CELPIP® Speaking Task 6 sample: School Drop-Off Detour

Dealing with a Difficult Situation · Preparation: 60 seconds · Response: 60 seconds · Published 23 October 2026

Original practice questions in CELPIP® task formats, created independently by CELPIP Study.

Practice question

You serve on a school travel committee in Surrey. For four weeks, roadwork will close the usual morning drop-off area. The school administrator, Halima, proposes using an available public parking lot 700 metres away, with families walking to school. Parent representative Emiko says the extra 20-minute round trip would make her late for work. She wants the school's six-space staff parking lot used for drop-offs instead. However, displaced staff would then park at the distant lot, and some carry heavy classroom supplies. You must recommend one plan. Address Emiko to explain your support for the distant lot, or address Halima to explain your support for using the staff lot.

Talk to Emiko and explain why you support using the distant parking lot during the roadwork.
Talk to Halima and explain why you support temporarily using the staff parking lot for drop-offs.

Model answers

These are transcripts of a model response, provided for comparison with your own recording.

Level 7 sample answer

125 words

Emiko, I know the extra walk would make your morning difficult, especially when you need to get to work. But I've decided to recommend the public parking lot for these four weeks. Using the staff lot would move the same problem to the teachers, and some of them carry heavy supplies. Also, six parking spaces isn't much room for families arriving together. I think we should keep that area for staff. Um, could we ask the committee about organizing a walking group from the public lot? If the school agrees and enough volunteers join, parents might not have to walk both ways every morning. We would need a clear plan before starting. I know this doesn't fix your schedule right away, but it could helps.

Why this answer is at level 7

This level 7 answer makes a clear recommendation and gives relevant reasons in straightforward language. Compared with the stronger answers, it develops the parking problem less fully, leaves the walking-group proposal less concrete, and has a noticeable grammar slip.

Also, six parking spaces isn't much room for families arriving together. — Content/Coherence: This adds a relevant capacity concern to the argument about teachers carrying supplies. A higher-level answer would explain the consequence more fully, as the level 11 answer does by showing how arriving cars could fill the spaces and leave parents waiting.
Using the staff lot would move the same problem to the teachers — Vocabulary: The everyday phrase clearly explains that the inconvenience would shift to teachers. However, 'the same problem' is broad: the stronger answers distinguish parents' work delays from staff displacement and the difficulty of carrying supplies.
I know this doesn't fix your schedule right away, but it could helps. — Listenability: The acknowledgment gives the ending a considerate, conversational tone, but 'could helps' interrupts grammatical smoothness. A higher-level answer would maintain accurate phrasing and make clearer whether the possible help comes from the walking group or the wider plan.
But I've decided to recommend the public parking lot for these four weeks. — Task Fulfillment: The speaker directly addresses Emiko and clearly chooses the required plan for the temporary closure. A higher-level answer would connect the proposed walking group more explicitly to her work deadline by explaining who would receive the children and supervise their walk.

Level 9 sample answer

151 words

Halima, I'd like to recommend using the staff parking lot for drop-offs during the four weeks of roadwork. I understand why you prefer the public lot: asking staff to walk seven hundred metres, sometimes with heavy classroom supplies, would create a real burden. However, the twenty-minute round trip would also affect parents who need to continue straight to work. Emiko has already explained that she would be late. Rather than expect every family to absorb that delay, could we explore a tightly managed drop-off period in the six-space lot? Vehicles would need to keep moving, and volunteers would be necessary to direct arrivals. We should also ask staff whether supplies could be unloaded before they park elsewhere. I wouldn't support opening the lot without those arrangements being agreed upon. If they proved workable, though, a temporary, supervised system could reduce the disruption for families while addressing the practical difficulties for staff.

Why this answer is at level 9

This level 9 answer balances the competing needs, supports a clear choice, and uses controlled language to propose practical safeguards. Compared with level 11, its central drop-off arrangement remains less concrete, and some abstract or passive wording makes the explanation less direct.

Rather than expect every family to absorb that delay, could we explore a tightly managed drop-off period in the six-space lot? — Content/Coherence: This links the parents' work delays to the proposed solution, developing the reasoning beyond the level 7 answer. However, 'tightly managed' leaves the central arrangement broad. A higher-level response would explain more concretely how the proposed system would prevent congestion in the small lot.
a temporary, supervised system could reduce the disruption for families while addressing the practical difficulties for staff. — Vocabulary: Words such as 'temporary,' 'supervised,' and 'disruption' summarize the proposal precisely and appropriately. However, 'system' and 'practical difficulties' are abstract. A higher-level answer would keep the conclusion more closely tied to specific actions and the burdens those actions address.
I wouldn't support opening the lot without those arrangements being agreed upon. — Listenability: This is grammatically controlled and clearly sets a condition for support. The passive ending, 'being agreed upon,' is somewhat cumbersome in speech. A higher-level answer would express the same safeguard more directly, making the condition easier to follow on first hearing.
We should also ask staff whether supplies could be unloaded before they park elsewhere. — Task Fulfillment: This directly addresses Halima's concern about staff carrying heavy supplies, so the recommendation considers both groups. A higher-level answer would connect this useful suggestion to a clearer operating arrangement, explaining how staff unloading and family drop-offs could fit together.

Level 11 sample answer

169 words

Emiko, I understand why you're pressing for access to the staff lot. An extra twenty minutes is difficult to absorb when you have a fixed work schedule, especially for four weeks. Nevertheless, I'm recommending the public parking lot. Moving drop-offs into six staff spaces would displace employees, including those carrying heavy classroom supplies. If several families arrived together, those six spaces could fill before the next car turned in, leaving parents waiting anyway. I'd prefer to make the distant option more workable. Could we ask Halima whether a supervised walking group could operate from the public lot? If the school approved it and enough volunteers participated, parents could leave their children with a designated adult there and continue to work without walking to school and back. We'd need clear arrangements for attendance and supervision before offering that option. I can't promise that your delay would disappear immediately, but I'll ask the committee to investigate this before the roadwork begins. Your work schedule needs to be part of the planning.

Why this answer is at level 11

This level 11 answer combines a clear recommendation with developed reasoning and a concrete response to Emiko's work constraint. Precise language, natural transitions, and explicit conditions for the walking group make the proposal persuasive without promising an outcome that has not been arranged.

If several families arrived together, those six spaces could fill before the next car turned in, leaving parents waiting anyway. — Content/Coherence: The answer develops the capacity concern into a clear chain of events: simultaneous arrivals could fill the lot and create another delay. This strengthens the recommendation by explaining why Emiko's preferred option might fail to solve her scheduling problem.
Moving drop-offs into six staff spaces would displace employees, including those carrying heavy classroom supplies. — Vocabulary: 'Displace employees' precisely describes the consequence of changing the lot's use. The concrete reference to heavy classroom supplies keeps that vocabulary grounded in the situation and explains why the alternative creates more than a minor inconvenience for staff.
I can't promise that your delay would disappear immediately, but I'll ask the committee to investigate this before the roadwork begins. — Listenability: The sentence moves naturally from a realistic limitation to a clear next step. Direct wording and familiar contractions support a conversational delivery, while the reference to the roadwork gives the commitment a meaningful timeframe.
parents could leave their children with a designated adult there and continue to work without walking to school and back. — Task Fulfillment: This explains exactly how the walking group could address Emiko's objection while preserving staff parking. The surrounding requirements for school approval, volunteers, attendance, and supervision make the proposal conditional on workable arrangements, showing careful attention to the chosen plan.

What moves an answer from 7 to 9 to 11

These are model answers written to show each level. The labels are practice estimates, not examiner scores.

Make a clear decision, explain it tactfully to the person addressed and develop the reasons. Acknowledge the other person’s needs and offer a practical way forward.

Content/Coherence: Level 7 models communicate the main ideas; level 9 models develop relevant details with clear connections; level 11 models sustain precise, well-integrated development.
Vocabulary: Compare adequate everyday wording with more varied, accurate choices at level 9 and flexible, precise expression at level 11.
Listenability: Higher-level delivery needs clear pronunciation, rhythm, intonation and controlled pauses. Transcripts suggest phrasing and organisation, but cannot demonstrate these audio features; a recording is needed.
Task Fulfillment: Compare how fully the response addresses the request, develops enough relevant detail and maintains an appropriate tone for the audience within the task limits.

Assess the criteria together. A longer answer or rarer words alone do not establish a higher level.

Answer this question and get your level