Task 1 gives you one everyday situation and asks for an email of 150 to 200 words in about 27 minutes. You type it on screen with a word counter and a basic spell check.
You are scored on four areas that carry equal weight, and every prompt ends with three "do the following" points that an examiner checks one by one. So the job is to cover all three, develop each one, in the right voice, inside 200 words.
Most preparation time goes on the wrong parts of that. People study email layout and Canadian address formats, and skip the two decisions that actually move the score.
🎥 The whole system, with two emails rebuilt live (12:16)
This page is the method and the practice. The video is the demonstration: the map explained, then two real prompts taken from a band 6 to a 10+, line by line, one formal and one informal.
Jump to: 1:20 how it is scored · 1:46 the 5-part map · 3:03 formal vs informal · 4:56 covering all 3 bullets · 8:09 the formal rebuild · 9:48 the informal rebuild · 10:34 the 6-step checklist
Start here: what does not belong in your email
Before the map and before the tone, take these out, because they are the cheapest marks you will ever recover.
Paragon publishes free instructions about the test on their website, and those instructions name three things you do not need in a Task 1 email.
| Leave out | Why |
|---|
| To and From lines | Not wanted. The examiner knows who is writing to whom, because the prompt says so. |
| Your full mailing address | Not wanted. A complete Canadian address with postal code can run past twenty words on its own. |
| A professional signature block | Not wanted. Your name is enough. A made up name is fine. No phone number, no job title, no company. |
The arithmetic is the part that should change your behaviour. An answer with an address, a date line, a subject line and a full signature can show 192 on the word counter while only 141 words are answering the question. The minimum is 150. That answer is under the limit and looks complete, which is why nobody catches it.
🎥 The 51 words you do not need (5:24)
The video counts the wasted words on screen, then shows the same email rewritten without them.
Jump to: 1:10 what Paragon publishes · 1:55 the answer with 51 wasted words · 2:38 the same answer rewritten · 3:03 the three things that are marked · 3:24 does CELPIP require Canadian spelling
The three format items that are actually marked
Everything else about layout is unscored. What the examiner looks at is whether the email is easy to read:
- Paragraphs. Blank line between them.
- Capital letters. Sentence starts and proper names, nothing else.
- Punctuation. Full stops in the right places, commas that work.
That is the whole of format. Start at the greeting and end at your first name.
A note on Canadian spelling
You may have been told CELPIP wants Canadian spelling. Paragon's published material does not ask for it. One of their own marked sample answers writes a time without periods, which breaks the usual Canadian pattern, and the examiner's note says it is not a problem and costs nothing.
Canadian forms are worth knowing for life in Canada and for the Reading section. They are not a scoring requirement here. What is required is that your writing is easy to read, and that you stay consistent rather than mixing forms inside one answer.
→ Canadian Writing Conventions sets out the patterns, with the same warning at the top.
Step 1: decide the tone
This is the decision that separates a 7 from a 10, and it takes one minute.
You may see Task 1 described as semi-formal. Treat that as a rough starting idea. Across the real question bank every prompt is clearly one or the other, at roughly half and half.
| Formal | Informal |
|---|
| Writing to | a manager, a company, an office, building management, the city | a friend, a neighbour, a cousin, a classmate |
| Greeting | Dear Ms Chen, or Dear Registration Office, | Hi Emily, or Hey Sam, |
| Voice | no short forms, polite distance | short forms, warm, still clear |
| Sign off | Kind regards, then your name | Talk soon, then your first name |
Both directions are wrong. Writing "Dear Sir or Madam, I would be honoured to contribute my expertise" to a close friend is as much a tone error as writing slang to a company. Examiners judge whether the voice suits the reader, in both directions, and the too formal version is the more common mistake among people who already write well.
Tone is one of the sixteen scoring factors, sitting inside Task Fulfillment. It is judged separately from your grammar, so a perfectly correct email can lose marks here without a single incorrect sentence.
🎥 Watch a tone error cost four marks (9:51)
An answer with clean grammar, correct structure, every bullet covered and the right word count scores 8 out of 12, for no reason other than register. The same content in the right voice scores 12. Both are on screen with the scores beside them.
The video also covers the informal framework in detail, the words to delete, and two bonus tricks at the end.
Step 2: the map
Same five parts for both tones. Only the voice changes.
| # | Part | What it does |
|---|
| 1 | Greeting | matches the tone |
| 2 | Purpose line | one sentence saying why you are writing |
| 3 | Body, one short paragraph per bullet | three bullets means three small paragraphs, each with one real detail |
| 4 | The ask and the next step | exactly what you want, matching whichever bullet asks for action |
| 5 | Sign off and your name | matches the tone |
Why the body follows the bullets rather than "two reasons." The prompt always gives three tasks and the examiner checks all three. If your paragraphs are built on the bullets, missing one becomes almost impossible. The structure does the work instead of your memory.
For an informal email the shape compresses a little. The purpose line becomes a friendly opening that turns to the point, and the ask usually sits inside the last paragraph, softened. It is the same map wearing different clothes, not a second system to learn.
Step 3: stop counting sentences
Some advice tells you to write exactly two sentences per bullet. Ignore it.
Nobody counts your sentences. They check whether the writing reads naturally and whether every bullet is covered and developed. Counting while a clock runs adds pressure, and pressure costs more than an extra sentence ever will.
Write until each bullet is properly answered, then check the counter.
Step 4: cover every bullet
The quiet score killer is a bullet that is missing, or answered in four words. This habit removes it:
- Read the three bullets.
- Write one plain sentence for each in your planning space. Just one.
- Expand each with one real detail.
- Before you submit, point at the line that answers each verb, not just each bullet.
Count the verbs, not the bullets
Three bullets does not always mean three jobs.
Look at this one: "Express your appreciation and suggest ways to recognise the honest person who returned your wallet." That is one bullet with two verbs in it. Express is one job. Suggest is a second. An answer that only thanks the person has done half of it.
So when you read the three bullets, underline every verb. If a bullet has two, it needs two things from you, and both of them have to appear in your answer.
The half answer is hard to spot afterwards, because it reads perfectly well. Nothing is wrong with it. Something is simply missing.
That last step matters more than it looks. Do not skim and feel satisfied. Point at the actual line.
The bullet people skip is the third one, usually the one asking you to suggest something, offer something, or ask what happens next. It reads as politeness rather than a task, and it is not.
A half answer counts as a miss. If the bullet says suggest a way to show your appreciation, then "I really want to do something for you" does not answer it. That is an intention. Give the actual suggestion.
🎥 Six lines, filled in live (8:55)
A six line template with blanks, filled in on a real exam question until it reaches a Level 10 answer at about 190 words. The last two minutes cover the half answer problem above.
Jump to: 3:14 writing the full answer live · 4:02 Level 9 vs Level 12, what raters praise · 6:18 the half answer most students write · 7:17 three bullets, four jobs
Step 5: two upgrades
Kill vague nouns
"There were several problems with the service" tells a reader nothing at all. Compare it with "the invoice charged me twice for the same registration, once on 3 May and once on 5 May." Every point you make should carry one specific thing: a date, a number, a name, a cost.
Make the ask impossible to misread
Describing a problem is not the same as asking for a solution, and high scoring answers always ask.
"Could you please confirm by Friday whether a weekend session will run?"
"I would like a refund of the second charge, or a credit toward the next course."
A clear verb, a specific thing, and where it fits, a deadline.
Prompt. You registered for a weekend first aid course at a community college. The college has moved the course to weekday mornings without telling you, and you cannot attend at that time. Write an email to the registration office. In your email: say which course you registered for and when; explain why the new time does not work for you; ask what options are available to you.
Dear Registration Office,
I am writing about the Standard First Aid course I registered for on 12 April, which was scheduled for Saturday mornings starting 3 May.
Yesterday I saw on the course page that the sessions have moved to Tuesday and Thursday mornings. I did not receive any notice of the change by email or by phone, and I only found out because I was checking the start date.
The new time does not work for me at all. I work full time on weekdays and my shifts start at eight, so I cannot attend a morning class without taking unpaid leave for six weeks. The weekend timing was the reason I chose this college rather than one closer to my home.
Could you please tell me whether a weekend section will run this term, and whether I can transfer into it? If no weekend option is available, I would like a full refund of the course fee. I would appreciate a reply by Friday, because the course begins the following week.
Kind regards,
Amir Rahimi
177 words. Walk the map. Greeting suits an office. Purpose in one line. Then one paragraph per bullet: what and when, why the new time fails, and the question about options. The ask carries a deadline and a fallback. Nothing above the greeting, nothing below the name.
Prompt. You missed your close friend's birthday dinner last weekend. Write an email to your friend. In your email: apologise and explain why you could not come; tell them what you had planned for them; suggest a way to celebrate together soon.
Hi Nadia,
I am so sorry about Saturday. I feel terrible that I missed it.
My sister called at about four to say her car had broken down on the highway near Hope, with both kids in the back and no one else nearby. I drove out to get them and we did not get home until almost eleven. I did text you from the roadside, but I think it never sent, because my phone had no signal for most of the drive.
I had actually booked us that pottery class you keep talking about, the Sunday afternoon one at the studio on Fourth. The voucher is still sitting on my kitchen table and it is valid until the end of August, so nothing is lost.
Can I take you out properly instead? Dinner next Friday, my treat, and then we can do the pottery class the Sunday after. Let me know if that week is bad and we will find another one. I really am sorry.
Talk soon,
Priya
170 words. Same five parts, warm voice. One paragraph per bullet again: the apology and the reason, the gift that was planned, the suggestion for making it up. First name only at the end.
Compare the two. The information in both is equally specific. Only the register changed.
Step 6: the method on test day
- Read who you are writing to and choose formal or informal.
- Write one sentence for each of the three bullets.
- Expand each with one real detail.
- Add a clear ask and a next step.
- Match greeting and sign off to the tone.
- Check the counter. Between 150 and 200.
Plan for about five minutes, write for about eighteen, and keep four minutes to check. The checking time is not extra.
→ Timing Drills and Editing Routines has the full rhythm.
Before you submit
Practice
1. Cut the format (3 min). Take any Task 1 answer you have written that includes a subject line, an address or a signature block. Delete them and recount. The gap between the two numbers is what you were giving away.
2. Tone calls (2 min). Formal or informal: (a) asking your landlord to fix a window · (b) asking a classmate to share notes · (c) complaining to a phone company about a bill · (d) inviting a neighbour to a street party.
Answers: a and c formal, b and d informal.
3. Write both (54 min). Take one formal prompt and one informal prompt, 27 minutes each, and compare your greetings and sign offs side by side. That contrast is most of this lesson.
Next: Task 1 Templates gives you ready made lines for both tones, so you are not searching for words while the clock runs.
