Seven clips, twenty questions, every transcript included.
Seven clips below, in the order the parts come on the real test. Each plays once on test day — here you can replay it, but try the first listen the honest way, with the questions unread.
Every voice here is Canadian, and each two-speaker clip has one female and one male speaker, exactly as the official material specifies. The audio is synthesised for this site: Paragon does not publish downloadable CELPIP audio, and its terms do not allow reusing official recordings.
Question 1
What is the woman’s problem?
Answer and explanation
Answer: A — A delivery has not arrived
She ordered a desk three weeks ago and it still has not come.
Question 2
Why did the delivery go wrong?
Answer and explanation
Answer: B — It was sent to the wrong depot
The agent says it went to the Calgary depot by mistake, and calls it clearly their error.
Transcript
Woman: Hi, I'm looking for some help. I ordered a desk from you three weeks ago and it still hasn't arrived.
Man: I'm sorry to hear that. Do you have the order number with you?
Woman: I do. It's four-seven-two-one-six. The confirmation email said delivery within ten business days.
Man: Let me check. Yes, I can see it here. The desk left our warehouse on the fourteenth, but it looks like it was sent to our Calgary depot by mistake.
Woman: Calgary? I live in Halifax.
Man: I know, and I'm sorry. That's clearly our error.
Question 1
What will the man do about the delivery cost?
Answer and explanation
Answer: B — Refund the original fee and waive the express fee
He covers express delivery because the error was theirs, and refunds the nineteen-dollar original fee.
Question 2
Why can the desk not simply be left at the door?
Answer and explanation
Answer: C — Someone must sign for it because of its size
He says someone needs to sign for it, because of the size.
Transcript
Woman: So where is it now? Is it still sitting in Calgary?
Man: It was returned to the warehouse last Friday. I can have a replacement sent out today on express delivery, which takes two business days.
Woman: Two days would be fine. Will I be charged for the express service?
Man: Not at all. We cover that whenever the error is ours. I'll also refund the original delivery fee, which was nineteen dollars.
Woman: That's good of you. Do I need to be home to receive it?
Man: Someone does need to sign for it, because of the size.
Question 1
What is finally arranged?
Answer and explanation
Answer: B — A Saturday morning delivery
She works until six on weekdays, so they settle on Saturday between eight and noon.
Question 2
What will the woman receive on the day?
Answer and explanation
Answer: B — A text with a two-hour window
He says she will get a message with a two-hour window on the morning itself.
Transcript
Woman: That's the difficulty. I'm at work until six every weekday.
Man: Then let's schedule it for Saturday morning. The driver would come between eight and noon.
Woman: Saturday works. Can you send me a text when it's on the van?
Man: Yes. You'll get a message with a two-hour window on the morning itself. And I'll email you the new tracking number today.
Woman: Thank you. That's much better than I expected when I called.
Question 1
How far did the woman cycle?
Answer and explanation
Answer: B — Sixty-four kilometres
The man guesses seventy; she corrects him to sixty-four. Corrections like this are exactly what gets asked about.
Question 2
Why was the return journey slower?
Answer and explanation
Answer: B — The wind turned
She says she was slower on the way back because the wind turned.
Question 3
What will she change next time?
Answer and explanation
Answer: B — Start earlier in the day
She got home in the dark and the last stretch has no lighting, so she will start earlier.
Transcript
Man: You look pleased with yourself. Good weekend?
Woman: I finally did the cycling trip I've been talking about since March. Out along the coast road and back.
Man: The whole way? That must be seventy kilometres.
Woman: Sixty-four. It took me most of Saturday, and I was slower on the way back because the wind turned.
Man: I'd have given up at the halfway point.
Woman: I nearly did, honestly. There's a long climb about forty kilometres in and I stopped twice on it. But there's a bakery at the top of it, which helps.
Man: Now that sounds like a reason to cycle. Would you do it again?
Woman: Next month, if the weather holds. Although next time I'll start earlier — I got home in the dark and the last stretch has no lighting at all.
Question 1
What does the standard fee cover?
Answer and explanation
Answer: B — The plot, water and shared tools
Forty dollars includes water and the use of the shared tools. Compost is not included.
Question 2
How long is the growing season?
Answer and explanation
Answer: B — April to October
He corrects "the whole year" to the growing season, April through October.
Question 3
What happens if a plot holder misses their maintenance slots?
Answer and explanation
Answer: C — They are not offered a plot the next year
Miss the four hours and you are not offered a plot the following year.
Transcript
Woman: I wanted to ask about the community garden plots. My neighbour said registration opens soon.
Man: It opens on the first of March, and the plots usually go within about two weeks.
Woman: How much does a plot cost?
Man: Forty dollars for the season for a standard plot, which is three metres by six. There's a larger size at sixty-five, but there are only eight of those and they tend to go to returning gardeners first.
Woman: Is the forty dollars for the whole year?
Man: For the growing season, so April through October. The fee includes water and the use of the shared tools in the shed. It doesn't include compost, though most people bring their own.
Woman: And is there anything I have to do besides pay?
Man: Every plot holder does four hours of shared maintenance over the season — paths, the shed, the common beds. You sign up for slots online, and if you miss them you're not offered a plot the following year.
Question 1
Why is the line closing?
Answer and explanation
Answer: A — To replace track and rebuild two platforms
The crews replace track from 1982 and rebuild two platforms at Wellington Station.
Question 2
How often will replacement buses run at peak times?
Answer and explanation
Answer: B — Every eight minutes
Every eight minutes at peak, every fifteen at other times. Both numbers are said; the question picks one.
Question 3
When does the line reopen?
Answer and explanation
Answer: C — The twenty-first of August
Officials gave the twenty-first of August, which is before the school year starts.
Transcript
Transit officials confirmed this morning that the Riverside line will close for six weeks beginning the tenth of July. The closure will allow crews to replace track that has been in place since nineteen eighty-two and to rebuild two platforms at Wellington Station. A replacement bus service will run every eight minutes during peak hours and every fifteen minutes at other times, following the same route with two additional stops. The transit authority estimates that thirty-one thousand daily riders will be affected and has asked passengers to allow an extra twenty minutes for journeys through the corridor. Work is scheduled to finish before the start of the school year, and officials said the line would reopen on the twenty-first of August.
Question 1
What is the speaker’s main criticism of existing studies?
Answer and explanation
Answer: B — They measure output per hour, which misses unscheduled work
Output per hour captures scheduled work and is "almost blind" to unscheduled exchanges.
Question 2
According to the speaker, what travels poorly through a screen?
Answer and explanation
Answer: C — Judgement learned by observation
Routine knowledge travels almost perfectly; judgement acquired by watching does not.
Question 3
What does the speaker think organisations should plan around?
Answer and explanation
Answer: B — Which kinds of knowledge move well through a screen
She says that distinction, rather than any overall figure, is what to plan around.
Transcript
Thank you for coming. I want to talk this evening about what we get wrong when we talk about remote work, and in particular about the word productivity. Most of the studies you will have read measure output per worker per hour, and on that measure remote work performs well, sometimes strikingly well. But output per hour is a narrow instrument. It captures the work that was already scheduled, and it is almost blind to the work that nobody scheduled — the question asked across a desk, the correction offered before a mistake is expensive, the junior colleague who learns by overhearing. Those exchanges are difficult to count, and what is difficult to count tends to be treated as though it were not there. My own view, after four years of this research, is that the productivity debate has been settled on the wrong terms. The interesting question is not whether people work harder at home. It is which kinds of knowledge move well through a screen and which do not. Routine knowledge travels almost perfectly. Judgement, the sort that is acquired by watching someone exercise it, travels very poorly indeed. That distinction, rather than any overall figure, is what organisations should be planning around.
Part 5 is the one part of the CELPIP Listening test that uses video, not audio. Three speakers discuss a situation on screen, and the official guidance is to keep track of them by where they are sitting.
There is no clip for it here, because a three-voice audio file would train the wrong habit: on test day the picture is half of the information. The task is set out in full on the Listening to a Discussion page.
Written by Kirill O'Nayd
English test expert and educator at TestSucceed, where he builds the CELPIP practice tasks and mock tests and has spent years taking apart how Canada's immigration English tests award their points. See all TestSucceed preparation materials.