Describe a competition you took part in.
A strong long turn names the subject in the first sentence, spends most of the two minutes on the last bullet — the why — and arrives at a prepared final line rather than trailing off.
The question, as the examiner gives it
Describe a competition you took part in.
You should say
- what the competition was
- when you took part
- how you prepared
- and explain how you did
60 seconds to prepare, up to 2 minutes to speak
A band 7 to 8 answer
About 194 words at a natural pace — roughly what 120 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.At school, when I was about sixteen, I entered an inter-school debating competition, mostly because a teacher put my name down without asking me. It ran over two weekends and involved four rounds, and the topics were given to you an hour before you spoke, which is the part I found genuinely terrifying. How I prepared was almost entirely wrong. I wrote out full speeches for topics I guessed might come up, none of which did, and I spent no time at all practising the thing that actually mattered, which was thinking quickly with a partner. We lost in the third round to a school that was visibly better organised. How I did, in terms of the result, was unremarkable. What I got out of it was disproportionate. I discovered that I could stand up in front of two hundred people and that my voice would work, and I have relied on knowing that perhaps forty times since, in rooms that mattered considerably more. I have no idea what happened to my partner and I would recognise him instantly, which is a strange thing to be able to say about somebody after twelve years.
The words that earn marks
Each one links to how it is pronounced.
- debating
the precise activity noun, stressed in the middle
- rounds
the exact noun for stages of a competition
- terrifying
four syllables with a clean ng ending
- organised
British spelling, three syllables
- unremarkable
five syllables, precise and modest
- disproportionate
a five-syllable adjective used accurately
- relied
the verb that carries the closing claim
How a strong answer is built
- 1Name the competition and how you came to enter.
- 2Explain the format, especially the hard part.
- 3Say how you prepared, and admit what was wrong with it.
- 4Give the result, then what you actually gained.
Sounds to watch
The ones this answer leans on most.
Straight answers
How long should my answer to “Describe a competition you took part in.” be?
You get 60 seconds to make notes and then speak for up to two minutes without interruption. Aim to still be talking at ninety seconds: finishing at forty is the commonest way to lose marks on this part.
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.One question a day until your test
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