Track These Numbers To Improve Your CELPIP Scores

You know, one of the most common questions I get and read about for the CELPIP runs something like this. How do I get a 10 on the Celpip? My current level is a 7, but I need a 10 or I need to get a 9 in everything. Here's something for you to think about.

If you're wondering how to get a certain score on your CELPIP exam, you're chasing the wrong metrics. Foreign hello, I'm Aaron. Welcome to the CELPIP Success Podcast.

This is the podcast where motivated English learners just like you come to learn how to speak English fearlessly and learn practical tips and strategies to conquer the CELPIP exam. Doing well on the CELPIP isn't about trying to get a higher score. You need to stop chasing those numbers.

Remember, I talked about this in a previous episode, but the CELPIP measures your current level of English. You can't get a higher test score simply by studying harder.

Like what would happen if you went to a regular school, got into a regular class like science or math or social studies, and you invested a lot of time preparing and studying for the final exam or to the exam at the end of a course, for example. In those kinds of situations, usually the harder you study, the better a result you will get on the exam, right? But the CELPIP exam is different.

As I explained in that other episode, I think it was last week's episode, actually, the CELPIP won't give you a better score if you study harder in most situations simply because the CELPIP is measuring your current level of English. So the only way for you to get a higher score on the CELPIP exam is by you having a stronger level of English for the exam to measure.

So you get a higher score by building up your English skills in general. So yeah, don't waste your time trying to chase a number.

Instead, focus on chasing opportunities to use your English in everyday situations with the people all around you.

Instead of trying to track a test score, what if you started measuring and tracking the number of times you used your English with people who speak it each day and each week? When you get those metrics up and you persistently and patiently keep them up, your CELPIP score will eventually start to go up too.

Now, I know that's not a sexy answer. That's not the answer that you want to hear. You want to hear.

All you have to do is do this or that, follow this template, memorize this kind of an answer, use these special words, and you are going to be Guaranteed to get a 12 all across the board, even though your current level of English might be at an intermediate level, for example. Those kinds of promises are empty, they're false, they're not real.

And if you are looking for that kind of thing, you're going to be in for a major disappointment. I mean, I'm sure there's probably outliers out there, people who can somehow pull this kind of a thing off.

Like I read of stories of people who, you know, don't study very much. They don't need to do any prep, it seems at all. They take the exam and they get the score that they need.

But number one, online, you can say anything you want. It could be true or it can be false, we don't know.

I mean, you can put anything out there that you want to, and maybe there are people who can study very little and just grab the result that they want.

But in my experience, what I've seen happening, and from what I've learned about the CELPIP exam in my time of getting used to it and learning it, is that you will get the score that is in relation to your level of English. So if you want those numbers to go up, like I said a moment ago, then you need to focus on building up your English skills.

Foreign Here are three things to be experimenting with as you use your English that will help you to sharpen your skills, which you're going to need for the CELPIP exam. And I'm going to start with the very first idea. Obviously I'm not going to start with the last idea first. Right, that would be. That would be silly.

But the first thing that I want you to think about, if you are wanting to track numbers, like, if that's something that's really important for you, I want you to stop worrying about numbers like the CELPIP score that you're looking for, like the 7 or the 9 or the 10 or the 12. Whatever your magic number is, I want you to try to forget about it for a minute. And instead the number that I want you to start thinking about.

If numbers are really important to you, I want you to start tracking the number of times you use your English each day and each week and each month. Start tracking that. Because what you want to see happening is that number going up, that number consistently being a high number.

And when that number is not showing up for you, if that number is going down or if it's not existent at all, that's something that you can have a direct impact on the number of times you use English each day and each week and each month, month over month, years. That's something that you have direct control over. You can't really control an exam result like on the Celpip exam.

You can influence it by trying your best, for sure.

You can influence it by practicing the different skills that you're going to be tested on so that you are prepared and ready for everything that the exam is going to throw your way.

On exam day, you can be as ready as you can be in that way, but really you can't have a direct impact on the score that you're going to get unless you are working day in and day out on building your English skills. So putting a bow on that little point there.

If you want to track a number, if a number is something that you want to chase after, I want to challenge you to start tracking at the end of each day how many times you used your English during that day.

Let that be the number that you're following, let that be the number that you're chasing after, and let that be the focus of your tracking over the next weeks and months and probably into the next years as you are working towards your Celpip exam.

Not that everybody needs to have that much of a Runway to get ready for the exam, but if you are at an intermediate level of English, is what I'm trying to say here. If you're at an intermediate level of English, you're probably going to be scoring pretty consistently on the CELPIP at around a 7 or so.

So if you want that 7 to go into a 9 or into a 10, then you need to focus not on studying harder for the exam.

You need to focus on building your English skills so that you're no longer at an intermediate level of English, but you start approaching upper intermediate level levels of English, that's where the nines and tens start to appear. You get what I'm, what I'm talking about. Change the focus. Don't chase the numbers like the tens or the nines on the exam. Chase.

If you're wanting to chase a number, chase the number of times you use your English each day. Start tracking it.

Okay, so like I was saying before, there are some things that you can be doing in your day to day uses of English that will help you to begin sharpening your skills for the Celpip exam as well as helping you improve your fluency skills in general. And the first one, the first idea I have for you today is to be always adding details or examples to your conversations.

Don't Let yourself settle with one word or one sentence responses. Don't let that be your default. Always look for ways to like, add why or because you think the way you do. You know what I mean?

Add more to your answers. Don't settle for simple, unless of course, the situation requires a simple answer. Always look for ways to add details.

Always look for ways to add examples and personal stories that will help to make your answer stronger in a conversation. Doing that on a regular basis is going to help you a great deal.

Because on the exam, that's one of the things that test raters are looking for in your answers. Not that you're giving just simple answers, but that you are actively explaining yourself. You're adding information to strengthen your responses.

So practice that in your day to day use of English. The next thing that I want to share with you is that you begin practicing and noticing. Well, noticing so that you can practice it.

I guess you need to notice it first before you start practicing it, right? But notice your tone of voice. Make sure your feelings are coming through in the way that you speak.

Like if you're happy or excited or nervous or worried or anxious or afraid, angry. Whatever your response in English, make sure that your tone of voice is helping you to convey those emotions.

And this is really important because on the exam you can be so nervous and you might be nervous anyway, regardless of how hard you work to get ready for this. But on the exam, you can be so nervous that your voice turns into this monotone, feelingless response to all the answers.

You don't want that to happen. You want your voice to express the emotions that you are trying to convey in your response.

And by the way, that's one of the things that test raters are looking for, that your voice is showing emotion, that you're expressing ideas and your voice is in tune with the idea. Like if you're excited in the thing that you're offering as an answer, let your emotions come through.

And you need to be checking that your emotions are coming through when you're practicing your English in day to day situations so that you can be ready for exam day. Because I've noticed this to be true. Spanish.

As you probably know, if you've been a regular listener, Spanish is my second language and I need to try practicing that myself. Expressing emotions when I am using Spanish with someone else, I need to practice letting full expression come through my voice.

Not just me stating the information that I need to state, but that I convey how I feel through my voice. That sounds a little woo woo, but you know what I'm trying to say, right?

It's easy to let like a monotone kind of a voice come through when you are using your second language.

It's probably way easier for you to express emotion when you're speaking in your first language because you're confident you know what you're trying to say most of the time and it's just easier. But in your second language, sometimes you really have to practice letting those feelings come through your voice is what I'm trying to say.

So when you are using your English in your day to day life, and I sure hope that you are, be noticing if you're using tone, be noticing if you are letting feelings come through in your answers.

And if you're not entirely sure, you can always ask the person that you're talking with, hey, did it sound like I was using like expressing feelings with you when I was, when I was talking? Not, not that I was just stating things, but were you able to hear my feeling behind what I was saying?

And if you don't have someone directly that you can be practicing with in this way, try recording yourself on your cell phone and then play back and see if you can hear those emotions in your voice.

But I really encourage you, if you don't have people around that you can be practicing with and talking with on a day to day basis, please look for them.

You really do need to have that one on one or one to few interactions in English where you get to speak to someone else and hear what that someone else says back to you. That's such powerful practice and you really, really need it. And finally, the last word that I want. Last word?

No, the last thing, the last idea that I want to share with you is that you try your best to break away from crutch words. We all have favorite expressions and ways of saying things.

But, but the thing that you need to try to, to do is to break away from always relying on the same words or the same ways of saying things. That's what I mean by crutch words. Do you know what a crutch is, by the way?

Like if you, if you maybe sprain your ankle or maybe break your leg, you might have to wear a cast. But more than likely as your leg gets better, you will have to use something called crutches.

They're usually wooden, sometimes they're aluminum now I guess, but they go, they're like little, they're not sticks, but they're supports that you can put underneath of your armpits and you lean on them as you walk. Like they take the weight off of your injured leg to help you to move forward. You rely on it to help you to move.

And that's the whole idea behind a crutch word is that we have crutch words and crutch phrases that we use because we're comfortable with them. They help us to move conversations and our ideas along.

But we need to be aware of those things on the CELPIP exam because test raters are going to be listening for you to be using variety in the way that you express your ideas. So that's something else to be noticing in your day to day conversations.

Are you overly relying on expressions or words or phrases when you are talking with people? If you are aware of them, see if you can start replacing them with new ways to say the same thing.

This is going to help you for the exam for the very reason that I just shared with you.

Because test raters are listening for those things, they want you to be using variety of words, of vocabulary, of phrases of expression in your answer. So remember, when you are practicing your English on a day to day basis, the things that you most need to be.

Well, not most need to be, but you should be paying attention to the following things. Adding details to your answers Remember, don't just give a single word or single sentence answer.

Add extra information that is pertinent to your answer. But add feelings, add emotions, add reasons, add examples to help fill out your answer. Next, check your tone.

Make sure that you are expressing yourself with feeling and that those feelings are coming through in your answers. And finally, always be listening for those crutch words or phrases.

And if you notice that you've got a repeat word or phrase that you just love to rely on and over you overuse it. Try your best to begin working to replace those so just so that you have variety in the way that you talk.

And in summary, remember, chasing a number on the cell PIP will only lead you to be frustrated. Instead, go after and take opportunities to actually be using your English each day. This is the most important metric you can be tracking.

How often am I using my English each day with the people all around me? That metric needs to be steadily climbing each week over months, probably over years. If you want to see your CELPIP score begin to climb too.

Thank you my friend for listening to today's episode of the Celpip Success podcast. I hope you'll come back again next week for another edition. Have a wonderful week.