Describe a photograph you treasure.
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 photograph you treasure.
You should say
- what the photograph shows
- who took it
- where it is kept
- and explain why it matters to you
60 seconds to prepare, up to 2 minutes to speak
A band 7 to 8 answer
About 189 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 photograph I would describe shows my mother and her two sisters standing outside a house I have never seen, in about nineteen seventy-four, all three of them laughing at something outside the frame. It is black and white, slightly out of focus, and somebody's thumb is across one corner. My grandfather took it, which is part of why I like it, because he was famously bad at photography and there are very few pictures of that generation as a result. It is kept in a frame on the shelf in my living room, having spent most of its life in an envelope. Why it matters is that it shows my mother as somebody I never knew. She is about twenty-three, she is clearly in the middle of a joke, and there is nothing in her face of the extremely practical person who raised me. Everybody knows in theory that their parents had whole lives before them. This is the only evidence I actually have of it. My mother, incidentally, dislikes it, and says she looks ridiculous in it, which is a separate conversation we have had several times.
The words that earn marks
Each one links to how it is pronounced.
- frame
used in two senses, both precisely
- focus
photographic noun with a clear first-syllable stress
- thumb
a silent b worth practising
- famously
adverb that characterises the grandfather in one word
- envelope
three syllables, and a word learners often mis-stress
- generation
four syllables with the stress on the third
- evidence
abstract noun that lands the closing idea
How a strong answer is built
- 1Describe what is in the picture, concretely.
- 2Add its physical flaws, which make it real.
- 3Say who took it and where it lives now.
- 4Explain why it matters, and go beyond sentiment.
Sounds to watch
The ones this answer leans on most.
Straight answers
How long should my answer to “Describe a photograph you treasure.” 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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