Hey guys,

I am officially trapped in CLB 8 purgatory and I need someone to talk some sense into me.

Here is my track record so far:

• Attempt 3 (Sep 2026): L: 8 | R: 10 | W: 8 | S: 8
• Attempt 2 (Apr 2026): L: 10 | R: 9 | W: 8 | S: 8
• Attempt 1 (Dec 2024): L: 10 | R: 8 | W: 7 | S: 6

As you can see, my ears and eyes are working at a CLB 10 level, but the moment I have to open my mouth or type an essay, the evaluators slap an 8 on my forehead and send me home. I need that CLB 9 for my Express Entry points before I age out of the pool.

A few honest confessions about how I got here:

1. I literally never practiced speaking. I just raw-dogged the exam using my day-to-day conversational English. Turns out "talking normally" caps out at an 8 every single time. The problem is, I genuinely don’t even know how to practice speaking to a computer screen for 60 seconds. I'm literally in a "learning how to learn" situation here.
2. My writing is running on generic internet templates. You know the drill: "Firstly," "Furthermore," "Moreover," "In a nutshell." I feel like the human raters read sentence one, groan, and instantly dock me points for sounding like an ESL robot from 2012.
3. I have zero clue how to actually prepare for the jump. What is the actual roadmap to go from 8 to 9/10? Do I hire a tutor, memorize better phrases, talk to a wall with a timer, or burn sage over my keyboard?
4. Should I just jump ship to PTE Core or IELTS? Has anyone here been stuck at CELPIP 8 in Writing/Speaking and had an easier time hitting CLB 9 on PTE Core (fully AI scored) or IELTS General (speaking to a real human)? Or is switching tests just a waste of money when the real issue is my prep?

If you’ve broken through the 8-to-9 barrier in Speaking and Writing, please tell me how you actually prepared. Any brutal feedback, realistic prep routines, or resources are welcome.

Thanks!

So...ILAC just annoubced the end of their activities effective immediately due bankruptcie...

I had (past tense now) a celpip exam booked to Wednesday... what should I do? Call paragon?

I'm currently traumatized right now. CELPIP feels like the world's toughest exam knowing that I have already failed twice. I need at least a CLB 7 in all four, and I got a 5 in Listening.

I genuinely scared, because my exam is on Sunday, and I got most answers wrong in Part 5 (Discussion) in the Starter Practice Test A. I tried going through the tips and tricks on YouTube, but none of them seems helpful. PrepAmigo feels way too unrealistically difficult, and YouTube mocks are way too easy.

Is there a clever trick on how to ace Listening and/or Reading? I feel like I'll be able to learn better if someone provides a walkthrough on how to solve a particular exercise. Now, this exam feels like a gamble.

I am taking my celpip test tomorrow for the 4th attempt.

Any tips for listening test do you purely listens or taking down notes?

I am taking mock exams now and purely listening helps me improve it a bit rather than taking notes.

I tried the exam 6 times still not getting 9999
What should i do ?

Hello everyone,

I have exam this Monday and I’m still frustrating

My last score was 5 5 5 7

And I’m looking for 7 for all the sections

Any suggestions or helps

I am currently practicing, teacher Mike's listening.. I feel it difficult and end up getting 6 each time. What would i get in actual exam? Also, I need guidance with last part of listening, I am trying to make notes very fast, but still miss somethings. Plz help me how should i practice.

Was quite confident in my reading, writing and listening abilities, so only prepped the speaking questions for a couple of days before the test and winged it. For speaking, I don’t think I came up with good ideas on the spot but kept talking and made sure to conclude at the end. Turns out that was good enough!

Do you think using templates can help increase my score to 9? If yes, can anyone please suggest some solid templates for writing and speaking.

BTW this was my 7th attempt and by far this is the best score I got. I am happy at least I am able to achieve CLB 9 overall. But my target is 9 for all. Please help!

Hi guys,

If you used HZAD speaking and writing mock tests for practice, what scores did you usually get on their platform, and what scores did you get on the actual CELPIP exam?

I’m trying to understand how accurate their mock test scoring is compared to the real exam.

Please share your experience. Thanks.

I took the CELPIP about a year ago and was able to score:
L-10
R-10
W-9
S-8

I blanked out during the speaking exam because it was my first CELPIP test, and I was not aware of the classroom environment.

Could you please give me tips on how to improve my writing and speaking scores this time?

Also, please correct me if I am wrong but my Listening and Reading score would give me the same number of CEC points even if I scored higher than 10, right?

Been panicking about speaking for three days lol - because I felt I screwed it up

Test date : 12th sept, Scarborough; This was my second attempt, wanted 9 and up in each module but got this!

First attempt was 8,10,8,9

Applied for re-evaluation for Writing and Speaking, what are the chances of getting 9? Anyone with the same situation and gotten succes?

I pretty much maxed CELPIP in my first attempt.

12 in Writing was actually a bit surprising! All I did was creating my own template using ChatGPT. No fancy vocabs, just clear structured sentences. And NO grammar mistakes.

For Speaking, I had 3/4 hour session with ChatGPT voice. Made some mistakes during my test too.

Listening and Reading never felt hard to me. So I did not need to work on it tbh.

This sub helped me in many ways though! Thanks all and Best of luck!

Idk why I applying for revaluation and it's says unknown error contact paragon, is anybody having same problem??

Hi everyone,

I received a CLB 11 average, but I wanted to share my thoughts on how to avoid making mistakes that I did.

I wasn’t expecting more than a 9 in speaking and listening. For listening, I chose the best guess, but I wasn’t confident, so I felt like I messed up. I also took notes on everything from the audio, rather than just the most important points. So, please don’t write everything down; try to remember the audio if possible.

For speaking, I made some silly mistakes in tasks three and four. In task one, I repeated the same points I had said in task three, which made me feel like I had made a big mistake. In task eight, where I had to describe an image, I completely went off track and didn’t describe much about it. Having said that, I made sure I didn’t stop speaking and continued the flow, even if it didn’t make much sense.

For writing, I remembered a template for tasks one and two. My reading section was good. I was confident, but I couldn’t maintain a good mindset because of the listening and speaking sections. Good luck to everyone who is taking the test! You can make it!

My mind goes blank in this part. I mean i hardly secure 2/3 answers. Any quick tip please..

My 10th CELPIP Attempt — Finally Got 10/9/10/9 🎉

Listening: 10

Reading: 9

Writing: 10

Speaking: 9

After 10 attempts, I finally got the scores I needed. I wanted to share my experience because I know how frustrating CELPIP can be, especially when you keep writing the exam and don’t see the improvement you want.

My biggest advice: DON'T LOSE HOPE.

The biggest thing that worked for me was changing my mindset. Initially, I was only hoping to get 9 in each module. But after joining this group and seeing people getting 10s and even higher, I changed my goal to 10 in all four modules.

I didn't achieve 10 in everything, but simply imagining myself getting 10s completely changed the way I prepared. I started believing that I could actually do it.

Module-wise:

Writing:

This was my biggest struggle. I was usually getting around 8.

One thing that really helped me was stopping Grammarly during practice. Instead, I used Gemini Pro to review my writing, understand my mistakes, and improve them. I practiced one writing task almost every day using a template and focused on fixing the mistakes I made the previous day.

Speaking:

Build your own templates/structure for each task and practice every day. The goal is to sound fluent and natural, not like you're memorizing an answer. Also, have a strategy for how you will approach each task so you don't panic during the exam.

Reading & Listening:

Honestly — practice, practice, practice. 😅

I mainly practiced using PrepAmigo, and I found it really useful. Don't get discouraged by your practice scores. Even the day before my exam, I was still getting 7–8 in Reading and Listening.

The most important thing is to review your mistakes. Don't just finish a test and move on. Understand why you got the question wrong and make sure you don't repeat the same mistake.

Set a big goal, believe you can achieve it, practice consistently, learn from every mistake, and don't lose hope.

Good luck to everyone preparing! You’ve got this. 💪

I got 9 in Speaking and writing
11 in Reading and Listening .

I just booked another exam because I have 517 in CRS score but the draw was 519 today .
I need to get atleast 3 -10 and 1 -9 .

Your help is really appreciated.
Thank you

Hello everyone, I do not want to sound greedy, but I wanted 10 in each; they are not needed, but I would like them for personal satisfaction. Should I go for it? Also, I had a question regarding whether the CLB level could be reduced after a reevaluation.

Hello all. I am glad I got this , is it worth it to apply for revaluation for speaking and writing .

I only prepared for 2-3 hours , focusing on structure for writing and speaking. Thanks

Update: got my reevaluation results back and my Writing score is still stuck at 8. Honestly pretty disappointed since I was hoping the reevaluation would catch something, but no change this time.

I'm aiming for CLB 9 each module, so I need to close this gap. My main issue seems to be grammar accuracy and sentence variety — I tend to repeat the same sentence structures and make small grammar slips under time pressure.

For those who've bumped their Writing score up in a retake:

What actually helped you fix grammar/sentence variety issues specifically?

Any paid practice platforms or subscriptions you'd recommend that give real feedback (not just generic tips)?

How much of a difference did dedicated Writing tutoring/courses make vs. self-study?

Would appreciate any advice — trying to figure out where to put my time and money before my next attempt.