Describe a person you admire.
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 person you admire.
You should say
- who the person is
- how you know about them
- what they have done
- and explain why you admire them
60 seconds to prepare, up to 2 minutes to speak
A band 7 to 8 answer
About 202 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 I want to talk about is a woman called Sunita who runs the community library two streets from where I grew up. I have known her since I was about nine, because my mother used to leave me there after school when she was working late. Sunita was not a librarian by training at all. She had been a clerk in a bank, and when the library was about to close for lack of funding she took it over, largely by refusing to accept that it would shut. What she did over the next fifteen years was quietly extraordinary. She raised money in small amounts from local shops, persuaded retired teachers to run reading hours for free, and kept the place open six days a week without ever taking a salary from it. I admire her for the persistence more than anything. Anyone can be enthusiastic about something for a month. Doing the same unglamorous work for fifteen years, with no title and very little recognition, is a completely different quality. She also never made anybody feel they were being helped, which I think is the harder skill. You simply arrived and there were books, and somebody knew your name.
The words that earn marks
Each one links to how it is pronounced.
- librarian
four syllables with the stress on the second
- funding
the precise noun for institutional money
- persuaded
strong verb with an audible past ending
- retired
participle used as an adjective, naturally
- persistence
abstract noun naming the quality exactly
- unglamorous
negative prefix on a four-syllable adjective
- recognition
four syllables with the stress on the third
How a strong answer is built
- 1Name the person and your connection in one sentence.
- 2Give their background so the achievement has weight.
- 3Tell what they did with two or three concrete actions.
- 4Spend the last third on why, and say something unexpected.
Sounds to watch
The ones this answer leans on most.
Straight answers
How long should my answer to “Describe a person you admire.” 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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