CELPIP Reading Part 1 practice with answers

What Reading Correspondence asks you to understand

Part 1 has six questions about a main email and five blanks in a reply, with approximately 11 minutes for the whole part. The first email establishes the situation; the reply requires you to use that information from the recipient’s perspective. Prepare to follow reasons, preferences and practical details across both texts. The reply blanks still test your understanding of the main email, so fluent wording alone cannot establish an answer.

On the test, answers use drop-down menus. You cannot highlight or annotate the passage on screen, although paper and pen are provided. Keep any notes brief: the people involved, the decision and a few contrasting details. Copying complete sentences uses time you need for the second text. You cannot return to an earlier part after moving on.

In this set, Sana asks Jo to help compare apartments. Before examining individual choices, establish why Jo is a suitable person to advise her and what remains undecided. This gives you a basis for interpreting the practical comparisons and the familiar tone. Keep your own housing preferences separate from Sana’s stated concerns.

Separate shared features, differences and preferences

For a comparison email, make a small two-column note with one column per option. Put each cost, inconvenience or deadline beside the correct place. A detail can be accurate yet answer the wrong question because it belongs to the other option. Also distinguish a shared feature from an advantage: something both places offer cannot explain a preference between them.

Read qualifiers before doing arithmetic. Ask whether a figure includes an expense, whether a cost is approximate and which period it describes. In the apartment email, compare like with like rather than treating the two advertised rents as complete totals. A calculation should preserve the limits of the information given; a winter example does not establish every future monthly bill.

For inference questions, find the phrase that shows the writer’s attitude. “Leaning towards” signals a preference that still leaves room for a different decision. Do not turn that into a completed commitment. For the reply, read beyond the blank: a following reason can show whether the missing phrase concerns travel, visitors or an unresolved drawback. Check both the sentence’s meaning and its connection to Sana’s email.

An 11-minute plan for both texts

Use this suggested division during rehearsal, then adjust it according to where you lose time. These are working intervals, not separately timed stages of the official test. Start the timer before reading the email, and keep the explanations closed until you finish.

1. Spend the first two minutes reading for the relationship, purpose and decision. Note the two alternatives and any deadline that affects the choice. Avoid making a complete inventory of every sentence.
2. Use the next four minutes for the six email questions. Locate the relevant sentence, read its surrounding context and compare the full meaning of each option. For an inference, explain to yourself what wording supports it.
3. Give the next three minutes to the five reply blanks. Read the reply once for its overall advice, then connect each blank to the original email. Keep track of which person is speaking.
4. Reserve the final two minutes for uncertain choices and a continuous read of the completed reply. Check that no choice contradicts another sentence and that every question has an answer.

If a detail is difficult to locate, record its question number on paper and return during the review interval. Repeatedly restarting the whole email can consume the time reserved for the reply.

Build speed by shortening the search

Work on locating evidence before shortening the timer. During an untimed review, give each paragraph a brief label such as background, first option or decision. Then choose a question and go directly to the relevant paragraph. Check the neighbouring sentence for a condition or contrast before selecting an answer. This develops a repeatable search routine.

For reply blanks, rehearse predicting the kind of information needed before reading the choices. A sentence about a lower rent may need a cost qualification; a sentence about waiting may need a deadline. This prediction narrows your search without replacing the need to check the actual email. Reject your prediction if the surrounding text does not support it.

Record whether a slow answer came from finding the passage, interpreting its meaning or comparing similar options. Those problems need different exercises. Repeating a familiar set measures recall as well as reading, so use the Reading guide to plan broader work and move to Part 2 for a new kind of reference. Keep the reply within your timed attempt even when the main email feels demanding.

Free Reading Part 1 practice set

How to review this set

Classify each error as a misplaced detail, cost comparison, inference or reply connection. The answer “Interested in Alder Street but still cautious” preserves Sana’s uncertainty; “the separate heating bill” carries a cost condition into Jo’s reply. For each missed item, write the short phrase that you overlooked and explain why your chosen option went beyond it or referred to the wrong detail. Review uncertain correct answers the same way.