Speaking (videos of tests)

ACTUAL TEST VIDEOS

The videos below of candidates taking the test have been taken from the Internet. They are very useful materials for students who are planning to sit the test soon. They will give you an idea of what to expect and what different levels look like.

I think that the candidates are very generous for allowing their tests to be used in this way. Thank you to all of your for your generosity.

* BAND 9 SPEAKING (part three)

Why did this candidate get a Band 9?

THINGS SHE DOES WELL

Continues speaking – gives extended answers with examples
fluent
Uses natural fillers (and, um, I suppose, like, you know)
Excellent vocabulary – (strikes a chord, grasp, mindset, whereas)
Excellent range of grammar

THINGS SHE DOESN’T DO SO WELL

Grammatical errors

I didn’t detect any errors

Pronunciation

no problems at all

Vocabulary

one word used incorrectly – ‘whereby’

* BAND 8 SPEAKING (part Three)

Why did this candidate get a Band 8?

THINGS SHE DOES WELL

Continues speaking – gives extended answers with examples
Good range of vocabulary – “everybody needs an anchor point or a balance …”
Fluent
Uses natural fillers (and, and / is a, is a / I mean / but, ah)

THINGS SHE DOESN’T DO SO WELL

Grammatical errors

“People are looking forward to their holidays.”
(Ooops! Should be present simple – People look forward to their holidays. She makes this particular mistake with present continuous Vs present simple several times.)
“Family life isn’t that what it was before.”
(Ooops! The word ‘that’ shouldn’t be in there. Family life isn’t what it was before.)

Pronunciation

hobby – hoppy
jogging – jocking
Germans – Chermans
jobs – Chobs
survive – surwive

* BAND 7 SPEAKING (PART THREE)

Why did this candidate get a Band 7?

THINGS HE DOES WELL

Continues speaking – gives extended answers.
Uses some good vocabulary / phrases – “it’s easy to blame them …” “at the moment,” “would be quite likely because …”
comfortable with familiar question types
many of his sentences are error-free
occasional good use of a strategy to gain time to think, “Yea, that’s a good question, maybe …”

THINGS HE DOESN’T DO SO WELL

There are a few too many hesitations where he says “um, ah, to um, ah, to …”

Grammar:

He makes a lot of small mistakes. They don’t interfere with communication, but they are obvious:

for everything what happen
(Ooops! FOR EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENS)
people who wants to save the planet
(Ooops! PEOPLE WHO WANT TO SAVE THE PLANET)
it is quite often that they use this image
(Ooops! THIS IMAGE IS FREQUENTLY USED)
the people who admires him
Ooops! THE PEPLE WHO ADMIRE HIM)
If he is at home, it is okay what he is doing
(Ooops! IF THE IS AT HOME, IT IS OKAY WHAT HE DOES)
if he can’t stand the pressure
(Ooops! IF THEY CAN’T STAND THE PRESSURE)

Vocabulary:

We don’t have a big branch of this
(Ooops! IT IS NOT BIG IN GERMANY.)

WHAT HE COULD DO TO IMPROVE

At his level, he needs to pay a bit more attention to basic grammar and he needs to use some more complex structures
He needs to continue working on his vocabulary as a lot of it was accurate, but quite basic

* BAND 7 SPEAKING (PART THREE)

Why did this candidate get a Band 7?

THINGS HE DOES WELL

A lot of very accurate sentences; both complex and simple “It keeps people busy doing something healthy and productive,”if you sit in front of the television watching a match.”
some good phrases that he seemed very comfortable with, “and also the media helps,” “so that helps,” “and the news as well,” “it is likely that,” “will become,” “are becoming.”
Uses English fillers, “um” “ah”

THINGS HE DOESN’T DO SO WELL

He could probably extend himself further with more use of comparisons and justifications

Grammar:

He makes a few small mistakes; mostly in more complex sentences.

I think people work too much; more than than the leisure
(Ooops! I THINK PEOPLE SPEND TOO MUCH TIME AT WORK AND NOT ENOUGH ON LEISURE ACTIVITIES)
want to go higher, higher
(Ooops! WANT TO GO HIGHER AND HIGHER)
people need to work a lot to provide themselves
(Oops! PEOPLE NEED TO WORK A LOT TO PROVIDE FOR THEMSELVES)

Vocabulary:

No gaps here, but he could have delved into more complex vocabulary

WHAT HE COULD DO TO IMPROVE

He is quite fluent, but the vocabulary could be stronger and he could venture into more complex structures to demonstrate that he is well beyond ‘familiar’ topics and can handle less familiar topics well too.

* band 6 speaking (part three)

Why did this candidate get a Band 6?

THINGS HE DOES WELL

Continues speaking – gives extended answers.
Uses some good vocab – “we need to focus on …”
Handles the future well – “In future we will …”

THINGS HE DOESN’T DO SO WELL

Lots of mistakes with simple past:

“Those people who ARE famous in the past …” (Ooops! – WERE)
“They DO a lot … ” (Oooops! DID)

Lots of grammatical errors:

” … found a new way about building a new thing …”
(Oooops! FOUND NEW WAYS TO SOLVE PROBLEMS / CREATE NEW THINGS)
” It can change the way of we see the world. Especially to the children.”
(Ooops! THE WAY WE SEE THE WORLD. IT IS ESPECIALLY INFLUENTIAL ON YOUNG CHILDREN.)
“They say movie stars is good”
(Oooops! THEY SAY MOVIE STARS ARE GOOD)

WHAT HE COULD DO TO IMPROVE

He needs to work on grammar. Probably if he thinks about it, he would be aware of most of his mistakes, but he has formed a habit which he learned early on. He needs to practice speaking every day and needs to record himself so that he uses past tenses correctly.
He needs to work on his vocabulary. There were a few opportunities to use more sophisticated vocabulary, but instead he used simple vocab with incorrect grammar. An example is where he was talking about the impact of famous people on children. He could have been talking about positive and negative role models and/or positive and negative influence.

* BAND 6 SPEAKING (PART ONE)

Why did she get a 6?

THINGS SHE DOES WELL

Continues speaking – gives extended answers.
Uses some good vocab – “panoramic views …”

THINGS SHE DOESN’T DO SO WELL

Grammar:

” …. round about 25 kilometres”
(Oooops! AROUND 25 KILOMETRES AWAY)
” This last four month I was making an internship.”
(Ooops! DURING THE LAST FOUR MONTHS I HAD AN INTERNSHIP.)
“When I was 12 until 16”
(Oooops! FROM THE TIME I WAS 12 UNTIL I WAS 16)

Pronunciation:

She frequently uses the word ‘beaches,’ but it sounds like ‘bitches.’ (not good!)
There is a problem with the ‘th’ / ‘d’ sound. ‘Weather’ sounds like ‘Wedder.’
drops ‘h’ sometimes (instead of ‘historical’ we heard ‘istorical’)

WHAT SHE COULD DO TO IMPROVE

She is relatively fluent, but needs to work on basic grammar.
Although she occasionally uses an unusual word like ‘panoramic’ for the most part her vocabulary is quite simple. It is good to discuss everyday topics, but is a bit limited.

* BAND 6 SPEAKING (approx) (full test)

I don’t know exactly what this candidate got, but it was most likely a 6.

COMMENT

I think she was lucky to get a 5.

THINGS SHE DOES WELL

Continues speaking – tries to give extended answers.
Attempts to answer all questions

THINGS SHE DOESN’T DO SO WELL

Fluency:

She speaks much too quickly

Grammar:

Many errors
the childrens / the children
I want to do volunteers / I want to do voluntary work

Pronunciation:

many problems with pronunciation
- sopping / shoppin
- to buy new close / to buy new clothes
- trayvel / travel
drops the end of many words and has problems with the middle of some words
- more frien / more friends
- the mo important / the most important
- gi a hand / give a hand
- hep them / help them

WHAT SHE COULD DO TO IMPROVE

She needs to extend her vocabulary
She needs to work on her pronunciation because at the moment it is impeding communication.

* BAND 5.5 SPEAKING (PART THREE)

Why did he get 5.5?

THINGS HE DOES WELL

He is able to keep talking
His answers are always relevant
He uses some good strategies. For example, at one point he needs time to think, so he says, “It’s an interesting question this one, because … “
He has some good phrases to mark his ideas, “for example, it’s possible that, maybe X, maybe Y, in the past X while now Y
He has some good phrases / vocabulary – “presented in the media,” “while now everyone can be famous,” “especially the young ones,” famous in a specific group. “maybe a good example of that.”

THINGS HE DOESN’T DO SO WELL

Pronunciation:

At times his pronunciation interferes and it is difficult to understand him
Some sounds are frequently wrong and they interfere with ease of understanding
- Ujerly – usually
- sportsmain – sportsmen
- collej – colleagues
- degrade things – do great things

Grammar:
This is the largest problem area. Almost every sentence had grammatical errors

Who’s they usually are presented in the media
(Ooops! PEOPLE WHO ARE PRESENTED IN THE MEDIA USUALLY … )
In the past is hard to be famous
(Ooops! IN THE PAST IT WAS HARD TO BE FAMOUS)
Everybody will forgot them
(Oops! EVERYBODY WILL FORGET THEM)
It is easy anyone to be famous
(Ooops! IT IS EASY FOR ANYONE TO BE FAMOUS)

WHAT HE COULD DO TO IMPROVE

He has some good phrases, but he needs to keep building his vocabulary, and he needs to work on a few key pronunciation issues. However, the most important thing he needs to do is work on his grammatical accuracy. With the current level of grammatical errors, it will be difficult for him to get a much higher test score.

* BAND 5 SPEAKING (PART ONE)

Why did she get 5?

COMMENT

I think she was lucky to get a 5.

THINGS SHE DOES WELL

Continues speaking – tries to give extended answers.
Attempts to answer all questions

THINGS SHE DOESN’T DO SO WELL

Fluency:

She speaks much too quickly

Grammar:

Many errors
the childrens / the children
I want to do volunteers / I want to do voluntary work

Pronunciation:

many problems with pronunciation
- sopping / shoppin
- to buy new close / to buy new clothes
- trayvel / travel
drops the end of many words and has problems with the middle of some words
- more frien / more friends
- the mo important / the most important
- gi a hand / give a hand
- hep them / help them

WHAT SHE COULD DO TO IMPROVE

She needs to extend her vocabulary
She needs to work on her pronunciation because at the moment it is impeding communication

* BAND 4.5 SPEAKING (PART ONE)

Why did she get 4.5?

COMMENT

She was a bit unlucky to only get a 4.5.

THINGS SHE DOES WELL

Continues speaking – tries to give extended answers.
Attempts to answer all questions

THINGS SHE DOESN’T DO SO WELL

Fluency:

She uses a lot of non-English fillers – (ehm, un, eh)
Most sentences have pauses and fillers

Grammar:

Many errors
” The person who I would like to speak is about …”
(Oooops! I’D LIKE TO SPEAK ABOUT … )
” how is another part of the world”
(Ooops! WHAT ANOTHER PART OF THE WORLD IS LIKE.)

Pronunciation:

‘This parra the country’
(Ooops! THIS PART OF THE COUNTRY.)
‘dangerOS’
(Ooops! DANgerous)
‘chow’
(Oops! SHOW)

WHAT SHE COULD DO TO IMPROVE

She needs to do a lot more listening and a lot more speaking
At the moment a lot of what she says is very difficult to understand – more practice will give her more confidence
She needs to use English fillers – um, er