Should news be free for everyone to read?
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
Should news be free for everyone to read?
no preparation, about 1 minute to speak
A band 7 to 8 answer
About 128 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.I would like it to be and I do not think it can be, which is an uncomfortable position. Reporting costs money. A journalist spending four months on one story has to be paid by somebody, and when nobody pays directly the funding comes from advertising, which rewards volume and outrage rather than accuracy. So free news is not actually free, it is paid for in a currency that damages the product. What worries me about paywalls is the split they produce. People who can pay get careful reporting and everybody else gets whatever is given away, which tends to be the least reliable material. If I had to choose, I would rather see public funding with genuine independence, though I recognise how hard that is to protect.
The words that earn marks
Each one links to how it is pronounced.
- reporting
the precise noun for the work of journalism
- funding
three syllables, the economic core of the answer
- outrage
the noun, stressed on the first syllable
- accuracy
four syllables with the stress on the first
- paywalls
compound noun naming the mechanism exactly
- reliable
four syllables with the stress on the second
- independence
four syllables with the stress on the third
How a strong answer is built
- 1State the tension in your own position.
- 2Explain the economics that create it.
- 3Name the problem with the alternative.
- 4Say what you would choose, with a caveat.
Sounds to watch
The ones this answer leans on most.
Straight answers
How long should my answer to “Should news be free for everyone to read?” 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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