Have festivals changed since you were young?
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
Have festivals changed since you were young?
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.They have got louder and shorter, if that makes sense. When I was small the preparation took a fortnight and half the pleasure was in it, and now people order everything and it arrives on the day. The photographs are the other change. A great deal of it now happens so that it can be posted, and I find that slightly sad rather than outrageous.
The words that earn marks
Each one links to how it is pronounced.
- preparation
four syllables with the stress on the third
- pleasure
abstract noun with a voiced medial consonant
- arrives
clean verb ending, and it lands the contrast
- posted
the modern sense of the verb, used naturally
- outrageous
a strong adjective deliberately rejected
- louder
comparative adjective opening the answer
How a strong answer is built
- 1Describe the change in two adjectives.
- 2Contrast then and now concretely.
- 3Name a second change.
- 4Give a measured judgement, not a complaint.
Sounds to watch
The ones this answer leans on most.
Straight answers
How long should my answer to “Have festivals changed since you were young?” 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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