Read it, then set your opinion aside
Nobody marks you on which side is right. You're marked on what you can write about it, so the side you'd vote for isn't always the side to choose.
CELPIP GymWriting courseLesson 2 · Writing Task 2, survey questions
Pick the side you can argue fastest
Marks go when you pick the side you believe and then find you've nothing to say about it. Weigh both options for one minute, commit to the one you can prove, and the rest of the 26 minutes already has a plan.
6 minutes to read
Town surveyOne minute to choose
Lifeguards at the beach
A splash pad by the town hall
1
Choose in sixty seconds, by reasons not beliefs
Give the choice one minute of the 26. For each option, name your reasons, and count one only if you can picture where it happens: a place, a person, a number. The heavier side is your side, even if you'd vote the other way. Scroll to weigh one survey.
Why it scores. Raters mark the case you make, not the side you pick. A minute spent here gets you two examples you can write about, and it stops you changing sides at minute ten.
Content/CoherenceTask Fulfillment
Weigh the first side
Say a reason, and in the same breath say where you've seen it. A drop-off ten metres out, a street of families driving away: reasons with a place or a number in them have weight.
Give the other side a fair go
Weigh it the same way. One real reason comes easily, and the scale starts to come back. That's useful: you'll need it for the last move.
A belief weighs nothing
"Kids deserve fun" sounds like a reason, but you can't picture it and it won't fill a paragraph. If no example comes in five seconds, it doesn't count.
Commit, and don't look back
The heavier side is your side. Its two reasons are your two paragraphs, so you've planned the whole answer. Changing your mind later costs far more than a weaker opinion would.
Town survey: one new thing for Loon Bay beach this summer0:10
Drop-off ten metres out
Families drive to Port Hale
A Lifeguards at the beach
Free for kids under six
“Kids deserve fun”no weight
B A splash pad by the town hall
Side A. Two reasons you can picture, and they're already your two paragraphs.
2
Both reasons in the first paragraph
Write your choice and both reasons in the opening sentence. Then start each body paragraph with the same words you used there, so that a reader who only skims the first lines still gets your whole argument.
Why it scores. It tells the rater where the answer is going, and every paragraph then delivers something the opening promised. Repeating the key words ties the piece together without heavy linking phrases.
Content/CoherenceReadability
I would like the town to hire lifeguards for Loon Bay beach, for two reasons: the water there is more dangerous than it looks, and families are leaving town to swim somewhere safer.
First, the water is more dangerous than it looks. The bottom drops away only ten metres from shore…
Families are also leaving town to swim. Every Saturday in August, the parents on my street…
Read only the first lines, and you still have the whole argument.
3
Reason, example, result
Build each body paragraph in three beats: say the reason, prove it with one thing that happened, and say what changes because of it. Two of those paragraphs are most of your 150 to 200 words, so you hardly need to count.
Why it scores. The example turns an opinion into an argument, and the result tells the reader why the example matters. Keeping to three beats also stops your second paragraph from going thin.
Content/CoherenceTask Fulfillment
- Reason
First, the water is more dangerous than it looks.
- Example
The bottom drops away only ten metres from shore, and there is no warning sign. Last July, my neighbour's eight-year-old went under near the rocks, and a teenager happened to see him.
- Result
A trained guard would not leave that to luck.
One whole answer
- Opening 33
- Reason one 50
- Reason two 50
- Other side 24
- Close 12
4
Give the other side one sentence
Just before your close, give the option you didn't choose one fair sentence, then turn back with one word: but, however, although. One sentence is a detour. Two start to sound like a change of heart.
Why it scores. Showing you've considered the other option makes your reasoning sound fair, and the turn gives you a more complex sentence to write. Keeping it to one sentence keeps your words working for your side.
Content/CoherenceReadability
Your sideThe other side, for one sentenceYour side
A splash pad would be lovely for toddlers, but it would do nothing about a lake that people are going to swim in anyway.
5
Lines to borrow
One ready line for each job, so that your minutes go on your examples. Select a line to copy it.
Say your side
Reason and example
Show the result
Give the other side
The usual trap: three thin reasons
Three reasons feels safer, but in 150 to 200 words each one gets a line and none gets an example. Two reasons with an example each read as an argument. Three without read as a list.
The clock, spent well
26 minutes1 minuteWeigh both options, and commit.
3 minutesTwo reasons and an example for each, on your pad.
17 minutesOpening, two body paragraphs, the other side, a close.
5 minutesThe count, the spelling, one read for slips.
Quick hacks for Task 2
Smaller than a move, and just as easy to forget on the day.
- ScreenRead each option twice
They're a line or so each, and easy to skim. Marks go when you argue for something the option never offered.
- WordsSay who you are in the survey
It speaks to you as a resident, an employee or a parent. Write as that person: "As someone who lives two streets away" hands you an example.
- WordsNo greeting, no sign-off
It's a survey answer, not an email. Leave out Dear and Regards, and spend those words on your examples.
- ClockOne minute less, and you're tired
This task has 26 minutes where the email had 27, and it comes second. Be typing by minute four at the latest.
- If it slipsDry at 120 words? Add the result
Go back to each example and say what changed because of it. That's the third beat, and it's usually the one that's missing.
Take this into the test
- 1One minute: weigh both sides. A reason counts only if you can picture it.
- 2Your choice and both reasons in the first sentence.
- 3Reason, example, result, twice. One sentence for the other side.