Most CELPIP writing samples you find online show you one good answer. That tells you where to arrive, but not what to change. So this guide does it differently: the same question answered three times, at three levels, for both Writing tasks. Six samples in all, every one written to the same 150 to 200 word target, so the only thing that differs between them is the writing itself.
That constraint is deliberate, because the thing that separates a weak CELPIP answer from a strong one is almost never length. It is whether you developed what you said.
#What actually changes as a CELPIP answer gets stronger?
Not the structure, and not the vocabulary first. It is whether each point is carried through with something specific.
We can be precise about this, because we check every answer written on HelloCelpip against what its task actually asks for. The pattern is the same on both tasks, and it is stark.
| Task 1: what the email had to do | Judged met |
|---|---|
| Support the points with specific detail | 55% |
| Cover every point the question asked for | 83% |
| Match the tone to the recipient | 89% |
| Use a greeting, body and sign-off properly | 94% |
| Make the purpose of the email clear | 96% |
| Task 2: what the response had to do | Judged met |
|---|---|
| Develop the reasons with examples | 36% |
| Compare it with the other option | 81% |
| Write in paragraphs rather than a list | 87% |
| Stay focused on reasons | 96% |
| State the opinion clearly | 98% |
Read the shape rather than any single number. Nearly everybody does the literal task: they state an opinion, they cover the points, they use paragraphs and a sign-off. Then a little over half support their points on Task 1, and barely a third develop their reasons on Task 2.
That gap is the ladder. Everything below is a demonstration of it.
#How to read these samples
Each sample carries an approximate level. Two things to know about those numbers before you use them:
- They are HelloCelpip estimates, produced on the same 0 to 12 CELPIP scale we use throughout the site. They are here to mark the distance between one sample and the next.
- The differences matter more than the numbers. What is worth studying is the specific sentence that changed, not whether an answer is a 7 or an 8.
Every sample below is between 150 and 200 words, the length the task asks for. In fact the two weakest answers came out as the longest of the six, and the two strongest as the shortest. If you find yourself thinking the stronger answer simply said more, count the words: it said less, and meant more.
#CELPIP Writing Task 1 samples
The question. All three answers below respond to the same one:
You recently signed up for a weekly evening class at your local community centre. The class time was changed without anyone telling you. Write an email to the centre's programme coordinator. Explain what happened, describe how it affected you, and say what you would like the centre to do.
#Task 1, around a 6
Everything the question asked for is here, in the right order, in correct English.
Dear Programme Coordinator,
I am writing about the evening class that I signed up for at the community centre. The time of the class was changed and nobody told me about this change. I only found out when I arrived.
This situation affected me a lot. It was very inconvenient and I was quite disappointed about it. I had made arrangements for that evening and they were wasted. It also caused me some problems with my other plans for the week, and I was not able to fix them at short notice. I think other students may have had the same experience as me.
I would like the centre to take action about this matter. Please make sure that students are informed properly when there is a change to the timetable. I would also like some compensation for the class that I missed because of this problem, as I had already paid for it.
Thank you for your attention to this matter. I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Yours sincerely,
Maria Alvarez
What holds it back: nothing in it is wrong. But read the middle paragraph again and ask what actually happened. It says the writer was inconvenienced, disappointed, and had wasted arrangements, without ever saying what the arrangements were. Every sentence is a label for an experience rather than the experience.
#Task 1, around an 8
The same email, with the first point carried through properly.
Dear Programme Coordinator,
I am writing about the Tuesday pottery class I registered for last month, which now appears to start at 6 p.m. rather than 7:30 p.m.
Nobody contacted me about the change. I arrived at 7:25 on 14 July and found the studio being cleaned, and a member of staff told me the class had finished half an hour earlier. This was inconvenient, as I had arranged for a neighbour to collect my son from hockey so that I could attend, and I had already paid for the full eight-week term in advance. It was also a wasted trip across town on a weekday evening.
I would appreciate it if the centre could let registered students know by email when a class time changes, since the noticeboard is not much use to somebody who is not already in the building. I would also like the missed session to be credited to my account.
Thank you for looking into this. I look forward to your reply.
Yours sincerely,
Maria Alvarez
What moved: the class now has a name, a day and two times. The evening has a date and a scene. The cost has a shape. Notice that the third paragraph, the request, is barely different from the version above, and the answer is not longer.
#Task 1, around a 10
Every point now carries its own weight, and the tone does work too.
Dear Programme Coordinator,
I am writing about the Tuesday pottery class, which I registered for on 2 June and which seems to have moved from 7:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. without notice.
I learned of the change by turning up to it. On 14 July I arrived at 7:25 to find the studio dark and a member of staff stacking chairs, who explained that the time had shifted three weeks earlier. Because the class ran late in the evening, I had arranged for a neighbour to collect my son from hockey each Tuesday, and I have now inconvenienced her twice for nothing. Of the eight sessions I paid for in advance, I have been able to attend four.
Could the centre email registered students when a class time changes? I would also be grateful if the four missed sessions were credited towards next term.
Thank you for your help with this.
Yours sincerely,
Maria Alvarez
What moved again: the loss is now counted, four sessions out of eight, rather than described. The request names exactly what would fix it. And the sentence about the neighbour does two jobs at once, giving a specific consequence while quietly showing the writer is reasonable rather than aggrieved, which is tone doing real work instead of being a polite wrapper.
#CELPIP Writing Task 2 samples
The question. All three answers below respond to the same one:
Your city has money to improve one public facility and is asking residents to choose. Option A is extending the opening hours of the public library. Option B is building a new outdoor sports court. Choose the option you prefer and explain your reasons.
#Task 2, around a 6
A clear position, two reasons, and no evidence that either reason is true.
I would choose Option A, extending the opening hours of the public library.
My first reason is that the library is very useful for many people in our community. A lot of residents go there for different purposes, and if it was open for longer then more people would be able to use it. This would be a benefit for everybody in the city.
My second reason is that libraries are important for students. Students need a place where they can study quietly, and the library provides this service for them. Longer hours would help them a lot with their studies and with their future in general, which is something the whole city benefits from in the long term.
A sports court is also a good idea and some people would certainly enjoy it, but I think the library option is better for our city overall. It would help more people, and more different kinds of people.
For these reasons, I believe the city should choose Option A.
What holds it back: both reasons are real reasons, and neither is developed. "A lot of residents go there for different purposes" is the same sentence as "the library is useful", said again. The comparison with Option B is a single sentence that concedes the point without weighing anything.
#Task 2, around an 8
The same position and the same two reasons, with one of them made concrete.
I would choose Option A, extending the opening hours of the public library.
My main reason is that the current hours exclude anyone who works a normal day. Our branch closes at five, which is when my shift ends, so the only time I can use it is Saturday morning, along with everyone else in the same position. The queue for the two public computers is usually forty minutes long.
My second reason is that students need somewhere quiet to work, and not every household can provide that. Longer evening hours would give them a real alternative to studying at home, which matters most during exam periods.
An outdoor sports court would be well used in summer, and I understand why people want one, but our city has six months of cold weather, and the library is the option that still works in February. That is what decides it for me.
For these reasons I would prefer the city to extend the library's opening hours.
What moved: the first reason now has a closing time, a shift, a queue and a number. The comparison has become an actual comparison, because it names something true about Option B and then gives a reason it loses anyway. The second reason is still a generality, which is roughly what an uneven answer looks like.
#Task 2, around a 10
Both reasons developed, and the comparison does the deciding.
I would choose Option A, extending the opening hours of the public library.
My main reason is that the present hours exclude anyone working a standard day. Our branch closes at five, exactly when my shift ends, so my only chance to use it is Saturday morning, when the queue for the two public computers runs to about forty minutes. Extending to eight on weekdays would spread that demand across the week instead of compressing it into three hours.
My second reason is that a library serves people who have nowhere else to go. My neighbour's daughter does her homework at their kitchen table with three younger brothers around her, and a quiet room until eight would change her evenings entirely.
An outdoor court would be genuinely popular from June to September. But our winter runs six months, and a facility that is unusable for half the year is the weaker investment.
For these reasons, I would extend the library's hours.
What moved again: the second reason stopped being about "students" in general and became one girl at one kitchen table. The comparison now carries the decision rather than sitting beside it, because it concedes something real about Option B and then measures both against the same test, which is how many months of the year each one is usable.
#The pattern across all six
Look back at what changed between the tiers and it is the same move every time.
-
A claim became a thing that happenedNot “it was inconvenient” but “I arrived at 7:25 to find the studio dark.” Not “the library is useful” but “the queue for the two public computers is forty minutes.” Same claim, evidenced.
-
A general group became one personStudents in the abstract persuade nobody. One girl doing homework at a kitchen table with three brothers around her is unarguable, and it costs the same number of words.
-
A concession became a comparisonThe weak answers mention the other option and move on. The strong ones name something genuinely good about it, then give a reason it still loses. That is what the task means by comparing.
-
Nothing got longer, and the best got shorterAll six sit inside 150 to 200 words, and the two strongest are the shortest of the set. The stronger answers did not add material. They replaced vague material with specific material, which takes fewer words, not more.
That last point is the one worth carrying into the exam room. If your answer already reaches the word count and still feels thin, the fix is not to write more. It is to go back to the vaguest sentence you wrote and replace it with something that happened.
#What CELPIP is marking while you do this
Every response is scored on four rated areas. Development shows up in more than one of them, which is why it moves an answer so much.
One honest note on where marks go. Across more than 40,000 anonymised, aggregated Writing responses on HelloCelpip, readability and vocabulary together account for about two thirds of everything our evaluator flags. So developing your points is what moves an answer up the samples above, but accuracy is what most flagged errors are actually about. Both matter, and they are different jobs: one is what you say, the other is how cleanly you say it.
#How to use samples without memorising them
Reading model answers feels productive and often is not. Memorised phrasing is easy to spot, and a template you cannot adapt becomes a trap when the question does not fit it.
- Write your own answer to one of the two questions above before you read any sample. Reading first contaminates what you would have produced on your own.
- Then find your vaguest sentence, the one that labels an experience instead of describing it, and rewrite just that sentence.
- Compare only the tier above your own. Jumping straight to the strongest sample tells you where to arrive without showing you the step.
- Steal the moves, not the words. “Name a number”, “make the group one person”, “concede then compare” travel to any question. The pottery class does not.
- Do it again on a different question the same week, because the move only becomes yours once it survives new material.
#Where to go next
These six samples show the ladder. The task guides show you how to build each answer from the start, with the full template and a walkthrough of the timing:
- CELPIP Writing Task 1: email template and samples for the 27-minute email, including how to cover every listed point without padding.
- CELPIP Writing Task 2: survey response samples for the 26-minute survey response, including how to structure two developed reasons.
- The writing templates hub for the scaffolding on its own, when you want the shape rather than a finished answer.
On HelloCelpip you can write against real-format Writing questions and get a report on the four rated areas with your own sentences quoted back and a stronger version beside them, which is the same comparison this page makes, run on your writing instead of ours. If the hard part is having something to say rather than saying it, Idea Coach helps you generate and structure ideas before the clock starts, and Progress tracks which of the four areas is improving across attempts. When you want a timed run of both tasks end to end, take a full mock test.
#CELPIP writing samples FAQ
How long should a CELPIP writing answer be?
What is the difference between a weak and a strong CELPIP writing answer?
Are these real CELPIP sample answers?
Should I memorise a CELPIP writing sample?
Do I need better vocabulary to get a higher CELPIP writing score?
Does Task 1 or Task 2 matter more?
Confirm the current Writing task formats, timing, and word-count guidance on the official CELPIP Test Format page. Per-task timing of 27 and 26 minutes is published in the CELPIP Writing Pro study pack. The sample answers on this page are original HelloCelpip writing and the levels shown are our own estimates on the 0 to 12 CELPIP scale. Your official score comes from Paragon Testing Enterprises on test day. HelloCelpip is an independent study resource and is not affiliated with CELPIP or Paragon Testing Enterprises.
Official sources:
- CELPIP Test Format
- Paragon Testing Enterprises, CELPIP Writing Pro Target 9 Study Pack (per-task timing)
Last updated: July 27, 2026