People often ask whether a CELPIP Writing answer should follow a template or sound natural. Use a logical structure: three or four things that must be in the answer. A memorized script is a string of stock sentences written for a different prompt. The structure stays. The sentences change.
Those jobs are what how writing is scored is looking at. Task Fulfillment covers relevance, completeness, tone, and word count. Content/Coherence covers organization and development. A script that ignores the prompt fails Task Fulfillment even when the sentences are polished. A tidy paragraph can still leave a required point unnamed.
What the two tasks ask you to do
Task 1 is Writing an Email, and Task 2 is Responding to Survey Questions. A typical response is about 150–200 words. Task 1 is an everyday email, and you are usually asked to do around three things. Task 2 asks you to choose one of two options and explain that choice. You do not use email format on Task 2.
A structure is the list of jobs
A structure is the list of jobs. A script is someone else's sentences. If you memorize the sentences, the prompt's actual bullets get squeezed out, and Task Fulfillment is the criterion that notices. The opening still sounds smooth. The answer is about a prompt you practised last week.
Plan the moves before you type. A minute with four short notes is enough: who is reading and why you are writing, each thing the prompt asked for with one detail beside it, the request or the choice, and the close. Sounding natural means the sentences are yours, written for this prompt. The notes are the plan. The paragraph is not a paragraph you saved from another day.
Task 1: Writing an Email
An everyday email still has a reader and a reason. These four moves are the jobs. Phrase them in your own words once you know what this prompt asked.
- Say why you are writing and who is reading. The tone follows from that reader: plain and polite for a billing desk, warmer for a neighbour you know.
- Develop each thing the prompt asked for with one concrete detail, such as a date, an amount, or a place. Naming the bullet and stopping leaves it unfinished.
- Make a clear request or next step. Say what you want done, and how you will know it happened.
- Close in a way that matches the relationship. A service desk is not a friend, so skip the sign-off you would use with someone you know.
The weak pattern is a rigid opening used no matter what the prompt says. The three requests are listed, and none of them is developed:
Dear Sir/Madam, I am writing to inform you that I was charged twice. Firstly, I noticed two charges. Secondly, the second charge is wrong. Thirdly, I want a refund. I look forward to your reply.
That opening could sit on any email. The reader is never named, so the tone never settles. Each bullet is a label. Task Fulfillment is where a missing detail shows up, and Content/Coherence is where the list fails to become an organized answer.
Invented prompt: your gym charged you twice this month. Email the billing desk. Say what you saw on the statement, say why the second charge is not yours, and ask for a refund plus a confirmation email.
The email below illustrates those four moves in one writer's own words. It is an illustration, not a script to memorize, and it is not an official sample. It is also shorter than a test response so the moves stay easy to see. On the test, stay near a typical length of about 150–200 words.
Hello, I need the billing desk to remove a second membership charge from this month. On October 2 my card was charged $49 for River Gym monthly, which is the fee I already pay. On October 3 the same $49 appeared again with the same description. I did not buy a guest pass, and I did not change my plan. I only scanned in on the membership I already have, so the second line is not a charge I agreed to. Please refund that second $49 to the card ending 4412, and email me when the refund has been sent. Thank you, Jordan Lee
Task 2: Responding to Survey Questions
This task is a survey answer. Choose one option and explain it. You do not need a greeting, and you do not need a sign-off. A script often argues both sides at the same length, or it ends with 'Dear Manager'. The moves below keep one choice in view.
- Choose one option and say so clearly. Leave the other option unchosen.
- Give two reasons that belong to the option you chose. Put one concrete detail on each reason.
- Add one sentence on why the other option loses. Do not describe it at the same length as your choice.
- Close by restating the choice in survey language. No 'Dear Manager', and no email sign-off.
Invented survey: the city should add more bus routes, or it should repair the existing ones. Pick one.
The answer below illustrates those moves. It is an illustration, not a script to memorize, and it is not an official sample. A full test response still needs about 150–200 words.
I want the city to repair the bus routes we already have. The 14 bus I take to work skipped the King Street stop three mornings last week because the shelter there is broken and the doors stay closed. Repairing that shelter would let the route serve the stop again. In January the heat failed on two buses I rode on this route, and a twenty-minute trip was spent in the cold. Fixing those buses would help the people who already rely on this line. Adding new routes does nothing for a bus that cannot finish the route it has. In this survey, I choose repair of the existing routes.
Practise the moves on a real prompt
Read the prompt, write the four notes, then write the answer in sentences that belong to that situation. Try it on email practice and on survey practice. When the bullets change, the notes change with them. That is the structure doing its job.