30/8/22 TEST 4

Speaking TEST 4
IELTS Academic 11
Part 1
Q. Did your parents choose your name(s)?
Q. How did your parents choose your name(s)?
Q. Does your name have any special meaning?
Q. Is your name common or unusual in your country?
Q. If you could change your name, would you? [Why/Why not?]

Q. Did your parents choose your name(s)?

Answer: Yes, my parents selected my name. When I was born, my parents wanted me to
have a great name, at least to them. I have heard from my mother than my father brought
a baby-name-book even before I was born. So the credit of my name solely goes to them.

Q. How did your parents choose your name(s)?

Answer: I learned that they were inspired by a name they found in the book and they took
the surname from my grandfather. Thus they combined the name and selected it for me.
However, this was the final step they went through to pick my name. As far as I know, they
had to choose from hundreds of names, spend considerable hours to finally become satisfied
with the name.

Q. Does your name have any special meaning?

Answer: My name is very special to me as it is to my parents. The first part of my name,
Clyde, came from the name of a river, more specifically it is a Scottish river. The river was
close to the location where I was born and I believe my parents wanted me to be as big as
a river! The second part of my name, which is Enrichen’, is the family name of a famous
ancient dynasty from Great Britain.

Q. Is your name common or unusual in your country?

Answer: Statistically speaking, this is not a very common name. However, from my
experience, I can tell that I have personally met at least 10 others with the same name but
with a different family name.

Q. If you could change your name, would you? [Why/Why not?]

Answer: My name is very special to me and I would never change it. For anyone, his/her
name is quite unique and significantly important. I might take an alias someday if I need to
ghost-write some articles, but changing my real name to something for the sake of
modernism or style, is something I will never accept.
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PART 2
Describe a TV documentary you watched that was particularly interesting.

You should say:

 what the documentary was about
 why you decided to watch it
 what you learnt during the documentary
And explain why the TV documentary was particularly interesting.
Model Answer 1:
My friend, a political science teacher at a local college, and I often argue about the
roles of the large empires in shaping the history of our world. And to prove our points
and arguments, we try to watch TV documentaries, especially the documentaries on
“important political events” in history and collect information from them. Today, I would
like to talk about one such documentary which I watched about a year ago which was
quite interesting.

The documentary, I want to talk about, was on the rise and fall of the Roman Empire.
It, of course, was a series of documentaries (even though, I didn’t really manage to
watch all of them) which tried to discuss 600 years of history of the Roman Empire in as
much depth as possible in chronological order.

It has one particular episode on the Roman republic days with the problems of northern
Gallic tribes, and then it also talks about the role of Caesar in shaping the empire and
so forth. By the way, I already had learned a little about the history of the Roman
Empire, by reading different kinds of books and watching some historical facts on TV
before, but this particular documentary taught me a great deal about the history of
western civilization as a whole.
Model Answer 2:
Television documentaries offer a great opportunity for viewers to learn about different
topics and expand their knowledge. One such documentary that I found particularly
interesting was a National Geographic documentary called "Inside the Vatican".
What the documentary was about: The documentary, "Inside the Vatican", offered an
in-depth look into the history and workings of the Vatican, the smallest independent
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state in the world. The documentary explored the intricate workings of the Vatican,
from its architecture to its politics and everything in between. It was a fascinating
insight into the workings of the Catholic Church and the papacy.

Why you decided to watch it:

As someone who has always been interested in history and culture, I was immediately
drawn to this documentary. I had always been curious about the Vatican, as it has
played such an important role in history, not just for the Catholic Church but for the
world as a whole. I also wanted to learn more about the political influence of the
Vatican in contemporary times.

What you learned during the documentary:

The documentary was incredibly informative and provided a great deal of insight into
the history and workings of the Vatican. I learned about the origins of the Vatican and
its role in the Roman Empire, as well as its evolution over time. I also learned about the
political influence of the Vatican in contemporary times, particularly in regard to the
Vatican's relationship with the Italian government. The documentary also explored the
role of the Pope and the Vatican in shaping the Catholic Church and its impact on the
world.
And explain why the TV documentary was particularly interesting:
What made this documentary particularly interesting was the way in which it presented
the information. It was incredibly well-researched and used a combination of interviews,
historical footage, and reconstructions to bring the story to life. The documentary was
also very accessible, with clear explanations of complex concepts, making it easy for me
with little prior knowledge of the Vatican to follow along. I greatly enjoyed this
documentary.

IF you Don’t have any favorite Documentary

1. I am not addicted to television documentary but the Cold Case Files particularly
appeared interesting to me. The documentary was about solving a murder case.
I decided to watch it because of the suspense. I have learned how to unearth a
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murder case and to reach its resolution. The documentary showed how police
follow a lead but fail to reach a resolution. They are in a dead-end and time
passes by to figure out the right thing. So, it appeared interesting to me.

2. Usually, television documentaries appear interesting to me when they

investigate issues about the wild kingdom. So, I am in a kind of love with the
Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom. I selected to watch it because it was an
informative documentary about wildlife. I came to know about a wide number of
unknown matters from the documentary about wildlife and wilderness. The
investigative video clips are highly entertaining because they are enriched with
the deepest secret of the wildlife.

Part 3: Discussion topics:

Different types of TV program

Q. What are the most popular kinds of TV programmes in your country? Why
is this?
Answer: Although I don't watch TV very often, I think that TV series stands in the first
place among popular TV programmes. There are different types of TV series such as
soap opera, drama, romance, adventure, science fiction, crime and investment, comedy
and so on. For example, Sherlock Holmes is a very popular TV series not only in
England but also in other countries. Regarding the reasons why this is happening, I
would say that those TV series are very interesting, entertaining and you can spend
your free time watching it. For instance, when I watched a police procedural television
series, I learnt almost everything about crimes and investigations and that turned out to
be even educative. These types of TV series has a great variety of topics and the plots
are very attractive. That is why people do not want to miss any episode of their favorite
TV series.

Tip: Every country has its own popular TV programmes. This is just an example and it's
based on my personal opinion. So don't take for granted that this is the only correct
answer. You can talk about news, talk show, investigative programmes, debate show,
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talent hunt show, reality show, sports programmes etc. as the most popular TV
programme type in your country.
Q. Do you think there are too many game shows on TV nowadays? Why?
Answer: As I said earlier, I am not a TV fan! However, whenever I surf TV channels I
can obviously feel the number of overwhelming sports channels. This is proof that
people nowadays watch more sports channels and sports telecasting than ever before.
Likewise, the number of game and quiz shows on different TV channels is also quite
high. I have noticed my mom watch two game-shows and she likes them very much.
People often watch game shows because those programmes are entertaining and
educational at the same time. The competitive nature and challenges attract many
viewers to watch such programmes. Sometimes there are questions for the viewers
and as a viewer, someone often gets the chance to earn prizes or the opportunity to
participate in the live show. These are in my opinion are the reason games shows are
more popular these days and there are so many of them.

Tip: Your answer could be negative as well. Not every country has many game shows.
If so, you should say the reasons you believe this is happening. Also, give one or two
personal reason(s) why game shows in your country are not popular.
Q. Do you think TV is the main way for people to get the news in your
country? What other ways are there?
Answer: Well, I come from Greece, so I would say yes, TV is the main source to get
news in Greece. In my country, TV is the main way for most of the people to get
information about different news and events. Only a few young people and adults get
the news via the internet and the elderly from radio and newspapers too.

In England, where I currently live in, TV is a popular means of getting information but I
wouldn't say that it's the most popular source for news and information. People of all
ages rely on the Internet, social media and newspapers to get news.
TV advertising:
Q. What types of products are advertised most often on TV?
Answer: Actually, this is a difficult question because I think that most of us don't pay
much attention to TV's advertisements. At least as far as I'm concerned, I always
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change the TV channel when they start showing advertisement. But, I would try to
answer this question by saying that different types of edibles are advertised such as
juices, soft drinks, cookies, chips, cosmetic products et cetera. Moreover, especially in
the last five years, technological products are also being promoted on TV
advertisement. Some representative examples are smartphones, iPhone and laptops.
Finally, cars constitute a category that is advertised a lot and there are many times that
famous people like actors, singers and football players, are the main representative of
those products.
Q. Do you think that people pay attention to adverts on TV? Why do you think
that is?
Answer: As I mentioned earlier, most people do not pay that much attention to TV
adverts. There are very few times when someone watches an advertisement because of
the attractive theme of that advertisement. When a TV channel broadcasts
advertisements, most people either change the channel or do other things. My opinion
is that not every person is interested in every sort of advertisement. Another reason
people pay less attention to TV adverts is that when watching a movie or a favorite
programme, advertisements often bother them. Amid a lengthy programme, people
need to take breaks and they mostly do that when advertisements are shown.

Adjectives for Documentaries:

 Winning
 Historical
 Excellent
 American
 Observational
 Traditional
 Classic
 Autobiographical
 Controversial
 fictional
 acclaimed
 conventional
 French
 dramatic
 educational
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 straight
 serious
 poetic
 remarkable
 fine
 photographic
 investigative
 wartime
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Synonym practice Test 4 (Book -11)

Words Synonyms