Describe a shop you go to often.
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 shop you go to often.
You should say
- what kind of shop it is
- where it is
- what you buy there
- and explain why you go there rather than somewhere else
60 seconds to prepare, up to 2 minutes to speak
A band 7 to 8 answer
About 204 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.There is a hardware shop two streets from my flat that I go into far more often than a person with no practical skills has any business doing. It is about the size of a large cupboard and it contains, as far as I can tell, everything. Screws in a hundred sizes, rope, bulbs, a wall of tools, all of it stacked to the ceiling in an order only the owner understands. I buy small things, a washer, a bulb, a particular hook, usually to fix something I have broken. The reason I go there rather than a larger place is the man who runs it. If you describe your problem he tells you what you actually need, which is frequently cheaper than what you came in for, and twice he has told me not to buy anything and simply explained how to fix it. That is not a business strategy anyone would recommend and it is why I have never bought a screw anywhere else. He is somewhere in his sixties and I have no idea what happens to that shop afterwards, which I try not to think about. It is the kind of place a neighbourhood only notices once it has gone.
The words that earn marks
Each one links to how it is pronounced.
- hardware
compound noun naming the shop type precisely
- cupboard
a word with a silent p, worth practising
- screws
concrete plural with a difficult opening cluster
- bulbs
a short word with a demanding final cluster
- stacked
the exact verb for how goods are piled
- washer
a specific hardware noun few candidates know
- strategy
three syllables with the stress on the first
How a strong answer is built
- 1Name the shop type and flag the oddity of your visits.
- 2Describe the place physically.
- 3Say exactly what you buy.
- 4Explain the reason with a story about a person.
Sounds to watch
The ones this answer leans on most.
Straight answers
How long should my answer to “Describe a shop you go to often.” 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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