Describe someone you know who is very good at their job.
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 someone you know who is very good at their job.
You should say
- who the person is
- what their job is
- what they do particularly well
- and explain why you think they are so good at it
60 seconds to prepare, up to 2 minutes to speak
A band 7 to 8 answer
About 184 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 person who comes to mind is a woman called Deepa who manages the warehouse at my company. On paper it is a logistics role, and in practice it is about forty conversations a day with drivers, suppliers and people upstairs who want something impossible by Friday. What she does extraordinarily well is refuse things without making anyone angry. I have watched her tell a senior manager that a deadline was not going to happen, explain exactly why in about thirty seconds, and offer a different date, and he thanked her for it. Most people either agree to the impossible or turn it into a fight. She also knows the actual work. She has driven the routes, she knows how long loading really takes, and that is why nobody argues with her numbers. I think what makes her good at it is that she treats every conversation as a problem to solve rather than a position to defend. She is not trying to win. That sounds simple, and in eleven years of working I have met perhaps three people who can actually do it.
The words that earn marks
Each one links to how it is pronounced.
- warehouse
specific workplace noun, compound
- logistics
names the field in one precise word
- suppliers
the right business noun, stressed on the second syllable
- deadline
compound noun at the centre of the story
- loading
concrete operational detail
- defend
contrasts cleanly with solve
- extraordinarily
a long adverb worth being able to say
How a strong answer is built
- 1Name the person and the job in one sentence.
- 2Say what the job really involves, not its title.
- 3Show the skill with a scene, not an adjective.
- 4Explain the underlying reason they are good.
Sounds to watch
The ones this answer leans on most.
Straight answers
How long should my answer to “Describe someone you know who is very good at their job.” 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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