CELPIP · READING SAMPLES
CELPIP Reading Samples
One passage per part, in test order, with the reasoning behind every answer.
How to use these passages
Four passages, one per part, in test order. On the real test every answer is chosen from a drop-down and nothing is typed; here the options are listed so you can commit before you check.
Time yourself: the whole Reading section is 38 questions in about 43 minutes of scored time.
Part 1: Reading Correspondence
Hi Dana,
I'm writing about the unit inspection that was supposed to happen last Thursday. Nobody came, and nobody called. I took the afternoon off work for it, so you'll understand I'm not thrilled.
I've since heard from a neighbour that the inspections were moved to the following week because the contractor was ill. That may well be true, but I never received a notice, and the letter taped to the lobby door on Friday is not much use to people who were told to stay home on Thursday.
Could you confirm the new date in writing, and this time by email rather than a note downstairs? I'd also like to know whether tenants who lost a day's pay can claim anything back.
Regards,
Michael Osei, Unit 704
Why is Michael writing?
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Answer and explanation
Answer: B — To complain that an inspection did not happen as arranged
He took an afternoon off for an inspection that nobody attended.
How did Michael learn about the delay?
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Answer and explanation
Answer: C — From a neighbour
He says he heard it from a neighbour, and only later saw a letter on the lobby door.
What does he ask for, besides a new date?
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Answer and explanation
Answer: B — Confirmation by email and information about compensation
Two requests: confirm in writing by email, and say whether lost pay can be claimed.
Part 2: Reading to Apply a Diagram
Community Centre — Room Booking Rates (per hour)
| Room | Capacity | Standard | Non-profit* |
|---|---|---|---|
| Studio A | 12 | $18 | $11 |
| Studio B | 25 | $26 | $16 |
| Hall | 80 | $54 | $33 |
| Kitchen add-on | — | $15 | $15 |
*Non-profit rate applies to registered groups only, and not to bookings that begin after 6 p.m. or on Saturdays.
Priya: We're a registered non-profit and there will be about twenty of us. We need the kitchen for the tea afterwards. Thursday evening, starting at seven, for two hours.
Which room should Priya book?
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Answer and explanation
Answer: B — Studio B
Twenty people will not fit in Studio A, which holds twelve. Studio B holds twenty-five.
Which rate applies to her booking?
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Answer and explanation
Answer: B — Standard, because the booking starts after 6 p.m.
The footnote is the whole question: the non-profit rate does not apply after 6 p.m.
What will two hours cost her in total?
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Answer and explanation
Answer: C — $82
Studio B at the standard rate is $26, plus $15 for the kitchen, making $41 an hour, so $82 for two.
Part 3: Reading for Information
A. The first winter market ran for three Saturdays in a school gymnasium and sold out of almost everything by eleven in the morning. Organisers had expected perhaps two hundred visitors and counted closer to nine hundred.
B. The move to the arena the following year solved the space problem and created a new one. Vendors reported that visitors walked the wide aisles without stopping, and takings fell by nearly a fifth despite higher attendance.
C. The current layout, with stalls arranged in blocks around a central seating area, came from a vendor's suggestion. Sales recovered within two markets, and the seating is now the part visitors mention most in feedback.
D. Plans for the coming season are modest: the same layout, two additional food vendors, and a later closing time on the December dates. Organisers say they have learned to change one thing at a time.
Which paragraph describes an unexpected level of demand?
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Answer and explanation
Answer: A — A
Nine hundred visitors against an expected two hundred.
Which paragraph describes a change that made things worse?
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Answer and explanation
Answer: B — B
More space, more attendance, and takings down by nearly a fifth.
Which paragraph credits someone outside the organising team?
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Answer and explanation
Answer: C — C
The block layout came from a vendor’s suggestion.
Part 4: Reading for Viewpoints
Opinion
Every few years a city announces that it will make its downtown "liveable" by removing cars, and every few years the same argument follows. The objection is always that shops will suffer, and the evidence, now from dozens of cities, is that they do not. Pedestrianised streets see more visitors, who stay longer and spend more per visit than drivers do.
What the evidence does not settle is who those visitors are. A street that becomes pleasant becomes expensive, and the businesses that survive the transition are rarely the ones that were there before it. If we are honest, pedestrianisation is not a transport policy at all. It is a policy about which shops a city wants.
Comment
The author is right that the retail-decline argument is dead, and right that rents follow footfall. But the conclusion goes too far. Rents rise on any street that improves, including ones where nothing is done to the road at all. Blaming pedestrianisation for that is like blaming a new library for the price of nearby flats. The remedy is to control the rents, not to keep the traffic.
What does the author concede about pedestrianisation?
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Answer and explanation
Answer: C — It brings more visitors who spend more
The author says the evidence from dozens of cities shows more visitors, staying longer and spending more. That concession is the setup for the real argument.
What is the author’s actual objection?
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Answer and explanation
Answer: B — It changes which businesses can afford to stay
Pleasant becomes expensive, and the surviving businesses are rarely the ones that were there.
How does the commenter respond?
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Answer and explanation
Answer: B — By accepting the problem but rejecting the cause
Partial agreement: rents do follow footfall, but they rise on any improved street, so pedestrianisation is the wrong thing to blame.
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