What is tested in Listening Part 6?

Your ability to follow a speaker's viewpoints and how they shift. Opinion and attitude vocabulary is what lets you hear those shifts.

How long is the Part 6 audio?

It is one of the longer listening passages, so automatic recognition of this vocabulary helps you stay focused to the end.

Listening Part 6: Viewpoints

Listening Part 6: Viewpoints is part of the Listening section of the CELPIP test. You get 6 questions and 4 minutes. It is scored by the number of correct answers.

Questions: 6
Time: 4 minutes
Prompts here: 23 published

The three-move viewpoints listen

1
Identify the topic and the speaker's side early
One person is arguing something. Knowing which way they lean makes every later question easier.
2
Follow the reasons in the order they are given
Argument is sequential, and so are the questions.
3
Separate the speaker's view from views they report
"Some people say…" is not what the speaker thinks, and this part tests exactly that difference.

A view the speaker quotes is not the speaker's view.

Reported opinions are the standard distractor in this part.

Build the opinion and attitude vocabulary you need to follow a monologue and identify the speaker's changing viewpoints in CELPIP Listening Part 6.

Part 6 is a longer talk where one speaker expresses several viewpoints. Recognising stance and attitude vocabulary helps you track how their opinion develops across the audio.

CELPIP · Listening

A Proposed Change to the Public-Sector Workweek

One of 23 published prompts · free, no account

Instructions

The audio plays once.
Choose the best answer for each question.

Audio transcript

In the real test you hear this once and cannot replay it.

A proposal to introduce a four-day workweek for selected public-sector employees is generating considerable debate across the country. Under the proposal, participating employees would work four days instead of five, while maintaining their current salaries. The government says the initiative would initially be introduced as a pilot project and evaluated after one year. Supporters argue that the traditional five-day workweek no longer reflects the realities of modern employment. They point to research suggesting that longer working hours do not necessarily result in greater productivity. According to proponents, an additional day away from work could reduce employee burnout, improve work-life balance, and potentially increase productivity during the four days employees are actually working. There could also be environmental and social benefits. If millions of workers travelled to work one day fewer each week, traffic congestion and transportation-related emissions could decline. Employees might also have more time to care for children or elderly relatives, attend appointments, or participate in community activities. However, opponents question whether these benefits would apply equally to all workplaces. The National Association of Small Employers has expressed concern that a four-day schedule could be difficult for businesses that need to remain open five or even seven days a week. Although the current proposal applies only to selected public-sector employees, the association argues that it could create pressure on private employers to adopt similar arrangements without receiving financial assistance to cover additional staffing costs. Some economists have also raised concerns about the effect on public services. They point out that reducing the number of days employees are physically present could result in longer waiting times for government services unless departments reorganize their operations. In their view, a shorter workweek may improve employee satisfaction but could simply shift the workload rather than reduce it. Labour organizations, meanwhile, have generally responded favourably to the proposal, although they have emphasized that implementation would be important. They argue that employees should not be expected to complete five days' worth of work in four days. If that happened, they say, the policy could actually increase stress rather than reduce it. Labour representatives are therefore calling for productivity targets and workloads to be reviewed before the program begins. Public opinion also appears to be divided. A recent national survey found that a majority of employees supported the idea of a shorter workweek, particularly among workers with long commuting times and those with family responsibilities. However, some respondents expressed concern that employees in essential services might not receive the same benefits as office workers. Others questioned whether the policy would be fair if some employees were able to enjoy a three-day weekend while others continued working five or six days. The government has responded by emphasizing that the proposal is not intended to establish a universal four-day workweek immediately. Instead, officials describe it as an experiment designed to determine whether a different approach to scheduling can maintain or improve productivity while reducing employee stress. The government says that performance, service quality, employee well-being, and operating costs would all be measured during the pilot. Critics remain unconvinced. They argue that a government-funded experiment may produce positive results in selected departments but may not be practical in workplaces where employees must be available to the public every day. Supporters, on the other hand, argue that refusing to experiment with alternative work arrangements simply because implementation may be complicated would prevent governments and employers from adapting to changing expectations about work. For now, the proposal remains under consideration. While there is disagreement over whether a four-day workweek would actually improve productivity, there appears to be broader agreement that the traditional structure of work is being reconsidered. The central question, therefore, may not be whether employees should work fewer days, but whether organizations can redesign work in a way that benefits employees without compromising the quality and accessibility of essential services.

Questions & answer key6 questions

Listening is scored by the number of correct answers. The audio plays once, so the skill being tested is holding detail while the next sentence arrives.

1What is one advantage of the proposed four-day workweek mentioned in the report?
1. ✓It could reduce transportation-related emissions and traffic congestion.
2. BIt would allow government employees to receive higher salaries.
3. CIt would eliminate the need for employees to work during peak hours.
4. DIt would guarantee that private businesses could reduce their operating costs.
Answer
A
The report lists environmental and social benefits of the proposal: if millions of workers travelled to work one day fewer each week, traffic congestion and transportation-related emissions could decline. Participating employees would keep their current salaries, so nothing supports the idea that government employees would receive higher salaries; the report never says peak-hour work or travel would be eliminated; and it says only that small employers fear pressure without financial assistance, never that private businesses would be guaranteed lower operating costs.
2What concern has been raised by the National Association of Small Employers?
1. APublic-sector employees may become less productive if they work fewer days.
2. ✓Private businesses could face pressure to adopt a costly arrangement without financial support.
3. CEmployees would be less willing to work in organizations that operate seven days a week.
4. DThe proposal would immediately require all private employers to close one day a week.
Answer
B
The National Association of Small Employers argues that although the current proposal applies only to selected public-sector employees, it could create pressure on private employers to adopt similar arrangements without receiving financial assistance to cover additional staffing costs, which is a particular difficulty for businesses that must stay open five or even seven days a week. The association is not the source of the claim that public-sector employees would become less productive, and the economists quoted later worry instead about longer waiting times for government services. The report also never says employees would be unwilling to work for seven-day operations, and the proposal would not require private employers to close a day a week.
3According to labour organizations, what would be an important condition for the proposal to succeed?
1. AEmployees should accept lower salaries in exchange for an additional day off.
2. BGovernment departments should hire additional employees before beginning the pilot.
3. ✓Employees should not be expected to complete the same workload in significantly less time.
4. DThe four-day schedule should initially apply only to workers with family responsibilities.
Answer
C
Labour organizations responded favourably but conditionally: they argue that employees should not be expected to complete five days' worth of work in four days, warning that this could increase stress rather than reduce it, and they call for productivity targets and workloads to be reviewed before the program begins. They do not ask employees to accept lower salaries, do not call for additional hiring before the pilot, and do not propose limiting the schedule to workers with family responsibilities, who are mentioned only as a group that tended to support the idea in the survey.
4What does the report suggest about public opinion regarding the proposal?
1. AMost people strongly oppose the proposal because of concerns about public services.
2. ✓Public opinion is generally positive, although some people question its fairness and practicality.
3. CEmployees and employers have reached a general agreement about how the policy should work.
4. DMost people believe the proposal should immediately be extended to private-sector employees.
Answer
B
A recent national survey found that a majority of employees supported the idea of a shorter workweek, so the general picture is favourable; but the same paragraph records reservations, including whether employees in essential services would receive the same benefits as office workers and whether the policy would be fair if some workers enjoyed a three-day weekend while others continued working five or six days. That is qualified support rather than strong opposition, and the report reports no general agreement between employees and employers, nor any demand to extend the policy to the private sector immediately.
5What is the government's main reason for introducing the proposal as a pilot project?
1. ✓To determine whether a shorter workweek can provide benefits without reducing productivity or service quality.
2. BTo determine which public-sector employees should permanently receive higher compensation.
3. CTo demonstrate that public-sector workers are more productive than private-sector workers.
4. DTo encourage private employers to introduce shorter workweeks across the country.
Answer
A
The government describes the initiative as an experiment designed to determine whether a different approach to scheduling can maintain or improve productivity while reducing employee stress, and says performance, service quality, employee well-being, and operating costs would all be measured during the pilot. The pilot is not about deciding who should receive higher compensation, not a comparison of public-sector and private-sector productivity, and the government explicitly says it is not intended to establish a universal four-day workweek immediately, so encouraging private employers to adopt one is not its purpose.
6What is the main issue being debated in the report?
1. AWhether governments should increase salaries to compensate employees for longer working hours.
2. BWhether private companies should be required to provide employees with three-day weekends.
3. CWhether reducing working hours would necessarily lead to lower-quality public services.
4. ✓Whether organizations can redesign work schedules to improve employee well-being without compromising services.
Answer
D
The closing paragraph names the central question directly: not whether employees should work fewer days, but whether organizations can redesign work in a way that benefits employees without compromising the quality and accessibility of essential services. Compensating employees for longer hours with higher salaries is never discussed; no one proposes requiring private companies to provide three-day weekends; and whether service quality would suffer is one strand of the debate rather than the whole issue.

Three mistakes that cost points heremost common first

1Attributing an opinion the speaker mentioned in order to disagree with it.
2Hearing a concession as a change of position.
3Deciding the speaker's side from the first sentence and not updating.

Now do it yourself and find out where you land

You can check right and wrong on this page. What a page cannot do is tell you which question types you keep losing, under real timing.

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Questions people ask

What is tested in Listening Part 6?: Your ability to follow a speaker's viewpoints and how they shift. Opinion and attitude vocabulary is what lets you hear those shifts.
How long is the Part 6 audio?: It is one of the longer listening passages, so automatic recognition of this vocabulary helps you stay focused to the end.

The other 22 Viewpoints prompts0 free

·Reconciliation: From Recognition to Practical Action
·Challenges Facing Indigenous Communities in Canada
·ICBC Insurance: Basic Coverage and Optional Protection
·Changes to Canada's Immigration System
·Public Libraries in the Digital Age
·The Rising Cost of Living in Canada
·Raising the Minimum Wage
·Artificial Intelligence in Schools
·Vocational Education in Canada
·Electric Scooters on City Streets
·Loyalty Programs
·Climate Change in Canada
·Cashless Payments in Canada
·Gaming Addiction
·Shrinkflation
·Overfishing and Canada's Fisheries
·School Start Times
·Minimum Wage in Canada
·Plastic Bans
·Dress Codes in Schools and Workplaces
·Rent Control: Protection or Barrier?
·Scams and Fraud in Canada

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