CELPIP Writing Task 1 Sample: Semi-Formal Email Proposing a Carpool

The prompt

Proposing a carpool to a coworker

You recently found out that a coworker lives a few streets away from you and drives to the same office every day. Write an email to your coworker to propose sharing the drive.

In about 150–200 words, write an email to your coworker. Your email should do the following things:

Explain why you think carpooling is a good idea
Propose a schedule that could work for both of you
Suggest how to share the costs

Time on the test: 27 minutes. Recommended length: 150–200 words. This is an original practice prompt in the official format, not a test question.

Sample answer at level 9

CELPIP level 9 · CLB 9

208 words

Hi Jordan, I hope your week is going well. I found out from Anita on Friday that you live on Maple Crescent, which is only two streets from my place on Birch Avenue, and that you drive to the office every day as I do. Would you be interested in carpooling? The main reason I am asking is the parking situation: the lot has been full by 8:15 since the new team moved in, and last week I circled the block three times before giving up and paying for the garage. Sharing one car would also cut each of our fuel bills roughly in half, and I would honestly enjoy the company on the drive. As for a schedule, how about alternating weeks? I would drive one week and you the next, leaving at 7:45 from whoever's house it is and heading back at 5:15. If one of us has an early meeting or an appointment, we can simply swap days. For costs, I suggest we each pay for the fuel in our own driving weeks, so there is nothing to track. Parking passes we could split down the middle. Let me know what you think, or we can chat about it at lunch on Monday. Best, Nadia

Category ratings

Category	Level	Why
Content / Coherence	9	Reason, schedule and costs each get a paragraph; the proposal is concrete (times, alternating weeks, fuel in your own week) and anticipates problems (early meetings).
Vocabulary	9	Natural collocations: "found out from", "circled the block", "cut… roughly in half", "split down the middle", "nothing to track".
Readability	9	Varied structures including a reduced relative clause ("leaving at 7:45…") and a conditional; one long sentence in the second paragraph could be split.
Task Fulfillment	9	All three bullets covered; the semi-formal tone fits a coworker you do not know well; 208 words (a little over, which costs nothing here).

What shows level 9 and above

Specific example last week I circled the block three times before giving up and paying for the garage
Precise wording Sharing one car would also cut each of our fuel bills roughly in half
Complex structure If one of us has an early meeting or an appointment, we can simply swap days
Cohesion so there is nothing to track
Cohesion As for a schedule, how about alternating weeks?

The email makes the decision easy for the reader: a clear reason with a story behind it, a schedule with times, a cost rule with no bookkeeping, and a low-pressure closing. That combination of concreteness and tone is what level 9 looks like.

Sample answer at level 6

CELPIP level 6 · CLB 6

178 words

Hello Jordan, I heard from Anita that you are living near to my house, in Maple Crescent. I live in Birch Avenue. We are both driving to the office every day, so I want to propose you to do carpooling together. I think it is a good idea because the parking is a big problem. Every morning the parking is full and I must search a place for long time. Also the gas is very expensive now and if we share the car we can save money. And it is more nice to drive with someone than alone. For the schedule, maybe we can change every week. One week you drive and the next week I drive. We can leave at 7:45 in the morning and come back at 5:15. If someone has a meeting early, we can change the day. About the cost, the person who drive pay for the gas in his week. For the parking we can pay half and half. Please tell me your opinion. We can talk about it on Monday. Thanks, Nadia

Category ratings

Category	Level	Why
Content / Coherence	6	The plan is complete and in order, but each reason is a single general sentence; nothing is illustrated.
Vocabulary	6	Simple and repetitive ("the parking", "change", "pay"); some wrong choices: "near to my house", "search a place", "more nice".
Readability	6	Readable, with basic connectors ("so", "Also", "And"); errors in most sentences: "propose you to do", "for long time", "the person who drive pay".
Task Fulfillment	7	All bullets addressed, tone appropriate, 178 words.

Corrections

~~you are living near to my house~~ → you live near my house
"Near" takes no "to", and a permanent fact uses the simple present.
~~I want to propose you to do carpooling together~~ → I would like to suggest that we carpool together
"Propose" and "suggest" are followed by "that" + clause (or an -ing form), not by "you to do".
~~I must search a place for long time~~ → I have to look for a spot for a long time
"Look for" is the verb; "a long time" needs its article; "spot" is the usual word for a parking space.
~~it is more nice to drive~~ → it is nicer to drive
Short adjectives form the comparative with -er.
~~the person who drive pay for the gas~~ → the person who drives pays for the gas
Both verbs take the third-person -s after "the person".

Level 6: the message does its job and the schedule is clear, but the grammar errors come too often and the reasons stay generic. Adding one small story (the day you circled the block) and fixing subject–verb agreement would lift it quickly.

What separates level 6 from level 9

A proposal needs numbers: leaving time, returning time, who pays for what. Vague plans read as unfinished.
Turn one reason into a two-sentence story (what happened last week) to show development without adding length.
"Propose/suggest that we…", not "propose you to…".
Semi-formal tone to a coworker: "Hi" and contractions are fine, but keep full sentences and a clear closing.

Try this prompt yourself

Write your own email on the prompt above and get an estimated CELPIP level with corrections and a model answer. Free, no sign-up, two reports a day.

Score my email Task 1 guide

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Working from home or a four-day week
Task 2 · levels 9 and 7

See all CELPIP writing samples, the scoring and CLB levels guide, and the official CELPIP test format and scoring page.