Does CELPIP have negative marking — should I guess?
No negative marking. A wrong answer costs you nothing beyond the point you didn't earn, so answer every Listening and Reading question and never leave a blank — a guess is always worth it.
CELPIP Reading and Listening are computer-scored and reported on CELPIP Levels 0–12 (Levels 3–12 map 1:1 to CLB). There is no penalty for a wrong answer, so leaving a question blank only guarantees a lost point. When you're running out of time, fill in every remaining answer — even a blind guess has a one-in-four chance.
Writing and Speaking are scored differently — by trained human raters on published dimensions — so "guessing" doesn't apply there; developed, on-topic answers do. See the writing guide for what raters reward.
Below Level 3, the current report is specific: Level 2 corresponds to CLB 1–2, Levels 1 and 0 mean there was insufficient information to assess, and NA means that component was not administered. Older reports and forum posts mention an "M" — CELPIP retired it in January 2024 in favour of these 0–2 levels. The full breakdown is in the CELPIP score decoder.
CELPIP official scoring information and "Understanding Your CELPIP Scores" chart (celpip.ca); verified September 2026.