Describe a stranger who was kind to you.
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 stranger who was kind to you.
You should say
- where you were
- what happened
- what the person did
- and explain how it affected you
60 seconds to prepare, up to 2 minutes to speak
A band 7 to 8 answer
About 181 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.About three years ago I missed the last train out of a city I did not know, at around half past eleven at night, with a dead phone and no idea where I was going to sleep. I was standing at the station entrance looking, I imagine, fairly desperate. A man selling tea from a cart outside asked me what had happened. He did not offer me money or a place to stay, which would have been alarming from a stranger anyway. What he did was sit me down, give me tea, refuse to be paid for it, and then spend twenty minutes phoning people until he found a guest house two streets away that was still open and not expensive. Then he walked me there. I never got his name, which I regret. What it left me with was not really gratitude, although I was grateful. It was a sort of correction. I had been in a stretch of assuming the worst about people, and that night was evidence against it, and I have thought about it many times since.
The words that earn marks
Each one links to how it is pronounced.
- entrance
the exact noun for a station doorway
- desperate
three syllables, and a strong precise adjective
- alarming
used accurately about what would have been worrying
- phoning
natural gerund with a clean ng ending
- expensive
three syllables with the stress on the second
- gratitude
abstract noun with the stress on the first syllable
- correction
an unexpected noun that closes the answer well
How a strong answer is built
- 1Open with the situation, not the person.
- 2Say what the person did not do, then what they did.
- 3Keep the actions concrete and in sequence.
- 4Say what it left you with, beyond thanks.
Sounds to watch
The ones this answer leans on most.
Straight answers
How long should my answer to “Describe a stranger who was kind to you.” 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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