A common question is what you should do if you get a hard question in speaking – one you know little about. Here is some advice and an example to show you how it can work. To understand this advice, you really need to understand how the speaking is scored. Put simply all these count equally:
- Pronunciation
- Grammar
- Fluency and coherence
- Vocabulary
What you should immediately see is that there is no score for “content” – life is possible.
What NOT to do
Do not panic: confident speakers speak better! Remember that there are very few marks for the “content” of what you say. Yes, you may lose out slightly on vocabulary but you can still show off your general speaking skills such as being coherent and having good pronunciation. All is not lost if you keep a clear head
Do not talk about something completely different: Please don’t try and change the topic completely. Examiners really hate this. You need to learn the skill of talking around a topic – something I explain more below
Do not stop speaking too soon: Quality matters but so does quantity. It’s a serious mistake to “give up” and only speak for a minute or so because you think you have nothing to say. There is always a way to say more.
Ways to survive!
Limit your losses and concentrate on what you can do: This may sound negative but I think it can help just to accept that this isn’t going to be perfect AND then think about how to save yourself. Remember that this is just one part of the test and there are many more questions to come. Here you may lose out on vocabulary but there are still plenty of other things to get right. I suggest you should think about staying coherent and fluent in particular.
Don’t worry too much about topic vocabulary: The words about the topic are normally a small proportion of the words you use in your answer. You can still use a wide range of opinion vocabulary and standard speaking phrases/idiom. These can impress an examiner as much as precise topic language.
Have a plan: Not everyone is happy doing this but it really can help to have a speaking plan. I mean by this having a way that you normally answer a part 2 question. The idea is that you approach each topic in much the same way. In this way you can take the stress out of the situation: you know how you are going to speak, you just need to find the words!
Use the cue card as a plan: Much the safest plan is to follow the questions on the cue card and use them as your plan. You have very limited thinking time and so why waste it re-inventing the wheel? You don’t need to decide what topics to include – it’s already been done for you.
Think about the thing you can speak most about – not what words you want to use: The best thing you can do in your one minute is to make sure you have chosen something you can keep talking about (fluency). Don’t worry if your notes are only 3 words. If you choose the right idea, then the words will follow. In my example below, I started with 2 words and just followed the card through.
Use the cue card questions and think detail: The cue card doesn’t just ask you to talk about a topic, it suggests details you should add in. Very often, these added questions ask about when and where you saw/experienced something. Don’t be afraid to add detail about the time and the place. If you do this, you are talking around the topic – that’s ok.
Allow yourself some repetition – just say what you are doing: We do repeat ourselves speaking – naturally. If you get a hard topic, you are likely to repeat yourself a little more because your brain is working harder trying to work out what to say. All you need to do is to tell the examiner that this is what you’re doing. Curiously, this can even improve your score!
You can lie a little too!: This is a language test and that is all. It can help to add in a few imaginary details – things that could be true. This can help you produce more language than if you keep to your real life which may be less interesting than you want.
See it work in practice
Here is a possibly very nasty cue card. My answer isn’t perfect but it’s quite adequate. There are lots of things for an alert examiner to like even though I avoid almost all art appreciation vocabulary. Have a listen if you like and then read the transcript and my notes. This is what I am talking about. A statue I did once see.
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