Describe a place where you go to exercise.
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 place where you go to exercise.
You should say
- where it is
- how often you go
- what you do there
- and explain why you go there
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.I swim at a municipal pool about ten minutes from my flat, which is old, slightly cold and entirely unglamorous, and I have been going three mornings a week for about four years. It opens at half past six and I am usually there within ten minutes of that, because between then and about half past seven there are four lanes and perhaps six people. After eight it becomes unusable. What I do is fairly boring, which is a kilometre and a half, mostly front crawl, and I have not measurably improved in two years. The reason I go there rather than one of the newer gyms is partly cost, since it is about a tenth of the price, but mostly the people. It is full of retired men who have been swimming there for decades and who are, without exception, faster than me. There is something about being the slowest person in the pool at seven in the morning that keeps me honest. The building is old enough that it will probably be replaced with something glassy and expensive within a decade, and I am quietly dreading it.
The words that earn marks
Each one links to how it is pronounced.
- municipal
four syllables with the stress on the second
- unglamorous
negative prefix on a four-syllable adjective
- lanes
the exact noun for a swimming pool division
- unusable
four syllables, precise about the crowding
- measurably
an adverb that hedges the claim honestly
- decades
plural time noun with the stress on the first syllable
- exception
used in the natural phrase without exception
How a strong answer is built
- 1Name the place and how long you have used it.
- 2Give times, because they explain the choice.
- 3Say what you actually do, without inflating it.
- 4Explain the reason and make the last one human.
Sounds to watch
The ones this answer leans on most.
Straight answers
How long should my answer to “Describe a place where you go to exercise.” 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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