CELPIP Reading Part 2: 5 Traps in Apply a Diagram (Video)

CELPIP Reading Part 2, Reading to Apply a Diagram, gives you a picture (a guide, a schedule or a price list) and an email with 5 blanks, then 3 more questions: 8 questions in 9 minutes, 1 point each. The move for every blank is the same: find the clue in the email, find the fact in the picture, then choose. This 16 minute video shows the 5 traps on a real practice question.

This video is part of the free CELPIP Reading course. Read the full lesson here: Reading Part 2: Reading to Apply a Diagram.

What does this video cover?

• 0:00 Part 2: 8 questions in 9 minutes
• 0:42 The format: a picture, an email with 5 blanks, 3 questions
• 1:09 Every question is 1 point, so answer them all
• 1:53 The one move: a clue in the email, a fact in the picture
• 2:22 Your first minute: the picture, then the email
• 2:59 You cannot mark the screen on test day
• 3:45 Trap 1: a rule
• 5:10 Trap 2: a place
• 6:37 Trap 3: a price
• 8:56 Trap 4: a need
• 10:19 Trap 5: a missing thing
• 12:14 The last 3 questions
• 14:59 Practise Reading Part 2 on CELTESTPIP

What are the 5 traps in CELPIP Reading Part 2?

1. A rule. Small lines in the picture, like "must be 16+", decide the answer. Watch words like must, could and should.
2. A place. The email and the picture use different words for the same thing: the email says boat, the picture says ferry terminal.
3. A price. The maths is easy; the trap is comparing the wrong rows.
4. A need. Match what the person needs, not the cheapest option.
5. A missing thing. Sometimes the answer is what is not in the picture, like a shop with no phone number.

Practise the same bike rental question: it is free after you sign up, with an explanation for every option. CELPIP Reading Part 2 practice.

Transcript

Part 2: 8 questions in 9 minutes

This is a CELPIP Reading Part 2 question: 9 minutes, eight questions, and it is a free sample from CELTESTPIP. In this video we learn how to answer Reading Part 2, the five traps that come up again and again, and how to plan your nine minutes. My name is Matthew and I'm one of the CELPIP instructors on CELTESTPIP.

The format: a picture, an email with 5 blanks, 3 questions

First, the format of CELPIP Reading Part 2. There is a picture and an email from one person to another. There are five blanks in the email, and you fill them using the data in the picture and the clues in the email. After the email there are three more questions, which are about what you understood from the email.

Every question is 1 point, so answer them all

CELPIP says every question in each Reading part is worth one point: a correct answer gets 1 point and a wrong answer gets 0. There are no negative points and no half points. I explain this in my video on CELPIP Reading scoring. Because there are no negative points, answer every question. Try your best to find the answer, and if you can't find it, guess. You might be lucky.

The one move: a clue in the email, a fact in the picture

Here is how to answer Reading Part 2: find a clue in the email, find a fact in the picture, and connect the clue to the fact. Part 2 has two pieces and you go back and forth between them, so first find the clue in the email, then the fact in the picture. The answer sits where the clue and the fact meet.

Your first minute: the picture, then the email

When you open a Part 2 question, check the picture for 30 seconds and read the email for 30 seconds. In the picture, look for the titles and the important parts. Here, the picture is about bike rental: four different shops across the city, with their website, location and prices. The small notes are sometimes very important.

You cannot mark the screen on test day

Be careful: in the exam you cannot mark the screen like I'm doing here. That is just for teaching. In the exam you write notes on the paper they give you at the test centre, so learn to write what I highlight as notes.

In the email, the receiver is Derek and Tom is sending it. It says: "Glad you're heading downtown with Lisa and Jake this Saturday and Sunday." Names like Lisa and Jake can be important when you answer.

Trap 1: a rule

For the first blank, read the sentence before it: "Jake is only 14", so age can be important. After the blank: "so he won't be able to rent from Wheelhouse." Before reading the options, find the fact in the picture. Under Wheelhouse Bikes it says "must be 16+ to rent, photo ID required". So the answer is the minimum age requirement. The other options (they don't carry bikes small enough for teenagers, a certified technician must approve reservations) all sound like things a bike shop could say, but none of them is in the picture. Choose only what you can find in the picture.

So the first trap is rules. Most rules are printed in the picture, and the email talks about them. They come with words like must, could and should, and the strength of the rule affects the answer.

Trap 2: a place

Blank 2 says: "Speaking of Pedal City, I noticed they're right beside ___, which is convenient if you are coming by boat." There is no boat in the picture. But it's about Pedal City, so the fact is under Pedal City, and the address says Harbour Road, next to the ferry terminal. Boat and ferry have the same meaning in different words. This is paraphrasing, and it happens a lot in Reading Part 2. The options are a GreenLane docking station, the seawall bike path, and the ferry terminal. The answer is the ferry terminal. So the second trap is a place: sometimes they use the exact name, and sometimes a synonym.

Trap 3: a price

The third trap is price, and many students get it wrong because it needs a little maths: adding, dividing, finding a discount. Question 3 says: "If you and Lisa want bikes for both days, the weekend bundle at Wheelhouse actually saves you something compared to paying for two separate full days at Pedal City." So we compare two shops. The Wheelhouse weekend package is $85. A standard bike at Pedal City is $45 a day, so two days is $90. The saving is $5 per person.

Where does the $15 option come from? If you compare the Wheelhouse weekend package with two Wheelhouse full days ($50 twice is $100, minus $85), you get $15. But that is not the comparison the email asks for. Compare the Wheelhouse weekend package with Pedal City's standard bike, as the question says. Be honest in the comments: did the $15 option get you?

Trap 4: a need

Blank 4 says: "Lisa mentioned she just wants to take it easy and soak in the waterfront scenery without having to figure out routes." So Lisa needs a guide. In the picture, Coastline Tours and Rentals has a bike rental plus a guided waterfront tour, and one option is a guided ride along the waterfront. Another option, the GreenLane Day Pass, is cheaper at $14, but it is not what Lisa needs. She wants to relax without planning routes, so the answer is the guided ride.

Trap 5: a missing thing

The fifth trap is my favourite, because the answer is something that is not in the picture. Blank 5 says: "By the way, I wanted to call Wheelhouse to confirm what time they close, but ___, so you'll have to look it up online instead." Go back to Wheelhouse Bikes: it has everything except a phone number. Pedal City has a phone number, GreenLane has an email, Coastline has a phone number, but Wheelhouse only has a website. The options are: their shop was already closed; they only accept inquiries by email; there is no phone number listed for them; their website says to visit in person. The answer is that there is no phone number listed. Why did Tom want to call? The note at the bottom of the picture says most rental shops close by 7 PM, so confirm hours before visiting.

The last 3 questions

We answered the first five by checking between the clue and the fact. For the last three, you sometimes go back to the email or the picture, and often they ask what you understood from the whole situation.

Question 6: what is the main purpose of Tom's email? We already know the story, so it's easy: to help Derek plan bike rentals for his family's weekend trip. Not to persuade Derek to join a guided cycle tour, not to compare all four shops, and not to recommend the single cheapest option, because he suggested different options and some were not cheap.

Question 7: what does Tom call the little freebie included with the Wheelhouse weekend deal? Go back to Wheelhouse Bikes: free water bottle with every weekend package. The other options (a complimentary helmet, a free city bike map) appear at other shops, but we only focus on this fact.

Question 8: why does Tom suggest the afternoon departure for Lisa? This is a suggestion, not in the picture, so go back to the email: "she could join the afternoon group while you and Jake ride around on your own." So the answer is that it lets Derek and Jake ride on their own while Lisa is on the tour.

Practise Reading Part 2 on CELTESTPIP

The question in this video is free for everyone who signs up on CELTESTPIP, and so is the first question of every part of CELPIP, in Reading, Writing, Listening and Speaking. When you check your answers, you see an explanation for why each option is right or wrong, and you can translate a word you don't know. If you upgrade, you get thousands of sample questions for every part, with detailed feedback, even in Speaking and Writing. This video is part of our free Reading course, and we have free courses on Listening, Speaking and Writing too. As I always say, never stop practicing.