Well hello there, Reader, I'm so thankful to have the opportunity to connect with you today.

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Brainstorming is one of those commonly experienced problems that CELPIP test takers face. And I frequently get questions like this one, or variations of it, from podcast listeners:

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Back on April 30, I did a podcast episode all around brainstorming and overthinking. One of the things that we covered in that episode was the importance of mindset. But it's such an important topic that I think I want to revisit it a little with you again today, just as a refresher.

Effective Brainstorming is two things:

First, It's your mindset.

Secondly, it's your creativity.

Mindset, because many times people feel like they have to come up with the perfect idea in order to succeed. And so they end up not writing anything in the brainstorming phase of the exam because they think that every idea they come up with isn't good enough.

If that's something that you struggle with, I want to offer you something new to think about: You don't have to come up with the perfect idea, but instead you do need to come up with ideas and lots of them.

(I would actually suggest that there are no perfect ideas! So don't waste your time trying to find one!)

And the more focused those ideas are on the topic that you're going to be talking about, the better. So it's not about the perfect idea. It's about ideas. (Emphasis on the plural!)

Brainstorming is also about creativity. Effective brainstorming is about creating sparks.

Have you ever watched a fire? Sometimes little tiny fires begin because of the sparks that come shooting off of the main fire.

That's what you're looking for when you're brainstorming! A spark, a word, a thought that will come out and cause the fire of your next CELPIP response!

If you don't consider yourself a creative person, you still can do well at creating some sparks to work with by putting in a little practice.

The good news is that creativity is something that can be developed. It's like a muscle. The more you work it, the stronger it becomes.

I've seen this happen where I work, where I lead a writer's group for seniors.

Many of my members are in their eighties and one is in her nineties!

Their biggest fear going in: what if I can't come up with anything to write about.

For some, this group was the first time they'd picked up a pen and paper to write creatively in decades!

But over the past year and a bit that we've been doing this, I can count the number of times they've missed a session on one hand.

One lady in particular has unlocked her creativity in ways that she never thought possible! She now always comes with beautiful stories that she loves to share with us and her family - something that she never was able to do before. (And she was one of the ones who worried she'd not have anything to say!)

The lesson: my friend's creativity grew because she began to use it!

Yours will too.

If brainstorming is a challenge for you, then I invite you to start practicing a little each day.

You can also join CELPIP Success School! We're re launching the first week of July, and we will be starting things off with a month dedicated to developing your speaking skills for the CELPIP exam.

During July, we'll be working on:

• Building your brainstorming skills.
• Creating effective responses by understanding what the test raters are looking for when you speak.
• Focused practice on each of the types of speaking tasks you'll encounter on the exam.
• Live classes where you will have time to practice and ask any questions you might have.

Want in? If you haven't already, Join the waitlist so that you'll be the first to know when we go live.

In case you didn't know, we have a growing bank of free resources designed to help you develop your English and CELPIP skills.

Today I'd like to highlight 10 Note-taking Tips. I think it will help you as you are developing your brainstorming skills. :)