The three parts, and what each one is testing
Part 1 — answer, then add one reason
- Four to five minutes of questions about you: home, family, work, study, and two or three familiar topics.
- ⚠ Never answer in one word. Do you like cooking? — Yes is a band-4 answer, whatever your English is like elsewhere.
- The pattern is answer + one reason or example, two or three sentences: Yes, I do — I cook dinner most evenings because it's the one part of the day I'm not looking at a screen.
- Do not make a speech either. Part 1 has many questions; a 40-second answer costs you the chance to show range on the next one.
- Expect present, past and future in this part. Answer in the tense you were asked in — it is one of the things the examiner is checking.
'Do you like cooking?' Which is the Part 1 answer that scores?
Answer plus one reason or example, two or three sentences. One word gives the examiner nothing; a speech costs you the next question.
Part 2 — the long turn, in one line
- One minute to prepare, two minutes to speak, and the examiner will not stop you early.
- Write nouns, not sentences. The four prompts are your four paragraphs, and the last one deserves half the time.
- If you finish early, add detail: what it looked like, who else was there, how you felt, what you would do differently.
- There is a whole lesson on this one; it is the part most worth practising with a timer.
Part 3 — develop, hedge, disagree
- Four to five minutes of abstract discussion on the Part 2 theme, at a higher level.
- ⚠ A one-sentence answer is the standard failure here, and Part 3 is where the higher bands are won.
- The shape that works: state a view → give a reason → name an example → consider the other side.
- Hedging is grammar as well as politeness, and it shows range: it tends to be, it depends on, broadly speaking, on the whole, that's probably truer of… than of….
- Disagree with the examiner when you want to. It is not rude and it shows language: I see why people say that, but I'd argue…, That's true up to a point, although….
Put a strong Part 3 answer in order.
A one-sentence answer is the standard failure in Part 3, and this is the shape that avoids it.
Which of these are hedging phrases that show grammatical range? Choose all that apply.
'I don't know' ends the answer. The other three qualify a claim, which needs a structure — and that structure is what is marked.
What each part is really testing
| Part | The question type | What it checks |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | short, personal, mixed tenses | can you use three tenses naturally at speed? |
| 2 | one topic, two minutes, no interruption | can you keep going, and organise as you go? |
| 3 | abstract, comparative, speculative | can you develop, compare, and hedge? |
- Notice that none of them tests knowledge. There is no right answer anywhere in the Speaking test.
- An interesting answer and a dull one score the same if the English is the same. Stop looking for a clever opinion and spend the effort on the sentence.
The Speaking test rewards more interesting opinions.
There is no right answer anywhere in the Speaking test. An interesting answer and a dull one score the same if the English is the same.
When something goes wrong
- You did not understand the question. Ask: Sorry, do you mean…? It costs nothing. Answering a question you did not understand costs marks.
- You cannot think of anything. Say so and keep talking: That's not something I've thought about, but off the top of my head… Silence costs Fluency; saying you are thinking does not.
- You do not know the word. Paraphrase it out loud — the thing you put on a wall to stop the heat escaping — which is a marked skill, not a failure.
- You made a mistake. Correct it once and move on. Restarting a sentence three times damages Fluency more than the original error did.
Complete the repair phrase for a question you did not understand: 'Sorry, do you ___ …?'
Asking costs nothing. Answering a question you did not understand costs Fluency and coherence.