Describe someone who helped you when you were in difficulty.
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 someone who helped you when you were in difficulty.
You should say
- who the person was
- what the difficulty was
- what they did
- and explain how you felt about it
60 seconds to prepare, up to 2 minutes to speak
A band 7 to 8 answer
About 182 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.In my second year at university I badly misjudged my finances and ran out of money about six weeks before the end of term. I had been too embarrassed to tell anybody, and I was living on rice and skipping things. A woman on my course called Reema worked this out entirely on her own, I think from the fact that I kept refusing to go out, and she did something I still think about. She did not offer me money, which I would have refused. She told me she had signed up to cook for a departmental event and needed help, and paid me for two afternoons of chopping vegetables. It was obvious manufactured work. We both knew it. But it let me take the money without it being charity, and it got me through to the holidays. What I felt at the time was mostly relief and a certain amount of shame. What I feel now, fifteen years later, is admiration for how carefully she did it. Helping somebody without humiliating them takes far more thought than simply being generous.
The words that earn marks
Each one links to how it is pronounced.
- misjudged
prefix plus verb, precise about the mistake
- finances
the right noun, stressed on the first syllable
- embarrassed
a double-consonant word learners often mispronounce
- departmental
four syllables with the stress on the third
- manufactured
used figuratively about invented work
- charity
the word the whole story is designed to avoid
- humiliating
five syllables with the stress on the second
How a strong answer is built
- 1Set up the difficulty before naming the person.
- 2Say why nobody knew, so the help lands harder.
- 3Describe exactly what they did.
- 4Split how you felt then from how you feel now.
Sounds to watch
The ones this answer leans on most.
Straight answers
How long should my answer to “Describe someone who helped you when you were in difficulty.” 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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