What makes Listening Part 5 challenging?

Following several speakers at once. Discussion vocabulary — agreeing, objecting, qualifying — is the key to tracking each person's stance.

Does the video matter in Part 5?

It adds context, but the answers come from the spoken discussion, so strong discussion vocabulary remains essential.

Listening Part 5: Discussion

Listening Part 5: Discussion is part of the Listening section of the CELPIP General test. You get 8 questions and 4 minutes. It is scored by the number of correct answers.

Questions: 8
Time: 4 minutes
Prompts here: 25 published

The three-move discussion listen

1
Name the speakers and their roles as they appear
Three voices is the point of this part. Unlabelled, they merge.
2
Track each person's position separately
Fifty-two of every ninety tagged questions are detail, and most of that detail belongs to a specific speaker.
3
Note where someone changes their mind
A concession mid-discussion is the most-asked moment in this part.

Three voices, three positions — do not merge them.

The questions ask who said what, not what the group concluded.

Learn the agreement, disagreement and discussion vocabulary you need to follow a multi-speaker conversation and track who thinks what in CELPIP Listening Part 5.

Part 5 is a discussion among several people with a video component. Recognising agreement and disagreement language helps you keep each speaker's position clear.

Listening · Part 5

Deciding When to Launch the New App

One of 25 published prompts · free, no account

You will hear the recording once. Listen carefully, then answer the questions.

Instructions

The audio plays once.
Choose the best answer for each question.

Audio transcript

In the real test you hear this once and cannot replay it.

Priya: Okay, thanks for making time, everyone. We need to lock in a launch date for the app today. I really think we should go live on the Victoria Day long weekend in May. Our competitor over in Vancouver is rumoured to release something similar in June, and I want us out there first. Marcus: I hear you, Priya, but I can't sign off on May. The payment feature still crashes on older Android phones — anything more than three years old freezes the moment someone tries to pay. That's exactly the kind of thing that sinks us in the reviews. I'd need at least four more weeks of testing. Danielle: From the marketing side, my worry is a different one. Launching on a long weekend is actually risky. Half the country is away at the cottage, not downloading apps. Our email open rates always drop that week. Priya: That's a fair point about the long weekend, Danielle. But every week we wait, we lose the first-mover advantage. Marcus: First mover doesn't matter if the thing doesn't work. Honestly, I'd rather ship a solid app in mid-June than a broken one in May. Danielle: What if we compromise? We do a small beta — invite maybe two hundred users the first week of June, get real feedback, let Marcus fix whatever turns up, and then do the big public launch later in June with the full campaign. Marcus: A beta I could actually support. Two hundred people on all kinds of devices would surface that payment bug far faster than our internal testing ever could. Priya: I still don't love giving up May, but a June beta leading into a full launch... I can live with that, as long as we keep the campaign tight. Danielle, can your team be ready for a June push? Danielle: If we start the teaser posts now, yes. And I'd want the full launch on a Tuesday, not a weekend. Mid-week downloads are always stronger for us. Priya: Fine. Let's say beta the first week of June, and the full launch on the third Tuesday of June. Marcus, does that give you enough runway on the payment fix? Marcus: That's roughly six weeks. Yes, that works. I'll have the older-Android issue sorted well before the beta even opens. Priya: Great. I'll update the roadmap and let the leadership team know we've moved off May. Danielle: And I'll draft the teaser calendar this afternoon. Marcus: I'll pull together the beta tester list. Thanks, everyone.

Questions & answer key8 questions

Listening is scored by the number of correct answers. The audio plays once, so the skill being tested is holding detail while the next sentence arrives.

1The three people are mainly trying to decide ___.
1. Awhether to cancel the app project entirely
2. ✓when to launch the new app
3. Chow much money to spend on the marketing campaign
4. Dwhich company should build the payment feature
Answer
B
Priya opens with 'We need to lock in a launch date for the app today,' and the whole conversation weighs May versus June. The payment feature and the marketing campaign are details raised in service of the date decision, not the decision itself; cancelling the app is never suggested.
2Priya originally wants to launch in May ___.
1. Abecause the app will be fully tested by then
2. Bbecause May has the strongest download numbers
3. ✓to release before a competitor in Vancouver
4. Dbecause company leadership demanded a May date
Answer
C
Priya says a competitor 'over in Vancouver is rumoured to release something similar in June, and I want us out there first.' The 'fully tested' option contradicts Marcus, who says testing is not done; the 'strongest downloads' option is a mentioned-but-wrong trap, since strong mid-week downloads are Danielle's point about Tuesdays, not about May; leadership demanding May is never stated, and she later tells leadership they've moved off May.
3The technical problem Marcus raises is that ___.
1. Athe app will not install on any Android phone
2. Bthe email feature crashes on every device
3. Cthe payment feature freezes on new iPhones
4. ✓the payment feature crashes on older Android phones
Answer
D
Marcus says 'the payment feature still crashes on older Android phones — anything more than three years old.' The 'new iPhones' option swaps the device; the 'email feature' option swaps the feature, since email open rates are Danielle's marketing concern; the 'won't install on any Android phone' option overstates both the scope (older phones, not all) and the failure (a payment crash, not a failed install).
4Danielle thinks a long weekend is a poor time to launch because ___.
1. Aapp stores shut down on public holidays
2. Bcompetitors always launch on long weekends
3. ✓people are away and email open rates drop that week
4. Dthe marketing team is all on vacation
Answer
C
Danielle says 'Half the country is away at the cottage, not downloading apps. Our email open rates always drop that week.' The other three options name reasons the script never raises — the team's own vacations, competitor habits, and store closures are all absent.
5Danielle's beta proposal suggests that she ___.
1. Aagrees the app should still launch in May
2. Bwants to cancel the marketing campaign
3. Cbelieves internal testing alone is enough
4. ✓favours testing with real users before a full public launch
Answer
D
She proposes inviting 'maybe two hundred users the first week of June, get real feedback... and then do the big public launch later in June.' Cancelling the campaign is the opposite of her plan for a full campaign; agreeing to May contradicts her whole compromise, which moves off May; relying on internal testing alone is contradicted by Marcus, who says the beta would surface the bug 'far faster than our internal testing.'
6They finally agree on ___.
1. Aa single full launch on the Victoria Day long weekend
2. Ba beta the third Tuesday of June, then a full launch in July
3. Ca beta in May, then a full launch in July
4. ✓a beta the first week of June, then a full launch the third Tuesday of June
Answer
D
Priya confirms 'beta the first week of June, and the full launch on the third Tuesday of June.' The single Victoria Day launch is the abandoned May plan; the other two options scramble the real dates with wrong months and reversed order.
7Marcus ends up supporting the plan because ___.
1. APriya orders him to agree to it
2. BDanielle offers to give him more developers
3. Cthe competitor has delayed its own release
4. ✓it gives him about six weeks and the beta will expose the payment bug faster
Answer
D
Marcus calls the beta something 'I could actually support' because two hundred users 'would surface that payment bug far faster than our internal testing,' and he confirms 'roughly six weeks... that works.' The 'orders him' option misreads Priya's tone, since she compromises rather than commands; the delayed competitor and extra developers are events that never occur in the script.
8When Priya talks about the 'first-mover advantage,' she means ___.
1. ✓the benefit of releasing before rival companies do
2. Boffering the first version of the app for free
3. Cbeing the first team to move into a new office
4. Dhiring developers before the competitors can
Answer
A
She uses the phrase right after worrying that a Vancouver competitor will launch in June and saying 'I want us out there first,' so 'first-mover advantage' means getting to market ahead of rivals. The office, free-pricing, and hiring options attach unrelated meanings the script never connects to the phrase.

Three mistakes that cost points heremost common first

1Answering with the group consensus when the question names one speaker.
2Missing that a speaker shifted position after hearing the others.
3Losing a speaker when two of the three voices sound similar.

Now do it yourself and find out where you land

You can check right and wrong on this page. What a page cannot do is tell you which question types you keep losing, under real timing.

Ready to practise for real?

Get exam-style questions, instant AI feedback on your Writing and Speaking, and a personalised path to your target CLB.

Create your free account →

See pricing

Questions people ask

What makes Listening Part 5 challenging?: Following several speakers at once. Discussion vocabulary — agreeing, objecting, qualifying — is the key to tracking each person's stance.
Does the video matter in Part 5?: It adds context, but the answers come from the spoken discussion, so strong discussion vocabulary remains essential.

The other 24 Discussion prompts1 free

·A Neighbourhood Association Reviews a City Plan
·Organizing a Canada Day Community Event
·Planning the Community Winter Festival
·Advice for a Friend Before a Test
·Road-Safety Education in Schools
·Students Respond to a Campus Announcement
·An Open-Air Cinema in Ambleside
·Neighbours Talk About a Change on Their Block
·Three Colleagues Prepare a Recommendation
·A Decision Due Before Tomorrow
·Planning a Seniors' Community Day
·Expanding the Science Labs
·A Condominium Renovation
·Store Security Staffing
·Hosting a University Hockey Game
·The Waste Collection Schedule
·Reviewing the Customer Survey Results
·Dividing Up the Class Project
·Condo Board: Lobby Renovation Decision
·Planning the Food Bank Fundraiser
·Department Meeting: Setting the New Remote-Work Policy
·Planning the Winter Inventory Order
·Choosing the Spring Cover Story
·The Thunderbolts Club Picks a New Practice Venue

← All free practice Discussion lesson →Discussion vocabulary →CELPIP Listening format →Full mock exams →