CELPIP Speaking Task 5: Comparing and Persuading
Compare the options and explain your choice
Explain why your choice suits both people, and answer your listener’s reason for preferring the other option.
Task at a glance: 60 seconds to choose an option, then 60 seconds to prepare and 60 seconds to speak.
Guide 5 of 8 in the Speaking path · Reviewed
Know the task
Task 5 has two stages. First, choose between two options without speaking. Next, you see your chosen option beside a new alternative. Read the new details, then prepare to persuade someone to choose your option. Compare it with the new alternative; the option you rejected in the first stage is no longer part of the decision.
See the official CELPIP test formatA useful approach
- 1
Compare your choice with the new option
After choosing, read the new alternative carefully. Here, you chose pottery and Sam now suggests cooking. Compare pottery with cooking in your answer; photography is no longer part of the decision.
- 2
Compare the same details
Choose details that matter to both of you, such as total cost, travel, and number of sessions. Pottery costs $120 for four sessions. Cooking costs $95 for two. Keep both the price and the session count in your comparison.
- 3
Explain why each difference matters
A ten-minute walk makes the journey easier. Four sessions give beginners more chances to practise. Use the facts you are given; if a detail such as the cost of materials is missing, say you need to check it.
- 4
Answer Sam’s concern and recommend your choice
Recognize that cooking costs less overall. Then explain why pottery’s extra sessions and shorter journey matter to you. Speak directly to Sam and finish by asking them to choose pottery with you.
Sample question and answer
Sample question: You and your friend Sam are choosing an activity for beginners. In Stage 1, a community pottery course costs $120 for four sessions and is a ten-minute walk away. A photography course costs $150 for four sessions and needs a thirty-minute bus trip. Choose pottery for this example. In Stage 2, Sam suggests a cooking course: $95 for two sessions, with all ingredients included and a twenty-minute bus trip. Persuade Sam to choose pottery.
Example course comparison · Select a passage to see its explanation.
Why Sam likes cooking
The speaker recognizes two benefits of cooking: the lower total price and included ingredients.
Read the full sample answer
Sam, I understand why the cooking course appeals to you: it costs less overall and the ingredients are included. Still, I think the pottery course would be a better choice for us. For the extra twenty-five dollars, we’d get four sessions rather than two, so we’d have more chances to practise a new skill.
The journey would also be easier. The pottery course is only a ten-minute walk away, whereas cooking would mean a twenty-minute bus trip. We could walk there together without arranging our evening around the bus timetable.
We should check whether pottery materials cost extra before booking, because that information isn’t listed. Even so, the extra sessions and convenient location make it my preference. Why don’t we try the pottery course this time and keep cooking in mind for later?
Check your understanding
A common mistake
Listing differences without explaining why they matter.
Less useful: Pottery has four sessions. Cooking has two sessions. Pottery is good.
More specific: Pottery gives us four sessions rather than two, which would give us more time to practise before the course ends.
The clearer sentence compares the number of sessions and explains why extra practice would help beginners.
Useful language in context
- cost less overall
Have a lower total price, even if the price for each session is higher.
Cooking costs less overall, although it includes fewer sessions.
- whereas
Used to show a difference between two facts.
Pottery is a short walk away, whereas cooking requires a bus trip.
- keep it in mind
Remember an option you might choose later.
Let’s keep cooking in mind for another month.
Try it yourself
- For a separate practice exercise, use the course details above to argue for cooking.
- Explain how its lower total price could help. For someone trying an activity for the first time, two sessions may feel easier to commit to than four.
- Mention one advantage of pottery, then explain why you prefer cooking in this exercise. Check all prices, session counts, and travel details against the scenario.