Speaking at a glance
This is the fun part of the test, for many reasons. You get to rest before it, you are a little tired from previous 3 parts and it makes you more relaxed. The examiners are trained to smile no matter what, so you feel as if you were speaking to your best friend.
First sub-part of Speaking test is an interview, which means that the examiner asks you questions about yourself, your work, studies, parents, brothers/sisters, pets, etc. This is an easy task to prepare for.
In the second sub-part of Speaking test you receive a card with 3-4 questions. After one minute, that you have to think about something to say, you should give a little speech for one to two minutes, which answers those questions. In the end the examiner might ask you a couple of additional questions.
In the third sub-part of the test you have a discussion with examiner. The topic is somehow related to the one from section two, but it is about more abstract ideas. You have to express and justify an opinion.
The examiner will record your session on tape. Don’t worry about it; the tape is to test the examiner and not you.
Is it ok for the candidates to ask the examiners say again the questions if the candidates can not hear clearly, or too low?
Comment by giahai — November 11, 2006 @ 11:28 am
Yes, if you let him know that the reason you are asking is that you didn’t hear well. Otherwise the examiner could think that you didn’t understand the question.
Comment by admin — November 12, 2006 @ 3:51 am
I wanted to know that is it ok for the candidates to change the topic in the speaking test if the candidate has less knowledge about that current topic?
Comment by Shreeti — October 10, 2007 @ 2:32 am
That’s not black and white - they might let you change the subject because of your lack of knowledge, but they could think you don’t have the right vocabulary to speak about it - which is not good.
Comment by admin — October 10, 2007 @ 3:43 am
[...] are 3 parts in the Speaking sub-test : Interview, Speech and Discussion, read the details about it here in one of my previous [...]
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