Do social media influencers deserve the influence they have?
A strong Part 3 answer takes a position in the first clause, supports it with one reason and one concrete case, and then names where it stops being true. Around a minute.
The question, as the examiner gives it
Do social media influencers deserve the influence they have?
no preparation, about 1 minute to speak
A band 7 to 8 answer
About 132 words at a natural pace — roughly what 60 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.Deserve is a difficult word here, because influence is not really awarded to anybody. It is an outcome of how the platforms distribute attention, and what they reward is consistency and emotional response rather than expertise. So in one sense the question is misdirected. The more useful question is whether we should treat that influence as authority, and there I would say clearly not, particularly for anything with consequences, like health or money. What I would defend is that a number of them are extremely skilled at a genuinely difficult thing, which is explaining something clearly to a large audience. That is a real ability. The problem is that we have no reliable way of telling the ones who know their subject from the ones who merely sound as though they do.
The words that earn marks
Each one links to how it is pronounced.
- awarded
the verb that lets you question the premise
- distribute
three syllables with the stress on the second
- expertise
three syllables with the stress on the third
- misdirected
four syllables, precise about the question
- authority
four syllables with the stress on the second
- consequences
four syllables with the stress on the first
- reliable
four syllables with the stress on the second
How a strong answer is built
- 1Question the key word in the question.
- 2Explain what actually produces the influence.
- 3Reframe to the more useful question and answer it.
- 4Concede what is genuinely skilled, then name the real problem.
Sounds to watch
The ones this answer leans on most.
Straight answers
How long should my answer to “Do social media influencers deserve the influence they have?” be?
About 60 seconds. Long enough for the answer plus a reason or an example, short enough that the examiner can get through the rest of the set.
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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