CELPIP Speaking Task 3: Describing a Scene

CELPIP Speaking Task 3 Sample Answer: Group Hike on a Rocky Path

This picture shows a large group of hikers walking up a rocky trail with trees and distant mountains behind them. The tricky part is that almost everyone is dressed alike in shorts and backpacks, so small details like a beard, sunglasses or shirt colour must carry your description.

Preparation

30 seconds

Speaking

60 seconds

Picture

A detailed illustration

The question

CELPIP Speaking Task 3 practice picture: Group Hike on a Rocky Path

Describe some things that are happening in the picture below as well as you can. The person with whom you are speaking cannot see the picture.

How to plan your answer

What they want

Describe a big group of hikers walking up a rocky dirt trail toward the camera, with green trees on both sides and blue mountains in the distance.

Plan (60 sec)

Overview: "A large group of people is hiking up a rocky trail on a sunny summer day."
Front left: a man with a beard in a grey long-sleeved top and an orange backpack; a boy in a grey T-shirt walks beside him.
Front centre: a young man in a navy T-shirt looks down at the rocks as he walks.
Right: a woman in sunglasses and a grey tank top, a man in a red T-shirt, and a young woman in teal.
Behind them: many more hikers, most with backpacks and shorts.
Background: pine trees, a rocky slope on the left, and hazy mountains under a bright sky.

Useful vocabulary

trail, hikers, backpack, rocky slope
pine trees, hazy, hiking boots, in single file / in a crowd

Phrases

"Leading the group,..."
"Right behind him,..."
"Far off in the distance,..."

Avoid

Describing only the scenery; the people and what they wear matter most.
Guessing where they're going; describe what you see.

Excellent answer (transcript): around CLB 11–12

What we have here is a big group of hikers making their way up a rocky dirt trail on what looks like a hot summer day. They're coming straight toward the camera, and nearly everyone is dressed for it, in shorts, sneakers or hiking boots, with backpacks on. Leading on the left is a bearded man in a grey long-sleeved top with an orange pack, and a boy in a grey T-shirt is keeping pace beside him. In the centre, a young man in a navy T-shirt is staring at the ground, carefully stepping over the stones. Over on the right, a woman in sunglasses and a grey tank top is walking with a man in a red T-shirt and a young woman in teal. There's a long line of people stretching behind them. On the left side of the trail, there's a steep rocky slope, and in the distance, pine trees give way to rolling blue mountains under a hazy sky.

162 words

Why it scores high

Vocabulary: Natural phrases such as "making their way up," "keeping pace beside him" and "pine trees give way to rolling blue mountains" make the scene vivid.
Content/Coherence: The answer covers the front group, the "long line of people stretching behind them," the slope and the mountains, so no part of the picture is skipped.
Listenability: Signposts like "Leading on the left," "In the centre" and "Over on the right" give the description a clear, easy-to-follow path.

Good answer (transcript): around CLB 7–8

This picture shows a large group of people hiking up a rocky trail on a sunny day. They're all walking toward the camera, and most of them are wearing shorts and backpacks. At the front on the left, there's a man with a beard in a grey long-sleeved shirt and an orange backpack, and a boy in a grey T-shirt is walking next to him. In the middle, a young man in a navy T-shirt is looking down at the ground, probably watching the rocks. On the right, there's a woman in sunglasses and a tank top, and next to her, a man in a red T-shirt. In the background, there are tall pine trees and blue mountains far away.

120 words

What works, and what's missing

Content/Coherence: An early general point, "most of them are wearing shorts and backpacks," sets up the scene before the answer zooms in on individual hikers.
Vocabulary: "probably watching the rocks" adds a sensible reason for the young man looking down, and "navy" and "long-sleeved" are precise colour and clothing words.
Task Fulfillment: The big crowd behind the front hikers isn't mentioned, so a listener might picture only six or seven people instead of a long group.

Basic answer (transcript): around CLB 4–5

In this picture there is many people hiking in the mountain. They walking on a path with many rocks. In the front one man have beard and orange backpack. Next to him is a boy with grey t-shirt. In the middle one young man wear dark blue t-shirt and he look down. On the right there is a woman with sunglasses and a man with red shirt. Behind them is green trees and big mountains. The weather is sunny and nice.

81 words

What holds it back

Vocabulary: Verb errors such as "They walking," "one man have," "one young man wear" and "he look down" appear in almost every sentence.
Content/Coherence: The background is squeezed into "green trees and big mountains," missing the rocky slope and the long line of hikers behind the front group.
Listenability: Each sentence names one person and stops, with almost no linking words, so the answer sounds like separate notes rather than a description.

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