Reading is the second component of the CELPIP-General test, right after Listening. It has 38 scored questions in four parts, and the official overview gives 43 to 56 minutes for it. Below is a full Reading Part 1 set to try: a personal email, six questions about it, then a reply with three blanks to fill. Each question shows the answer and the reason as soon as you pick.

Everything on this page is original practice written in the official CELPIP format. It is not official CELPIP test material.

The four Reading parts

Question counts and timings are the approximate figures from the 2026 Reading study pack. A few things to know before test day:

• The passage is on the left of the screen and the questions are on the right. You choose each answer from a drop-down list.
• Most questions have four options. Part 3 has five: paragraph A, B, C or D, or E when the information is not given.
• You can change your answers as often as you like until that part’s time runs out. Then the test moves on, and you can’t go back to an earlier part.
• Wrong answers cost nothing, so answer every question.
• The test may include an unscored part used for test development. It looks like any other part, so do your best on all of them.

Part 1 practice: read the email

From: Marisol Vega
To: Devon Clarke
Subject: My plot at the Elm Street garden

Hi Devon,

I hope the new job is going well! Tom mentioned that you’ve been staying late most nights, so I’ll try to keep this short.

As you know, I’m flying to Winnipeg on June 3 to help my sister after her surgery. I’d planned to be away for two weeks, but she called yesterday, and her doctor now expects the recovery to take closer to six. That means I’ll miss most of the planting season at the community garden, and I can’t stand the thought of my plot turning into a field of weeds.

Would you be willing to look after it while I’m gone? I know your name has been on the garden’s waiting list since last spring, so I thought you might enjoy having a plot of your own for a while. The garden committee lets members lend their plot for up to two months, as long as both people sign a short form. I’ve already picked one up from the shed, so all you’d have to do is add your signature.

You wouldn’t be starting from scratch. The tomatoes and beans are already in, and the garlic only needs regular watering. Anything else you’d like to plant is up to you. Just leave the north corner alone, because I’ve sown wildflower seeds there for the bees. The only real chore is watering. The city shuts off the garden’s water at 8 p.m., so evening visits would have to be fairly early.

Whatever you grow is yours to keep, of course. Honestly, you’d be doing me a huge favour.

Could you let me know by Friday? That way, I’ll still have time to ask someone else if it doesn’t work out.

Thanks so much,
Marisol

The reply

Questions 7 to 9 ask you to fill the numbered blanks in Devon’s reply.

Hi Marisol,

I’m sorry to hear your sister’s recovery will take longer. Please tell her I’m thinking of her. Of course I’ll look after your plot! I’ve been waiting so long for one that this is honestly (1) ________. Work has been busy, but the garden is on my way home, so I can stop by (2) ________ before the water goes off. I’ll keep away from (3) ________, and I’ll send you photos once the tomatoes start to turn red.

Devon

Free CELPIP Reading practice questions

How to work through Part 1

• Preview first. Before reading closely, work out who is writing, who they’re writing to and why. Most Part 1 emails ask for something, and at least one question usually tests that purpose.
• Use the questions to steer your reading. Read a question, find the part of the email it points to, then read that part carefully.
• Expect paraphrase. The right answer rarely repeats the email’s words. “The city shuts off the garden’s water” became “water isn’t available” in question 6. Options that reuse the email’s exact words are often traps.
• Names, places and numbers are anchors. Proper nouns and figures can’t easily be paraphrased, so they help you find the right spot in the text quickly.
• Read the whole reply for the blanks. The words after a blank often decide it, as “before the water goes off” did for blank 2.

Next steps

The real Reading test gets harder from Part 1 to Part 4, so practise the later parts too. Our home page has free sample questions for every Reading and Listening part. If you’re new to the test, start with the CELPIP test guide. To see how correct answers relate to CELPIP levels, read the CELPIP score chart: the 2026 study pack’s ranges overlap (for example, 24 to 28 of 38 for Reading level 7), and the level also depends on how hard the questions were, so a raw score is only a guide. Then try the Listening practice test, which has a real audio clip.