Do people sleep less than they used to?
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 people sleep less than they used to?
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.Slightly less on average, and I suspect the quality has changed more than the quantity. The historical comparison is harder than people claim, because nobody was measuring it carefully a century ago and the accounts we have are not reliable. What is well documented is that sleep is now more interrupted and more misaligned. Artificial light lets people stay up regardless of the season, work reaches them at eleven at night, and the same hour of sleep taken at the wrong time is not equivalent. There is also a cultural element I find odd. For about two decades sleeping little was treated as evidence of seriousness, and that has only recently started to reverse, which is a strange thing for a species to have talked itself into.
The words that earn marks
Each one links to how it is pronounced.
- quantity
three syllables with the stress on the first
- historical
four syllables with the stress on the second
- documented
four syllables with the stress on the first
- interrupted
four syllables with the stress on the third
- misaligned
a precise compound about timing, not amount
- artificial
four syllables with the stress on the third
- equivalent
four syllables with the stress on the second
How a strong answer is built
- 1Answer carefully and shift to the better measure.
- 2Admit the limits of the historical comparison.
- 3Give what is actually known, with causes.
- 4Add a cultural observation to close.
Sounds to watch
The ones this answer leans on most.
Straight answers
How long should my answer to “Do people sleep less than they used to?” 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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