Speaking Task 3 — Describing a Scene
CELPIP Speaking Task 3 sample answers — bands 10, 11, 12
30s prep · 60s speak
The prompt
Describe the picture in as much detail as you can. You have 30 seconds to prepare and 60 seconds to speak.
Try this exact task freeBand 10
Thorough and well-organized coverage of every part of the scene, with accurate tense and clear position language. Sentences are somewhat uniform in structure and the vocabulary stays basic.
Transcript
This picture shows the inside of a public library. There are tall bookshelves on the left side and big windows on the right, and the sunlight is coming in. In the front, a woman in a cream sweater is sitting at a wooden table. She is writing something with a yellow pencil, and there are several open books and a pile of books in front of her. Next to her, on the right of the same table, a man is sleeping. His head is down on his arms and there is a laptop beside him. Behind the woman, a librarian in a beige cardigan is pushing a cart full of books. In the middle of the picture there is a mother with two young girls. One girl is choosing a book from a low shelf. On the right, an old man is sitting in a green armchair and reading a newspaper. There are some plants near the window.
Why this is a band 10
Sets the scene in one sentence before moving into detail, as Task 3 expects.
Correct present continuous plus a small specific detail — the colour of the pencil.
Notices the most unusual element in the room, which a weaker answer would skip.
Identifies the role rather than just saying a woman, which is more informative.
Correct but thin closing detail. A higher band would use the remaining seconds on something more telling.
Band 11
Vivid and well-sequenced, with precise clothing and object vocabulary, a sensible inference about the setting, and an observed contrast that ties two figures together.
Transcript
This is the reading area of a public library, and it looks like a weekend afternoon — the light is coming in low through the windows on the right. The woman closest to us is the focus. She is in a cream cable-knit sweater, working through a stack of books with a pencil in her hand, and she has three of them open at once, so I would say this is proper study rather than casual reading. At the far end of the same table, a man has given up completely. He is face down on his arms next to a closed laptop, which is a nice contrast with her concentration. Behind her a librarian is wheeling a wooden trolley of returns past the shelves. In the middle distance a mother is browsing a low shelf with two small girls, one of whom is already absorbed in a picture book, and an elderly man is reading a newspaper in an armchair by the window.
Why this is a band 11
Infers the time from the light rather than asserting it, which is the right hedge for a photograph.
Uses a visible detail as evidence for a conclusion about what is happening.
A light, natural way to describe the sleeping figure, and it carries more than he is sleeping would.
Connects two separate figures into a single observation about the room.
Returns is the precise library term, and it shows the speaker understands the scene, not just its shapes.
A relative clause used smoothly under time pressure, keeping the sentence flowing rather than breaking it in two.
Band 12
An assured description organized around an idea rather than a route through the frame, with exact vocabulary, controlled pacing, and observations about behaviour that go well beyond naming objects.
Transcript
A public library reading room, late in the afternoon judging by how far the light has crept across the carpet. What the photograph is really about is the range of ways people use a room like this. Nearest to us a woman in a cable-knit sweater is deep in genuine study — three books open at once, pencil in hand, entirely unaware of the camera. At the other end of the same table a man has surrendered, face down on his forearms beside a shut laptop, and the two of them together make the whole picture. Around them, everything else is quiet motion: a librarian wheeling a trolley of returns along the stacks, a mother crouched at a low shelf with two girls, one of whom has already stopped listening and started reading, and an older man with a newspaper in an armchair by the window.
Why this is a band 12
Evidence-based inference about time of day, expressed in a single subordinate clause.
Gives the description a thesis, so the details that follow support a point rather than simply accumulate.
Compact phrasing that conveys both her concentration and the candid nature of the shot.
One verb does the work of a full clause, and the register is exactly right.
A short hinge phrase that shifts the listener from the foreground to the rest of the room.
Describes behaviour over time from a still image, which is a sophisticated reading of the picture.
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Every writing and speaking attempt on CelpipRise is scored on the four official criteria, with notes like the ones above — on your words, not a model's.