CELPIP listening Part 5: discussion practice

CELPIP listening Part 5 practice set

Play this discussion right to its end: it plays once. Afterwards, answer all 8. Checking reveals correct options, a reason behind each, plus a line-by-line transcript showing which speaker every answer came from.

This discussion comes from our free mock test. Our team wrote it as original practice material; none of it comes from an official test.

How Listening Part 5 works

This discussion holds 8 of the 38 listening questions, about 21% of a whole section, so it repays practice more than most parts. Every question offers 4 options. As elsewhere in the section, its recording plays once, with no way back to a question after you have moved past it.

In the test, Part 5 is the only listening part shown as a video: you watch people as they talk. Our set gives you a discussion of this kind without video, which is good training: you must tell speakers apart by voice and by the names they use for each other.

In our sets a group is deciding something practical, such as organizing an event, splitting tasks at work or choosing between two plans. Its members do not all agree at first, and their disagreement is what gets tested: who proposed an idea, who had doubts, what changed someone’s mind, where everyone finally landed.

What Part 5 questions usually ask

Questions on a discussion usually come in five kinds, from its purpose down to one person’s next move.

• Purpose

  Why are they talking?

  A conversation’s reason is usually clear from its first exchange: to choose a venue, divide work, fix a scheduling problem. An option naming a small topic from later on is a trap.

• Who said it

  Which speaker suggests, objects or agrees?

  You link an idea to a person. Two options may describe one idea with different names attached, so names matter as much as ideas.

• Attitude

  How does someone feel about an idea?

  Hesitation, relief, mild annoyance, enthusiasm. Friendly speakers rarely say no directly, so notice softeners such as “I’m not sure that works for me”.

• Meaning

  What does a speaker mean by a phrase?

  An everyday expression in context, such as “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves” (slow down) or “Count me in” (I’ll join). Context tells you its meaning even if a phrase is new to you.

• Decision

  What was decided, and who acts next?

  Answers often come in final turns, after a plan has changed once or twice. Some questions ask what a speaker will most likely do once their meeting ends.

CELPIP listening Part 5 tips: before, during and after

1. Before

   Expect plans to change

   A discussion rarely ends with its first idea. Go in expecting a proposal, an objection and a final decision, treating any first proposal as a draft.

2. During

   Give every voice a name

   Speakers use each other’s names: “What do you think, Ana?” As soon as a name is said, attach it to whichever voice answers. If two voices sound alike, tell them apart by their goals: one worried about cost, another in a hurry.

3. During

   Track positions, not sentences

   Keep a one-line summary per person in your head, such as “Ana: hall too far”. Their side and reason are enough; exact words are not needed.

4. During

   Hear a soft no

   Disagreement among colleagues or friends is usually polite: “That could work, but…”, “I see your point, although…”, “Maybe, if…”. Anything after but or although is a speaker’s real view.

5. After

   Trust a final agreement

   When asked about a decision or a next step, a plan’s last version wins over anything said earlier. Notice closing words such as “So we’re agreed” or “Let’s go with that”.

6. Review

   Reread a transcript one speaker at a time

   After checking, read only one person’s lines, then another’s. Every position becomes obvious, as does each moment two speakers got mixed up.

Tracking positions looks like this on a short exchange between three colleagues planning a team lunch:

Common traps in Part 5, and how to avoid them

Taking a first idea as the final decision is the trap to watch most closely here. Suppose one speaker says “Let’s book a hall for Friday,” another replies “Friday’s tough for me,” and the first speaker finally says “Fine, Saturday then.”

• Mixed-up speakers. An idea is right but its name is wrong. Fix: attach names as you go, treating every “who” question as two checks: idea first, then person.
• A draft taken as final. Fix: wait for words that close a decision, such as “Fine, then”, “Let’s go with that” or “So that’s settled”.
• A polite objection missed. “That’s an option, I suppose” sounds positive but is not. Fix: listen to tone, plus whatever follows; a warm voice can still be saying no.
• An expression taken literally. “I’m on the fence” has nothing to do with fences. Fix: ask what a speaker wants at this point, and choose an option to match.
• Totals mixed with shares. Planning talk splits numbers: a total cost versus each person’s share, a full week versus two free days. Fix: notice which thing each number belongs to.
• Watching instead of hearing. On test day, a busy screen can pull attention away. Fix: look up to identify a speaker, then focus on words.

After this set: reading your discussion score

Count how many of the 8 you got right, and treat this count as a signal about your discussion skills, not as a level: 8 is a small sample, while score charts need a whole section of 38.

To show a level anyway, our practice results stretch a single set to section size and add one level of margin on either side. With 6 of 8, this works out to about 28 of 38: a practice estimate of level 5–8 from this set, versus 6–7 for a whole section at the same rate. Neither is an official score.

For a range worth planning around, sit a full section in our free mock test and put your count out of 38 into our CELPIP listening score chart. If you are aiming for Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) 8, our CLB 8 page shows the level needed in every skill.

Let your misses guide what you practise next. Lost points on “who said it” questions call for more speaker tracking; lost points on phrase questions mean collecting everyday expressions from transcripts, using each in a sentence of your own.

More practice: news, viewpoints and reading

• Listening Part 4, news item has one reporter delivering a fast stream of facts: good practice for detail work (5 questions).
• Listening Part 6, viewpoints comes next on test day, asking you to match opinions with reasons to speakers (6 questions).
• Reading Part 4, viewpoints tests a similar “who thinks what” skill through a written article, on its own timer.

Each skill counts separately: Express Entry gives Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) points for each one. Our CELPIP score chart shows how every level converts to CLB and to CRS points.