Podcast 99 - B1 Cambridge Preliminary speaking exam - Part One

Today, I'm going to talk about the [Cambridge] Preliminary B1 exam. I'm going to talk about the speaking part, and in particular, Part One - the general questions. This is a follow-up of another podcast I did, which was podcast two, and that was on Part Two of the [Cambridge] Preliminary speaking exam. This will be useful for adults and also students at school, also doing the Preliminary for Schools. So here we go...

B1 Cambridge speaking part 1

Phase One questions

Part One of the exam lasts for about two to three minutes. It may last from three to four minutes if there are three candidates in the examining room. But usually there are just two - you and one other. When you go into the examining room, you will see two examiners in there. One of them will take your mark sheets, she will say,

'Good morning' or 'Good afternoon. Can I have your mark sheets please?'

So you give the examiner the mark sheets that you are holding. Then she will say or he'll say,

'I'm Mike Bilbrough and this is Mary Jones.'

So she'll introduce the other examiner who is in the room, who will look at you and smile!

Now the first part of the exam we could call Phase One. And these are just short and factual questions. Don't be tempted to prepare a long answer. The questions are, well, the first one will be,

What's your name?

And just answer briefly what your name is. And then,

Where do you come from?

And just give a very short and brief answer where you're from.

At the end of this session, I will go through the different questions and some model answers for each of the questions.

If you're an adult, there'll be a further two questions in Phase One. Something like,

Do you work or are you a student?

Or,

What do you do? What do you study? What job do you do? What subject do you study?

If you are doing the Preliminary for Schools, well then the Phase One finishes after the question, 'Where do you come from?'

Then you go into the Phase Two part of part one, and there you will give longer answers if you can.

What the examiners are looking for in your English

Grammar and vocabulary

Let's have a look at what the examiner is looking for. So we could say there are four criteria that the examiners are going to assess you on. The first one is grammar and vocabulary. So they are looking for the correct use of language for the topic that you're talking about. So that is knowledge of words and expressions related to the topic of the question.

Also, then, they are looking for good control of simple grammar. If you want to know which grammar, well, if you follow the podcasts at Practising English, I'll help you to be aware of the grammar that you need to know. There are also exercises here, and they are organised by level so that you can know if the language the grammar is for B1 or B2, for example.

Try to avoid too much repetition of the same words and expressions when you're talking.

Discourse management

The next criterion is discourse management. Now, what does that mean? Well, it means that you are able to use longer phrases. For example, using linking words or relative pronouns like 'that', 'which' and 'who' to link sentences together. If you can do that more in the exam, well, then you will get a higher mark.

Also, that what you're talking about is relevant to the question. Don't digress. Now to digress means to change the topic or the subject of the question and start talking about something different. So that is discourse management.

Pronunciation

The next one is pronunciation. Pronunciation does not mean accent! If you have a strong accent from your country, well, that's not important. What is important is that if the accent is so strong, that your pronunciation suffers, and it's perhaps more difficult to understand you. It's important to have the right sounds. Let's look in a bit more depth what pronunciation is.

Intonation is one thing. For example, if you're asking a question, well then the intonation rises at the end of the question.

Do you walk to work?

You notice on the last word the intonation rises or, if it's a question with question word, for example, 'what', well then it falls at the end of the question.

What do you do?

You're not going to be asking questions in Part One, but in Part Four, perhaps you may because you interact with your partner during that part of the exam.

Word stress. Word stress means putting emphasis on the key words, on the important words of your sentence. Now I talked about this in podcast 43 and also in podcast 47. So for example, in a sentence that you may use in the Part One of the B1 preliminary exam,

I really enjoyed my job.

So 'really enjoy' are keywords there, and they receive more stress, we say. They are stronger, perhaps maybe even a little bit louder.

The other thing then in pronunciation are the sounds. So for example, using diphthongs where necessary. So in a sentence, for example,

No, I don't.

The 'o' sound there is a diphthong. So it's not [example without diphthong]. So these are the sort of sounds that you will need to try to produce so you can get a good mark.

Interactive communication

The next one and last one is interactive communication. So that means how you respond. Now it's true again that in Part One, you will not be interacting with your partner, but you do interact with the examiner. How you respond is important. And the examiner will be looking to see if you need help or support before you deliver your sentence. It's probably a good idea not to let the examiner say things like 'Why?' or 'Why not?'. You want to develop your argument using conjunctions, linking words, without the examiner having to help you too much.

Phase Two questions

Let's have a look at Phase Two then and the sort of questions that you will receive. Now, if you're at school, and you're doing the Preliminary for Schools, you will have questions like these.

Tell me about a teacher you like.
How often do you use a mobile phone?

For adults, the sort of questions you may receive which are quite common.

How do you get to work every day?
Do you usually travel by car?
What did you do yesterday evening?
What did you do last weekend?
Do you think English will be useful for you in the future?

Model answers to common questions

Phase One

Cambridge Preliminary exam speaking part 1 practice

Right, so let's have a look at the answers to some of those questions. I'm going to go through Phase One and Phase Two and give some model answers.

'What's your name?'
'My name is Miguel'.

'Where do you come from?'
'I come from Seville in Spain.'

And for adults then.

'Do you work or are you a student?'
'I'm a student.'

Or another possibility might be,

'I've just finished my studies at university.'

Or you could answer,

'I work.'

Now you could continue there. I don't think it's a bad thing. Just to say in this part of the exam. 'I work.' You will be asked another question. And it will usually be,

'What do you do?'

And then you can just answer quite briefly what it is you do.

'At the moment I'm working as an intern in a construction company.'

Notice there I'm using 'I'm working' because it's a temporary situation, so we'll use present continuous. If you have a job where you always work, well, then I would use present simple.

'I work as an engineer in a construction company.'

Phase Two

Questions for phase two. As I said, it's important to develop your ideas here. Not to give answers of just a brief sentence, but try to use maybe two sentences, perhaps three and use linkers as you do that. So the linkers I'm talking about are for example, 'because', 'so', 'and', 'perhaps', 'but', 'after that'. I've used those linkers in these model answers. I would like you to listen out for them as I read through the answers to the questions. I'll say them once more. [I read them a second time].

in the Preliminary for Schools, you'll receive a question like,

'Tell me about a teacher you like.'
'I really like my English teacher because she makes the lessons sound interesting. I'm learning very quickly with her.'

'How often do you use a mobile phone?'
'Well, I use it every day at weekends. My mum likes to keep in touch with me. If I go out during the week I don't use it very much. We mustn't take the mobile phone to school.'

Okay, Phase Two for adults.

'How do you get to work every day?'
'I usually go on my bicycle because my place of work is very close to where I live, but if it's raining, I take the bus.'

'What did you do yesterday evening?'
'I didn't do very much. It was raining so I stayed in and watched the television. After that, I called my mum on the phone and we chatted for about an hour.'

'Do you think English will be useful for you in the future?'
'Yes, definitely. I'm thinking of looking for a job abroad - perhaps in the UK. So I'll need English for my work and my social life.'

Did you hear the linkers that I used in those answers?

I hope this has been useful for you.

That's all from me for now. Goodbye!