What is tested in Listening Part 6?

Your ability to follow a speaker's viewpoints and how they shift. Opinion and attitude vocabulary is what lets you hear those shifts.

How long is the Part 6 audio?

It is one of the longer listening passages, so automatic recognition of this vocabulary helps you stay focused to the end.

Listening Part 6: Viewpoints

Listening Part 6: Viewpoints is part of the Listening section of the CELPIP General test. You get 6 questions and 4 minutes. It is scored by the number of correct answers.

Questions: 6
Time: 4 minutes
Prompts here: 25 published

The three-move viewpoints listen

1
Identify the topic and the speaker's side early
One person is arguing something. Knowing which way they lean makes every later question easier.
2
Follow the reasons in the order they are given
Argument is sequential, and so are the questions.
3
Separate the speaker's view from views they report
"Some people say…" is not what the speaker thinks, and this part tests exactly that difference.

A view the speaker quotes is not the speaker's view.

Reported opinions are the standard distractor in this part.

Build the opinion and attitude vocabulary you need to follow a monologue and identify the speaker's changing viewpoints in CELPIP Listening Part 6.

Part 6 is a longer talk where one speaker expresses several viewpoints. Recognising stance and attitude vocabulary helps you track how their opinion develops across the audio.

Listening · Part 6

A Commentary on Free Transit

One of 25 published prompts · free, no account

You will hear a radio commentator give her opinion on free public transit. Listen once, then answer the questions.

Instructions

The audio plays once.
The speaker expresses a point of view — listen for her overall position, not just the facts.

Audio transcript

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

Good evening. Tonight I want to talk about an idea that keeps resurfacing in city council debates: making public transit completely free. On the surface, it's appealing. Supporters point out that free buses and trains would put money back in the pockets of low-income commuters, cut car traffic, and reduce the emissions choking our downtowns. And there's some evidence for this — a handful of cities that removed fares saw ridership climb within months. But I'd urge listeners to look a little closer before cheering. The first question is who actually pays. Fares typically cover somewhere between a third and a half of what it costs to run a transit system. Remove them, and that money has to come from somewhere — usually property taxes or provincial grants. In other words, free transit isn't free; it simply shifts the bill from the rider to the taxpayer, including plenty of taxpayers who never set foot on a bus. There's a subtler problem, too. When something costs nothing, demand can surge in ways that strain the system. Several cities that went fare-free found their buses packed not with former drivers who'd left their cars at home, but with short-trip riders who used to walk or cycle. The buses got more crowded without meaningfully reducing car use — which was supposed to be the entire point. Now, I'm not saying affordability doesn't matter. It clearly does. But there are sharper tools. Deeply discounted passes for students, seniors, and low-income residents put help exactly where it's needed, without handing a free ride to people who can comfortably pay. Some cities have had real success with fare-capping, where your daily or monthly spending is limited no matter how often you ride. My worry is that free transit makes for a great slogan but a blunt instrument. The goal shouldn't be zero fares for their own sake; it should be a transit system that's frequent, reliable, and genuinely affordable for the people who depend on it. A bus that comes every twelve minutes and actually shows up does far more for a working parent than a free bus that's late and overcrowded. So before we celebrate the end of the fare box, let's ask the harder questions: Who pays? Who benefits? And would the same money buy more service, more often, for the people who need it most? Those, to me, are the questions worth debating.

Questions & answer key6 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.

1What is the speaker's overall position on free public transit?
1. AShe strongly supports it as the best option
2. BShe has not formed an opinion either way
3. CShe opposes any public spending on transit
4. ✓She is skeptical — it sounds appealing but she sees serious flaws
Answer
D
She calls it 'appealing' but urges listeners to 'look a little closer' and lays out several problems. She still values transit, so 'opposes any spending' is wrong.
2According to the speaker, how much of transit costs do fares usually cover?
1. ALess than a tenth
2. BExactly half
3. CAlmost all of it
4. ✓Between a third and a half
Answer
D
She says fares 'cover somewhere between a third and a half.' 'Exactly half' is a trap — she gives a range, not a precise figure.
3What does the speaker mean when she says free transit 'shifts the bill'?
1. AProperty taxes fall once fares are removed
2. ✓The cost moves from riders to taxpayers in general
3. CBus companies must absorb the loss themselves
4. DFares rise for a small group of riders
Answer
B
She explains the cost shifts 'from the rider to the taxpayer, including plenty of taxpayers who never set foot on a bus.'
4What unintended effect did some fare-free cities experience?
1. AWealthier riders switching back to cars
2. BA sharp drop in overall ridership
3. CFewer buses running each day
4. ✓Buses filled with short-trip riders who used to walk or cycle
Answer
D
She says buses were 'packed... with short-trip riders who used to walk or cycle,' so crowding rose without cutting car use.
5What alternative approach does the speaker recommend?
1. ABanning private cars from downtown
2. BBuilding more roads for cars
3. CRaising fares for every rider
4. ✓Targeted discounts and fare-capping for those who need help
Answer
D
She praises 'deeply discounted passes' for those who need them and 'fare-capping' as sharper tools than blanket free transit.
6What does the speaker value most in a transit system?
1. ✓Service that is frequent, reliable, and genuinely affordable
2. BThe lowest possible fares above all
3. CThe newest and most modern buses
4. DThe largest possible route network
Answer
A
She says the goal 'should be a transit system that's frequent, reliable, and genuinely affordable,' explicitly rejecting zero fares 'for their own sake.'

Three mistakes that cost points heremost common first

1Attributing an opinion the speaker mentioned in order to disagree with it.
2Hearing a concession as a change of position.
3Deciding the speaker's side from the first sentence and not updating.

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.

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Questions people ask

What is tested in Listening Part 6?: Your ability to follow a speaker's viewpoints and how they shift. Opinion and attitude vocabulary is what lets you hear those shifts.
How long is the Part 6 audio?: It is one of the longer listening passages, so automatic recognition of this vocabulary helps you stay focused to the end.

The other 24 Viewpoints prompts0 free

·A Proposed Change to the Public-Sector Workweek
·Reconciliation: From Recognition to Practical Action
·Should Cars Be Banned from City Centres? A Commentator's Take
·Challenges Facing Indigenous Communities in Canada
·ICBC Insurance: Basic Coverage and Optional Protection
·Changes to Canada's Immigration System
·Public Libraries in the Digital Age
·The Rising Cost of Living in Canada
·Artificial Intelligence in Schools
·Electric Scooters on City Streets
·Climate Change in Canada
·Gaming Addiction
·Overfishing and Canada's Fisheries
·Minimum Wage in Canada
·Dress Codes in Schools and Workplaces
·Scams and Fraud in Canada
·Should Young Children Have Homework? One Teacher's View
·Working From Home: A Change That's Still Unfolding
·Should There Be a Minimum Age for Social Media?
·Viewpoints: How Tourism Changes Small Towns
·Should Schools Still Teach Cursive Writing?
·Viewpoints: A Grocer on Cutting Single-Use Packaging
·Should We Keep Daylight Saving Time All Year?
·Viewpoints: Should We Keep Funding Small Local Libraries?

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