Describe a teacher who influenced you and explain why that person mattered.
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 teacher who influenced you and explain why that person mattered.
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.My tenth-grade physics teacher, who refused to answer questions directly. If you asked him something he asked you three back, and half the class found that maddening. What he actually did was present the subject as unfinished. He would explain something perfectly and then say that nobody really knows why it works, which no teacher had ever admitted to me before. He mattered because I stopped assuming that the people teaching me had all the answers, and I started reading around things instead of only learning them. I did not become a physicist, and that habit has been worth more than the physics would have been.
The words that carry it
Each one links to how it is pronounced.
- physics
a consonant cluster many learners simplify
- maddening
the precise adjective for something infuriating
- unfinished
three syllables carrying the central idea
- admitted
three syllables with the stress on the second
- assuming
three syllables with the stress on the second
- physicist
three syllables with the stress on the first
How to build the 45 seconds
- 1Name the person and one distinctive behavior.
- 2Explain what that behavior actually achieved.
- 3State the influence on you specifically.
- 4Close by separating the influence from the subject.
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.