In the C1 Advanced long turn you speak alone for about a minute, comparing two pictures you choose and answering the questions printed above them. Candidates who merely describe run out of things to say after twenty seconds; candidates who speculate and compare never do.
Take the pair you have most to say about, not the pair you find most interesting. Hesitating over the choice eats the first ten seconds of a sixty-second turn.
‘Both of these show people at work, though in very different settings.’ One sentence that covers both pictures sets the structure and prevents the description-then-description pattern.
They are the task. Answer both, in order, and use them as the two halves of your turn — that alone gives you a structure that fills the time.
‘She may well be a volunteer rather than an employee, judging by what she is wearing.’ You cannot know, so hedged language is both accurate and a display of range.
‘Judging by…’, ‘which suggests…’, ‘presumably because…’. A guess with a reason attached is twice the language and sounds far more competent.
‘Some sort of tool for cutting’ costs you nothing and keeps you fluent. Stopping to search for the exact word is far more damaging than the paraphrase.
‘Of the two, the second looks the more demanding, mainly because of the weather.’ A closing comparison sounds finished rather than interrupted, even if the examiner stops you.
When you are asked about your partner’s pictures, thirty seconds is right. A long answer here takes time from the task and is not what the question invited.
Not thisIn the first picture I can see a man with a bag. In the second picture I can see a woman.
ThisBoth pictures show people travelling, but for very different reasons.
Listing what is visible is description, and the task asks for comparison. It also exhausts the material in twenty seconds.
Not thisShe is definitely a teacher and they are certainly on holiday.
ThisShe might well be a teacher, and they look as though they are on holiday.
You cannot know, so certainty is inaccurate. Speculative language is both more truthful and better rewarded.
Not thisAnswering only the first of the two printed questions.
ThisAnswering both, with a reason for each.
The questions are the task. Half an answer cannot reach the top band however fluent the minute was.
Not thisStopping after thirty seconds because there is nothing left to say.
ThisReturning to the questions and speculating further.
The turn is designed to need speculation. Candidates who run dry have usually been describing, and description runs out quickly.
Not thisFreezing while searching for a word.
This‘Some kind of container — a crate, perhaps.’
Fluency is assessed, precision of that one noun is not. Paraphrase is what a competent speaker does at C1.
Not thisDescribing all three pictures.
ThisComparing the two you chose.
The instruction names two, and covering three guarantees that none is compared properly within the time.
40 original questions. The first 10 are open to everyone. Answers are checked in your browser and never sent to us, so you can share this page with a class as it is.
2Complete the sentence.
3Complete the sentence.
6Complete the sentence.
7How would you structure a one-minute long turn?
One good answer
Ten seconds: an opening sentence covering both pictures. Twenty seconds: the first printed question, answered with a comparison and a reason. Twenty seconds: the second question, with speculation about the people. Ten seconds: a closing judgement — which of the two looks harder, happier or more unusual, and why.
9Complete the sentence.
10Complete the sentence.
13Complete the sentence.
15Complete the sentence.
16You do not know the word for something in the picture. What do you do?
One good answer
Describe its function and move on: ‘some sort of container — a crate, perhaps — with tools in it’. Say it at normal speed and keep going. The examiner is assessing whether you can keep communicating, and a fluent paraphrase scores better than a five-second silence followed by the right noun.
17Complete the sentence.
20Complete the sentence.
22Complete the sentence.
23Complete the sentence.
26Complete the sentence.
28Complete the sentence.
29Write three sentences comparing two imagined photographs of people travelling.
One good answer
Both photographs show people on a journey, but the mood could hardly be more different. In the first, a family are surrounded by luggage and look as though they have been waiting for hours, whereas the man in the second is travelling light and seems entirely unhurried. Judging by the suits around him, he may well be commuting rather than going away.
31Complete the sentence.
33Complete the sentence.
35Complete the sentence.
39Name four speculative structures and say what each suggests.
One good answer
‘Must have been’ — a confident deduction from evidence. ‘May or might well be’ — a real possibility, hedged. ‘Looks as though’ — an inference from appearance. ‘Presumably’ — an assumption you expect the listener to share. Using three of the four in a minute shows the range this task is built to sample.
Note
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About a minute, and the examiner will stop you. Practise with a timer until sixty seconds feels normal: most candidates either dry up at thirty or have no ending prepared when they are stopped.
That is the point of the task. Say what it appears to be and why: ‘It looks like some kind of workshop, judging by the tools on the wall.’ Uncertainty expressed well is exactly the language being assessed.
Only enough to support the comparison. One clause about each is plenty; everything else should compare, speculate or answer the printed questions.
Only in that you should choose quickly and choose the pair you can say most about. There is no better or worse pair, and hesitating over the choice costs you the opening of your turn.
Open any two photographs at random, set a timer for a minute, and speak. Record it, then listen for two things: did you compare or only describe, and did you use more than one speculative structure. Ten minutes of that a day changes this task quickly.