Is advertising too powerful today?
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
Is advertising too powerful today?
no preparation, about 1 minute to speak
A band 7 to 8 answer
About 122 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.Powerful is not quite the word I would use. Individual advertisements are probably less persuasive than they were, because people are far more cynical about them. What has changed is precision. An advertisement thirty years ago was shown to everybody and had to be broadly appealing, whereas now it can be shown specifically to people the system has identified as susceptible at that particular moment. That is a different kind of power and it is much harder to notice, which is precisely the problem. I would also say the influence on what gets made is underrated. A great deal of media exists in the shape it does because that shape can be interrupted for advertising, and that has consequences nobody ever chose.
The words that earn marks
Each one links to how it is pronounced.
- persuasive
three syllables with the stress on the second
- cynical
three syllables with the stress on the first
- precision
the key noun that reframes the question
- susceptible
four syllables with the stress on the second
- underrated
four syllables, precise about neglected effects
- interrupted
four syllables with the stress on the third
- broadly
adverb doing exact work about old advertising
How a strong answer is built
- 1Question the word in the question.
- 2Say what has actually declined.
- 3Say what has increased instead, and why it matters.
- 4Add a structural effect most people miss.
Sounds to watch
The ones this answer leans on most.
Straight answers
How long should my answer to “Is advertising too powerful today?” 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
A free account remembers every take, so you watch a trend instead of a single answer, and it picks tomorrow's question for you.