CELPIP Speaking Task 6: difficult situation template

Use this CELPIP Speaking Task 6 template: say who you are speaking to and what you have decided in the first sentence, show that you understand what the decision costs them, give two real reasons, then offer something practical. Task 6 is Dealing with a Difficult Situation. You get 60 seconds to prepare and 60 seconds to speak, once, with no second take.

Task 6 gives you a full minute to prepare, twice what most Speaking tasks allow, and there is a reason for that. You are not being asked to describe something. You are being asked to disappoint someone politely, and that is harder than it sounds. This guide gives you the template, two worked answers, and the one thing our data shows most answers get wrong.

#What does CELPIP Speaking Task 6 ask you to do?

Task 6 puts you between two people who both expect something from you, and you cannot do both. You choose one person to speak to, and you explain why you are doing the thing that lets them down.

A typical situation: your manager asks you to cover the last two hours of a shift because someone is off sick. You already promised a friend you would help them collect furniture, and they have rented a van for it. You can talk to your manager and explain why you are leaving on time, or talk to your friend and explain why you are staying at work.

Either choice is correct. The test is not checking which person you pick. It is checking whether you can hold a position and stay pleasant while you do it.

Try a Speaking Task 6 question →

#Which part of a Task 6 answer do learners actually miss?

Almost everyone speaks to the right person. Far fewer manage the tone the task is built around.

We looked at 14530 anonymised, aggregated Speaking Task 6 responses on HelloCelpip and checked each one against what the task asks for. Our evaluator judged that about 91% spoke to the right person, but only about 38% stayed considerate and firm at the same time. About 65% stated a clear decision, which means roughly a third never quite said what they had chosen to do.

The pattern is the same one we see across the Speaking tasks. Learners follow the instruction, then stop short of the part that actually earns marks.

Here it takes two shapes. Some answers are so apologetic that the decision disappears: three sentences of sorry, no clear statement of what will happen. Others swing the other way and simply announce the decision with no acknowledgement that it costs the other person anything. Both lose the same marks, from opposite directions.

#Why is tone the thing that decides Task 6?

Because CELPIP rates it directly. The CELPIP Speaking Performance Standards list four rated areas, and tone sits inside Task Fulfillment alongside relevance, completeness and length. On most tasks tone is a background quality. On Task 6 it is the task.

That is what makes this the highest-value fix on the whole Speaking section. You do not need better vocabulary or faster speech to move Task 6. You need to say two things in the same minute that most people only manage one of: I understand what this costs you and this is still what I am doing.

#A CELPIP Speaking Task 6 template you can adapt

Four moves, in this order. The order matters, because leading with the decision stops you from rambling into it.

Hi [name], I wanted to talk to you about [the situation]. I have decided [your decision, in one clear sentence].

I know this means [what it costs them], and I am sorry about that.

The reason is [first reason, with one specific detail]. And [second reason, with one specific detail].

What I can do instead is [something practical you are offering].

Thanks for understanding, [name].

Two notes on using it. Name the person out loud at the start and again at the end, because Task 6 is a spoken message to one named individual and using their name is the fastest way to sound like you are actually talking to them. And put a real detail in each reason. "I have other plans" is not a reason. "My sister has already booked the van for Saturday morning" is.

#Which person should you choose to speak to?

Pick whichever one you can defend with two specific reasons in the time available. That is the only criterion that matters.

There is no hidden correct answer, and there is no option that scores higher. The situation is built so that both choices are defensible. What separates a strong answer from a weak one is whether you commit to the choice in the first ten seconds and spend the rest of the minute supporting it, rather than spending twenty seconds weighing both sides and then running out of time.

If both options feel equally possible, choose the one where you can name a concrete consequence. A consequence hands you your reasons without any extra thinking.

#Two worked answers

The situation for both: your manager Dana has asked you to work Saturday because the team is short. You already promised your sister you would help her move that day. You have chosen to speak to Dana and explain why you cannot work.

#What are the 60 seconds of preparation for?

Task 6 gives you twice the preparation time of most Speaking tasks, and the extra thirty seconds are for deciding, not for scripting. Only Task 5 also allows a full minute, and it splits that across two parts.

Spend the first fifteen seconds choosing which person to speak to and testing whether you have two reasons for it. If you do not, switch. Switching at fifteen seconds is cheap; discovering at forty seconds into the recording that you have run out of reasons is not.

Use the remaining time on three things only: the one sentence that states your decision, one specific detail for each reason, and what you will offer at the end. Do not try to write the whole answer. A minute of preparation is not enough to memorise sixty seconds of speech, and reading from a memorised script is scored under Listenability anyway.

#How much do you need to say in 60 seconds?

There is no word requirement, because it is a spoken task. As a guide, Task 6 answers on HelloCelpip average about 130 words across the 60 seconds, which is an ordinary, unhurried speaking pace.

That is roughly four short sections: two sentences for the decision, one for the acknowledgement, three or four for the reasons, and one for the offer. If you are trying to fit more than that in, you will end up rushing the reasons, which are the part carrying your marks.

#What do CELPIP raters listen for?

Every Speaking response is rated in four areas, published in the CELPIP Speaking Performance Standards.

Across more than 12,000 anonymised, aggregated Task 6 responses on HelloCelpip, about a third of everything our evaluator flags is a vocabulary problem, which is the wrong word or a phrase that is not how a native speaker would put it. The other three areas sit close together behind it. Worth reading alongside the tone finding above. Vocabulary is where the largest number of individual errors appear, but on Task 6 the single change that moves a response most is holding a clear, considerate position.

#Common Task 6 mistakes

#How to practise Task 6

Record the same situation twice, choosing a different person each time. It is the fastest way to prove to yourself that neither choice is harder, and it forces you to build two sets of reasons rather than defaulting to the option that feels safer.

Then listen back for one thing only: how many seconds pass before you say what you have decided. If it is more than fifteen, the rest of the answer is being squeezed.

#Frequently asked questions

Official sources:

• CELPIP Test Format
• CELPIP Speaking Pro: Target 9+ Study Pack
• CELPIP Speaking Performance Standards

Last updated: July 27, 2026