CELPIP Writing Task 1 samples with answers

How to use these Task 1 samples

Attempt each question before opening its answer. Identify the recipient, underline every requested point and decide what you want the reader to do next. After writing, compare the structure of your email with the sample: where does it establish the issue, explain its effect and ask for action? Keep your own wording. Borrowing a sentence about a grant will not help if your next question concerns a booking.

All three samples make the recipient’s next step concrete. The equipment email supplies an allocation and a review process; the courtyard email explains a revised arrangement and asks whether it resolves the concern; the certificate email offers verification and requests a timeline. Each develops relevant details before closing with a question. Their courteous tone leaves room for the recipient to respond without weakening the request.

Read the four commentary points separately, then compare each simpler rewrite with its CLB 10 sample. Notice which extra detail changes what the reader can understand or do. Revise that part of your draft first. Use the email task guide if you need help planning, and finish with the unseen practice question below.

Task 1 (Writing an Email) gives you 27 minutes for 150–200 words. Every question and answer here is original and unofficial; levels are our teaching estimates, not CELPIP ratings.

Sample 1: A Shared Equipment Budget

You coordinate a volunteer repair group in London, Ontario. The community centre has offered a small equipment grant that must cover both new tools and maintenance. Some volunteers favour one expensive machine, while others want basic replacements. You need approval for a plan that balances immediate needs and future costs. Write an email to the community centre manager in about 150–200 words. In your email, do the following:

• Explain the competing uses of the grant.
• Recommend a budget with reasons for your priorities.
• Propose a transparent process for reviewing the spending.

Why it scores well:

• Content/Coherence: “benefit nearly every session” explains why replacements take priority; recording rejected projects gives the future drill request an evidence base.
• Vocabulary: “in reserve” and “shared spending log” distinguish money held back from purchases already recorded.
• Readability: separate paragraphs move from competing needs to allocation and accountability; “whereas” connects the comparison within one sentence.
• Task Fulfillment: the figures total $900, “After three months” sets a review, and “Would you approve” respectfully asks the manager to act.

Sample 2: Following Up on a Courtyard Gathering

You have invited residents of your small apartment building in Sherbrooke to a courtyard gathering. A neighbour you have not met properly expressed concern that the proposed seating area would obstruct the shared bicycle entrance. You want to follow up with a revised arrangement and keep the invitation welcoming. Write an email to your neighbour in about 150–200 words. In your email, do the following:

• Acknowledge the concern and explain the revised layout.
• Describe the gathering and how disruption will be limited.
• Renew the invitation and invite any remaining practical concerns.

Why it scores well:

• Content/Coherence: “opposite wall” and “entire paved strip” turn agreement about the obstruction into a layout the neighbour can picture.
• Vocabulary: “amplified music” and “organizing duties” specify the noise limit and the responsibility guests will not inherit.
• Readability: the paragraphs separate access, event arrangements and invitation; “although” qualifies the invitation without interrupting its welcome.
• Task Fulfillment: “3 to 5 p.m.” and immediate cleanup address disruption; “even briefly” renews the invitation gently, while the closing requests feedback on bicycle access.

Sample 3: A Training Certificate with the Wrong Date

You completed a workplace first-aid course in Prince Albert. The certificate shows a completion date one month earlier than the course you attended. Your employer needs an accurate record before updating its staff training register. Write an email to the training administrator in about 150–200 words. In your email, do the following:

• Give the actual course dates and the date printed on your certificate.
• Explain why an accurate replacement is needed.
• Provide verification details and request a correction timeline.

Why it scores well:

• Content/Coherence: “September 16 and 17” is contrasted with “August 17” before the writer explains the employer’s record problem.
• Vocabulary: “provisionally” and “superseded” precisely distinguish a temporary entry from a certificate that has been replaced.
• Readability: paragraph breaks separate the error, consequences, evidence and deadline; “If that is unrealistic” introduces a manageable fallback.
• Task Fulfillment: “registration reference is 6284” supports verification, and the request for “expected processing time” gives the administrator an alternative to the proposed deadline.

CLB 7 version of Sample 1: A Shared Equipment Budget

• Content/Coherence: “we can buy it another time” postpones the drill without a basis for deciding. The stronger answer proposes recording projects the group cannot accept.
• Vocabulary: “$300 to keep for later” describes the allocation in everyday words; the CLB 10 sample’s “in reserve” names its budget role concisely.
• Readability: “everything on drill” needs an article, and “The drill is useful too, we can buy it another time” joins two sentences with a comma. The CLB 10 sample uses a controlled “whereas” comparison.
• Task Fulfillment: “meet after three months and talk about the money” covers review thinly. The stronger version specifies a balance review with the manager and approval before reserve spending.

The biggest revision would be to define who approves spending from the reserve. That makes the proposed oversight usable rather than leaving the meeting’s authority unclear.

CLB 7 version of Sample 3: A Training Certificate with the Wrong Date

• Content/Coherence: “the office needs correct information” repeats the problem. The CLB 10 sample adds a consequence: preventing confusion when the next training session is scheduled.
• Vocabulary: “tell my manager about the time” is vague. The stronger answer’s “expected processing time” identifies exactly what the employer needs to know.
• Readability: “in the attendance list” needs “on”, and the comma splice in “the new certificate, I would like to give it to them soon” needs a full stop. The CLB 10 sample separates the employer’s needs from verification details.
• Task Fulfillment: “Please send me a new certificate by October 22” completes the request. The stronger answer also asks for the original to be “marked as superseded”, clarifying how both records should be handled.

The biggest revision would be to replace the repeated statement about correct information with a specific consequence of keeping the wrong date. This gives the administrator a clearer reason for the correction.

What separates CLB 7 from CLB 10 in this task

These are our teaching descriptions for the examples, not official descriptors or guaranteed scores. Read how CELPIP is scored for the rating dimensions and their role.

Task 1 checklist for the last three minutes

• Check the word counter: keep the complete email within 150–200 words after edits.
• Point to the sentence answering each instruction; add any missing request or explanation.
• Confirm that dates, amounts and names agree throughout; add budget figures if the task needs them.
• Read the greeting, requests and sign-off together: do they suit this recipient?
• Separate a crowded paragraph where the email changes from explanation to proposed action.
• Check long sentences for missing articles, wrong prepositions and commas joining complete sentences.
• Use spell-check, review its suggestions and reread the closing to ensure the reader knows what reply you need.

Your turn: an unseen Task 1 question

Write your answer in the timed pad below, then compare it with the samples above.