Describe a meal you really enjoyed.
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 meal you really enjoyed.
You should say
- what you ate
- where you were
- who you were with
- and explain why you enjoyed it so much
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.The meal I remember best was not in a restaurant at all. It was on the last evening of a walking trip, in a guest house kitchen in a hill village, and it was cooked by the woman who ran the place because there was nowhere else open. We had walked about twenty-two kilometres that day in poor weather and arrived wet and in a fairly bad mood. What we ate was extremely simple. Rice, a dal that had clearly been on the stove for hours, a vegetable I could not identify, and hot rotis brought two at a time straight from the pan. There were five of us at one table, three of whom I had met that week. Why I enjoyed it so much has very little to do with the cooking, although it was genuinely excellent. It was that I was exhausted and cold and then I was warm and fed, and there is a particular kind of happiness in that sequence that no restaurant can manufacture. I have tried twice since to make that dal and it has been fine both times, which is exactly the point I am making.
The words that earn marks
Each one links to how it is pronounced.
- kilometres
British spelling, four syllables
- stove
concrete kitchen noun with a long vowel
- identify
four syllables with the stress on the second
- exhausted
strong adjective, stressed on the second syllable
- sequence
abstract noun naming why it worked
- manufacture
used figuratively about a feeling
- excellent
three syllables with the stress on the first
How a strong answer is built
- 1Reject the obvious setting and give the real one.
- 2Explain the state you were in before the meal.
- 3Describe the food plainly, without inflation.
- 4Explain the enjoyment, and make it about the context.
Sounds to watch
The ones this answer leans on most.
Straight answers
How long should my answer to “Describe a meal you really enjoyed.” 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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