Part One – Introduction
[This part of the test begins with the examiner introducing himself or herself and checking the candidate’s identification. It then continues as an interview. In the interview, the examiner asks the candidate about his/her home, work or studies and other familiar topics.]
Friends:
Q. How often do you go out with friends? [Why/Why not?]
Answer: I go out with my friends almost two or three times a week. During my university years, it was more frequent but these days, I cannot hang out with friends or see them that much as I have got busy with my job and other responsibilities.
Q. Tell me about your best friend at school.
Answer: Well, my best friend in my school days was John and in fact, he is still my best buddy. He is a compassionate, talented and honest individual. We had our ups and downs in our school days but he had always been there for me. He is now an architect and works for a large company in our city. He is married to Maria, a girl from our college, and they are happily married. I value our friendship and so does he.
Q. How friendly are you with your neighbours? [Why/Why not?]
Answer: Except for a particular rude neighbour, I have a good relationship with almost all our next-door-neighbours. We live in our area as if we are close relatives. There were times they extended their helping hands to me when I most needed them. On every major occasion, they invite my family and so do we. Despite our cultural, religious and other differences, we are all good friends and I am lucky to be in such a great neighbourhood.
Q. Which is more important to you, friends or family? [Why?]
Answer: This is a tough question to answer! I value my family over my friends. However, this does not mean that my friends do not have a special place in my heart. Family comes first and they are the individuals I feel most connected with. Everyone has a responsibility to look after his/her family and support them unconditionally. This is true for friends as well but the responsibility and bond between family members are acuter, I believe. Some of our friends are quite important while some are not. This is not the case for the family members as all of them are supremely important to me.
Part 2 – Cue Card
[The topic for your talk will be written on a card which the examiner will hand you. Read it carefully and then make some brief notes.]
Describe a writer you would like to meet.
You should say:
- who the writer is
- what you already know about this writer
- what you would like to find out about him/her
and explain why you would like to meet this writer.
[ You will have to talk about the topic for one to two minutes. You have one minute to think about what you are going to say. You can make some notes to help you if you wish.]
[Examiner: All right? Remember you have one to two minutes for this, so don’t worry if I stop you. I’ll tell you when the time is up. Can you start speaking now, please?]
Describe a writer you would like to meet.
Please say:
- who the writer is
- what you know about this writer already
- what you would like to find out about him/her
and explain why you would like to meet this writer.
Sample Answer 1:
Joanna Rowling, who is more popularly known as J.K. Rowling is the writer I would love to meet and spend some time with. She is a British Novelist and the creator of the world-famous Harry Potter Series.
She was born on 31st July 1965 in Yale, England. Besides writing, she is also a screenwriter, film producer and researcher. She was employed as a researcher for Amnesty International when she conceived the idea for the Harry Potter while on a delay for the train in 1990. Her fantasy series books Harry Potter gained worldwide attention and sold over four hundred million copies. She also worked as a producer of the movie series Hary Potter. Besides writing for children, she also wrote 4 books for adult readers. Time magazine named her as a runner-up for the Person of the year in 2007 and she is now the 197the richest person in the UK whose fortune worth around 600 million Pound. Currently, she is the mother of 3 children and married to Neil Murray.
What would I like to find out about her? Interesting question! But honestly speaking, I would like to know about her daily life and interests -what she does, how she speaks with her fans, whether she cooks or not, what she does with her children and husband, what type of dresses she wear, what type of house she lives in and so on and on. I would also like to discuss her writing career, what’s her plan on writing more fantasy books for children and what motivates her to write. Finally, I would like to know the types of books she likes to read and what special qualities an aspiring writer should have.
She is my childhood hero and I have always wanted to meet her. Her books are quite special to me and helped me develop imagination. Sometimes her books inspired me to a great extent. I would like to know about the creator of Harry Potter and learn about her more. The way she had influenced millions of children all around the world is quite unmatched. I would like to spend some time with her and know more about his living legend.
Sample Answer 2:
Writing is a great profession and I believe the writers come with a special type of virtues. So, meeting the writers is interesting and I would like to meet Stephen King for his extraordinary story developing capability, especially horror and mysterious stories.
Stephen Edwin King, commonly known as Stephen King to his readers, was born in 1947. He is also famous for his pen name – Richard Bachman. King is skilled in composing stories in genres like horror, mystery, science fiction, supernatural fiction and others. Some of his books are bestsellers while some of the books have been adapted for films as well. Besides, his books are globally admired and even comic books have also been made with the characters created on his books. So far, King has created around 54 books under his authorship and Shawshank Redemption is one of the greatest movies of all time which is adapted from one of his books of the similar name.
To me, King is one of the greatest writers of all times. He is famous for his distinctive style of narration and the plots are undoubtedly extraordinary. He has also achieved some prestigious awards for his contribution to the US literature. To make the long story short, King has achieved a wide number of awards and his works have been nominated for adaptations. His father was a merchant seaman from Peru in Indiana. But King’s family had to experience hardship as his father had left the family with a trick. It is said that the death of one of his dearest friends, in his childhood, made him inspired to create his darker works. His interest to write horror might have appeared from the reading of horror comics in his early days.
As far I realise, King had a spiky childhood. He was deprived of fatherly affection and love. A substantial portion of his life underwent amid hardship, struggle and survival were challenging. His academic career also experienced some shocks. But he overcame all the obstacles to his success. Now he is one of the most influential writers. He is a wealthy man now. He can do whatever he wants in terms of a writer, influential person and a revered celebrity. But I would like to dig deeper into his life. In fact, it is impossible for everyone to overcome the adversities of life. The majority of them get ruined while the remaining are abolished from the earth. But there are some exceptional people who have overcome the barriers to success. So, I would like to find out and know about the secrets that have kept him so energetic and inspired. Actually, I want to learn from his firsthand experience to stand upright amid thousands of troubles.
There are people who are extraordinary in every aspect. I sense King is one of them and even a five-minute meet with him may teach me a large number of things. In fact, the things I will learn from him are unavailable in books, seminars or in other meetings. These are his real-life experiences and invaluable. So, is I have a chance to meet him, I would come to know about the undisclosed issues of life. Moreover, it is a dream for me to meet my dearest writer. If I can meet him, I could come to a conclusion on how to deal with the adversities of life. In fact, the meet with King is beneficial for me in several aspects.
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Part 3 – Two-way Discussion:
Discussion topics: Reading and children.
Q. What kinds of books are most popular with children in your country? Why do you think that is?
Answer: Well, from my experience and observation I can say that comics, detective books, rhyme collections, fairy tales, and fictions are more popular among children in my country. Young children prefer comics and books that have nice illustration while teenagers like to read detective books and fiction. Among girls, fairy tales are more endured. In my childhood, I had been a great fan of detective books and mystery books.
Q. Why do you think some children do not read books very often?
Answer: Reading books is a habit and once a child starts feeling the unbound pleasure a book can offer, he/she becomes a book-lover. However, there are some who do not develop this habit either because he/she was too busy with other activities to dive his nose on a good book or because his parents did not inspire him to try reading books outside of the academic syllabus. Young children mimic their parents and if neither of the parents is a good reader, it is less likely that a child would start reading all by himself/herself.
Q. How do you think children can be encouraged to read more?
Answer: As I have already said, parents need to be readers and motivate children to read books. They should read books to their children every night and let the young minds search for a world hidden in books. They should also be very prudent while selecting books for the offspring and can take help from the Internet as many websites list down ” the most suitable books” based on a child’s age. Teachers, on the other hand, can play a great role in school and can motivate young students to read more books by arranging reading sessions.
Discussion topics: Reading for different purposes.
Q. Are there any occasions when reading at speed is a useful skill to have? What are they?
Answer: Well, as far as I can recall, being able to read at a fast speed is quite helpful for everyone, especially for students. Many exams, including IELTS and TOEFL, require a student to skim through the passages and get the gist as quickly as possible to answer the questions. Slow reading would deter a candidate to effectively end the exam in time and score well.
Besides, some reading competitions arranged in schools demand a student to read very quickly and meticulously. Finally, to finish some assignments given in the college, a student has to read many books and chapters. Those who do not have the speed-reading skill, find it very challenging to complete those assignments.
Q. Are there any jobs where people need to read a lot? What are they?
Answer: Well, I can say that researchers, journalists, teachers, bloggers, business analysts, writers and editors need to read a lot. I am pretty sure there must be many other professions, apart from the ones I have mentioned, where people are required to read every now and then. From my experience, I can say that reading is a must for a researcher and so is it for a journalist. Bloggers have to read a lot to generate ideas and get to know the competitors and this is true for a business analyst and editor as well. Writers, always prefer to read and they are natural readers.
Q. Do you think that reading novels is more interesting than reading factual books? Why is that?
Answer: This is really a tough question to answer and I am sure the answer will vary from person to person. Personally, I was a die-hard fan of novels in my whole life and found factual books less interesting. But this choice of mine has changed very recently. These days, I prefer factual books more than a novel. I believe this choice has something to do with the reader’s taste, experience and age.