CELPIP Writing Task 1: Email Samples with Answers

CELPIP Writing Task 1 gives you 27 minutes to write an email of 150 to 200 words. The prompt describes a situation, names a recipient, and lists the points you must cover. Your job: pick the right tone, address every point, and finish with time to proofread.

Sounds simple. But in the Task 1 attempts we review on Celpify, the most common score-killer isn't grammar. It's a rushed final bullet point, or a formal email written in a friendly register. Both are avoidable with a plan.

This guide has six realistic sample prompts, model answers at CLB 7 and CLB 9+ so you can see the gap between the levels, a reusable email structure, and the four dimensions CELPIP raters actually score. If you need a specific score for Express Entry, Task 1 carries half your writing result, so it's worth getting right.

Task 1 quick facts

• Time limit: 27 minutes
• Length: 150-200 words, with a live word counter on screen
• Format: one email, formal or informal
• Weight: half your writing result. The other half is Task 2, the survey response, which follows completely different logic.

Your writing score comes from both tasks together, so a weak email caps the section no matter how strong your survey answer is.

What the prompt looks like

Every prompt has the same anatomy:

Formal or informal? Decide in five seconds

Formal email prompts

Informal email prompts

Formal email sample: complaint to building management

Prompt: You live in an apartment building and there has been excessive noise from construction work starting at 6 AM every day for the past two weeks. Write an email to the building manager describing the problem, explaining how it affects you, and requesting a solution.

Informal email sample: invitation to a friend

Prompt: You are planning a surprise birthday party for a mutual friend named Sarah. Write an email to another friend inviting them, explaining the occasion, providing party details, and asking them to help.

What earns this one its level? The voice. It reads like a real person inviting a real friend: idioms land naturally ("let anything slip", "help me out"), the subject line has personality, and every detail is specific, from Queen Street to the cake shop. All three bullet points get full coverage without the email ever sounding like a checklist.

Same structure, same three points covered, and it would pass. But notice "I am writing to tell you" addressed to a close friend. That's formal-letter phrasing in a casual email, and it's exactly the kind of register slip that keeps a response at CLB 7. The vocabulary stays generic ("make it special", "help me with something"), and no sentence takes a risk.

Additional model answer: request to employer

Prompt: You need to take two weeks off work next month for a family emergency. Write an email to your supervisor explaining the situation, proposing coverage, and offering to help.

Formal email template

Informal email template

CELPIP's own guidance, from the Writing Pro: Target 9+ study pack, is to spend 4 to 5 minutes planning, write for roughly 19, and keep 3 to 4 minutes to check your work. Most test-takers invert this. They start typing within a minute and never reread.

The planning phase (4-5 minutes)

1. Brainstorm in point form for 2-3 minutes. Spelling doesn't matter yet.
2. Pick your main ideas and put them in order.
3. Attach one specific detail to each idea.
4. Draft a clear purpose statement for your opening line.

Before you type a word of the email itself, confirm four things: the tone, the recipient, every bullet point, and the details you'll invent. That last one matters more than people expect. Real-sounding names, dates, and places are what separate a vivid email from a vague one.

And the proofread isn't optional. What can three minutes of rereading catch? The its/it's slips, the missing articles, the sentence you abandoned halfway. All of it drags Readability down if it stays in.

The instructions ask for 150 to 200 words, and the test interface counts them for you. Our advice: aim for 170 to 190. That's enough room to develop every bullet point without padding. The subject line and your sign-off name don't count toward the total.

Going slightly over or under isn't the disaster forums make it out to be. Word count is one factor inside Task Fulfillment, not a separate penalty switch. In the Task 1 attempts we review on Celpify, emails almost never lose marks for being ten words over. They lose marks for spending a hundred words on the first bullet point and twenty on the last one.

Where the words should go

A balanced 180-word email breaks down roughly like this: about 20 words to open (greeting plus purpose statement), 45-55 words for each of the first two bullet points, 35-45 for the third, and about 20 to close and sign off.

Word-count mistakes we keep seeing

• Padding with filler like "I am writing this email to tell you that..."
• Restating the prompt instead of answering it
• Cutting the closing to save words. Don't. An email without a proper ending reads as unfinished.
• Uneven development, where one bullet point gets a paragraph and another gets a clause

Formal vs informal at a glance

Same idea, different tones

Tone and format errors

Content errors

Skipping a bullet point is the big one, and it's usually the last bullet that gets sacrificed to the clock. Vague details are the quieter version of the same problem. "The noise happens sometimes" gives a rater nothing to reward, while "the drilling starts at 6 AM daily" shows control of detail. Then there's the tone drift: a formal opening that slides into "anyway, gotta go!" by the last paragraph reads worse than either register used consistently.

Language errors

• Contractions in formal emails: write "cannot", not "can't", when addressing employers or officials
• Stiff informal emails: "I am writing to inform you" sounds wrong to a friend
• Paragraphs that don't connect, forcing the rater to guess the link between ideas
• The same adjective five times. Vary "good" with "excellent", "positive", "helpful".

Subject lines that set the level

Your subject line is the first thing the rater reads. Compare:

Vocabulary upgrades

The trick isn't fancy words. It's precise ones, matched to the register. "Very big problem" becomes "significant concern" in a formal email or "huge issue" to a friend. "I want to ask" becomes "I would like to request" or "I was wondering if". "Thank you" grows into "I greatly appreciate" or "thanks so much", depending on who's reading.

We built a full phrase bank for this, sorted by tone and email section, in the Task 1 vocabulary guide.

Canadian context

Invented details land better when they sound local. A complaint that mentions municipal noise bylaws, a party at a pub on Queen Street, a father hospitalized in Vancouver: these read as someone comfortable writing in a Canadian setting. Use Canadian spelling too (colour, centre, neighbour). It's the variety the test is built on.

Sentence variety

Mix your structures:

• Simple: "The construction starts at 6 AM."
• Compound: "The noise is disruptive, and it has affected my work significantly."
• Complex: "Although I understand renovations are necessary, the early start time has severely impacted my sleep schedule."

An email written entirely in simple sentences caps itself at the mid levels, no matter how correct it is.

Formal email practice

1. Complaint to a store: You purchased a laptop online that arrived damaged. Write to customer service describing the problem, explaining how it has affected you, and requesting a resolution.
2. Request to HR: You want to work remotely two days per week. Write to your HR department explaining your reasons, proposing a schedule, and addressing potential concerns.
3. Inquiry to a school: You want to enrol your child in a local school. Write to the administration asking about admission requirements, available programs, and the next steps.
4. Complaint to the city: The streetlights in your neighbourhood have been broken for weeks. Write to municipal services describing the situation, explaining safety concerns, and requesting action.

Informal email practice

5. Catching up: You haven't seen a close friend in months. Write to them suggesting you meet up, proposing activities, and asking about their life.
6. Borrowing request: You need to borrow your friend's car for a weekend trip. Write explaining why you need it, when you'd return it, and offering something in return.
7. Apology email: You forgot a friend's important event. Write apologizing sincerely, explaining what happened, and suggesting how to make it up to them.
8. Recommendation: A friend is moving to your city and needs apartment-hunting advice. Write sharing your neighbourhood recommendations, tips for searching, and an offer to help.

Notice where tone and word count sit: inside Task Fulfillment, not as separate scores. That's why a grammatically flawless email in the wrong register scores lower than a slightly imperfect one written by someone who clearly understood the situation.

Working toward a specific immigration target? Check how CELPIP writing levels map to CLB to see what your program requires.

Start with the two template structures. Practise both registers, because you won't know which type appears until test day.

Put your energy into task fulfillment and tone first. Cover every bullet point completely and hold one register from greeting to sign-off. Those two habits decide more CLB 7 vs CLB 9 outcomes than grammar does.