CELPIP Speaking Task 1: Giving Advice

CELPIP Speaking Task 1 Sample Answer: Spending Less Time on Your Phone

This prompt asks you to help a friend whose late-night scrolling is hurting her sleep and her studies. The tricky part is that she has already tried to stop, so your advice needs concrete tricks that change her habits, not just a reminder to use the phone less.

Preparation

30 seconds

Speaking

90 seconds

Listener

Someone you know well

The question

Your friend Chloé is studying nursing in Quebec City. She often scrolls through social media until after midnight, and now she has trouble falling asleep and concentrating in class. She has tried to use her phone less, but she keeps picking it up without thinking. Advise Chloé on how she can cut down her screen time.

How to plan your answer

What they want

Advise your friend Chloé, a nursing student who scrolls social media past midnight and now has poor sleep and focus, on how to cut down her screen time.

Plan (90 sec)

Open: "Chloé, it's not about willpower; apps are designed to keep you scrolling."
Notifications: turn most of them off.
Limits: use the phone's screen-time settings or app timers.
Bedtime: charge the phone outside the bedroom; use a real alarm clock; read instead.
Studying: phone in another room or a focus app; short breaks.
Replace the habit: walks, gym, meeting friends.
Close: "Try it for one week and see how you sleep."

Useful vocabulary

screen time, notifications, scroll, habit
app limit, distraction, concentrate, bedtime routine

Phrases

"One thing that worked for me was..."
"Try to replace... with..."
"Even small changes like... can help."

Avoid

Saying "just stop using it"; she has tried.
Ignoring her sleep and studying problems.

Excellent answer (transcript): around CLB 11–12

Chloé, honestly, you're not alone in this. These apps are built by people whose whole job is to keep you scrolling, so it's not just a question of willpower. The thing that made the biggest difference for me was making the phone less tempting. Turn off every notification except calls and texts, and move social media apps off your home screen. If you have to search for them, you'll often just give up. For your sleep, I'd make your bedroom a phone-free zone. Charge it in the kitchen, pick up a cheap alarm clock, and keep a novel on your nightstand. The first few nights will feel strange, but you'll fall asleep much faster. When you study, try working in fifty-minute blocks with your phone in another room, then give yourself a short break. And since the habit is automatic, replace it with something. Maybe text me instead, and we'll go for a walk along the river. Give it two weeks. I really think your focus in class will improve.

170 words

Why it scores high

Content/Coherence: Saying "it's not just a question of willpower" explains why her earlier attempts failed and sets up advice that changes her environment instead.
Vocabulary: Expressions like "phone-free zone," "fifty-minute blocks" and "keep a novel on your nightstand" are precise and natural.
Task Fulfillment: Moving apps "off your home screen" and replacing the habit with a walk directly answer her problem of picking up the phone without thinking.

Good answer (transcript): around CLB 7–8

Hey Chloé, don't feel bad about this. Social media apps are designed to keep us scrolling, so it's really hard to stop. First, I'd turn off almost all your notifications. If your phone isn't buzzing all the time, you'll pick it up much less. You can also set daily limits for Instagram and TikTok in your phone settings. When the time is up, the app locks. For your sleep, the biggest change would be charging your phone in the kitchen at night. Get a cheap alarm clock, and read a book before bed instead. When you're studying, put your phone in another room. Even thirty minutes without it will help you concentrate. Try these things for a week. I bet you'll notice a difference.

124 words

What works, and what's missing

Task Fulfillment: Sleep and studying are both addressed, with clear steps like "charging your phone in the kitchen at night."
Vocabulary: Phrases like "designed to keep us scrolling" and "isn't buzzing all the time" are accurate and sound natural.
Content/Coherence: The tips are well organized, but none explains how to replace the automatic habit, which is her main problem.

Basic answer (transcript): around CLB 4–5

Hi Chloé, I understand, social media is very hard to stop. Me too, I have same problem before. First, you can turn off notification. If your phone don't make sound, you don't check it so much. Second, don't bring phone to your bed. Leave it in kitchen and buy alarm clock. Then you can sleep more early. Also, when you study, put phone in your bag or other room. It help you focus in the class. Maybe you can read book or go walk instead. I think after one week you feel better.

93 words

What holds it back

Vocabulary: Errors like "I have same problem before," "your phone don't make sound" and "sleep more early" show weak tense and comparative control.
Content/Coherence: The tips cover notifications, bedtime and studying, but "go walk instead" at the end is added without connecting it to her habit.
Listenability: The ideas are clear, yet repeated "First," "Second," "Also" openers give the answer a stiff rhythm.

The CLBs are estimates of the level each sample was written at, not official CELPIP scores. How we estimate CLB