Writing Guide
CELPE-BRAS Writing Guide: Everything About the Parte Escrita
The written part of CELPE-BRAS tests your ability to understand authentic stimuli — audio clips, videos, images, and texts — and produce a coherent, genre-appropriate written response. This guide explains every dimension of what the exam demands from you.
Overview of the Written Exam
The written part (Parte Escrita) lasts three hours and consists of four tasks presented in sequence. Each task provides a trigger element — typically an audio clip (1–3 minutes), a short video, a newspaper article, a cartoon, or a combination — along with a written instruction that specifies your communicative role and the text you must produce.
What makes CELPE-BRAS unique is that there is no right or wrong answer in the traditional sense. Your text is evaluated on how well it communicates in context. A text that is grammatically flawless but misunderstands the communicative situation will score poorly. A text with minor grammar errors but excellent genre control and communicative adequacy can score very high.
The 4 Task Types
Each of the four writing tasks in CELPE-BRAS has a different communicative purpose and requires a different genre. Understanding the purpose of each task is the first step to writing an effective response:
Tarefa 1 — Personal Communication
Usually triggered by an audio or video of a personal or social situation. You are asked to write a response as a participant in the situation — a personal letter, a message to a friend, or a response to a social media post. Register is typically informal to semi-formal. This is often considered the most accessible task for intermediate candidates.
Tarefa 2 — Informational or Opinion Text
Typically triggered by a news report, interview, or documentary excerpt. You must write a more formal text — an article, a report, or an opinion piece — that engages with the information or arguments presented in the trigger. Requires a clear thesis, supporting evidence drawn from the trigger, and a logical structure.
Tarefa 3 — Formal Communication
Often involves a formal situation: a complaint letter to an institution, a request to a public authority, a formal proposal, or an official email. The trigger typically presents a problem or scenario that requires a formal written intervention. Candidates must use appropriate formal register, salutations, and closings.
Tarefa 4 — Summary or Synthesis
The most cognitively demanding task. You are usually asked to synthesize information from multiple triggers (an audio and a text, or a video and an article) and produce a summary, a report, or a synthesis that accurately reflects the content of both sources. Objectivity, completeness, and concision are key.
Text Genres You Must Know
CELPE-BRAS tasks require you to write in specific genres. Each has its own structure, register, and conventions. Study and practice each one:
Formal Letter (Carta Formal)
Structured opening, body, and closing. Formal register. Used for complaints, requests, and official correspondence.
Subject line, greeting, body, sign-off. Register varies from informal to very formal depending on the recipient.
Article (Artigo)
Introduction with a clear thesis, developed arguments with evidence, and a conclusion. Journalistic or academic register.
Summary (Resumo)
Objective condensation of source material. No personal opinion. Third-person, neutral register.
Report / Account (Relato)
Chronological or thematic account of events or experiences. First or third person. Factual and descriptive.
Chronicle (Crônica)
A Brazilian literary-journalistic hybrid. Personal or narrative style, grounded in everyday observation, with a reflective or ironic tone.
How Your Writing Is Evaluated
CELPE-BRAS uses five official evaluation criteria, each worth an equal portion of the task score:
Communicative Adequacy
Does your text accomplish the communicative purpose stated in the task? Does it engage with the trigger? This is the most important criterion — a text that ignores the trigger or misunderstands the task cannot score well regardless of its linguistic quality.
Genre Appropriateness
Does your text use the correct genre conventions? A formal letter needs the right salutation, structure, and closing. An article needs a clear thesis and paragraphed argumentation. Genre errors are serious mistakes.
Cohesion and Coherence
Is your text logically organized? Do sentences and paragraphs connect naturally? Do you use appropriate connectives, referential expressions, and transitions? Cohesion is the visible structuring of ideas.
Grammar and Syntax
Are your sentences syntactically correct? Are verb conjugations, agreement, and prepositions accurate? Grammar errors that do not impede communication are penalized less heavily than structural breakdown.
Vocabulary Range and Precision
Do you use varied, precise, and contextually appropriate vocabulary? Repetition, calques, and false cognates reduce this score. A rich, well-applied lexicon demonstrates genuine proficiency.
Writing Strategies and Tips
These strategies separate high-scoring candidates from average ones:
- Always read the task instruction twice before starting. Identify your role (who are you writing as?), your audience (who are you writing to?), and your purpose (what must the text accomplish?). This determines everything.
- Engage directly with the trigger. Quote or paraphrase specific information from the audio, video, or text. Examiners can tell when a response is generic rather than contextually grounded.
- Plan before you write. Spend 3–5 minutes outlining your main points for each task. A well-organized plan prevents the common mistake of an incoherent, rambling response.
- Respect word count guidance. Tasks typically expect 15–20 lines of dense writing. Under-writing signals insufficient development; over-writing often introduces errors.
- Use genre markers explicitly. Start a formal letter with the correct protocol. Open an article with a clear thesis. Signal each section of a summary with topic sentences.
- Revise your final text. With 3 hours for 4 tasks, you typically have 40–45 minutes per task. Reserve 5 minutes to re-read and correct obvious errors in grammar, punctuation, and genre markers.
Common Errors in Writing Tasks
Be aware of these frequent mistakes that cost points:
- Writing in the wrong genre: producing an article when the task asks for a summary, or using an informal tone in a formal complaint letter.
- Not engaging with the trigger: writing a generic essay that could have been produced without the audio or text stimulus. Examiners check for direct engagement.
- Poor paragraph structure: writing walls of text without clear paragraph breaks or topic sentences. Each paragraph should develop a single main idea.
- Overusing connectives mechanically: adding 'portanto', 'além disso', and 'no entanto' randomly without logical purpose undermines coherence rather than enhancing it.
- Calques from native language: Spanish speakers often write 'realizar' when they mean 'perceber', or 'embaraçado' when they mean 'constrangido'. False cognates with Spanish, Italian, and English are very common traps.
Related Guides
Practice Writing with AI Feedback
Submit writing tasks and get instant, detailed AI feedback on all five CELPE-BRAS criteria. Available in both English and Portuguese.
Start Writing Practice Free