Retell Lecture
- About 10 seconds to prepare after the audio ends, then 40 seconds to speak.
- Machine-scored
- Original practice material
Coral is an animal that houses algae. The algae photosynthesise and supply most of the coral's food. When water is too warm for too long the coral expels the algae and turns white, which is bleaching. Bleached coral is not dead and can recover if temperatures fall within a few weeks. Repeated events are the problem: each one leaves the reef weaker, and the interval between events is shortening.
Press record, answer out loud, then press again.
One free take on this device · no account · no card
Say the terms clearly: algae, photosynthesis, expels, bleaching.
We do not play you a lecture. These are the notes you would have taken from one. Speaking from them for 40 seconds still trains the half of the task that practice improves, which is the delivery.
What the machine listens for
- Content: the main points of the lecture, in any order, in your own words.
- Oral fluency: 40 seconds of even speech, which is difficult immediately after concentrating on listening.
- Pronunciation: including the technical vocabulary you only heard once.
Described in our own words from the published format. Pearson's scoring guides are copyrighted and are not reproduced here.
- Preparation
- 10 seconds
- Recording
- About 40 seconds
What this page practises
We do not play you a lecture. Each item below is a short written summary of one — the notes you would have taken — and the exercise is to speak from it for 40 seconds. The analysis covers delivery: pace, pausing, fillers and every sound against its target, including the technical words. Whether you caught the lecturer's second point is not something we can check. An estimate from fluency and pronunciation only — not an official band, and not a mark for vocabulary or grammar.How to do Retell Lecture well
Take notes in nouns
Key terms, names, numbers. A full sentence in your notes is a sentence you will read aloud, and read-aloud notes sound flat and cost fluency.
Open by naming the topic
'The lecture was about how coral reefs recover after bleaching.' One sentence, and the rest of the recording has a frame to hang on.
Two or three points is enough
Forty seconds does not hold more. A complete account of three points beats a rushed list of seven.
Use the speaker's terms
The technical vocabulary is part of the content mark. Say the term, even if you are unsure of the stress — practise the common academic ones in advance.
Common Retell Lecture mistakes
Silence while you organise
The 40 seconds starts whether you are ready or not. Begin with the topic sentence and organise as you go.
Quoting instead of retelling
Reproducing exact phrases you remember is scored lower than restating the idea.
Adding your own opinion
This is a summary task. An opinion spends seconds the content mark will not reward.
Running out at twenty seconds
If you finish the points early, restate the conclusion rather than stopping.
Straight answers
Can I take notes during the lecture?
Yes, and you should. The erasable board and pen are provided, and candidates who take structured notes consistently score better on content.
What if I miss the beginning?
Keep listening. The end of a lecture usually restates the main point, and a summary built from the second half scores far better than nothing.
Why does this page give me the summary in writing?
Because sayit cannot supply the lecture audio, and a practice page that pretends otherwise would be lying about what it measures. Speaking from a written summary still trains the 40-second delivery, which is the half we can score.
Hear the sounds an automated scorer hears
Record one item and read the per-sound breakdown — the endings and clusters a recogniser marks as a mismatch. Free, nothing blurred.