CELPIP Writing Task 2 gives you one survey with two options. You choose one option and explain why you chose it. You write one response of about 150 to 200 words, and you have 26 minutes.
That is the whole task. There is no second question to answer, and there is no second response to write.
The video above walks through the same map this page explains, using the Food Delivery Access Survey, which is the first question on the Practice tab and is free to try. You can watch it and then write the same prompt yourself.
| |
|---|
| Time | 26 minutes |
| Length | About 150 to 200 words. Aim for 180. |
| What you write | One response |
| What you decide | One option, chosen and defended |
About the word count. Under about 130 words is too short to develop your reasons, and it costs you marks in Task Fulfillment. Over about 220 words, you start losing more from rushed grammar and repeated ideas than you gain from the extra content. 180 is a comfortable target that leaves you time to check your work.
You will read a short scenario. Then you will see two options, usually labelled Option A and Option B, and an instruction that looks like this:
Choose the option that you prefer. Why do you prefer your choice? Explain the reasons for your choice. Write about 150 to 200 words.
There is a second, less common shape. Instead of Option A and Option B, the prompt asks whether you agree or disagree with a proposal. The task is the same: choose one position and defend it. Everything on this page works for both shapes. The video covers the second shape at 4:30.
There is no correct option. Nobody is checking whether you picked the better idea for the community. They are checking your English. Choose whichever option you can write about most easily, and choose it fast.
Every survey response fits the same four parts. You do not need a memorised template, and a memorised template will hurt you. You need this shape.
1. Your choice, in the first line.
Say which option you prefer before you say anything else. The examiner should never have to read to the end to find out what you think.
2. Reason A, with a real example.
Give one reason, then make it concrete. A reason on its own is an opinion. A reason with a specific person, place, or number behind it is support.
3. Reason B, with a real example.
The same again, with a different reason. Two developed reasons beat four thin ones.
4. Your close, with a note about the other option.
Briefly acknowledge what someone choosing the other option would say, answer it, and return to your choice.
The video builds this map at 2:33.
The note about the other option is scored
This is the part most people leave out, and it is the part that separates a capped response from a high one.
Mentioning the other option shows the examiner that you understood the whole situation and still made a decision. That is critical thinking, and it sits inside the Content and Coherence criterion. It is not optional politeness.
Be careful with the difference here, because it is easy to get backwards:
| This earns marks | This costs marks |
|---|
| Choosing one option, then briefly answering the strongest argument for the other one | Never choosing, or changing your mind halfway through |
| "Some neighbours worry about security. But that is fixable: check driver ID." | "Both options have benefits and drawbacks." |
One sentence is enough. Two at most. Then go back to your choice and finish.
More on this at 3:19.
Your response is scored on four criteria:
- Content and Coherence. Are your ideas developed, and do they connect?
- Vocabulary. Are your words accurate and suitable, not just long?
- Readability. Grammar, sentence variety, punctuation, and paragraphing.
- Task Fulfillment. Did you do what the prompt asked, completely?
All four are reported as a CELPIP level. Paragon does not publish how the four are weighted against each other, so the practical approach is to treat all four as things you cannot ignore.
The video covers the criteria at 1:48.
These come from the official study material, and several of them are the reason strong writers still lose marks.
Give reasons, not suggestions. The prompt asks why you prefer your option. It does not ask you to improve the plan. Writing "they should also add more parking" is answering a question nobody asked, and it takes space away from the reasons that are scored.
Do not write an academic essay. No thesis statement, no "In contemporary society," no formal essay opening. This is a survey response from a resident, an employee, or a customer. Write like one.
Never use point form. No bullet points, no numbered lists, no dashes down the page. Full sentences in paragraphs.
Do not change the given information. If the scenario says the pool closes at six, it closes at six. Inventing different facts to make your argument easier is marked as not fulfilling the task.
Use real places, people, and numbers. "An older neighbour on my floor" beats "some people." "Until nine on weekdays" beats "later." Specific detail is the cheapest way to raise your Content score.
Paraphrase the prompt, do not copy it. Reusing the scenario's exact sentences gives the examiner no evidence about your vocabulary.
End with a concluding statement. One sentence that returns to your choice. Do not stop mid-argument because time ran out.
Know your own repeat mistakes. Most people make the same three or four errors every time. Find yours, and check for those specifically in your last few minutes.
| Minutes | What you do |
|---|
| About 5 | Read the scenario. Pick your option. Write down two reasons and one concrete example for each. |
| About 17 | Write the response, following the four parts. Do not stop to edit. |
| About 4 | Check it. Read once for meaning, once for grammar, once for your own repeat mistakes. |
Planning feels like time you cannot afford. It is the opposite. Five minutes of planning is what stops you from rewriting your second paragraph three times.
The prompt: Food Delivery Access Survey. Your building manager is surveying residents. Option A is that delivery drivers leave orders at the front lobby desk. Option B is that drivers keep delivering to apartment doors.
A response that scores 10 or above (just under 170 words):
I support Option B: delivery drivers should keep bringing orders straight to residents' doors. Convenience matters here, but the bigger issue is that some tenants simply cannot manage a trip to the lobby every time they order.
First, door-to-door delivery protects the people who rely on it most. Elderly residents and parents with young children can't easily leave an apartment to collect a meal downstairs. On my floor, an older neighbour orders dinner most evenings because cooking is hard for her; asking her to walk down and back would take away that independence.
Second, keeping deliveries at the door avoids mix-ups and cold food. If every order piles up at one desk, meals sit out, get cold, and are easy to grab by mistake, and residents paid for warm, correct food.
Admittedly, some neighbours worry about security and evening noise. But that's fixable: check driver ID, or set delivery hours, without ending a service people depend on. For these reasons, the building should keep door-to-door delivery.
Where the four parts are:
| Part | In the answer |
|---|
| Your choice, first line | "I support Option B" |
| Reason A with an example | People who rely on it, plus the older neighbour on his floor |
| Reason B with an example | Mix-ups and cold food, plus what happens at one desk |
| Close with the note | "Admittedly, some neighbours worry about security... But that's fixable" |
Notice what is not in it. No long words. "Mix-ups," "rely on," and "depend on" are ordinary words used precisely. The examiner is not counting difficult vocabulary, and reaching for it is one of the fastest ways to lower your score. The video takes a heavily over-written version of this same answer apart at 7:17.
The full answer is read aloud and explained at 10:55.
Not choosing. Writing about both options, or changing position halfway through, is the most common reason a strong writer still misses CLB 9. Pick one in the first minute.
Reasons with nothing behind them. "It would be more convenient" is not a reason yet. Convenient for whom, doing what, at what time of day?
Suggestions instead of reasons. Improving the proposal is not the task.
Writing too much. Going well past 200 words usually means repeating an idea in different words, and every extra sentence is another chance to make a grammar error.
Copying the scenario's wording. It gives the examiner nothing to score.
No time left to check. A response with three careless errors in the last paragraph reads as a lower level than the same response checked once.
Six checks, and they take about four minutes:
- Is my choice clear in the first line?
- Do I have two reasons, each with something specific behind it?
- Did I mention the other option once, and answer it?
- Am I between 150 and 200 words?
- Are there paragraphs, and full sentences throughout?
- Did I check for the mistakes I know I repeat?
Reading about the map will not move your score. Writing four or five responses and reading the feedback will.
Start with the Food Delivery Access Survey, which is free and is the prompt used in the video. Then work through the rest of the questions on the Practice tab, with the timer running. Every response you submit comes back with a score on all four criteria and specific feedback.
If you want the structure in one place, see the Task 2 answer template and the words that come up most often in survey responses. For the other half of the Writing test, see Task 1, Writing an Email. To practise both tasks back to back under real timing, use a full mock exam.
