Describe a skill you would like to learn and explain why you chose it.
A strong Task 1 answer states the choice immediately, gives two supports or one support with an example, and lands its last word around forty seconds. Fifteen seconds of preparation is enough for the plan, not for the wording.
The prompt and the clock
Describe a skill you would like to learn and explain why you chose it.
15 seconds to prepare, up to 45 seconds to speak
A model answer at the right length
106 words — what 45 seconds actually holds.
Answer it yourself first
Record yours first. A memorised TOEFL answer is audible in the rhythm, and raters mark delivery, which is exactly what memorisation damages. Read this afterwards for the shape and the vocabulary.I would like to learn to draw, and specifically to observe rather than to make art. I chose it because people who draw appear to see more. A friend who sketches can describe a building she passed a week ago in detail I simply do not have, and I think that is because drawing forces you to decide where the edges actually are. How I would learn it is not mysterious. There is a standard book and about thirty minutes a day for a year. What stops me is entirely psychological. Drawing produces a permanent record of every failure, sitting on the table, looking at you.
The words that carry it
Each one links to how it is pronounced.
- observe
two syllables with the stress on the second
- sketches
the precise verb with a hard final cluster
- edges
concrete noun explaining what drawing teaches
- mysterious
four syllables with the stress on the second
- psychological
five syllables with a silent p
- permanent
three syllables with the stress on the first
How to build the 45 seconds
- 1Name the skill and define it precisely.
- 2Give the reason as something observed in others.
- 3Say how you would learn it, realistically.
- 4Name the real obstacle, which is about you.
Sounds to watch
Straight answers
How long should this answer be?
Forty-five seconds, which is roughly 110 to 130 words at a natural pace. The model below is 106. If your version runs past fifty seconds the recording cuts off, and raters hear an answer that stops mid-sentence.
Does it matter which side I take?
No. Raters mark delivery, language use and topic development, never which opinion you chose. Pick one in the first second and spend the preparation time on two supports rather than on deciding.
What does sayit score here?
An estimate from fluency and pronunciation only — not an official band, and not a mark for vocabulary or grammar. The transcript is shown in full, so you can judge your own wording and development yourself.
What the score on your result means
An estimate from fluency and pronunciation only — not an official band, and not a mark for vocabulary or grammar.Drill it until the clock stops mattering
A free account keeps every take, so you can watch your pace settle and your filler count fall across a fortnight.