How many questions are in Reading Part 1?

Paragon's test-format page lists 11 questions for Reading Correspondence. The messages are everyday letters or emails, which is why tone and purpose words like the ones in this list come up so often.

What should I do when I meet a word I don't know in the letter?

Keep reading. Paragon's advice is that you do not need to understand every word and can often work out an unfamiliar word from the sentences around it. The answer is always in the passage, so look for nearby clues instead of stopping.

Why does this list include so many feeling words?

Letters often hint at feelings rather than state them, and answer options frequently describe the writer's attitude with a single adjective. If you know words like thrilled, disheartened or taken aback, you can match the writer's hints to the right option.

Reading Part 1: Reading Correspondence

Reading Part 1: Reading Correspondence belongs to the Reading component of CELPIP. The task gives you 11 questions and 11 minutes. Your result counts the questions you answer correctly.

Questions: 11
Time: 11 minutes
Prompts here: 28 published

Who, what, which word

Our method for this task — study advice, not an official rule.

1
Work out who is writing to whom
Read the first message through before touching the questions. The relationship — colleagues, a customer and a company, old friends — decides which answers fit.
2
Find the fact, then check the tone
Often two options mean roughly the right thing, and only one matches how these people speak to each other. Settle the meaning from the message first, then choose on register.
3
Put your choice back into the sentence
Read the whole sentence with your answer in place. If the grammar or the tone jars, try the next option.

In correspondence, the right word must suit the relationship too.

An option can carry the right meaning at the wrong level of formality.

Reading Part 1 is about personal and work correspondence, so this list focuses on words that reveal why someone is writing and how they feel. Learn to spot purpose verbs, tone adjectives and friendly letter expressions, and you will answer questions about a writer's intention much faster.

When you read a message, ask two questions first: what does the writer want, and how do they feel about it. Circle, at least mentally, the purpose verbs and feeling words in the opening and closing lines, then check the answer options for paraphrases of those words rather than exact matches.

CELPIP · Reading

University Curriculum Workshops

From a bank of 28 prompts · free to read, no account needed

Dear Associate Dean, I am writing on behalf of several students who are concerned about the removal of the Academic Skills Workshops from the undergraduate curriculum. These sessions covered research planning, source evaluation, citation practices, and strategies for managing major assignments. Although they were not part of a student's core subject requirements, many of us found them useful when preparing for upper-level courses. The university's announcement explained that the workshops were removed to make room for more discipline-specific content. I understand the pressure to keep degree requirements focused and current. However, the decision appears to treat the workshops as optional support rather than as training that helped students meet the demands of their regular courses. Several students have told us that the sessions reduced confusion about expectations and helped them identify weaknesses before submitting major assignments. We recognize that restoring the full workshop series may require additional staff time or changes to the timetable. We are therefore not insisting that it return in exactly its former format. A shorter series, online modules, or workshops offered at key points in the academic year might preserve the most useful elements without displacing core subject material. Could the faculty review student feedback before deciding that the workshops should remain discontinued? We would also appreciate clarification about whether the decision was based on evidence of low demand or mainly on curriculum space. Our request is to reconsider the value of the program, not to oppose curriculum changes in general. Sincerely, Amira Shah Undergraduate Student Representative

Instructions

Read the following email.
Choose the best answer according to the email.
Complete the response by choosing the best answer for each blank.

The reply to complete

Dear Amira, Thank you for writing on behalf of students about the Academic Skills Workshops. The workshops were removed during a curriculum review intended to protect space for ___7___ learning. The review considered timetable demands, but I accept that our announcement did not fully explain how student feedback about the workshops was weighed. We agree that support in research planning and assignment preparation can contribute to success in ___8___ courses. However, the university must determine whether these skills are best taught through a separate program or ___9___ existing subjects. We will review the feedback already received and invite departments to identify which workshop elements are not adequately ___10___ elsewhere. This process will consider the benefits students report, as well as staffing and timetable constraints. The review does not guarantee that the former series will be restored in full. If gaps are identified, possible responses may include shorter workshops or online materials, depending on the needs and resources of each faculty. We expect to share the review's findings with student representatives ___11___ decisions about any revised provision are finalized, so that their views can inform those decisions. Your request will therefore be considered as part of the wider curriculum discussion. Sincerely, Associate Dean

Questions & answer key11 questions

Your Reading result comes from how many questions you get right; there is no rubric, only the text. Each question below shows its answer with an explanation.

1Gap 7 in the reply
1. ✓subject-specific
2. Bindependent
3. Cfirst-year
4. Dinterdisciplinary
Answer
A
Amira reports that the announcement said the workshops were removed "to make room for more discipline-specific content," and the Dean is restating that reason. Independent and interdisciplinary learning are never mentioned as aims of the review, and first-year learning has nothing to do with the stated reason for the change.
2Gap 8 in the reply
1. Aoptional
2. Belective
3. Cintroductory
4. ✓regular
Answer
D
The Dean is conceding Amira's point that the workshops were "training that helped students meet the demands of their regular courses." "Optional" is the label Amira rejects, so it would undercut the agreement. "Elective" and "introductory" are not the courses either letter connects to the workshops — Amira mentions upper-level and regular courses only.
3Gap 9 in the reply
1. Abefore
2. ✓within
3. Cinstead of
4. Dafter
Answer
B
The sentence sets out two ways of teaching the skills: "through a separate program or" — so the second choice must be the opposite of separate, i.e. inside existing subjects. "Before" and "after" only change when a separate program runs, so they do not give a real alternative. "Instead of existing subjects" would mean dropping regular courses, which neither writer suggests and Amira specifically wants to avoid ("without displacing core subject material").
4Gap 10 in the reply
1. Areviewed
2. Brequested
3. ✓covered
4. Dvalued
Answer
C
Departments are asked which workshop elements are missing from other courses — that is, not adequately covered elsewhere. That is the point of deciding whether the skills could be taught inside existing subjects. "Reviewed" describes what the faculty itself is doing, "requested" would be about what students ask for, and "valued" is about opinion rather than whether the content is taught somewhere else.
5Gap 11 in the reply
1. Aafter
2. Bunless
3. Cuntil
4. ✓before
Answer
D
Because the findings are shared first, the next sentence can say the request "will therefore be considered" as part of the discussion. Sharing them "after" decisions are finalized would leave students no chance to influence them. "Unless" makes the sharing conditional on there being no decisions, which makes no sense, and "until" suggests that sharing stops once decisions are made.
6What is Amira's main concern?
1. AThe university has cut several core subject requirements from the degree.
2. ✓The university may have overlooked the workshops' practical value when removing them.
3. CThe workshops have been replaced by online modules that students find less useful.
4. DThe faculty has refused to give students any explanation for why the workshops were removed.
Answer
B
Amira's complaint is that the decision "appears to treat the workshops as optional support rather than as training that helped students meet the demands of their regular courses." Core requirements are not being cut — the change makes room for more discipline-specific content. Online modules are her own suggested compromise, not something that has happened. And the faculty did give a reason in its announcement; she only asks for more clarification.
7Why does Amira mention upper-level courses?
1. ATo argue that upper-level courses have become too demanding
2. BTo point out that the workshops had been required before students could take advanced courses
3. ✓To show that the workshops' benefits carried over into students' later studies
4. DTo suggest that only senior students should attend the workshops
Answer
C
Students "found them useful when preparing for upper-level courses" — the value showed up later, in other courses. She never says advanced courses are too hard, only that the workshops helped students prepare. The workshops were explicitly "not part of a student's core subject requirements," so they were not prerequisites, and she nowhere proposes limiting them to senior students.
8What does Amira acknowledge about restoring the workshops?
1. ✓Restoring them could require more staff time or timetable changes.
2. BMost students did not attend the workshops regularly.
3. CAn online version of the workshops would be less effective than the original classroom series.
4. DThe workshops would have to return in the same format as before.
Answer
A
She writes, "restoring the full workshop series may require additional staff time or changes to the timetable." Attendance is never discussed — she asks whether there was evidence of low demand rather than conceding it. She offers online modules as a workable option, not a weaker one, and she says students are "not insisting that it return in exactly its former format."
9According to Amira, what did several students say the workshops helped them do?
1. AEarn credit toward their core subject requirements
2. BChoose a major that matched their strengths
3. CAchieve higher grades in their first-year courses
4. ✓Recognize weaknesses before handing in major assignments
Answer
D
Students reported that the sessions "reduced confusion about expectations and helped them identify weaknesses before submitting major assignments." The workshops were "not part of a student's core subject requirements," so they earned no such credit. Choosing a major and first-year grades are never mentioned.
10What does Amira ask the faculty to do?
1. ARestore the full workshop series in its original form
2. ✓Consider student feedback and explain the reason behind the decision
3. CSurvey students to measure current demand for the workshops
4. DDelay all curriculum changes until students have been consulted on every proposal
Answer
B
Her two requests: "review student feedback before deciding" and clarify "whether the decision was based on evidence of low demand or mainly on curriculum space." She explicitly does not insist on the former format. She asks for existing feedback to be reviewed, not for a new survey, and she says she does not "oppose curriculum changes in general," so she is not asking for a freeze.
11Which statement best summarizes Amira's position?
1. AShe opposes the plan to add more discipline-specific content.
2. BShe believes the workshops should become a core requirement.
3. ✓She wants the decision reconsidered but is flexible about the format.
4. DShe accepts the decision but only wants the reasons for it explained more fully in writing.
Answer
C
She asks the faculty "to reconsider the value of the program" and offers "a shorter series, online modules, or workshops offered at key points" as alternatives. She says she understands "the pressure to keep degree requirements focused," so she does not oppose the new content. She never asks for the workshops to become compulsory. And she has not accepted the decision — clarification is only part of her request.

Where answers slip

1Choosing a word that means the right thing in the wrong tone.
2Picking from the option list without re-reading the sentence around the gap.
3Answering before working out who the writers are to each other.

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Common questions

How many questions are in Reading Part 1?: Paragon's test-format page lists 11 questions for Reading Correspondence. The messages are everyday letters or emails, which is why tone and purpose words like the ones in this list come up so often.
What should I do when I meet a word I don't know in the letter?: Keep reading. Paragon's advice is that you do not need to understand every word and can often work out an unfamiliar word from the sentences around it. The answer is always in the passage, so look for nearby clues instead of stopping.
Why does this list include so many feeling words?: Letters often hint at feelings rather than state them, and answer options frequently describe the writer's attitude with a single adjective. If you know words like thrilled, disheartened or taken aback, you can match the writer's hints to the right option.

27 more Correspondence prompts in the bank0 free

·Senior Community Access
·Research Grant Eligibility
·Tree Removal Permit
·Employee Shuttle Discontinuation
·A Cancelled Evening Course
·Construction and the Residents' Parking
·A Request About a Changed Bus Route
·A Deduction from a Salary
·A Student Asks About Feedback
·A Request for Reconsideration
·A Revised Remote-Work Policy
·Changes to a Subscription
·Weekend Construction Behind a Townhouse Complex
·Unauthorized Transaction Following a Phone Scam
·Missed University Final Examination
·Statutory Holiday Schedule
·Parent-Teacher Meeting
·Job Interview Follow-up
·Dental Appointment Charges
·Winter Jacket Return
·Rent Increase Notice
·New Parking Arrangement
·Certified Vehicle Warranty
·Office Relocation
·Ongoing Noise Disturbances in an Apartment Building
·Dishwasher Installation Service
·Community Fitness Centre

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