--PART 1--

In part 1 you have a conversation about your personal life.

You will definitely be asked to spell something, which could be your first name, your surname, the
name of your school, your mother or father's name or the name of your best friend.
At this level you need to be able to spell correctly.

You will be asked one of three kinds of questions:

What do you think about ...
Do you like ...
if yes, why?
if no, why not?

You need to be able to say sentences like the following, accurately.

I think basketball is a very exciting sport because all my friends play it and we have a lot of fun.
I like listening to music because it helps me to relax and I like studying while listening to music.
I don't like history because it feels very boring and I prefer more interesting subjects.

When you are asked questions about yourself, your answers needs to be the correct size:
Don't give short answers.
Don't give very long answers.

The best answers have about 3 parts to them:

Do you like basketball?
I think basketball is good fun, but I prefer hockey, because all my friends play that.

What is you first name?

You could say: my first name is David.
or you could say: My first name is David, but my friends all call me Dave, which I prefer because
it's shorter.

Why are longer answers better than short answers?

1 The examiners see that you are able to make good sentences.
2 There is a limited amount of time, and if you give short answers, the examiner can ask you
more questions in that time, some of which might be difficult.
If your answers are longer, they take more time, and the examiner can't ask you as many
questions.
You control how many questions you get asked.
If your answers are too long, the examiner will get irritated and stop you, so that is not a good
idea.

Let's look at a typical set of questions:

Q1 What's your mother's name?
Q2 How do you spell it?
Q3 What's your favourite dish?
Q4 How often do you eat it?

So,
Q1 What's your mother's name?
My mother's name is Maria, but we all call her Mar because it's shorter and I think she prefers it.

Q2 How do you spell it?

Maria is spelt M-A-R-I-A. (you can't make this longer)

Q3 What's your favourite dish?

(You could just say spaghetti, but there is a better answer)
I like many different dishes, but my favourite dish is spaghetti because I really like the sauce that
goes with it.

Q4 How often do you eat it?

I only eat it once every week or two weeks, but I would prefer to each it more often because I
really like it.

Notice: The word BECAUSE is used as often as possible, as is PREFER, and WOULD. These
are very good words to use in the exam and they will help you get good marks. You should
practise using them correctly.

-PART 2-
Theory
In this part you are given 6 images and you need to talk about them with your partner.

In a conversation like this, there are 2 kinds of things you will say, and they are different and
important for different reasons.

There are the ideas you want to explain.

There are the little things you say to make a conversation more natural.
For example, when you start, you could say:
Would you like to start or shall I?

This is not directly connected to the subject of the conversation, but the examiner will notice this,
and you will get marks for this kind of sentence.

When your partner says:

I think mum would like the chocolates. What do you think?

You could say:

Yes I agree.

but a much better answer would be:

Well, even though she is on a diet, I think you are right.

This kind of sentence, where you use EVEN THOUGH, and say one idea before giving your
opinion, is a good sentence to use, and gets you better marks, and it is very easy to use.

I think we should give mum the watch.

Well, even though she has many, I think she would like that.

I think we should give mum the flowers.

Well, even though they might be expensive, I think she would like them very much.

When you give your idea about something, don't forget to use BECAUSE, PREFER and WOULD
as often as you can.
Let's look at a typical example:

A - Would you like to start or shall I?

B - You can start if you like.
A - OK. Well I think mum would like the scarf because she is very interested in fashion. Do you
see what I mean?
B - Yes, I do, even though she has many scarves, I think you would like this, although I also think
she might prefer this beautiful watch.
A - But she has a lot of watches. She might prefer a good book or some flowers.
B - The book is a good idea, although it's difficult to find one she likes, and the flowers could be
expensive. I think she might prefer the chocolates. How do you see that idea?
A - Well, even though she is on a diet, I'm sure she would love them, but I think she would prefer
the running shoes because she has started going to the gym.
B - You're right, and I think she needs a new pair, although I think she would prefer another
colour.

The conversation given above is repeated below with the main idea words are marked (1) and the
supporting words marked (2).

A - Would you like to start or shall I? (2)

B - You can start if you like. (2)
A - OK. Well (2) I think mum would like the scarf because she is very interested in fashion. (1) Do
you see what I mean? (2)
B - Yes, I do, even though she has many scarves, (2) I think she would like this, although I also
think she might prefer this beautiful watch. (1)
A - But she has a lot of watches.(2) She might prefer a good book or some flowers. (1)
B - The book is a good idea (1) although it's difficult to find one she likes, and the flowers could
be expensive.(2) I think she might prefer the chocolates.(1) How do you see that idea?(2)
A - Well, even though she is on a diet,(2) I'm sure she would love them, but I think she would
prefer the running shoes because she has started going to the gym.(1)
B - You're right, (2) and I think she needs a new pair, although I think she would prefer another
colour.(1)

Having had the conversation, both students need to decide which is the best idea. We can use
the same method again:

A - Having looked at all these ideas,(2) I think the best idea would be the running shoes, because
she needs some new ones.(1) Don't you agree with me?(2)
B - I see what you mean, But (2) I also think the watch could be a good gift, although it might be
too expensive for us.(1) OK, you're right, (2) let's go with the running shoes.(1)

--PART 3—
In this part of the exam, the candidate is given an image, and the focus of the exercise is to test
the skill of DESCRIPTION, but we need to get some ideas clear:
There is always a person or people in the image.
There is always an activity happening.
The activity is either indoors or outdoors, so we could talk about the weather or what it's like
inside.
Other than the main person or people in the picture, there will always be other things in the
background.

So as our focus is describing an image, you should know how to identify where something is:
In the background, in the foreground, on the left of the image, on the right of the image.

When describing the person or people, you should know the names of their clothes:
Trousers, skirts, jumper, shoes, shirt.

You should know some words about the body:

Long blond hair, short curly brown hair, bald.

You will have to know a range of colours:

Red, brown, green, and a useful tip is to use ISH:
The girl is wearing a brownish jumper, which means a colour like brown but also like another
colour.

You will need to know the words for activities:

Running, cooking, speaking, or serving.
Let's look at a typical exam question and apply some of these ideas:
An understanding of the basic parts of an image can be very helpful here.
This diagram should be useful:

The main elements in the description of an image are location within the İMAGE, COLOUR,
AGE, ACTİONS, WEATHER, SPECİAL VOCABULARY.
Let's use an example to develop these ideas:
Identifying the elements we wish to use:
colours:
orange t shirt, black shorts, dark greem trees in the background, white and red ball,
blonde hair.

weather:
sunny day

age:
very young boys, older parents in the background.

actions:
running with the ball, chasing the boy, watching, waiting.

special vocabulary:
wearing.

putting all these elements together:

In this picture , It is a beautiful sunny day and there are some parents standing and watching the
activities in the background, where there are lots of trees, like in a forest. There are also some
orange cones to mark the pitch and there are some rugby posts in the background where the
parents are standing and watching the little boys playing. In the foreground, we can see some
very young boys playing rugby, and the boy on the left is wearing an orange T shirt and black
shorts. He has short blonde hair, and is running with a white and red ball, while being chased by
a group of boys, who also have short blonde hair. They are all wearing bluish T-shirts, and they
are on the right of the image.

Note 1 - Using adjectives effectively will get you good marks in the exam, because that is what
the examiners are looking for.

Note 2 - If you speak too quickly, you will make more mistakes and the examiner will have
problems understanding you. Speaking at a steady speed, and pausing between ideas gets
better marks.

--PART 4--
In this part the students talk about subjects related to the images we used in part 3.
Let's look at a typical example:

We are asked a general question which we have to discuss with a partner:

Do you think playing board games is sport?
We can use a lot of the ideas we looked at in part 2 here:
A - Would you like to start or shall I?
B - You can start if you like.
A - OK, well even though sitting down to play a board game may not look very sporty, I think
board games can be very competitive and that is the same as normal sports. Do you see what I
mean?
B - Yes I do, and I think you make a good point, but even though playing board games may be
competitive, the idea of doing sport is to get fit, and sitting down to play a board game won't get
you fit. What do you think?
A - I think what you say is interesting, but there are many other sports which don't get you fit, like
motor racing. Even though getting fit is an important part of sport, there are many other kinds of
sport, like archery or bowling.
B - Alright, you make a good point. As you say there are many sports where the players are not
fit, so maybe games like chess could be sports. I am happy to accept your point of view.
A - I can also see that even though chess may be a sport, it can't be compared to running a
marathon or playing rugby.

NOTE: In all these joint speaking exercises, the examiners are interested in how you
communicate with your partner, not only how good your English is. So you need to make an effort
to exchange ideas, to agree, and to disagree.
If you think about a game of tennis, the examiner wants to see a good game where both players
play well, not how well one player serves.
That means if your partner is having a problem, you get more marks by helping himor her by
suggesting an answer or a word, than by showing how good your level is.