Part 1 answers: talking about your studies or work
You can give Part 1 answers of the right size: answer the question, add something true about you, and stop.
The examiner's first questions are about you: your studies or your work, your home, your free time. That is Speaking Part 1, and it lasts four to five minutes.
The topics are familiar, so the hard part is knowing how much to say. Two or three sentences give the examiner enough English to judge, and they still sound like a conversation.
Warm-up
Which answer is the right size?
The examiner asks: Do you work or are you a student? Read the three answers.
Which answer is the right size for Part 1?
How it works
Now, in this first part, I'd like to ask you some questions about yourself.
Let's talk about what you do.
- Do you work or are you a student?
- Why did you choose that subject?
- What do you like most about it?
- Is there anything you would like to change about your course?
The examiner reads the questions from a script. Part 1 usually covers two or three topics like this one.
Answer, add, stop
- 1Answer
Say yes, no, or the thing asked for, in the first few words: Yes, mostly, I'm a student, I work in a bank.
- 2Add
One or two sentences that are true of you: why, an example, how it has changed, what you would like. I chose it because I like working with people.
- 3Stop
Then stop talking and let the examiner ask the next question. Part 1 has several topics to get through.
The same question, two answers
What do you like most about your course? The teachers.
What do you like most about your course? Probably the teachers. Most of them still work as engineers, so every lecture has a real example in it.
Watch me do one
The question: Why did you choose that subject? Imagine I study accounting.
Direct answer first: Mostly because I'm good with numbers.
Then a fact that is true of me: At school, maths was the only subject I never had to revise for.
Then one detail, and I stop: And accountants can work almost anywhere, which matters to me, because I'd like to live abroad one day.
Answer, add, stop: three sentences, about fifteen seconds. It sounds like me talking, and it gives the examiner some grammar and vocabulary to listen to.
A model answer
Yes, I'd like more practical sessions. At the moment we spend most of the week in lectures, and we only use the lab on Fridays. I think I'd remember things better if I could try them out straight away.
It answers in the first word, adds a fact about the course and a reason, and stops. It uses would like and a conditional, I'd remember things better if I could, in a way that sounds spoken.
Practice with Elita5 questions
Three quick questions, then two answers you record. I'll listen and tell you what worked.
The first sentence
The examiner asks: Do you enjoy studying? Choose the best way to start.
Which opening is best?
Right size?
The question is What do you study? Decide whether this answer is the right size for Part 1.
Architecture. It's a five-year course, and at the moment we're designing a small library, which is the hardest project I've had so far.
A slip in grammar
This is one answer, sentence by sentence. Which sentence has a grammar mistake?
Which sentence contains the error?
Record: why you chose it
Answer as you would in the test: answer, add, stop.
Why did you choose your subject, or your job?
Record your answer (45s maximum)
0:00 / 0:45
Set up your learning path at the top of this lesson to get band-specific feedback.
Record: what is difficult
Same shape again. Give one real example.
What do you find difficult about studying, or about your work?
Record your answer (45s maximum)
0:00 / 0:45
Set up your learning path at the top of this lesson to get band-specific feedback.
Words to keep
How to say how far through a course you are. I'm in my second year of a nursing degree.
A class where you do something with your hands or equipment. We have one practical session in the lab each week.
Study again what you learned, before a test. I revise in the library because it's quiet.
One unit of a university course. My favourite module this year is marketing.
A period of work in a real workplace, as part of a course. Our placement at a hospital lasts six weeks.
Before you go
Answer the question in your first few words.
Add one or two sentences that are true of you: why, an example, a change.
Stop there. The examiner has more questions to ask.
Talk about yourself. An answer that starts with people in general sounds learned by heart.
Next: The next lesson is a Task 2 opinion essay on who should pay for university. I plan one in front of you, and then you plan your own.