 2:43 six strategies, split in half · 2:57 say you, not he · 3:49 the apology mistake · 4:18 what firm actually means · 5:42 how many reasons, and why there is no number · 6:21 why you cannot say thank you · 6:51 end on them, not on the call · 8:15 the full answer · 9:23 how it felt on the receiving end
CELPIP's own advice for this task comes down to six points. In our words, they read as two groups of three.
About the person
- Talk to the person, not about them.
- Be kind, but do not back down.
- Stay respectful throughout.
About the decision
- Set out the problem clearly.
- Say what you have decided.
- Back the decision with strong reasons.
No other task's list divides like this. Task 7 is all content. Task 3 is all picture. Half of Task 6 is about the person in front of you, and that half is where both officially rated answers lost their marks.
Directly: the pronoun is the strategy
Picture an answer that does everything else right: relevant information, the full sixty seconds, a friendly but firm tone. Then listen to the pronouns. It talks about the couple, the husband, for them, they. Sixty seconds spoken to two people standing right there, and the word you never comes up once. That alone is enough to cost it on Task Fulfillment.
So the first move is mechanical. Their name in the first sentence, and then you every time after that. Not he, not she, not they.
| About them | To them |
|---|
| He has been planning this trip for months | You have been planning this trip for months |
| Marco brought the car back with a dent | You brought it back with a dent |
| I need him to understand this is not personal | I am not angry with you |
The right-hand column is the same information. It is just inside the conversation instead of outside it.
Considerate: one sentence that shows you heard them
Before the decision, one sentence that proves you know what this means to them.
I know you have been planning this trip for months.
I know this job means a lot to you.
I know the wedding is on Saturday.
One sentence, early, and then move on. Two things this is not:
It is not an apology. I am so sorry, I feel terrible about this puts you on the wrong side of the decision you are about to make. You are not sorry you decided. You are aware of what it costs them.
It is not a lecture. You should have thought about this earlier is the opposite of considerate, and it is also not respectful, so it costs you on two strategies at once.
Firm: the decision does not move
Firm does not mean loud, and it does not mean cold. It means the decision is stated once, plainly, and nothing after it reopens it.
Words that reopen it: maybe · perhaps · if you want · I was thinking that possibly · what do you think?
❌ So I was thinking maybe it is better if I do not lend you the car this time, if that is okay?
✅ I have decided not to lend you the car this time.
Never end on a question that gives the decision back to them. Is that alright? Does that make sense? What do you think? All three undo the strategy.
Respectful: what happened, not what they are
Describe the event. Do not describe the person.
❌ You are careless with other people's things.
✅ You brought it back with a dent in the door and did not mention it.
The second one is harder to hear and easier to accept, because there is nothing in it to argue with.
Considerate and firm can live in one sentence, and although is the word that joins them:
Although I know how much you want this trip, I have decided not to lend you the car.
The problem, in one line
Set out the problem clearly.
Say what the situation is. One sentence, plain. The listener already knows most of it, so you are not telling a story. You are naming the thing you are both about to talk about.
The decision, in one line
Say what you have decided.
The job is to explain, not ask. There is no request anywhere in this task. You are not asking for time, for a favour, for a second chance, or for them to agree. Neither rated answer asks the listener for anything.
And there is no second offer. No if that does not work, we could… No fallback. A fallback tells the listener the decision is negotiable, and the strategy says firm.
Reasons, until the clock
Back the decision with strong reasons.
No number is published. Two good reasons can be enough and four thin ones are not. What matters is whether the reasons are real.
A real reason is specific to this situation. It is not a good idea fits every dilemma ever written. You brought it back with a dent in March and did not tell me fits one.
This is one ending that sounds natural in everyday life and wrong in this task: ending with thank you.
Think about why. You have just told a friend they cannot borrow your car, or told a colleague their work is not good enough. Thank you is what you say to a receptionist. It ends the answer like a phone call, and this is not a phone call.
End on the person. That last sentence is ours, not the test's, so it is a choice rather than a rule. But it is the opposite of the thing the examiners named.
I know you can do this.
I am not angry with you, and this does not change anything between us.
Let's talk again on Friday.
Something that is about them, and that the decision has not changed.
You have a full minute. Most people use twenty seconds of it and then sit there.
TO: Marco (name first, "you" after)
PROBLEM: wants the car, week-long trip
DECISION: no, not this time
1 March - dent in rear door, did not tell me, found it at car wash
2 a week on the highway ≠ a weekend in town, my insurance, my name
3 I need it - mum's appointments Tue + Thu
KNOW: "I know you've been planning this for months"
END ON: not angry, nothing changes between us
Two lines most people do not write and should: the considerate sentence and the last sentence. Both are the ones that disappear under pressure if they are not on the page.
The situation. Your friend Marco has asked to borrow your car for a week-long road trip. The last time he borrowed it, he returned it with a dent in the rear door and did not mention it. You also need the car that week to drive your mother to two appointments.
Choose one. Either talk to Marco and explain why you have decided not to lend him the car this time, or talk to your partner and explain why you have decided to lend it anyway.
The answer takes the Marco option, because it is the harder listener, and the harder listener is where considerate but firm is the whole job.
The answer, 171 words.
Marco, can I talk to you about the car for a second? I know you have been planning this trip for months, and I know how much you want to do it properly, so I have thought about this a lot. But I have decided not to lend you the car this time. The main reason is what happened in March. You brought it back with a dent in the rear door and you did not tell me, and I found it at the car wash two days later. The second reason is that a week on the highway is not the same as a weekend in town, and if something goes wrong five hundred kilometres away, it is my insurance and my name on the paperwork. And the third one is that I need it that week myself, because my mother has appointments on the Tuesday and the Thursday. I am not angry with you, and this does not change anything between us. I just cannot do it this time.
Count what it does. His name in the first sentence, and after that never he or him, only you. One considerate sentence before the decision. The decision in one line, and nothing after it reopens it. Three specific reasons. No request, no fallback, no question. And it ends on him, not on the call.
The same three sentences, said about him
This is what the Level 9 answer did, and it is worth hearing the drop.
Marco has been planning this trip for months, and I know how much he wants to do it properly.
The main reason is that he brought it back with a dent in March and did not tell me.
I am not angry with him, and this does not change anything between us.
Same words, almost. Nobody is being spoken to. The listener has become a subject, and the strategy says directly.
Opening on the person
- [Name], can I talk to you for a second?
- [Name], do you have a minute? I want to talk with you about…
- [Name], I need to be honest with you about something.
The considerate sentence
- I know this means a lot to you.
- I know how much you were counting on this.
- I know you are dealing with a lot at the moment.
Stating the decision
- I have decided…
- I am not going to…
- I have to be honest with you: …
- Although I know [what it means to you], I have decided…
Reasons that stay specific
- The main reason is what happened in [month].
- The second reason is that [event], and [consequence for you or others].
- And the third one is…
Ending on them
- I know you can do this.
- I want you to stay.
- I am not angry with you.
- Let's talk again on [day].
Words to keep out
thank you · thanks · if that's not possible · maybe · perhaps · is that okay? · what do you think? · I'm so sorry
Talking about them instead of to them. The Level 9 answer's only fault, and the easiest one on this page to fix.
Turning the decision into a request. Could you maybe… is not this task. You are telling, not asking.
Offering a fallback. A second option tells the listener the first one is negotiable.
Apologising instead of acknowledging. I'm so sorry puts you on the wrong side of your own decision. I know this means a lot to you does not.
Ending on thank you. Named as awkward in the published notes.
Ending on a question. Is that alright? gives the decision back.
Describing the person, not the event. You are unreliable is not respectful. You brought it back with a dent and did not mention it is.
Twenty seconds of a sixty-second prep. You have a full minute. Write the considerate sentence and the last sentence, because those are the two that vanish under pressure.
1. Pronoun swap (3 min). Take any three sentences about a person and rewrite them to that person. He should… becomes You should… Say both aloud and notice how different the second one feels to say.
2. Considerate, not sorry (5 min). Write five sentences that begin I know… and show you understand what the decision costs the listener. Not one of them may contain sorry.
3. Cut the fallback (5 min). Take an answer with if that's not possible in it and delete everything from those words to the end. Fill the time with a third reason instead.
4. The last sentence (5 min). Record one full answer, then listen only to the final line. If it is thank you, a question, or a summary, record it again and end on the person.
Related: Task 1: Giving Advice, where speaking directly to the person is the same move with a friendlier message · Task 5: Comparing and Persuading, the other task where the listener has an opinion of their own · Fast Planning for Tasks · Scoring and Performance Standards.