How long is the CELPIP Writing test?

53 minutes: 27 minutes for Task 1 (the email) and 26 minutes for Task 2 (the survey). Each task has its own timer.

How many words should I write?

The instructions ask for about 150-200 words for each task. Word count is one of the things raters consider under Task Fulfillment, but no fixed penalty for going over or under is published. A complete, well-developed response usually lands in that range anyway.

Is there spellcheck on the CELPIP Writing test?

Yes. The screen has a spellcheck and a live word counter. Spellcheck catches misspelled words, but it won't tell you that an article is missing or that a verb is in the wrong tense, so you still need to check your grammar yourself.

Can I get Level 9 if I make a few mistakes?

Yes. Level 9 describes writing with good control and occasional errors that don't get in the way of meaning. Even responses at the top levels can contain a small slip. Frequent errors, or errors that make a sentence hard to understand, are what pull a level down.

Is AimNine an official CELPIP website?

No. AimNine is an independent practice tool and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Paragon Testing Enterprises. Our prompts and samples are our own, and the levels we give are estimates, not official scores.

CELPIP Writing: The Two Tasks, Scoring and How to Prepare

CELPIP Writing is the part of the CELPIP-General test where you type two short texts on a computer: an email and a response to a survey question. This guide explains what each task asks for, how raters score your writing, what the levels look like in practice, and how to practise with a clear focus.

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What the CELPIP Writing test is

CELPIP-General tests four skills: listening, reading, writing and speaking. Each skill gets its own level, so your writing result is reported separately from the others. Many people take the test for Canadian immigration applications, and writing is often the score they want to understand better, because it is judged by people rather than by right-or-wrong answers.

The Writing test has two tasks and takes 53 minutes in total. You type your answers into a box on the screen, with a timer, a live word counter and a spellcheck. The spellcheck helps with spelling, not grammar, so articles, verb forms and prepositions are still up to you.

AimNine is an independent practice tool. We are not affiliated with or endorsed by Paragon Testing Enterprises, which runs the CELPIP test. The practice prompts and sample answers on this site are written by us.

The two tasks at a glance

The two tasks are the same length but test different things. The email checks whether you can get something done in writing: explain, request, apologize, thank or persuade, in a tone that fits the reader. The survey checks whether you can take a position and support it with clear, specific reasons.

	Task 1: Writing an Email	Task 2: Responding to Survey Questions
Time	27 minutes	26 minutes
Length asked for	About 150-200 words	About 150-200 words
What you get	A short situation and three points your email must cover	A short situation and two options
What you write	An email to a named person or organization	Your choice and the reasons for it
Tone	Set by the reader: formal, semi-formal or friendly	A resident, customer or employee giving a reasoned opinion

How CELPIP Writing is scored

Your responses are read by at least three certified raters, who judge them on four dimensions. The result is one Writing level from 0 to 12, and levels 0 to 2 are reported as M. No weights are published for the dimensions, so treat all four as equally worth your attention.

Content/Coherence: how many ideas you have, how good they are, how well they are organized, and whether you support them with examples and details.
Vocabulary: the range of words and phrases you use, and whether you use them naturally, precisely and accurately.
Readability: paragraphs and format, connectors and transitions, grammar and sentence structure, spelling and punctuation.
Task Fulfillment: whether you stayed relevant, covered everything the task asked for, used a suitable tone and wrote an appropriate amount.

What the levels look like in practice

The official level descriptors describe what a writer can do at each level. In everyday terms, this is roughly what responses look like at different levels. The score chart page lists every level with its CLB equivalent.

Level	What the writing usually looks like
5	The main point is clear and each part of the task gets a sentence or two. Words are common and often repeated. Grammar errors appear in most sentences, but the reader can follow.
7	Organized into paragraphs, with a clear main idea and some support. Errors are frequent but rarely block meaning. Details are often general: the reader knows what happened, but not exactly when or how much.
8	Well-organized paragraphs, more specific details and some words that suit the context. A fair number of small errors remain.
9	Every part of the task is covered with relevant, specific detail. Complex sentences are under control and errors are occasional. The tone fits the reader. Repetition, plain transitions or a vague detail usually hold it back.
10	A range of facts and details, precise word choice and smooth transitions within and between paragraphs. Errors are rare and minor.
11-12	Precise and natural throughout, with a broad range of structures and a tone that suits the reader exactly. At 12, almost every sentence carries an exact, relevant detail.

Why responses score lower than the writer expects

These are the problems we see most often in responses that feel fine to the writer:

No purpose statement at the start of the email, or no clear choice at the start of the survey.
A bullet point answered in one vague sentence, or skipped.
General details where specific ones were easy: "many times" instead of "three times this month".
Whole phrases copied from the task. Wording taken from the question doesn't count as your vocabulary.
A tone that doesn't fit: too chatty for a landlord, too stiff for a friend, or an academic essay in reply to a community survey.
One long block of text with no paragraphs.
Spoken or texting forms such as gonna, wanna, u or a row of exclamation marks.

How to practise for CELPIP Writing

Write under test conditions: one task, a timer, a word counter and no grammar help. Then review the response one dimension at a time instead of asking whether it was good. Most people find that one dimension is weaker than the others across several responses, and that is the one to work on first.

Rewriting is as useful as writing something new. Take a response you have already reviewed, fix what you found and compare the two versions. The writing practice page has a two-week plan built on this cycle.

On AimNine, each practice task runs on a timed screen with a live word count. When you submit, you get an estimated level for each of the four dimensions, notes on specific sentences and the changes that would lift the response a level. These levels are estimates to guide your practice, not official CELPIP scores.

Where to go next

Each of these pages covers one part of the Writing test in more detail:

CELPIP Writing format: timing, the test screen, word count and scoring.
Task 1 samples with answers: three email tasks, each written at Levels 5, 7, 9 and 11, with notes.
Task 2 samples with answers: the same for three survey questions.
CELPIP writing samples: four strong responses and what they have in common.
Templates: email and survey structures, phrases by register, and how to adapt them.
Task 2 questions: 64 survey prompts to practise, grouped by theme.
Email vs survey: how tone and structure differ between the two tasks.
Writing practice: how to practise and a two-week plan.
Score chart: CELPIP levels, CLB levels and CRS language points.