Describe a website you find useful.
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 website you find useful.
You should say
- what the website is
- how often you use it
- what you use it for
- and explain why it is useful to you
60 seconds to prepare, up to 2 minutes to speak
A band 7 to 8 answer
About 193 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 site I use most, apart from the obvious ones, is a railway timetable site that is not the official one and is considerably better than it. It was built, as far as I can tell, by one person, and it looks like it was designed in about two thousand and four. I use it perhaps three times a week, more if I am travelling. What I use it for is checking whether a train I am relying on is actually running, and more importantly how late it is running right now, which the official site tells you only after the delay is official. This one infers it from where the train currently is. Why it is useful is exactly that. It does one thing, it does it faster than anything else, and there is nothing on the page except the answer. No account, no advertisement, no application to install. I am mildly worried about what happens the day the person who runs it gets bored. I sent the person who runs it a message about two years ago saying thank you, and he replied within an hour, which rather proved the point.
The words that earn marks
Each one links to how it is pronounced.
- timetable
compound noun naming the function precisely
- official
three syllables with the stress on the second
- relying
the right verb for depending on a service
- infers
a precise verb, stressed on the second syllable
- advertisement
four syllables, with British stress on the second
- install
the exact verb, stressed on the second syllable
- mildly
adverb that gives the closing line its tone
How a strong answer is built
- 1Name the site and what makes it unusual.
- 2Give the frequency and what you use it for.
- 3Explain the specific advantage over the alternative.
- 4Say why it works, and close with an honest worry.
Sounds to watch
The ones this answer leans on most.
Straight answers
How long should my answer to “Describe a website you find useful.” 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.