7.7. Speaking at Band 8
Find the last marks: precise words, used skilfully, and no wasted sentences.
The short version
Band 8 is not longer words. It is precision.
Cut any sentence that is true of everybody.
Size a claim so you could defend it, then hedge it.
Less common and idiomatic words count when used skilfully.
Every sentence has to earn its place
Band 8 is not longer words. The descriptors credit skilful use of less common and idiomatic vocabulary. That means the right word in the right place, not a rare word forced in. Every sentence should change what the examiner understands.
Same Part 1 question: Do you use public transport?
Well, you know, the bus is a unique incredible magnificent mode of transport in the modern world.
I use the bus on weekdays. I do not take it on a Sunday if I can walk.
Do you think people will use buses less in the future?
In my city, probably not. Fares are still lower than parking, and the two bus lanes that opened last year cut my journey by about ten minutes. Outside the cities I suspect the opposite. Once a village loses its evening service, people buy a second car, and they do not come back to the bus even if the route returns.
Two claims, each sized to what the speaker can defend: probably not for the city, I suspect for the villages. One figure, one named mechanism. No sentence repeats the one before it.
Quiz time2 questions
Cut the extra sentence
A different Part 1 question. A candidate answers Do you read much? with three sentences. Choose the one a Band 8 speaker would leave out.
Which sentence adds nothing the examiner did not already know?
Make the claim precise
Cut the fillers, name one change you could actually describe, and size the claim so you could defend it.
Well, you know, the internet is a very unique and magnificent thing in the modern world and it is changing many things in a good way and also a bad way.
Set up your learning path at the top of this lesson to get band-specific feedback.
Recap
Every sentence should change what the examiner understands.
Drop the sentence that would be true of anyone.
Size the claim, then hedge it: probably, for people my age.
Next: the habits that carry into the room on the day.