Answering Cambridge C1 Advanced Speaking Part 1 questions
Following on from my previous post about questions in Part 1 of the C1 Advanced Speaking Test, I’m going to share some tips for helping C1 Advanced candidates answer them!
In Part 1 of the Cambridge C1 Advanced Speaking Test, candidates will be asked a range of questions about themselves, including their interests, experiences and plans for the future.
It’s important that students try and use as wide a range of language as possible, as well as giving prompt, full and natural answers to the questions.
As Cambridge advises in the Cambridge C1 Advanced Handbook:
“Advise your students to try and use a variety of appropriate tenses, structures and vocabulary in this part of the test. This will create a good impression and give them confidence to tackle the other parts of the test.”
Tips for different types of questions in C1 Speaking Part 1
Let’s consider how candidates could answer different types of questions in Part 1 of the C1 Advanced Speaking Test.
Comparing
Questions where students could bring in comparison could start with:
- Do you prefer …?
- What do you think is the best way to …?
- How important is it to ….?
- What aspect of ….. do you most enjoy?
- Would you say that …. is a difficult …?
- What sort of things do you enjoy …?
- What would be your ideal …?
- How easy is it for you to …?
Let’s look at some example questions using these question heads, focusing on learning English. And some different ways to give answers, using different ways of comparison.
- Do you prefer to speak or to write English?
- What do you think is the best way to improve your English?
- What aspect of learning English do you most enjoy?
- Would you say that English is a particularly difficult language to learn?
- When it comes to speaking, I’m not nearly as confident as I am when I write. I put it down to the lack of time to prepare.
- There’s nothing more important than practice! I mean, using English for real purposes and also, making a point of trying out new language when you come across it.
- Thanks to English, I am in a far better position to discover a great deal more about world events.
- Compared to other languages, English verb forms are nowhere near as complicated, although I can’t say the same regarding phrasal verbs!
Talking about experiences
Questions asking about past experiences might begin with:
- Have you, or anyone you know, ever …?
- When was the last time …?
- What was the last thing …?
- Who has had the greatest influence on ..?
- What has been your …?
Let’s look at some sample questions about past experiences. And some different ways to reply, using some set expressions to get our answers off to a natural start. And a range of tenses too.
- Have you, or anyone you know, ever won a competition?
- What has been your most interesting travel experience?
- Which teacher has had the biggest influence on you?
- When was the last time you saw an exhibition?
- It’s funny you should ask because I just received a text from a friend to say that he’s a finalist in a song contest.
- It might sound crazy but it was actually one of my worst travel experiences. Having missed my connection, I had to spend the night in a cold train station. As it turns out, I got talking to other people in the same position, and we ended up sharing the little food we had and becoming the best of friends!
- I’ll always remember my French teacher because she inspired me to love languages. I guess I didn’t appreciate it at the time, but looking back, I’m so grateful to her for that.
- When it comes to planning ahead and getting tickets, I’m a bit of a disaster. Luckily, I have a friend who’s much better organised, so she took me to see the Van Gogh exhibition.
Discussing future hopes and plans
Questions asking about candidates’ future plans might begin with:
- What do you hope to …?
- If you could, would you like to …?
- Are you planning to …?
- How do you think you might …?
There are some useful expressions to talk about the future (Going forward …; One of these days, …; In the short/long run, …; in the forseeable future) mentioned in this article on the Cambridge Dictionary Blog: (link below)
Let’s look at some sample questions about the future. Notice the range of tenses (and modal verbs) and the collocations used in the answers.
- Are you planning to travel anywhere in the near future?
- What do you hope to be doing in ten years’ time?
- If you could, would you like to move to another country?
- How do you think you might celebrate your next birthday?
- In actual fact, I might be heading off next weekend! It’s definitely on the cards.
- In an ideal world, I will have landed my dream job, along with a huge salary. If that should happen, then I’d be able to fulfil my ambition to help others in need.
- Given the chance, I’d have no hesitation in doing that but, sadly, it’s highly unlikely that I could ever do that, given all the commitments I have. If only!
- I haven’t made up my mind yet, but I imagine I’ll definitely be doing something for it as I strongly believe in celebrating every day, especially my birthday!
I hope that you and your students will find my suggestions useful and that they will help them get off to a strong start in their Advanced Speaking Test. Don’t forget that this post is linked to my earlier post where I shared insights into the typical questions used in Part 1 of the C1 Advanced Speaking Test.
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