Part 1

B1 SPEAKING OVERVIEW
(2020 UPDATE)

PART 1: Introductory phase – The examiner asks each candidate a few personal
questions. It’s like a warm-up.

In Part 1 of the B1 Preliminary Speaking test, the examiner asks the candidates some
questions about their lives. There is a wide range of topics such as work/studies,
family/friends, past/future activities, hobbies, your home, etc.

This section of the exam is like a warm-up or an introduction for you. The examiner tries
to make you feel comfortable so you are not too nervous when you get to the following
stages.

Another thing that many people often ignore is their body language. Try to smile when
you are talking to the examiner or your partner, look at them when you or they are
speaking and give them the impression that you are friendly, open and easy to talk to.

Useful language for the Speaking exam

In each part of the Speaking test in B1 Preliminary, there are some useful phrases that you
should try to use in order to get higher marks. The examiners look for this type of language
because it signals that you are talking in the correct way and that you know what the examiners
expect from you.

Part 1

Part 1 is the warm-up to your examination so it is important that you get accustomed to saying
full sentences and to linking your ideas with reasons, examples, results and contrasts. A great
way to achieve this is to use different linking expressions that you already know so there is
nothing new for you to learn. Just make sure that you put one or two of them in each answer in
Part 1 and you will see that what you say immediately makes more sense.

Below you can find some examples and I believe that these are probably the most common
examples to give reasons or examples and to express result or contrast.

Useful language for Speaking Part 1

Activity: Work with your partner to come up with one example sentence for each phrase.

Giving reason
because

because of + -ing/noun

since

as

Giving examples

for example

such as

for instance

like

Expressing a result/consequence

so

to

in order to

for + -ing
 Expressing contrast

but

although

even though

however

on the other hand

Possible questions for Part 1

Activity: Answer the following questions using the Useful language for Speaking Part 1. Then underline the
phrases you have used. Avoid repeating the phrases in your answers.

1. Where do you live/Where do you come from?

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2. Are you a student?

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3. What do you study?

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4. Which day of the week do you like the most? Why?

__________________________________________________________________________________
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5. What’s your favourite type of music?

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6. What kind of films do you like?
__________________________________________________________________________________
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7. Which is better, morning or afternoon?

__________________________________________________________________________________
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8. Tell us about the people you live with.

__________________________________________________________________________________
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9. Will you use English in the future? (Why? Why not?)

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10. Did you do anything yesterday? What?

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HOMEWORK: Use the phrases you have learned to answer the following questions.

11. Which job would you most like to do in the future?

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12. Where did you go on holiday last year?

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13. What can we do to help prevent pollution in our country?

__________________________________________________________________________________
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14. Are you fond of watching TV in your spare time?

__________________________________________________________________________________
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15. What is your favourite sport and why?

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