How To Practice With a Timer on the CELPIP Exam

Question from TV on Reddit: "Please suggest some ways to practice with the timer. I didn't complete most of the tasks and got a seven in speaking."

Key Takeaways

1. Stop seeing the CELPIP as separate from your daily life. The biggest mindset shift is treating exam prep as an integral part of your day-to-day routine, not something that is outside and disconnected from you.
2. Engage in everyday English conversations. Real, spontaneous conversations force you to respond quickly to random topics — exactly the skill the CELPIP speaking tasks demand. Short, back-and-forth exchanges mimic the 30/60/90-second response windows on the exam.
3. Don't avoid conversations out of fear. Avoiding English conversations because you're worried about making mistakes is your worst enemy on the CELPIP. The more you practice thinking on your feet, the easier those timed responses become.
4. Use your phone's voice memo app. Open the voice recorder on your cell phone, hit record, and watch the built-in timer. Practice giving full responses and aim to wrap up cleanly in the last 10 seconds of your target time (usually 60 or 90 seconds).
5. Repeat this practice over and over. It's not complicated — it just requires consistency. Record yourself, watch the clock, and get comfortable speaking against a time limit.

Mentioned in This Episode

• 30-Day CELPIP Speaking Skills Bootcamp — Daily one-on-one practice covering every CELPIP speaking task. Click here to join.

Timestamps

• 0:00 — Listener question from TV (Reddit)
• 1:05 — Why daily English conversation is part one of the answer
• 4:06 — The murder mystery coffee story: thinking on your feet
• 8:15 — Short conversational turns = great timed speaking practice
• 9:42 — Avoiding conversations hurts your CELPIP performance
• 10:02 — 30-Day CELPIP Speaking Skills Bootcamp (first mention)
• 10:24 — Practical timer practice: your phone's voice memo app
• 12:58 — How to practice: record, watch the clock, finish in the last 10 seconds
• 13:58 — Recap and final encouragement

Please suggest some ways to practice with the timer.

I didn't complete most of the tasks and got a 7 in speaking this question came in from TV over on Reddit and I thought I would use today's podcast episode to answer this all too common question.

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 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 to practice with a timer.

My first and most important question and challenge for you, TV and you, if you find yourself in this predicament, is to ask yourself this question over the last day and week.

How often did I use my speaking skills in English?

With people who only speak English English?

It's super important to be honest with yourself on this.

I think the number one thing that holds most people back on the Celpip is that they see the Celpip as being something disconnected from their day to day life.

Like it's something over there that I have to get ready for.

It's not a part of me, it's a part from me.

Like separate from me.

It's a necessary evil that I have to endure and get a certain score on for my life here in Canada to continue.

And yes, you do need to prepare for it.

Yes, it totally can feel like a giant evil thing that keeps holding you back.

And yes, it likely is a vital step in your Canadian immigration process.

But my friend, my friend, if you could take one thing away from today's episode, it would be this.

Stop seeing the Celpip as something apart from you and start seeing it and your preparation for it as being an integral or a deeply included part of your day to day life.

Now let's get back to the question I asked a moment ago to take a moment and think about your day today or your day yesterday or the past week.

And how often do you use your English speaking skills?

If you're like most people, the answer is not enough.

And believe it or not, that not enough is part one of my answer about how you can practice working with a timer.

I haven't forgotten about TV's question in everyday conversations with people.

Of course you don't have a timer on top of you.

But here's what a regular conversation will give you that likely happens all around you every single day, and that is powerful for your celpip practice.

A regular conversation with someone forces you to respond quickly to random topics.

You don't know what the person in front of you will ask you next, you don't know how they will respond to something you said, and you don't know when all of a sudden it will be your turn to speak again, and you have to come up with ideas to share on the spot, oftentimes without any or very few seconds to think first before you speak.

Just this morning at coffee time, I was sitting with a group of seniors who all love reading mystery novels.

Me, myself, I don't read those kinds of books.

I do like mystery stories, I do like watching mysteries on TV now and again, but I hardly ever have sat down to read a mystery book.

But that was the topic of conversation around the table.

We somehow got onto the playful topic of talking about what if we created a murder mystery story ourselves based on the people who live inside of the building where we work?

What a strange topic, for sure.

But in just a matter of seconds, people around the table were giving some plot ideas for the story from fun things they saw other people doing around the building where they lived.

Of course, none of what they were proposing were linked to actual murder cases.

At least as we joked, we thought or we hoped that that wasn't the case, but we were just playing and imagining ulterior motives for people doing random things that actually could work well into creating a mystery story.

I know it sounds hard to understand here as I talk about it, but it captured our conversation for at least 15 minutes as we sat there together over coffee, and everyone was contributing random thoughts as we talked together about the topic.

I even came up with a few.

For one, a lady, a regular coffee drinker, came in late to our coffee time today, and she's normally on time, and she had an empty coffee cup in her hand.

When I asked her if she'd like some coffee, she hesitated and then said, no thanks, I've already had some at home.

What a puzzling response.

And because of our ongoing conversation about creating a murder mystery together, I playfully suggested that this woman was actually acting kind of suspiciously.

She arrived late, she had an empty coffee mug and usually drank coffee with us, but today she didn't join in.

Why did she bring her empty mug?

Why was she late?

Hmm, that's kind of suspicious, don't you think?

We all shared a great laugh and started coming up with what she really had been doing before she came.

Of course none of it was true, but you see my point.

This is silly, yes, but the whole idea here is that I'm trying to share how actually vital this is for your Celpip prep.

You need to get used to and get good at quickly coming up with things to say in short periods of time, like what I did as I started work today.

I had no idea that we'd end up talking about murder mysteries and creating a mystery story ourselves.

It was random, but I still joined in.

You need that kind of random interaction going on in your life too.

It's great celpit practice and the best way to find them is in everyday conversations Another great thing about everyday conversations is that you don't usually speak for long periods of time when it's your turn to do the talking.

Have you ever noticed that?

Usually, not always, but usually when it's someone's turn to speak in a regular conversation, like over coffee, or when you meet somebody at the water cooler, or if you're passing someone in the hall, they don't go longer than a minute or two before that other person takes a turn to speak.

That too is great practice for you.

Expressing your ideas in short periods of time, like in a conversation, are great ways to help you to get ready for your test.

And yes, for sure, some conversations can be long ones where you are speaking at length about a topic.

But generally speaking, day to day responses tend to be short.

So that's part one of my response.

If you struggle with the timer on the celpip, make sure you're giving yourself lots of daily opportunities to engage in real conversations with people who speak English every day.

It will help you in so many ways avoiding these opportunities because you're afraid you might not know what to say next, or because you're afraid of making a mistake is totally common and very understandable.

But my friend, it's your worst enemy when it comes to the celpip.

The more you avoid conversations in English, the more you will struggle with the speaking tasks on the exam.

And the reverse is also true if you're continually putting yourself into situations where you need to come up with what to say next while being in an English conversation with someone, the easier it will be for you to learn how to deal with those short 30 second brainstorming sessions and 60 and 90 second response times you'll face on the celpip.

And if you're stuck without someone to talk to, then my friend, I've Got a great opportunity for you.

You need to join my 30 day CELPIP speaking skills bootcamp.

You'll get daily one on one opportunities to use your English and practice every single Celpip speaking task with me.

Would you be interested in something like that?

There's a link in my show notes for you to click on today.

All right, now onto the practical part of TVs.

Question.

How do I practice with a timer?

Number one, you need to use the thing that you probably already have in your hand or in your pocket right now, your cell phone.

You need to open your cell phone's voice message app.

It likely will have a timer telling you how long you have been recording for.

Play with it, open up that timer, press record, and just watch what happens on the screen.

That's how I discovered my voice memo app on my cell phone.

I had never used it before I started working here like this with you.

I've never.

Well, that's not true.

I used it a couple of times to record a few podcast episodes.

But before actually working with students, I had never cracked open my voice memo app on my phone and noticed that there is a timer on that thing.

I never really paid attention to detail until I started poking around on my phone.

You need to do that too.

If you haven't already.

Take a look inside of your cell phone and see if you have a voice messaging app.

You likely do.

Or a voice recorder.

That's probably what it's called.

Look for it, find it, open it, and just hit record and watch what happens.

You're probably going to see that the screen starts to change like it will show you that it's recording.

And then usually somewhere on the screen on mine, it's in the lower left hand corner.

It tells me how long my recording is and when I hit stop, that timer also stops.

This, my friend, is how you can start practicing using a timer to help you to get ready for your examination.

So here's what I suggest you do.

Open your cell phone, open your voice messaging app, hit record and practice recording yourself, giving practice responses as you're talking.

Make sure you are also watching that timer so that you can see when you need to end your response.

You need to get used to that kind of practice, by the way, because it's not natural to be, number one, talking to a device instead of a person.

And it for sure isn't natural to be talking against a time limit by using a simple tool like your cell phone's voice memo app or some other voice recording app that you can download for free onto your phone.

You will get amazing practice in just hit record, start talking, practice watching the clock as you are talking and practice ending your answer as as completely as you can in the last 10 seconds of your of your target time, which is usually 60 seconds or sometimes 90 seconds.

And that's it.

It's not more complicated than that.

In order to get better at it, you need to repeat doing this kind of practice over and over and over again.

And of course see part one of this podcast episode.

Engage in daily opportunities that are happening all around you because you live here in Canada.

Don't miss those opportunities to join conversations that are happening in English.

They can be some of the best ways, the best language workouts that you can give yourself that will not only improve your self confidence, they will not only improve your general English skills, but they will also help you to get ready for your exam.

All right, if you happen to be someone who is stuck without someone to talk to in English, or if you have people around you that you talk to all the time with English but you don't have really focused practice for your Celpip exam, then I've got a great opportunity for you.

You need to join my 30 day celpip speaking skills Boot Camp.

There's a link in my show notes today.

When you join, you'll get daily one on one opportunities to practice with me on every single Celpip speaking task that you can face on the exam.

I hope that you will join me and to do so just click the link in today's show notes.

Thank you so much for listening.

I hope you'll come back again next week for the next edition of the Celpip Success Podcast.

Have a great week.

Bye Bye.