Describe a podcast or radio show you follow.
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 podcast or radio show you follow.
You should say
- what it is
- how you found it
- when you listen
- and explain why you keep listening
60 seconds to prepare, up to 2 minutes to speak
A band 7 to 8 answer
About 188 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 one I have followed longest is an interview programme where a historian talks to one person for about an hour about a single object, which sounds narrow and is the reason it works. I found it about five years ago because an episode about the shipping container was recommended in a book I was reading, and I have listened to nearly every episode since. When I listen is entirely fixed. It is what I put on for the walk home, which is thirty-five minutes, so an episode takes two days and I never listen at home. Why I keep listening is the format. Because the subject is always one object, the conversation has to go somewhere specific, and there is no possibility of the vague general discussion that most interview shows collapse into. The host also lets silences happen, which almost nobody does. You can hear the guest thinking, and the answer after a four-second pause is nearly always the interesting one. There are about four hundred episodes and I am working backwards through the archive at two a week, which should last me another three years.
The words that earn marks
Each one links to how it is pronounced.
- historian
four syllables with the stress on the second
- narrow
the adjective the whole defence turns on
- recommended
four syllables with the stress on the third
- episode
three syllables with the stress on the first
- format
the precise noun for a programme's structure
- vague
a short adjective with a silent final e
- silences
concrete noun that lands the closing observation
How a strong answer is built
- 1Describe the format and defend its narrowness.
- 2Say how you found it, specifically.
- 3Give the listening habit with real numbers.
- 4Explain why you continue, with a structural reason.
Sounds to watch
The ones this answer leans on most.
Straight answers
How long should my answer to “Describe a podcast or radio show you follow.” 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
A free account remembers every take, so you watch a trend instead of a single answer, and it picks tomorrow's question for you.