Describe an older person you respect.
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 an older person you respect.
You should say
- who this person is
- how you know them
- what they are like
- and explain why you respect them
60 seconds to prepare, up to 2 minutes to speak
A band 7 to 8 answer
About 184 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 talk about my grandmother, who is eighty-four and still lives alone in the house she moved into as a bride. I see her every second Sunday, and I have done for years, partly out of duty at first and now genuinely because I want to. She is not a warm person in the obvious way. She does not say affectionate things and she is fairly blunt about your decisions if she disagrees with them. What she does instead is feed you and remember everything. She will ask about a colleague I mentioned three months ago by name, and she is the only person who has ever noticed when I was pretending to be fine. The reason I respect her is that she has been widowed for thirty years and has never once made it anybody else's burden. She learned to manage the accounts at sixty, started swimming at seventy, and reads two newspapers a day so that she can argue with the news. I do not think she considers any of that remarkable, which is precisely what makes it so.
The words that earn marks
Each one links to how it is pronounced.
- bride
concrete noun placing the whole story in time
- duty
abstract noun, honest about the early motive
- affectionate
four syllables with the stress on the second
- blunt
precise adjective for direct speech
- widowed
the correct participle, and a common gap in vocabulary
- burden
abstract noun carrying the admiration
- remarkable
four syllables with the stress on the second
How a strong answer is built
- 1Name the person, their age and the connection.
- 2Resist the obvious description and give a truer one.
- 3Give concrete evidence for the character.
- 4Explain the respect with facts, not adjectives.
Sounds to watch
The ones this answer leans on most.
Straight answers
How long should my answer to “Describe an older person you respect.” 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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