CELPIP listening Part 6: viewpoints practice

CELPIP listening Part 6 practice set

Start this recording, then listen without stopping; it plays once. Answer all 6 questions, then check: you get the correct options, a short reason behind each, plus a full transcript.

Like all our sets, it is original: a viewpoints recording from our free mock test, written by our team.

How Listening Part 6 works

Part 6 ends listening; after it, your test moves on to reading. It carries 6 of 38 scored questions, all with 4 options. Every recording plays once, with no going back to an earlier question once answered.

That makes it a test of memory as much as understanding. When a question asks why someone disagrees, their reason may have come well before, in the middle of another person’s argument. Store every view as it arrives.

In our sets, you hear a report or talk about a community question, such as a change to a local service or a new rule, with at least two people on opposite sides. One voice often introduces an issue; others then argue their case.

How it differs from Part 5 matters. In a discussion, people work toward agreement. Here they usually do not: everyone argues a position. So questions focus less on a decision, more on beliefs, reasons and how firmly people hold them.

What Part 6 questions usually ask

Expect questions on an issue as a whole, on individual positions, plus a few on implications. Five kinds cover most of them:

• Issue

  What is this report mainly about?

  The issue itself, stated neutrally: for example, whether a service should change. An option that states one side’s view as its topic is too narrow.

• Position

  What does a given speaker think?

  Someone’s stand on the issue. Options often include an opposing view, almost word for word, so check whose view every option is.

• Reason

  Why does someone hold that view?

  Evidence or an example behind a position. Two options may both be reasons someone gave, but only one belongs to the person named in the question.

• Who

  Who believes this?

  You are given a view and must name its owner. Such questions reward tracking speakers from their very first sentence.

• Inference

  What can you infer?

  Which statement a speaker would probably accept, or a likely next step once a report ends. Answers are suggested rather than stated, yet something said must support them.

CELPIP listening Part 6 tips: a method in three stages

1. Before

   Reset your attention

   Part 6 arrives after a long run of recordings. Before it starts, take one slow breath, then decide to listen for sides, not sentences.

2. During

   Find the issue and its sides

   Opening lines usually name an issue while hinting at disagreement: “Not everyone is happy about…”, “This idea has supporters and critics.” Sum up both sides in a few words, such as keep it or change it.

3. During

   File every reason under its owner

   When a speaker gives a reason, attach it to them and their side: “café owner, for, more customers”. Hard questions are built on reasons.

4. During

   Listen for a concession

   Speakers often grant a point before they disagree: “I understand why people want this, but…”, “That’s true; however…”. Their real view follows that turn.

5. After

   Match strength as well as direction

   If a speaker says a change “might help some families”, an option saying it “will solve every problem” is too strong. Choose an option as cautious or as firm as that speaker was.

6. Review

   Rebuild a debate from its transcript

   After checking, write down every speaker’s side with their best reason, one line per person. Once you can do so from memory straight after a set, you are ready.

Here is a filing record from a talk about turning a downtown parking lot into a playground:

Common traps in Part 6, and a fix for each

Concessions are the trap to watch most closely here. Suppose a speaker says: “I can see why the library wants to close earlier, but for people who work late it’s a real loss.” A question asks what she thinks of that plan.

• Swapped speakers. Both sides appear among answer options, attached to wrong names. Fix: before choosing, say to yourself who held which side.
• A true reason with a wrong owner. A reason in an option was said, but by someone on another side. Fix: check who gave a reason, not only whether it was mentioned.
• Extreme options. Always, never, completely, everyone. Fix: unless a speaker used words that strong, prefer a more careful option.
• A fact dressed as an opinion. A question asks what a person believes, while an option states a reported fact. Fix: ask whether that option is something anyone would argue for.
• A missed opening. Tired listeners drift during opening lines, where sides are set up, then spend everything after guessing. Fix: in practice, play viewpoints sets straight after other recordings, so you learn to stay sharp late in a section.

After this set: what 6 questions can and cannot tell you

Your count out of 6 shows how well you followed this debate. It cannot give a level on its own, because score charts read all 38 questions together. With 6 questions, a single lucky guess or slip moves your score by a large step.

That is why our practice results, when they show a level for a single recording, project your count onto a full section, then widen its range by one level on each side. A score of 5 of 6 becomes about 32 of 38, a practice estimate of level 7–10; a full section answered at that rate would read as 8–9. Practice estimates, not official scores.

So use our free mock test for a level: answer all 6 listening parts, count your correct answers out of 38, then enter that total on our CELPIP listening score chart. If your target is Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) 9, our CLB 9 page shows its requirements in every skill.

Keep practising: other parts and your own opinions

• Listening Part 4, news item: one reporter with many facts, a good warm-up on detail (5 questions).
• Listening Part 5, discussion: several people move toward a decision while you track everyone’s wishes (8 questions).
• Reading Part 4, viewpoints: a similar task of separating opinions, in an article on its own timer.

Hearing people argue a point also helps your speaking. Speaking Task 7, Expressing Opinions, asks for your own view with reasons; hear how answers at levels 7, 9 and 11 do it in our speaking sample answers.