The whole Speaking test, in the real order and with the real clock. Nothing here is checked or scored, because nothing here can be: you are the recording. Read the part, press record, answer it as if a person were sitting opposite you, and then listen to yourself with the model open beside you. The second recording of the same part is always better than the first — that is the point of doing it twice.
The examiner asks you and your partner some questions about yourselves. This part is not difficult and it is not meant to be — it is where the examiner finds out what your English sounds like when you are comfortable. The mistake almost everybody makes here is answering in one word. Two sentences, every time. Fact, then detail.
What a strong Part 1 sounds like. Not clever — complete. Every answer is two or three sentences long, every opinion has a because attached, and no answer stops on a full stop that leaves the examiner waiting.
“My name's Marta Ferreira. I'm from Setúbal, which is a small city about forty minutes south of Lisbon — it's by the sea, and almost everyone I know has lived there their whole life.”
“Last weekend was quite busy, actually. On Saturday I worked in my uncle's shop in the morning, and then I met some friends in the evening. On Sunday I didn't do very much, because it was raining and I had homework.”
Three habits worth more than new vocabulary. First, finish the sentence — B1 candidates lose more marks to sentences that trail off than to wrong words. Second, add a reason to anything that is an opinion; because, so and which means are the three cheapest marks in the exam. Third, slow down. Speaking quickly does not sound advanced; it sounds nervous, and it hides the endings of your words, which is where your grammar lives.
If you do not understand the question, say so in English and the examiner will repeat it: Sorry, could you say that again? That sentence costs you nothing and silence costs you a lot.
The examiner gives you a photograph and you talk about it on your own for about one minute. Then your partner is given a different photograph and does the same, and afterwards you are each asked one short question about your partner's picture. There are no pictures on this page, so the photographs are described in words below — describe the scene as if you could see it. A minute is longer than you think: prepare a shape, not a list.
Your photograph — people waiting. A bus stop on a wet British street, late afternoon. Six or seven people are standing under a small glass shelter. An older woman in a red coat is looking up the road; a teenager beside her has headphones on and is looking at his phone. Two women are talking to each other and laughing. A man on the end is standing outside the shelter in the rain with a folded newspaper over his head. There are shop lights on behind them and the pavement is shining.
Your partner's photograph — people eating outdoors. A long wooden table in a garden on a summer evening. About ten people of different ages are sitting along both sides, and there are plates and bowls all down the middle. A young man is standing up, holding a large dish and laughing. A little girl is under the table with a dog. Somebody has hung small lights in the tree above them, and there is a plastic box of cutlery on the grass that nobody has opened.
A model minute on the first photograph. Read it aloud once with a clock, so you feel how much a minute actually holds.
“This photograph was taken at a bus stop, somewhere in Britain I think, and it must be late in the afternoon because the shop lights are already on and the pavement is wet. There are about six people waiting under the shelter. In the middle there's an older woman in a bright red coat, and she's leaning out and looking up the road — I think she's checking whether the bus is coming. Next to her there's a teenage boy with headphones on, and he isn't looking at anything except his phone. Behind them two women are talking and laughing, so they're probably friends, or maybe they work together. The person I keep looking at is the man on the right, because he's standing outside in the rain with a newspaper on his head instead of coming in under the roof. I'm not sure why. Perhaps there simply isn't room. Everybody looks like they've been there for a while.”
Why that reaches a minute when a list does not. It has four moves — the place, the time and the weather; two people described with ing verbs; a guess about a relationship; and one person the speaker finds interesting, with a reason. Any picture in the world can be done with those four moves, and you can rehearse them once and use them for the rest of your life.
The language that does the work. Present continuous for what is happening (she's looking, they're talking), position phrases so the examiner can follow your eyes (in the middle, next to her, behind them, on the right), and hedging for the guesses (I think, maybe, it looks like, probably, perhaps). Guessing is not a risk in this part; it is the part.
Now you talk to your partner, not to the examiner. You are given a situation and some ideas, and you discuss them together and then agree on one. Here is the thing worth knowing: this part is not marked on your decision. It is marked on the conversation — whether you listen, respond, disagree politely, and bring the other person in. A candidate who talks brilliantly for three minutes and never once asks their partner a question scores lower than one who does neither.
A secondary school in Britain wants to help students who have just arrived from another country to settle in and make friends. Here are some ideas they are thinking about. Talk together about how good these ideas would be — and then decide which two would help the most.
A · A buddy — every new student is given one student from their year who looks after them for the first month.
B · A lunch club — a room open every Thursday lunchtime where anyone can come and eat together.
C · A football team — an after-school team that anybody can join, with no trials.
D · A language café — one hour a week where students teach each other words from their own languages.
E · A group chat — a phone group for the year, run by two students, for news and questions.
F · A trip — a day out in the first term for all the new students together.
Thirty seconds of what this should sound like. Notice how short the turns are. Two people, back and forth — not two speeches.
“Shall we start with the buddy one? I think it's the strongest, because on your first day you only really need one person who knows where everything is. What do you think?”
“Yes, I agree, although it depends who they give you. If you don't like your buddy, you're stuck with them for a month.”
“That's true. Maybe that's why the lunch club is useful as well — nobody chooses it for you, you just walk in.”
“I hadn't thought of that. And it's every week, so if you're ill once it doesn't matter.”
“Exactly. What about the football team?”
“I'm not sure about that one, honestly. It's great if you play football, but if you're shy it's the hardest one on the list.”
The four things being marked here, in the order they are most often lost: 1 · Sharing the floor. Roughly equal talking time, and you have asked your partner at least twice what they think. 2 · Responding. Your sentence begins from theirs — That's true…, I hadn't thought of that… — rather than starting again from nothing. 3 · Reasons. Every opinion has a because. 4 · Reaching the decision out loud, together, before the examiner stops you.
If your partner goes quiet, that is your opportunity and not your problem: ask them a direct question about one idea. Which of these would you have wanted, if it had been you? Rescuing the conversation is the strongest thing you can do in this part.
The examiner now asks you both some wider questions about the same subject. You are no longer describing or deciding — you are giving opinions, and you are expected to answer each other as well as the examiner. This is the part where the strongest candidates pull away, because it is the only part where you can bring in something from your own life that nobody could have predicted.
A model answer, and then what makes it one.
“Is it easy or difficult to make new friends at a new school? — I think it's harder than most adults remember. At fifteen, everybody already belongs to a group, and joining a group is a completely different thing from making one friend. My cousin changed school last year and she told me the worst part wasn't the lessons at all, it was lunchtime. So I'd say the school should worry less about the classroom and more about the twenty minutes in the middle of the day.”
Four moves, and you can hear each one: a clear position in the first sentence; a reason introduced with because; a concrete example from real life; and a conclusion that goes slightly further than the question asked. Any of the five questions above can be answered with those four moves.
Talk to your partner here too. Part 4 is a discussion, not two interviews happening in the same room. If your partner answers first, begin from what they said: I'd add something to that…, I see it slightly differently…, That's a good point, but I think…. Three phrases, and they lift this part more reliably than any vocabulary list.
The three sentences to have ready before you walk in. Sorry, could you repeat that? — when you did not hear. Do you mean…? — when you did not understand. That's an interesting question, actually. I suppose… — when you need three seconds to think, which is allowed, and which sounds far better than silence.
Listen to each one once for content — did you answer the question? — and once for sound: speed, pauses, the ends of words. Two listenings, two different jobs.
Three things move a B1 speaking mark faster than more vocabulary: finishing your sentences, adding a reason to every opinion, and asking your partner what they think. None of them requires a single new word.