Speaking Part 1: Introduction and Interview

Speaking Part 1 lasts 4-5 minutes and covers familiar, everyday topics -- your home, work or study, hobbies, hometown -- through short questions from the examiner. This part is essentially a warm-up: it introduces you to the examiner and eases you into speaking English in a test setting.

The goal is answers of 1-2 developed sentences, not one word and not a memorized paragraph. A question like "Do you like your job?" answered with just "Yes" gives the examiner almost nothing to assess; answered with "Yes, I do -- I especially enjoy the variety, since no two days look the same" gives real material for Fluency, Lexical Resource, and Grammar to be judged against.

Avoid obviously memorized, generic answers -- examiners are trained to notice when a response sounds rehearsed rather than natural, and it can actually work against your Fluency and Coherence score if the response doesn't naturally connect to the specific question asked.

Recall the four Speaking criteria from earlier in this course: Fluency and Coherence, Lexical Resource, Grammatical Range and Accuracy, and Pronunciation. In Part 1 specifically, natural pacing (Fluency and Coherence) and accurate everyday vocabulary (Lexical Resource) tend to matter most, since the topics and grammar required are relatively simple.

Practice a real Part 1 question using the Speaking self-review tool on this course's exam-practice page.