Part 2 Individual Long Turn (3-4 minutes)

The examiner will ask you to speak for 1-2 minutes on a topic, which he or she will give you on a card. The card will give you an outline of what you need to talk about. You will be given one minute to prepare and you can make notes. The examiner will give you a piece of paper and a pen. He or she will invite you to start talking when your preparation time is up. The examiner will not say anything while you are speaking but will stop you, if you talk for more than two minutes. Then you might be asked one or two short follow-up questions.

The topics will be of a general nature. You will be asked to describe things such as a restaurant you enjoy eating in, a book you have read recently or a piece of equipment in your house you cannot live without.

You will also be asked to relate what you are talking about, to yourself – e.g. ‘say why you choose to eat in this restaurant’ or ‘say what you enjoyed about the book’.
For example:

Describe a restaurant you enjoy eating in.

You should say:

where this restaurant is
what kind of menu it has
what other features it has
and explain why you choose to eat there.

This part gives you the opportunity to show that you can speak at length without hesitation. It is also important to show that you can organize your ideas coherently.

How to do Part 2

• Read the topic card carefully.

• Use the preparation time wisely. Make sure you have understood what you need to talk about. Jot down a few points to answer the prompts on the topic card. Don’t waste time writing sentences.

• Don’t write on the topic card.

• Make sure you answer both parts of the topic card – description and explanation.

• Organise your talk by following the order on the card.

• Make your talk as interesting and as lively as possible.

• Refer to your notes as you talk, expanding each point you have.

• Make sure you use examples from your own life. It’s much easier to talk more fluently about your own experiences.

• Try to expand your sentences using linking words like ‘however’ and ‘although’. Don’t use words like ‘moreover’ and ‘thus’ which are normally used for writing.

• Don’t hesitate for too long. Talk about anything related to the question rather than nothing at all.

• Try to relax and enjoy talking about yourself !

• Don’t worry about the time. The examiner will stop you when your time is up.

• Also, don’t worry if the examiner stops you before you have finished. You will not be penalized for not concluding your talk.

How to prepare for Part 2

• Using the topics you have thought about for Part 1 take them one at a time and time yourself preparing for one minute and talking about them for one to two minutes.

• Record yourself talking on these topics. Play the recordings back to see how easy you are to understand and how you could improve. Use the checklist on the next page to assess your performance:


- Did I cover all the points ?
- Did I elaborate the points ?
- Did I vary my vocabulary ?
- Did I organize my ideas logically ?
- Would an examiner understood me ?
- Was my pronounciation clear ?
- Were my notes useful?
- How long did I talk for ?


* Spend some time thinking about how you will make notes. Mindmaps are quick and useful for this kind of activity.

* Think about the language:
- to introduce your topic
- to describe objects, people, events or places
- to describe a sequence of events
- to talk about experiences
- to talk about how you feel or felt about something in the past
- to talk about personal goals

* Practice short answer questions for the follow-up questions.

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