Why CELPIP Templates Are a Trap (And What to Do Instead)

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Hello and welcome to the Celpip Success Podcast, the most introvert friendly podcast on the planet, dedicated to helping you confidently prepare for and conquer the Celpip exam.

If you're tired of feeling nervous, stressed and stuck and getting ready for your exam, then my friend, this.

This is the podcast for you.

Who am I?

My name is Aaron and I've been an English teacher for over 17 years and I'm a certified Celpip trainer and I can't wait to help you get ready for your Celpip exam.

So this is my second attempt at recording this.

I made a version of it last night, edited it, and even uploaded it to my podcast host.

But all the rest of the evening and night and during the day today I thought I could have done better.

So this is take two.

Why am I telling you all this?

Well, I don't know, maybe to let you know that I make mistakes, that I have lots of trial and error going on and that I need to do things over again.

Just like I know that you likely have to do as you are getting ready for the Celpip exam or.

Or as you're practicing your English skills.

There's just lots of mistake making and trying again and again, isn't there?

And things just don't go the way you want them to and so you do them over and over again, which is me here talking with you right now.

So the question that I'm working on today has been one I've touched on before and it has to do with templates and should you use them?

You know, I read so many questions in Celpip Reddit communities around using templates.

Posts asking for the best writing template, the top speaking template, all with the underlying and totally understandable goal of being able to score higher and with minimal effort.

And you know, the most common situation that I read in context with those templates is my exam is in a few days help.

What's your best writing or speaking template?

Or these are even worse.

A screenshot.

Maybe you've come across these if you like to explore on Reddit, but there are so many posts of screenshots of near perfect Celpip scores, you know, 12s and 11s and someone declaring that they had achieved this on their first attempt.

And if you like the exact templates that they use, just leave a comment below and there's always, you know, a long list of commenters reaching out and asking for it.

And like I said, that is totally understandable.

The Celpip is a big freaking deal, isn't it?

With a lot of pressure riding on it that can literally affect your future here in Canada.

So I get the drive to do everything possible to ensure higher scores with the least amount of work possible, which is kind of the implied promise behind a template.

Memorize me, use me, and you're going to score higher.

Maybe you'll even get 12s and 11s like the post was saying before that I mentioned.

But my friend, I want to do my best to pop that bubble and help you think through why this is such a bad move.

And I wanted to do that by sharing a post that I came across this past week over on Reddit.

I'm not going to say who wrote it.

I'm not going to put a link to it.

I was thinking about that.

Should I put a link to it?

I didn't want to point my finger at them.

I'm not trying to call them out.

I'm not trying to embarrass or shame.

But I just want to share what they wrote and talk a little bit about why I think it's not working or why it's a risk for you to do what they are suggesting.

So in the post the author writes that they had done their best on their exam and had gotten 12s on listening and reading 11 in speaking, but their writing was stuck at an 8.

The writer went on to say that their 8 reading result was horrible because they were trying to get at least a nine.

And they also explained that they had requested that that score get re evaluated because, well, like I said a moment ago, they need something higher for their immigration purposes.

And a few days later they came back and they updated their post saying that they had actually received their reevaluation and had gotten a 10.

So on that side, that's great, that's fantastic.

And I'm super happy for them that they were able to get the result that they were shooting for.

Of course, as you can probably imagine, when that update happened, this post had like a a multitude of commenters of people asking for tips and one person in particular asked for writing tips or templates.

That was their specific question.

Do you have any specific templates that I could use that helped you?

This is what our post author replied and I'm going to quote word for word what they wrote.

And I want you to try to listen really carefully to how they write.

Listen for their style.

See if you can pick out what their style is and if there's something different that you notice in their writing.

Okay, so listen carefully.

They said, and I quote here, honestly, I didn't use more of a template writing, rather I used my own wordings.

In task two it was mostly a general intro indicating my opinion and and then based on that I emphasized on my opinion and at last I'd mentioned that I would elucidate my inclination below.

After that I would begin with the first paragraph and mention advantage in brief and then elaborate it farther.

Then again one more advantage and starting a paragraph two I write like admittedly option number one offers dot dot dot.

However, option two provides provides much more benefits or advantages because at last I would use to recapitulate or encapsulate and then mention your opinions overall pros in the end.

So according to the writer, they didn't use any templates but their own words, which is a great idea and great advice.

You should be using your own ideas and not somebody else's.

But here is where I feel a little confused with their answer.

While they began saying use your own words, the writer goes on to suggest a few template like responses.

Here they were and at last I'd mentioned that I would elucidate my inclination below another one.

In starting a paragraph two I write like admittedly option one offers however option two provides much more benefits or advantages because and then lastly at last I would use to recapitulate or encapsulate mention your opinions overall prose.

In the end, again, I want to be clear and say that I think that the writer was trying to be genuinely helpful, but their template suggestions give the perfect example of why they aren't a good idea.

I'm going to read their post one more time and I hope you'll indulge me on this one.

And just like I said at the beginning of their post, I want you to listen really, really carefully.

See if you can notice if anything stands out as being unusual or strange sounding.

And if you do think you notice something, if you do pick out something as being different, ask yourself why?

Why does that stand out to you?

Okay, so I'm going to go ahead and reread their post, so stick with me here.

And I quote honestly, I didn't use more of a template writing.

Rather I used my own wordings and task two.

It was mostly a general intro indicating my opinion and then based on that I emphasized my opinion and at last I'd mentioned that I would elucidate my inclination below.

After that I would begin with the first paragraph and mention advantage in brief, then elaborate it further.

Then again, one more advantage in starting a paragraph two I write like admittedly option one offers.

However, option two provides more benefits and advantages because and at last I would use to recapitulate or encapsulate.

I'd mention your opinions overall prose in the end.

Okay, so let's talk about that.

What did you hear?

Here's what I picked out when you use a template for your answers, you often will get fancy sounding words like elucidate or inclination or recapitulate that stick out like a sore thumb from the rest of the writer's answer or the speaker's answer.

Those words sound more advanced for sure, but when you read the whole text that the writer created, they don't fit with the writer's style.

Did you notice that?

In fact, those words scream I don't belong here?

Template answers stick out like this.

Their style is often drastically different to how you really write or talk, and it's because it's and because it's different and not following your style, test raters can penalize you because they want to read or listen to how you actually write or how you actually speak.

Your thoughts, your opinions, your style in expressing them, not someone else's.

And like I said, the same is true with your speaking skills.

In other words, templates are a bad idea, and it's easy to spot when you are using one because they get you to usually memorize complete words and phrases that plug in to certain spots in your answers, but often with language that just doesn't fit with the rest of your answer.

And because they don't fit because they're not matching your regular style of speaking, they really are quite obvious to notice.

If you just replay I'm not going to repeat it again, but replay that part where I'm reading through that poster's ideas.

You should likely pick them out as being those words that I mentioned.

Elucidate or recapitulate.

I mean, they stand out to me because they don't flow or they don't match the style of the writer or the rest of the writing.

In other words, and elucidate and inclination and recapitulate, by the way, are extremely formal, maybe even academic vocabulary words that you might find in a high level research paper or an academic journal of some kind.

But if you compare those words, like what I was saying before, to the way the post writer actually composes or writes their response like the rest of their post, you immediately notice that they're not alike.

Like they don't flow together nicely, they're not the same style.

And that standing O part is what test raters will likely Notice.

And for all the wrong reasons.

Not standing oat because it's excellently done, but standing oat because it sounds like a copy and it sounds like it doesn't belong with the rest of the way this person writes or speaks.

And you can face some dire consequences if the test rater catches on catches on to this.

And this is from and I'm pulling this from a recent Celpip webinar that I'll link to in my show notes today.

And I'm paraphrase paraphrasing what they said, but they said this.

If you memorize a template that comes from, say, a popular website and hundreds or thousands of other test takers also memorize that same templated response, the human test raters who are listening to your answer or who are reading your response will start hearing or reading the same responses over and over and over again.

And they're going to begin wondering if that response is actually coming from you or from something that you memorized that someone else created.

And if they pick that oat and they're trained to do it, they can score you lower or even worse, give you a big fat zero as a result.

And again, I'll link to that webinar in my show notes today if you'd like to check it out.

Actually, it goes into a big deep dive into using AI to help you to get ready for the exam should you and if you do what you should be careful of, it's really quite an interesting webinar.

Again, I'll link to it in my show notes if you want to check it out today.

So remember this to summarize all of this that I'm trying to say or share with you.

Test raters are listening to, hear or read your natural way of using English, not a response that you memorize that someone else created, which is what a templated answer usually is.

Those responses rarely sound natural.

They rarely sound like you or are in line or in sync with how you really speak or write.

And they just stick out.

So don't risk it.

So, my friend, have you been struggling with getting ready for the celpip?

Are you feeling unsure about if your approach is actually working?

Or maybe you're sure that it is absolutely not working, but you're not quite sure how to adjust your strategy?

Then I'm inviting you to join me for a free 30 minute live call.

We'll talk together about what your preparation journey has been like so far and see if we can work together to identify a change that you can make that would make a big difference for you as you get ready for your exam.

This call is all about you.

Zero sales.

Zero pressure.

Zero.

Zero cost.

There's a link today in my show notes if you would like to take me up on it.

Thank you so much for listening and watching.

I hope that you'll come back again next week.

Bye Bye.