Describe a subject you would like to study again.
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 subject you would like to study again.
You should say
- what the subject is
- when you studied it before
- why you would like to return to it
- and explain how you would approach it differently
60 seconds to prepare, up to 2 minutes to speak
A band 7 to 8 answer
About 191 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 would like to study history again, which I did until I was sixteen and then dropped for subjects that were considered more useful, a decision I did not make so much as accept. At school it was almost entirely dates and outcomes. We learned what happened and in what order, and we were assessed on whether we could reproduce it. What I would like to return to is the part I never got to, which is the argument. History is not a list. It is a running disagreement about causes, and the interesting question is never what happened but why five reasonable historians looking at the same evidence reach different conclusions. How I would approach it differently is that I would read whole books rather than summaries, and I would deliberately read two people who disagree. At sixteen I wanted the answer. Now I am fairly sure the disagreement is the subject, and the answer was always a simplification for the purposes of an exam. I have started doing it informally, two books at a time on the same event, and it is considerably more interesting than school ever suggested.
The words that earn marks
Each one links to how it is pronounced.
- dropped
the exact verb for giving up a subject
- assessed
past participle with the stress on the second syllable
- reproduce
three syllables with the stress on the third
- historians
four syllables with the stress on the second
- conclusions
three syllables with the stress on the second
- summaries
three syllables with the stress on the first
- simplification
five syllables with the stress on the fourth
How a strong answer is built
- 1Name the subject and how it ended.
- 2Describe what studying it was like the first time.
- 3Say what you would want from it now.
- 4Answer the last bullet with a concrete method.
Sounds to watch
The ones this answer leans on most.
Straight answers
How long should my answer to “Describe a subject you would like to study again.” 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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