Why do so many people move to cities?
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
Why do so many people move to cities?
no preparation, about 1 minute to speak
A band 7 to 8 answer
About 125 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.The short answer is work, and I think everything else follows from that. Cities concentrate employers, which means that if your job disappears there is another one within travelling distance, and that security matters more to people than almost anything else. Beyond work there are services that only make sense at scale, particularly hospitals and universities, so a family with a sick child or an ambitious teenager has a genuine reason to move that has nothing to do with preference. I would add one thing that gets overlooked, which is anonymity. In a village everybody knows your circumstances, and for a certain kind of person that is unbearable. Cities let people who do not fit their birthplace find several thousand others who do not either.
The words that earn marks
Each one links to how it is pronounced.
- concentrate
the exact verb for gathering things together
- employers
three syllables with the stress on the second
- security
four syllables with the stress on the second
- ambitious
three syllables with the stress on the second
- overlooked
the verb that introduces the unusual point
- anonymity
five syllables with the stress on the third
- birthplace
compound noun with a demanding cluster
How a strong answer is built
- 1Give the dominant cause first.
- 2Explain the mechanism behind it.
- 3Add a second category of reason.
- 4Introduce something usually left out.
Sounds to watch
The ones this answer leans on most.
Straight answers
How long should my answer to “Why do so many people move to cities?” 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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