If I were you, I wouldn't decide this on the size of your down payment alone, because buying a home involves several costs and commitments that are easy to underestimate. First of all, I would work out what owning would actually cost you every month, not just the mortgage payment. Property taxes, home insurance, utilities, and maintenance all become your responsibility once you own, and repairs in particular can be unpredictable. I would add those to the mortgage figure and compare that total with what you currently pay in rent. Secondly, I would think carefully about how long you plan to stay in the same city. Buying and selling a property involves significant one-time costs, so if there is a reasonable chance that you will move within two or three years, renting may leave you in a stronger financial position. On the other hand, if you expect to stay for many years, buying could be more sensible. Another important factor is what the purchase would do to the rest of your finances. I would avoid using every dollar you have saved for the down payment. Keeping an emergency fund is particularly important for a homeowner, because you no longer have a landlord to call when something breaks. Finally, I would consider what renting still gives you. Renting offers flexibility and a predictable monthly cost, and there is nothing wrong with continuing to rent for another year or two while you save more and watch the market. Overall, I would look at the total cost of ownership, how long you intend to stay, and whether the purchase would leave you financially comfortable rather than stretched. If the numbers work and you plan to stay, buying could be an excellent decision. If they don't, there is no harm in renting a little longer.
Speaking Task 1: Giving Advice
Speaking Task 1: Giving Advice belongs to the Speaking component of CELPIP. The task gives you 30 seconds to prepare and 90 seconds to speak. Responses are rated on 4 areas: Content / Coherence, Vocabulary, Listenability, Task Fulfillment.
- Preparation
- 30 seconds
- Speaking time
- 90 seconds
- Prompts here
- 23 published
Understand, suggest, justify
Our method for this task — study advice, not an official rule.
- 1
Show you understood the situation
Open with one line that puts the problem in your own words, so the listener knows the advice is meant for them. Weaker answers jump straight to instructions.
- 2
Offer two suggestions, each with a because
A suggestion on its own is an item on a list. The reason — what it will change, the time or money it saves — is where the idea gets developed, and it is what fills the time in a stronger answer.
- 3
Close with the first step
A short, warm ending that names what to do first keeps the tone personal and stops the answer from simply running out.
Every suggestion travels with its reason.
Two explained ideas give the listener more than five bare ones.
This list collects the language of giving advice: soft suggestion frames, ways to weigh options, and linkers that connect a recommendation to its reasons. Each entry shows how a helpful friend or relative might actually say it when someone asks what they should do.
Pick three or four frames from this list and practise them until they come out naturally, then build every practice answer around one clear recommendation. Give the advice early, back it with a reason or two from your own life, and close with a short line that shows you care about the person's choice.
- The task asks what he should CONSIDER, not what he should do. An answer that simply says "buy" answers a different question.
- Speak to your friend — "if I were you", "I'd start by working out" — rather than delivering a lecture on the housing market.
- Four considerations with a reason each fill ninety seconds: the full cost of owning, how long he plans to stay, what the payments would do to the rest of his budget, and what renting still gives him.
- Give each consideration both sides. Owning builds something AND ties money up; that balance is what makes it advice rather than an opinion.
- 1Talking to an examiner instead of to the person in the prompt.
- 2Firing off quick suggestions and running dry long before the time is up.
- 3Sounding like an official letter when the prompt describes a friend or relative.
- Content / Coherence
- How relevant, developed and well organised your ideas are.
- Vocabulary
- How varied and precise your words are while you speak in real time.
- Listenability
- How easily a listener can follow you: sentence control, flow, pace, and how often you pause or fill silence.
- Task Fulfillment
- Whether you answered what the prompt actually asked, and all of it.
One strong response to this prompt, written for our own question bank to show a way through it. It is not a Paragon answer and not an official benchmark; a real response is judged on the four areas listed above.
Try one yourself, under the clock
Reading a good answer is not the same as producing one. Write or record your own answer and get an estimated CLB level on each rating area, with the lines that decided it.
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Practise on questions built like the real test, have your Writing and Speaking marked by AI, and see how far you are from the CLB you need.
Create your free account →- What is Speaking Task 1 on the CELPIP test?
- Paragon's test-format page names it Giving Advice, and it is the first of the 8 Speaking tasks. The Speaking test is delivered on a computer, so you talk to a microphone rather than to an examiner in the room. In {brand} practice prompts, you might be asked to help a friend choose between two jobs or decide whether to move.
- Should I reuse the words from the prompt in my advice?
- Paragon advises against simply repeating the prompt's words and suggests using synonyms and paraphrase to show your range. If the prompt says a friend wants to save money, you could talk about cutting costs or keeping a budget tight instead. Entries such as opt for and a safer bet help you rephrase choices.
- What do the CLB levels on these entries mean?
- They are our own estimates of the level at which a learner can use each item comfortably, not official Paragon labels. Treat them as a rough guide for what to learn first. If you are aiming around CLB 7, start with the entries tagged 6 and 7 and add higher ones once those feel easy.
- ·Staying Focused While Working from Home
- ·Two Job Offers
- ·Living Alone or with Roommates
- ·Improving English After Arriving in Canada
- ·Choosing a New Hobby
- ·Getting a Driver's Licence
- ·Building a Professional Network
- ·Finding a Family Doctor
- ·Choosing Between a House and an Apartment
- ·Preparing for the Driver's Knowledge Test and Road Test
- ·Downsizing the Family Home
- ·Balancing Studies and a Part-Time Job
- ·Buying a House with a Friend
- ·Sharing an Apartment with Roommates
- ·A Job Offer in Another City
- ·Leasing or Financing a First Car
- ·Choosing a University Major
- ·Deciding Whether to Accept a New Job
- ·Organizing a Small Apartment
- ·Choosing the Right Online Course
- ·Saving Money and Controlling Spending
- ·Staying Productive While Working from Home