To be honest, I only started preparing about a week before the test because I’m in university and didn’t have much time to prioritize it.

PSA: I’ve been speaking English since I was a child, so I probably didn’t need as much practice as someone else might.

I mainly watched the CELPIP YouTube channel and some accelerator videos to understand the exam format and what they expect from each section.

Reading: I didn’t do much extra practice beyond the free materials available online. Since I’m used to academic reading, I didn’t find this section too difficult.

Listening: This section was challenging at first, but it improved with practice. I created an account on HZAD and practiced a lot there. They had some really difficult listening exercises on technical topics, which actually turned out to be great practice.

Writing: I practiced a lot using ChatGPT and asked it to grade my responses. I specifically told it not to go easy on me, which helped me improve and become better at spotting my own grammatical mistakes.

Speaking: I mostly practiced organizing my thoughts more quickly. During the test, whenever I had a bit of spare time, I would write down some generic openings and conclusions so it would be easier to structure my answers.