CELPIP Practice
Back to all reading parts

CELPIP Reading Part 4: Reading for Viewpoints

Read an opinion article and a reader comment, then answer questions and complete the comment. Pick a set, work through it in the real exam format, and get an instant auto-score with your estimated level for this part.

Learn the approach first: try a free viewpoints example with answers, or choose a practice set below.

Learn with an explained example

CELPIP Reading Part 4 practice with answers

Reading for Viewpoints tests how well you separate an author's position from other people's arguments. Read this original opinion article and reader comment, answer ten questions, then check the explanations. The exercise is free without an account and does not reveal answers from our scored mock bank.

Original practice by CELPIP Practice · Reviewed September 10, 2026

How to approach Reading Part 4

  1. Identify the proposal and the author's final position. A concern mentioned in the article may belong to someone the author disagrees with.
  2. Track contrasts such as 'however,' 'although' and 'instead.' They often show where an author acknowledges a problem but rejects a proposed solution.
  3. Treat cautious language accurately. 'May help' is weaker than 'will solve'; support for a trial is not support for making a policy permanent immediately.
  4. Read the reader comment as a separate voice. Use that writer's experience and opinion when completing the blanks, even when they disagree with the article.

Opinion: give the evening library trial a fair test

The Brookside library board is considering a six-month trial that would keep its central branch open until 9 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays. To pay for the extra evening hours without increasing the staffing budget, the branch would open at noon instead of 9 a.m. on those two days. The board says this would help residents who cannot visit during the working day. I support testing the proposal, but only if the board measures who gains access and who loses it.

Longer evenings could help shift workers and students who share crowded homes. However, it would be a mistake to assume that every resident prefers later hours. Some older readers visit in the morning, and parents use the branch before collecting children from school. Moving hours does not create additional staff time; it changes which schedules the library can accommodate. A trial should therefore record more than the number of people entering after dinner.

Several residents have suggested a volunteer-run morning service. Volunteers already contribute greatly to reading groups, but replacing trained staff with volunteers would limit the help available. Questions about accounts, research and accessibility do not disappear because a shift is unpaid. I would rather see the board offer an alternative nearby morning service and explain it clearly before the trial begins. That would address a practical loss of access without pretending that every service can be delivered in the same way.

At the end of six months, the board should publish evening attendance, use of the alternative morning service and feedback from people who stopped visiting. A busy room on two evenings would be encouraging, but it would not by itself prove success. If the benefits are substantial and the disruption can be reduced, the arrangement could continue. If morning users are simply excluded, the board should revise it. The purpose of a trial is to learn which arrangement serves residents better, not to collect evidence for a decision already made.

Reader comment: complete blanks 6–10

I work until 6 p.m., so I [6] the chance to visit later. Still, my father uses the library on Tuesday mornings and cannot easily travel to another branch. For him, a nearby alternative might [7].

I agree that the board should [8], rather than judge the trial only by a crowded evening room. Unlike the author, I would prefer to [9] before changing the central branch's morning schedule. The evening proposal could be useful, but its effect on people like my father [10]. — Daniel

Questions and answer explanations

Choose an answer before opening its explanation. For blanks, insert the complete option into the message. This learning exercise does not calculate an official CELPIP score.

  1. 1. Which statement best describes the author's position?

    1. Evening opening should become permanent immediately.
    2. The proposal should be tested with evidence about both benefits and lost access.
    3. The library should stop serving morning visitors.
    4. Any change to library hours should be rejected.
    Show answer 1 and explanation

    B — The author supports a trial, subject to measuring gains and losses. The conclusion allows continuation or revision depending on the evidence. Neither immediate permanence nor blanket rejection matches that conditional position.

  2. 2. Why would the central branch open later on two mornings?

    1. To fund the evening hours within the existing staffing budget.
    2. Because no one currently visits in the morning.
    3. Because volunteers requested shorter shifts.
    4. To close a nearby branch.
    Show answer 2 and explanation

    A — The first paragraph links the later morning opening to paying for the evening hours without raising the staffing budget. The article names morning users, contradicting B. Neither C nor D is stated.

  3. 3. What concern does the author raise about a volunteer-run morning service?

    1. Volunteers would charge visitors more.
    2. Volunteers have refused to help reading groups.
    3. It could offer less specialist assistance than a staffed service.
    4. It would make the evening trial impossible.
    Show answer 3 and explanation

    C — The author names account, research and accessibility support as needs that remain when a shift is unpaid. The article recognizes volunteers' existing contribution. It does not claim that volunteers charge fees, refuse to help or make the trial impossible.

  4. 4. Why is evening attendance alone an incomplete measure of success?

    1. Evening visitors are less important than morning visitors.
    2. The library cannot count people accurately.
    3. The board has already cancelled the trial.
    4. It would miss residents who lose access and stop visiting.
    Show answer 4 and explanation

    D — The final paragraph explicitly asks for feedback from people who stopped visiting, alongside attendance and alternative-service use. A busy evening does not reveal whose needs are no longer met. The author does not rank one group as inherently more important.

  5. 5. In the final paragraph, what does 'a decision already made' suggest?

    1. A conclusion the board intends to defend regardless of the trial's findings.
    2. A timetable all residents have approved.
    3. A choice made by evening visitors during the trial.
    4. A published result showing that the trial failed.
    Show answer 5 and explanation

    A — The contrast is between learning from a trial and collecting evidence to justify a predetermined outcome. The phrase does not establish public approval, a visitor vote or an already-published failure.

  6. 6. Which phrase best completes blank [6]?

    1. would welcome
    2. could never use
    3. have already rejected
    4. would be unaffected by
    Show answer 6 and explanation

    A — Daniel works until 6 p.m., so later opening offers him a practical benefit. His next sentence introduces a concern about his father; that concern does not erase his own interest in evening access.

  7. 7. Which phrase best completes blank [7]?

    1. guarantee equal access
    2. remove every difficulty
    3. still be difficult to reach
    4. make morning visits unnecessary
    Show answer 7 and explanation

    C — His father cannot easily travel to another branch. A service described as nearby is therefore not necessarily accessible to him. The other choices dismiss or overstate the resolution of Daniel's stated concern.

  8. 8. Which phrase best completes blank [8]?

    1. count only new library memberships
    2. consider people who lose their usual access
    3. make the new hours permanent now
    4. replace all morning staff with volunteers
    Show answer 8 and explanation

    B — Daniel agrees with the author's call to consider losses of access, not just evening attendance. The other options are not the author's recommendation and do not fit his father's situation.

  9. 9. Which phrase best completes blank [9]?

    1. ignore feedback from morning visitors
    2. cancel all evening activities
    3. announce that the trial has succeeded
    4. secure additional funding for evening hours
    Show answer 9 and explanation

    D — Additional funding could support evenings without first removing the central branch's morning hours. This is a coherent alternative to the author's budget-neutral trial. It fits 'Unlike the author' and Daniel's concern about retaining his father's access.

  10. 10. Which phrase best completes blank [10]?

    1. must be considered before the hours change
    2. has already been proven harmless
    3. is irrelevant to the library board
    4. will certainly be positive
    Show answer 10 and explanation

    A — Daniel recognizes potential benefits but wants the effect on morning users considered before the change. The comment offers no evidence of proven harmlessness or a guaranteed positive outcome.

Turn your mistakes into a reading strategy

For each answer, identify whose opinion you used: the board's, the author's, another resident's or Daniel's. Then underline the limiting words. 'Support testing' does not mean 'make permanent,' and 'nearby' does not guarantee 'easy to reach.' When completing a comment, choose the option that fits both the writer's viewpoint and the surrounding sentence.

Keep a short error log: your choice, the correct choice, the sentence or table cell that proves it, and the trap you missed. Then try a fresh question set to practise the same skill without relying on memory.

What should you practise next?

Use the free CELPIP Reading course for guided lessons, or download the free four-skill prep pack for printable practice. When you are ready to work under a clock, take a full CELPIP Reading practice test.

The official CELPIP test-format guide lists eight questions for Reading to Apply a Diagram and ten for Reading for Viewpoints. These are our original teaching examples, not official test materials. The official guide is the source for current format details.

Ready for the full reading section?

Sit all four parts back to back under one exam clock, or sign in free to save your results and track your estimated level across devices.

Want the full experience? Take a complete CELPIP Reading practice test.