Okay, um, this picture, it is a train station, or bus station. There is big window and buses outside. There is board, and it have time, um, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal. Montreal is delay, I think. Other one is okay. Clock show nine. There is sign for washroom and sign for ticket too. One man he wear green, he pulling suitcase. Another man he reading paper. Woman, she point right side. And people sit, boy with tablet, and man with paper, and woman look at phone. So, um, many people in station. Yeah, that's it.
Speaking Task 3: Describing a Scene
Speaking Task 3: Describing a Scene is part of the Speaking section of the CELPIP test. You get 30 seconds to prepare and 60 seconds to speak. It is scored on Content / Coherence, Vocabulary, Listenability, Task Fulfillment.
- Preparation
- 30 seconds
- Speaking time
- 60 seconds
- Prompts here
- 23 published
The three-move description
- 1
Set the frame first — where, when, the overall feel
The listener cannot see the picture. One orienting sentence gives everything after it somewhere to attach.
- 2
Move through the scene in one direction
Front to back, or left to right. Our CLB 11 answer says "front and centre"; the CLB 5 jumps between people with no order, and coherence is what drops.
- 3
Add the detail only you noticed
A red-and-white checked blanket rather than "a blanket". This is where Vocabulary is actually scored.
Say where you are looking before you say what you see.
Position words are the cheapest coherence in this task.
Learn the prepositions of place, spatial phrases and descriptive vocabulary that let you describe a picture accurately and in detail for CELPIP Speaking Task 3.
You describe a photo to someone who cannot see it. Move systematically — foreground to background, left to right — using location phrases (in the foreground, to the left of) and present-continuous verbs for what people are doing.
What raters reward here
- Spend the preparation time picking an order to move through the picture — left to right, or foreground to background — so you never have to search for what to say next.
- Describe actions, not just objects: say what each person is doing, using the present continuous ("a woman is serving a customer").
- Anchor every detail with a location phrase — "on the left", "in the middle", "in the bottom-right corner" — because your listener cannot see the picture.
- Cover several areas rather than exhausting one; finish with a one-sentence overall impression of the scene if time allows.
Three mistakes that cost points heremost common first
- 1Listing objects with no spatial relationship between them.
- 2Guessing at motives when the task asks only for description.
- 3Using the past tense for a picture that is happening now.
How Speaking is scored
- Content / Coherence
- Whether your ideas are relevant, developed and logically ordered.
- Vocabulary
- The range and accuracy of your word choice under time pressure.
- Listenability
- How easy you are to follow as speech: grammar, flow, pacing, pauses and fillers.
- Task Fulfillment
- Whether you answered the actual question and covered what was asked.
Model answersthe same prompt, four levels
These are the answers our scorer was calibrated against. Reading a CLB 5 beside a CLB 11 for the same prompt is the fastest way to see what a level actually means. CLB 9 is marked as the target because it is the level that earns maximum language points for Express Entry.
Okay, so this picture is showing a train station, I think. There is a big glass wall and some buses outside. There's a board on the top, and it shows times for Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, and other city too, and most of them is on time but Montreal say delayed. There is sign for washroom and for tickets, and a clock, it's about nine o'clock. A server is helping a woman with a backpack. A man in green hoodie is walking with a suitcase, and another man is reading a newspaper too. A woman is pointing. Some people is sitting, like a boy with tablet, a man with newspaper, and a woman on her phone. So yeah, that's the picture.
Okay, so this picture shows a busy train station, with buses outside a big window. There's a departures board on top, and it shows trains going to Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Kingston, Quebec City and Halifax, all with times and platforms. Most of them are on time, but Montreal is delayed. Under the board there's signs for washroom and tickets, and a clock that says around nine. There's also a cafe, and a server is helping a woman with a backpack, so maybe she's getting coffee before her train. A man in a green hoodie is walking with a suitcase, and another man is reading a newspaper next to his black suitcase. On the seats, a boy is playing on a tablet, an older man is reading, and a woman is checking her phone. So overall it looks like a normal, busy morning at the station.
Alright, so this shows a fairly busy departure hall in what looks like a train or bus terminal, with a glass wall at the back and buses lined up outside. Overhead, a departures board lists six destinations — Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Kingston, Quebec City, and Halifax — running between 9:15 and 10:30, and everything's on time except Montreal, which is delayed. Below it, signs point to the washrooms, ticket counter, and information desk, and the clock shows it's just after nine. In the foreground, a woman with a backpack is chatting with a server at a café counter, while a man in a green hoodie hurries past dragging his suitcase. Nearby, someone's absorbed in a newspaper, and a woman in beige seems to be pointing someone in the right direction. Further back, travelers fill the waiting area — a boy on a tablet, an older man reading, a woman checking her phone — rounding out a scene that's clearly on the go.
Now do it yourself and find out where you land
A model answer shows you the target. It cannot tell you whether your own response hits it — that is a CLB level for each criterion, with the sentences that earned it.
Ready to practise for real?
Get exam-style questions, instant AI feedback on your Writing and Speaking, and a personalised path to your target CLB.
Create your free account →Questions people ask
- Should I describe everything in the picture?
- No. Cover the main people and actions clearly using precise location vocabulary rather than rushing to name every object. Organised detail scores higher than a long list.
- Which tense is best for describing a scene?
- Use the present continuous for actions in progress ("a man is crossing the street") and the simple present for fixed details.
The other 22 Describing a Scene prompts0 free
- ·A Downtown Street at Christmas
- ·A Busy Family Home
- ·A Family Preparing Thanksgiving in the Backyard
- ·In the Public Library
- ·A Canada Day Parade Downtown
- ·A Day in the Waterfront Park
- ·A Busy Coffee Shop
- ·A Classroom Presentation
- ·A Day at the Zoo
- ·On the Cruise Ship Deck
- ·A Night at the Circus
- ·Rainy Day Downtown
- ·A Day on Campus
- ·A Sunny Day at the Park
- ·A Day at the Falls
- ·Snowy Downtown Street
- ·A Hotel Lobby
- ·At the Gym
- ·At the Veterinary Clinic
- ·A Busy Office
- ·A Saturday Farmers' Market
- ·A Clothing Store Sale