Do you know your neighbours well?
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
Do you know your neighbours well?
no preparation, about 45 seconds to speak
A band 7 to 8 answer
About 65 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.Two of them well and the rest by sight. The woman on my floor I would call a friend, largely because we both have parcels delivered constantly and have ended up holding each other's for two years. The family below I know well enough to say hello and not well enough to know their names, which is a slightly awkward stage to be stuck in.
The words that earn marks
Each one links to how it is pronounced.
- parcels
concrete British noun, the mechanism of the friendship
- delivered
past participle with an audible ending
- constantly
adverb of frequency doing real work
- largely
adverb that qualifies the reason precisely
- awkward
a difficult consonant cluster worth practising
- stage
abstract noun naming the social situation
How a strong answer is built
- 1Answer with a split rather than a yes or no.
- 2Explain how the closer relationship formed.
- 3Describe the weaker relationship precisely.
- 4Close with a wry observation.
Sounds to watch
The ones this answer leans on most.
Straight answers
How long should my answer to “Do you know your neighbours well?” 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.One question a day until your test
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