IELTS Speaking Part 1 · food

Can you cook? Who taught you?

A strong Part 1 answer puts the actual answer in the first clause, adds one reason or one example, and stops. Two or three sentences, roughly forty seconds.

The question, as the examiner gives it

IELTS Speaking Part 1

Can you cook? Who taught you?

no preparation, about 45 seconds to speak

A band 7 to 8 answer

About 67 words at a natural pace — roughly what 45 seconds holds.

Answer it yourself first

Record your own answer first. A model you have read three times comes out with a flattened rhythm, and examiners are trained to hear exactly that. Read it afterwards for the vocabulary and the shape, not to memorise the sentences.
A band 7 to 8 answer

I can manage about six dishes properly and I improvise badly beyond that. My mother taught me the basics before I moved out, mostly by refusing to let me leave until I could make dal without burning the bottom of the pan. Everything else I have picked up from videos, which is a strange way to learn because you never find out what you are doing wrong.

The words that earn marks

Each one links to how it is pronounced.

  • manage

    honest verb for a limited ability

  • improvise

    precise and slightly unexpected in a cooking answer

  • basics

    the right plural noun for foundational skills

  • refusing

    carries the story in one word

  • burning

    concrete, and a clean ng ending

  • videos

    modern detail that sets up the closing thought

How a strong answer is built

  1. 1Answer with a realistic scope, not just yes.
  2. 2Name the person who taught you and how.
  3. 3Add a specific memory or dish.
  4. 4Close with a reflection on how you learn now.

Sounds to watch

The ones this answer leans on most.

Straight answers

How long should my answer to “Can you cook? Who taught you?” be?

About 45 seconds. Long enough for the answer plus a reason or an example, short enough that the examiner can get through the rest of the set.

Should I memorise the model answer?

No. Record your own version first, then read the model for the shape and the vocabulary. A memorised answer changes rhythm and pace noticeably, and examiners are trained to hear it — it usually costs more than the better wording gains.

Does sayit score this answer?

It scores what a microphone can observe: an estimate from fluency and pronunciation only — not an official band, and not a mark for vocabulary or grammar.

What the band on your result means

An estimate from fluency and pronunciation only — not an official band, and not a mark for vocabulary or grammar.
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