IELTS Speaking Part 1 · festivals

Do you enjoy public holidays? What do you do?

A strong Part 1 answer puts the actual answer in the first clause, adds one reason or one example, and stops. Two or three sentences, roughly forty seconds.

The question, as the examiner gives it

IELTS Speaking Part 1

Do you enjoy public holidays? What do you do?

no preparation, about 45 seconds to speak

A band 7 to 8 answer

About 64 words at a natural pace — roughly what 45 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.
A band 7 to 8 answer

I enjoy the idea of them more than the reality, because everywhere worth going is full. What I do now is stay in the city, which empties out, and go to all the places that are impossible on a normal Saturday. It is the one day the roads are quiet. A long weekend is different, though. That I will happily spend somewhere else entirely.

The words that earn marks

Each one links to how it is pronounced.

  • reality

    abstract noun set against idea for a clean contrast

  • empties

    vivid verb for a city clearing out

  • impossible

    strong adjective with the stress on the second syllable

  • roads

    concrete evidence for the claim

  • entirely

    adverb reinforcing the closing preference

  • happily

    adverb that sets the tone of the close

How a strong answer is built

  1. 1Give a qualified answer with a reason.
  2. 2Say what you actually do instead.
  3. 3Give the concrete payoff.
  4. 4Distinguish a related case to close.

Sounds to watch

The ones this answer leans on most.

Straight answers

How long should my answer to “Do you enjoy public holidays? What do you do?” be?

About 45 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.
Practise this question

One question a day until your test

A free account remembers every take, so you watch a trend instead of a single answer, and it picks tomorrow's question for you.