Listening
4 sections, 40 questions, about 30 minutes. Play each section’s audio once only. Spelling is graded — a misspelt word is marked wrong. Type your answers in the boxes.
Questions 1–7
Complete the form. Write ONE WORD AND/OR A NUMBER for each answer.
Riverside Sports Club — Membership Enquiry
1 Caller’s surname:
2 Type of membership chosen:
3 Monthly fee: £
4 Preferred start date: the of June
5 Main sport of interest:
6 Free induction lasts: minutes
7 Item to bring to the first session: a
Questions 8–10
Choose the correct letter, A, B or C.
Questions 11–15
Complete the notes. Write NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS for each answer.
Hartwood Country Park — visitor talk
11 The park first opened to the public in .
12 The most popular trail is called the Walk.
13 Visitors are asked not to feed the .
14 The cafe is located next to the .
15 Free guided tours start at every day.
Questions 16–20
Which feature is found at each location? Choose the correct letter A–G and type it in the box.
Features: A bird hide · B old mill · C playground · D rose garden · E boathouse · F car park · G lookout tower
16 North of the lake:
17 Beside the main entrance:
18 At the top of the hill:
19 Along the river:
20 Behind the cafe:
Questions 21–25
Choose the correct letter, A, B or C.
Questions 26–30
Who will do each task? Type J (Jacob), M (Maria) or B (both).
26 Design the questionnaire:
27 Analyse the numbers:
28 Write the introduction:
29 Prepare the slides:
30 Check the references:
Questions 31–40
Complete the lecture notes. Write ONE WORD ONLY for each answer.
Lecture: a short history of artificial light
31 The earliest lamps burned animal .
32 Roman lamps were usually made of .
33 Gas lighting first appeared in city .
34 Early electric bulbs used a carbon .
35 The main advantage of electric light over flame was greater .
36 Factories were now able to operate during the .
37 One modern drawback discussed is light .
38 Artificial light at night can disturb the of birds.
39 Compared with older bulbs, LEDs save a great deal of .
40 The speaker predicts that future lighting will become more .
Full transcript (Sections 1–4)
You will hear a conversation between a man called Tom at Riverside Sports Club and a woman called Karen Donovan, who is enquiring about membership. First you have some time to look at questions 1 to 7.
Now listen carefully and answer questions 1 to 7.
RECEPTIONIST: Good afternoon, Riverside Sports Club, Tom speaking. How can I help? CALLER: Hello, I’m thinking of joining and I’ve got a few questions, if that’s all right. R: Of course. Could I have your name? C: Yes, it’s Karen Donovan. R: Could you spell the surname for me? C: Sure — D-O-N-O-V-A-N. Donovan. R: Thank you, Karen. We offer three types of membership: basic, standard, and a premium one that includes classes. Which would you like? C: The premium is a bit much for me. I think the standard membership is the right one. R: Standard, perfect. That one is normally fifty pounds a month, but there’s a promotion on at the moment, so it’s actually forty-five pounds a month. C: Forty-five a month, that’s good. When could I start? R: Whenever suits you. Did you have a date in mind? C: I’m away at the start of June, so could I begin on the fourteenth of June? R: The fourteenth of June — no problem. Is there a particular sport you’re mainly interested in? C: Mainly swimming. I might try the gym later, but swimming is the main thing. R: Lovely. Every new member gets a free induction with one of our instructors. It used to be thirty minutes but we’ve extended it — it now lasts sixty minutes. C: Sixty minutes, okay. R: And for that first session, please bring a towel. You don’t need anything else — lockers are provided. C: A towel, got it.
Before you hear the rest of the conversation, you have some time to look at questions 8 to 10.
Now listen and answer questions 8 to 10.
C: What about parking? R: Parking used to be free, but I’m afraid it’s now two pounds per visit for everyone, members included. The car park is open every day, including weekends. C: All right. And the pool — is it open every day? R: The pool is open daily, although it’s closed on Wednesday afternoons for cleaning and maintenance. Mornings and evenings are usually the quietest times. C: Good to know. I think I’d actually like to come and look around before I commit. R: That’s a sensible idea — lots of people prefer to visit first. Just come to reception any day and ask for a tour. C: Great, I’ll do that this week. Thanks for your help.
That is the end of section 1. You now have half a minute to check your answers.
Now turn to section 2.
SECTION 2You will hear a guide giving an introductory talk to a group of visitors at Hartwood Country Park. First you have some time to look at questions 11 to 15.
Now listen carefully and answer questions 11 to 15.
GUIDE: Good morning everyone, and welcome to Hartwood Country Park. The land here was originally a private estate. It was given to the local council and first opened to the public in 1958, so we’ve been welcoming visitors for well over sixty years now. We have several walking trails of different lengths. The longest is the Hill Circuit, which is demanding, and there’s a gentle Riverside Loop that families like. But by far the most popular trail is the Bluebell Walk — in spring the woodland floor is completely blue, and it gets very busy, so do come early if you can. A couple of important rules. You’re welcome to bring food for yourselves, but please don’t feed the deer — we have a small herd, and human food makes them ill, so do keep your distance. Dogs are fine on a lead. Now, if you’d like refreshments, the cafe is next to the lake, with a terrace looking over the water, and it serves hot food until three. Free guided tours leave from this spot, just by the information board, at eleven every day, and they last about an hour.
Before you hear the rest of the talk, you have some time to look at questions 16 to 20.
Now listen and answer questions 16 to 20.
GUIDE: Let me describe the layout so you don’t get lost. We’re standing at the main entrance, and right beside it, on your left as you came in, is the car park. If you walk north, around to the far side of the lake, you’ll find the bird hide — it’s excellent for photography, especially early in the morning. The lake itself: on the near shore, just below us, there’s the boathouse, where you can hire a rowing boat in summer. Follow the path uphill, and at the very top of the hill there’s a lookout tower — the climb is worth it for the view across the whole valley. The river runs along the eastern edge of the park, and if you walk along the river you’ll come to the old mill, which still has its original water wheel and is now a small museum. There’s also a beautiful rose garden near the entrance, which is at its best in June. And finally, just behind the cafe, there’s a playground, so the children can run around while you have a coffee. Right — any questions before you set off?
That is the end of section 2. You now have half a minute to check your answers.
Now turn to section 3.
SECTION 3You will hear two students, Jacob and Maria, discussing their project on food waste with their tutor. First you have some time to look at questions 21 to 25.
Now listen carefully and answer questions 21 to 25.
TUTOR: Come in, both of you. So, how’s the project going? Remind me of the focus. JACOB: Thanks. Originally we were going to look at recycling habits in student halls, but we changed it — it’s now about food waste, how much edible food students throw away and why. TUTOR: Food waste, good — that’s more specific. Any problems so far? MARIA: Yes, actually. I’m a bit worried about our survey. We’ve only had thirty responses, and I don’t think thirty people is enough to say anything reliable. The sample is just too small. JACOB: I thought the answers we got were honest enough, though. MARIA: Oh, I’m not doubting they’re honest — it’s the number that worries me. TUTOR: That’s a fair concern. I wouldn’t change the topic at this stage. What I’d suggest is keeping the survey but adding a few in-depth interviews. Even five or six interviews would give you depth that thirty short surveys can’t. JACOB: That makes sense. How long should we keep collecting data? TUTOR: I’d say two weeks. One week is too short to see any pattern, and a whole month would leave you no time to write up. MARIA: Two weeks it is. TUTOR: And honestly, what’s been the hardest part so far? JACOB: The reading wasn’t too bad, and we’ve kept to our deadlines. For me it’s definitely been the statistics — working out which tests to use. MARIA: Same. The numbers have been the real struggle.
Before you hear the rest of the conversation, you have some time to look at questions 26 to 30.
Now listen and answer questions 26 to 30.
TUTOR: That’s very common — there’s a workshop that will help. Now, let’s sort out who does what. The questionnaire — who’s finishing that? JACOB: I’ll design the questionnaire. I’ve already started it. MARIA: And I’ll analyse the numbers — I want the practice before the exam, even though I find it hard. TUTOR: Good. What about the introduction to the report? JACOB: We thought we’d write the introduction together, since it sets up both our parts. TUTOR: That works well. Slides for the presentation? MARIA: I’ll do the slides — I enjoy that side of it. JACOB: And I’ll check the references at the end, make sure they’re all formatted correctly. TUTOR: Excellent — that’s a clear division of labour. Send me the questionnaire before you launch it.
That is the end of section 3. You now have half a minute to check your answers.
Now turn to section 4.
SECTION 4You will hear a lecture about the history of artificial light. First you have some time to look at questions 31 to 40.
Now listen carefully and answer questions 31 to 40.
LECTURER: Today I want to trace a single thread through human history: the story of artificial light. We take the switch on the wall for granted, but for almost all of our history, light after sunset was scarce and precious. The very earliest lamps were extremely simple: a hollow stone, or later a shaped bowl, in which people burned animal fat, with a fibre of moss or plant material as a wick. It gave a dim, smoky, smelly flame, but it pushed back the dark. The Romans refined this considerably. Their lamps were usually made of clay, mass-produced in moulds, and they burned olive oil, which was cleaner and brighter than fat. Some wealthy households used bronze lamps, but for ordinary people clay was standard, and archaeologists find these clay lamps in enormous numbers. For many centuries after Rome, lighting barely improved — candles and oil lamps remained the norm. The next real revolution came with gas. In the early nineteenth century, gas lighting first appeared in city streets, and it transformed urban life: for the first time, public space was usable and relatively safe after dark, and cities began to develop a genuine night-time economy. Then came electricity. The early electric bulbs used a thin carbon filament inside a glass bulb, heated until it glowed. Why did electric light spread so fast? The main advantage over a flame was greater safety. An open flame is always a fire risk; an enclosed electric bulb dramatically reduced fires in homes and, crucially, in workplaces. And that had a huge economic consequence: factories could now operate during the night, running shifts around the clock, which reshaped industry and labour. But artificial light is not without its costs. The first issue is light pollution — the glow over our cities that washes out the stars. It is more than an aesthetic loss. Artificial light at night can disturb the migration of birds, many of which navigate by natural light and become disoriented around brightly lit buildings. It also affects insects and human sleep. On the positive side, technology is responding. Compared with older incandescent or even fluorescent bulbs, modern LEDs save an enormous amount of energy — often around eighty per cent — and they last far longer. Looking ahead, I’d predict that lighting will become much more intelligent: systems that dim automatically when a room is empty, that adjust to the level of daylight, and that shift colour through the day to match our natural rhythms. So the story isn’t finished — it’s simply entering its next chapter.
That is the end of section 4. You now have half a minute to check your answers.
That is the end of the listening test. In the real exam you would now have ten minutes to transfer your answers to your answer sheet.
Listening answer key
Accepted variants: 4 “fourteenth”; 6 “sixty”; 15 “eleven” / “11am”. Spelling must be correct.
Score guide (out of 40): 36–40 ≈ Band 8.5+ · 30–35 ≈ Band 7–8 · 23–29 ≈ Band 6–6.5 · 16–22 ≈ Band 5–5.5.
Reading
3 passages, 40 questions, 60 minutes. There is no extra time to transfer answers in the real exam — type them as you go.
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1–13.
The making of the spice trade
Long before container ships and refrigeration, an intricate network of overland caravans and monsoon-driven sea routes carried pepper, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg from South and Southeast Asia to the kitchens, churches and pharmacies of Europe. To the modern mind, accustomed to spice racks bought cheaply at any supermarket, the importance once attached to these substances can be hard to grasp. Yet for well over a thousand years, spices were among the most valuable commodities on earth, and the desire to control them helped redraw the map of the world.
It would be a mistake to think that spices were prized in medieval Europe only as flavourings. They were certainly used to season food, but they were also valued as medicines, prescribed by physicians for everything from digestive complaints to plague; as preservatives and masking agents in an age without refrigeration; and, not least, as visible symbols of wealth. A host who could afford to season a banquet lavishly was advertising not merely good taste but money, status and far-reaching connections. Spices were given as diplomatic gifts and even used, on occasion, as currency.
The economics of the trade were extraordinary, and they rested on a simple geographical fact. In the islands where nutmeg and cloves actually grew, the spices were ordinary and inexpensive — a local crop, not a luxury. Their astonishing European price was created almost entirely by distance, by the physical risk of the journey, and by the sheer number of hands the goods passed through on the way. A sack of nutmeg that cost very little at its source might be sold, after months of dangerous travel and a dozen transactions, for many hundreds of times its original value. Because no single merchant controlled the whole route, value was added at every stage, and those who profited most were frequently the middlemen who never saw the plants growing at all.
This structure created an irresistible incentive: if a European power could find a direct sea route to the source and cut out the intermediaries, the rewards would be immense. That search drove the great voyages of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and when European ships finally reached the spice islands, the balance of the trade shifted decisively. The trading companies that followed did not merely wish to buy spices; they wanted to control where and how much was grown. In some cases cultivation was deliberately restricted to a few islands, and surplus trees were destroyed, in order to keep supply low and prices high. This conscious management of scarcity is an early and striking example of a commercial strategy still recognisable in some industries today. It also had severe consequences for the people who lived in those islands — a dimension that older, more romantic histories of exploration tended to pass over in silence.
Modern historians have revised the traditional story in two important ways. First, they stress that Asian, Arab and African traders were not passive suppliers waiting to be “discovered”; they ran sophisticated commercial networks, with their own credit systems, shipping and law, long before European arrival. Second, they emphasise that the exchange ran in both directions. Alongside the spices travelled techniques, words, plants and tastes, so that cuisines, languages and gardens on several continents were quietly reshaped. The history of the spice trade, once told mainly as a tale of European daring, is increasingly understood as a shared, unequal and deeply interconnected global story.
Questions 1–6
Do the statements agree with the information in the passage? Write TRUE, FALSE or NOT GIVEN.
1 In medieval Europe, spices were valued only for their taste.
2 Middlemen often profited from spices without seeing where they were grown.
3 Nutmeg was expensive in the islands where it grew.
4 Some trading companies deliberately limited where spices could be grown.
5 The spice trade led to a war between two European countries.
6 Recent historians stress that Asian traders ran sophisticated networks.
Questions 7–10
Complete the sentences. Write NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage.
7 Besides flavour and medicine, spices were valued as visible symbols of .
8 The high European price came from distance, risk and the number of the goods passed through.
9 Restricting cultivation was a deliberate way to keep high.
10 Along the trade routes, techniques, words, plants and also travelled.
Questions 11–13
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
Passage 1 answer key
Notes: 1 FALSE — they were also medicines, preservatives and status symbols. 3 FALSE — “ordinary and inexpensive” at source. 5 NOT GIVEN — no war between two countries is mentioned. 8 “middlemen” also accepted.
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14–26.
How cities cool themselves
A On a still summer afternoon, the centre of a large city can be several degrees hotter than the open countryside only a few kilometres away. This well-documented phenomenon, known as the urban heat island, has a set of interlocking causes. Dark roofs and asphalt absorb sunlight and re-radiate it as heat; tall buildings trap that heat in narrow streets; there is a shortage of vegetation to provide shade and moisture; and engines, factories and air-conditioning units pour additional warmth into the air. As the share of humanity living in cities continues to climb, and as heatwaves grow more frequent, managing urban heat has shifted from a question of comfort to one of public health, since extreme heat kills more people in many countries than any other weather hazard.
B One of the most effective responses is also one of the oldest: trees. A mature street tree cools its surroundings in two distinct ways. It casts shade, lowering the temperature of the pavements and walls beneath it, and it releases water vapour through its leaves, which cools the surrounding air much as sweat cools skin. Field studies in cities from Melbourne to Manchester have measured noticeably lower temperatures along well-planted streets compared with bare ones nearby. The difficulty is one of time and upkeep. A newly planted sapling provides almost no benefit; trees grow slowly, and a street must be planted, watered and protected for many years before the full cooling effect arrives. The investment is real, and its reward is delayed.
C A faster intervention is, in effect, to change the colour of the city. Painting roofs white, or surfacing them with reflective materials, and using pale rather than dark paving, sends a large fraction of incoming sunlight straight back to the sky instead of letting it become heat. The physics is simple and well understood, and several cities have run large “cool roof” programmes covering millions of square metres. There is a limitation, however. A bright roof markedly reduces the temperature of the roof itself and the rooms beneath it, but its effect on the air down at street level, where people actually walk, is smaller. Reflective surfaces therefore work best as one element of a wider strategy rather than as a complete solution on their own.
D Water offers a third route. Fountains, ponds, canals and even fine mists lower the temperature of the air immediately around them, again through evaporation: as liquid water turns to vapour it draws heat out of the air. Designers increasingly weave small water features into squares and plazas for precisely this reason, and historic cities in hot climates have used courtyards and channels in this way for centuries. The trade-off is obvious in dry regions, where water is scarce and the competing demands on it are severe; a cooling fountain can be hard to justify where drinking water is rationed.
E The most promising approach is to stop searching for a single cure and instead treat the problem as a system. Combining shade trees, reflective surfaces, shaded walkways, water features and thoughtful building orientation produces a result greater than the sum of the individual measures. Just as important is the question of where these interventions are placed. The burden of urban heat is not shared equally: poorer districts typically have fewer trees, more hard surfaces and less greenery than wealthy ones, and they often house the people most vulnerable to heat. Deciding where cooling is installed, then, is not only a technical matter but a question of fairness.
Questions 14–18
The passage has five paragraphs, A–E. Choose the correct heading for each paragraph and type the paragraph letter (A–E) in the box.
14 Heading: “A slow but proven natural method” — paragraph
15 Heading: “Why cities heat up” — paragraph
16 Heading: “Combining methods, and a question of fairness” — paragraph
17 Heading: “Reflecting sunlight away” — paragraph
18 Heading: “Cooling through evaporation” — paragraph
Questions 19–22
Do the statements agree with the passage? Write TRUE, FALSE or NOT GIVEN.
19 In summer, city centres are usually cooler than the surrounding countryside.
20 Street trees cool the air partly by releasing water vapour.
21 Cool-roof programmes are cheaper than planting trees.
22 Poorer districts typically have fewer trees than wealthy ones.
Questions 23–26
Complete the summary. Write ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
23 Cities grow hot because dark surfaces absorb ,
24 there is a shortage of , and machines add heat.
25 Trees help, but they grow .
26 The best results come from treating the problem as a .
Passage 2 answer key
Notes: 21 NOT GIVEN — the passage never compares the cost of the two methods. 19 FALSE — city centres are hotter, not cooler.
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 27–40.
The science of habit
Why is it so hard to change what we do, even when we sincerely want to and know exactly what we ought to do instead? For a long time the standard answer was a moral one: people who failed to change simply lacked willpower. Research into the psychology and neuroscience of habit over the past few decades suggests that this answer is not just unkind but largely wrong. A great deal of everyday behaviour is not the product of conscious decision at all. Instead, habits are learned sequences that the brain gradually hands over to automatic control in order to save effort.
The mechanism is often described as a loop with three parts. A cue — a particular time of day, a place, the presence of certain people, or an emotional state such as boredom or stress — triggers a routine, a more or less fixed sequence of actions, which in turn delivers some reward. Each time the loop runs and the reward arrives, the link between cue and routine is strengthened, until eventually the cue alone is almost enough to set the whole sequence in motion with little conscious thought. This automation is genuinely useful. If every small action of the day required deliberate reasoning, ordinary life would be exhausting and slow; habit frees attention for things that actually need it.
The same mechanism, however, explains why unwanted behaviours are so stubborn. Willpower, the popular hero of self-improvement books, turns out on close study to be a limited and unreliable resource: it varies with sleep, stress and hunger, and it tends to fail at exactly the moments we most need it. People who succeed in changing a habit rarely do so by gritting their teeth and resisting harder. Instead, they tend to redesign the cues and rewards around them so that the desired behaviour becomes the path of least resistance.
One of the most consistent findings is that it is far easier to replace a habit than to erase it. The cue and the craving are difficult to remove directly, but the routine in the middle of the loop can be swapped. The recommended strategy is therefore to keep the same cue and the same reward but to insert a new routine between them. Someone who reaches for sugary snacks whenever they feel stressed, for instance, may find it much more effective to substitute a brief walk — which still answers the cue of stress and still delivers a reward — than to rely on sheer resistance, which the research suggests will usually collapse.
Environment matters more than most people assume. Studies of individuals who move house, change jobs or have a child show that a disruption to the usual routine opens a brief window during which new habits form unusually easily, because the old cues are temporarily absent. This finding quietly undermines the popular emphasis on personal discipline: changing where and when something happens is often more powerful than trying to want it more. None of this implies that change is simple or quick. Habits laid down over many years are not rewritten in a fortnight, and progress is typically uneven, with relapses along the way. But the overall picture the research offers is more encouraging than the harsh language of failure and willpower suggests: behaviour is genuinely malleable, provided we work with the machinery of the brain rather than against it.
Questions 27–31
Do the statements agree with the writer’s views? Write YES, NO or NOT GIVEN.
27 Most everyday behaviour is the result of conscious choice.
28 The automation of habits serves a useful purpose.
29 Willpower is the most reliable way to change a habit.
30 A major life change such as moving house can make new habits easier to form.
31 Most people overestimate the influence of their environment.
Questions 32–36
Complete the sentences. Write NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage.
32 Each habit loop begins with a .
33 The brain automates habits in order to save .
34 It is much easier to replace a habit than to it.
35 The recommended strategy keeps the cue and reward but changes the .
36 A disruption to routine opens a brief for change.
Questions 37–40
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
Passage 3 answer key
Notes: 31 NO — the writer argues people underestimate environment and overrate discipline. 27 NO — “not the product of conscious decision at all”.
Reading score guide (out of 40): 37–40 ≈ Band 9 · 33–36 ≈ Band 8 · 30–32 ≈ Band 7.5 · 27–29 ≈ Band 7 · 23–26 ≈ Band 6.5.
Writing
60 minutes. Task 1: at least 150 words in about 20 minutes. Task 2: at least 250 words in about 40 minutes. Task 2 carries more weight.
The chart below shows the percentage of households with internet access in four countries in 2010 and 2020. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.
Write at least 150 words. Spend about 20 minutes on this task.
Band 9 model answer (Task 1)
Overall, internet access rose substantially in every country over the decade. The two developed nations, Germany and Japan, already had high levels of access in 2010 and remained the leaders in 2020, whereas Brazil and India began from a far lower base but experienced the steepest growth.
In 2010, around three-quarters of households in Germany (75%) and 70% in Japan were connected, compared with just 30% in Brazil and only 10% in India. By 2020 these figures had climbed to 95% and 90% respectively, meaning almost universal access in both developed countries.
The most dramatic change occurred in the developing economies. Brazil more than doubled its figure, from 30% to 65%, while India recorded the largest relative increase of all, rising fivefold from 10% to 50%. Despite this rapid progress, India still had the lowest level of household internet access in both years.
Why this is Band 9: a clear overview (all rose; developed lead, developing grew fastest); accurate figures and comparisons; varied language (“more than doubled”, “rising fivefold”, “from a far lower base”); approx. 175 words.
In many countries, people are working longer hours and have less leisure time than in the past. What are the causes of this trend, and what effects does it have on individuals and society?
Write at least 250 words. Spend about 40 minutes on this task.
Band 9 model answer (Task 2)
Several factors explain the increase in working hours. The most significant is economic insecurity: as the cost of housing, healthcare and other essentials rises faster than wages, many people simply must work longer to maintain their standard of living. A second cause is technological. Smartphones and email have blurred the line between the workplace and the home, so that employees remain reachable, and effectively on duty, long after they have physically left the office. Finally, in many workplace cultures visible overwork is rewarded with status and promotion, which creates pressure to stay late regardless of how much is actually produced.
The effects of this trend are largely negative. For individuals, chronic overwork is strongly associated with stress, disturbed sleep and damaged relationships, since the time and energy needed for family and health are steadily squeezed out. At the level of society, the consequences are subtler but serious. Exhausted employees tend to be less productive and more prone to error, which can quietly cancel out the very gains employers hope to achieve. Communities also weaken when people are too tired to take part in them, from volunteering to simply knowing their neighbours.
In conclusion, longer working hours stem mainly from economic pressure, constant connectivity and cultural expectations, and they tend to harm health, relationships and even productivity itself. Addressing the problem will require not only better individual choices but a genuine change in how workplaces define commitment.
Why this is Band 9: both questions fully answered; causes and effects clearly separated; ideas developed with reasoning, not lists; precise language (“economic insecurity”, “blurred the line”); 276 words.
Check this before you submit
• Did I answer every part of the question?
• Is my position or structure clear from the first paragraph?
• Does each body paragraph develop one clear idea with a reason or example?
• Did I write at least 250 words (Task 2) / 150 words (Task 1)?
• Did I leave 3–4 minutes to check grammar, spelling and punctuation?
Speaking
11–14 minutes in three parts. Record yourself answering, then compare with the models. The same test format is used for Academic and General Training.
Topic: work or study, and free time
• Do you work, or are you a student?
• What do you enjoy most about it?
• How do you usually spend your free time?
• Has the way you spend your free time changed since you were a child?
Sample answer + why it works
Quite a lot, actually. As a child I was almost always outdoors — I’d play football in the street with whoever was around until it got dark. These days my free time is much quieter; I mostly read, or meet a couple of close friends for coffee. I suppose I’ve come to value calm a great deal more than I did back then.
It answers directly, draws a clear then/now contrast, and finishes with a short reflective comment — natural, not memorised.
Cue card
• what the decision was
• when and why you made it
• how you felt at the time
and explain why it turned out to be a good decision.
You have 1 minute to prepare and may make notes. Then speak for 1–2 minutes.
Model long turn + planning notes
Planning notes: decision = move to a new city for a course · when = two years ago, felt stuck · felt = nervous + excited · why good = better opportunities, more independent, lasting friendships.
At the time I felt a strange mixture of nervous and excited. I was nervous because I didn’t know a single person there and the course was demanding; but I was excited because, for the first time in a while, it felt like I was actually doing something instead of waiting for life to improve.
Looking back, it turned out to be one of the best choices I’ve ever made. Professionally it opened doors that simply wouldn’t have existed otherwise, but honestly the bigger change was personal: I became far more independent and self-assured, and I made a small group of friends I’m still very close to. So although it was uncomfortable at first, it’s a decision I’ve never once regretted.
All four bullet points are covered, the notes are used loosely rather than read out, and the answer runs to roughly 1 minute 50 seconds.
Decisions and society
• Why do some people find it difficult to make decisions?
• Is it better to make important decisions quickly or slowly?
• Should important decisions always involve other people?
• How has technology changed the way people make choices?
How to reach Band 7+ in Part 3
1 Use the pattern opinion → reason → example every time.
2 Show range with phrases like “it largely depends on”, “broadly speaking”, “there’s a strong argument that…”
3 Acknowledge both sides before you conclude.
4 Buy thinking time naturally: “That’s an interesting question — I’d say…”
How this test is scored
Listening and Reading: your raw score out of 40 converts to a band (see each section’s guide). Writing and Speaking: four equally weighted criteria each — Task Response / Fluency, Coherence & Cohesion, Lexical Resource, and Grammatical Range & Accuracy. The overall band is the average of the four skills, rounded to the nearest half band.
Want this test marked by a real teacher?
Send your Writing answers or book a free 20-minute assessment, and you’ll get a band estimate plus the three things to fix first.