Do long hours make people more productive?
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 long hours make people more productive?
no preparation, about 1 minute to speak
A band 7 to 8 answer
About 127 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.For a short period, yes, and over any longer horizon the evidence goes the other way. You can work sixty hours for a fortnight and get a genuine amount done, and beyond about that the quality falls far enough that you are producing work somebody has to correct. I have done it and I have made the kind of mistakes that cost more time than the extra hours saved. What keeps the practice alive is that hours are visible and output usually is not, so in an organisation that cannot measure results, presence becomes the proxy for effort. That is a management failure being carried by employees. Where long hours are genuinely necessary, occasionally they are, the important thing is that they end on a known date.
The words that earn marks
Each one links to how it is pronounced.
- horizon
three syllables with the stress on the second
- fortnight
a British time noun few candidates use
- output
compound noun, contrasted with hours
- proxy
the precise noun for a stand-in measure
- presence
the noun naming what gets rewarded
- management
three syllables with the stress on the first
- necessary
four syllables with the stress on the first
How a strong answer is built
- 1Concede the short term and deny the long.
- 2Give personal evidence.
- 3Explain why the practice survives.
- 4Place the blame and add a condition.
Sounds to watch
The ones this answer leans on most.
Straight answers
How long should my answer to “Do long hours make people more productive?” 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
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