In the academic integrated speaking task you read a short passage defining a term, hear a professor illustrate it, and then explain the concept using that illustration. No opinion is wanted and no outside knowledge is needed. These 40 items train the shape that scores: a one-sentence definition in your own words, then the example in detail, then one line that ties them together.
The passage is short and has one job: it names the term and defines it. Take those two things and leave the rest.
‘res. part. = split shared resource’. That is all you need on the page for the opening sentence.
Who or what, the contrast, the result. The contrast is almost always the point of the illustration.
One sentence, paraphrased. Starting with the example leaves the rater waiting for the idea it illustrates.
A short definition and then forty seconds of illustration is the balance that sounds complete.
The professor explains, describes, gives the example of. It signals clearly which source you are on.
‘So the two lizards show how species can share a tree without competing.’ One sentence turns two blocks into one answer.
If a name escapes you, describe it generically and finish the example. An incomplete illustration costs more than a vague noun.
Not thisReciting a phrase from the reading word for word.
ThisSaying the same idea in your own words.
The task measures comprehension; copied wording shows only that you could read the screen.
Not thisAdding “in my opinion, this is a useful theory”.
ThisLeaving opinion out entirely.
No opinion is asked for, and the seconds it costs come out of the example.
Not thisRetelling the lecture without stating the concept.
ThisConcept first, then illustration.
A response that is all example leaves the rater to supply the idea being illustrated.
Not thisDescribing every detail of the example.
ThisDescribing the contrast and the result.
Sixty seconds does not hold the whole lecture, and the leg length of a lizard is not the point.
Not thisSwitching to an example of your own.
ThisUsing the professor’s.
Integration is the skill being scored; your own example, however good, is not integration.
Not thisSpending thirty seconds on the definition.
ThisSpending about fifteen.
Time taken at the start is taken from the illustration, which carries most of the content marks.
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 with one noun beginning with d.
6Put this into one spoken sentence: “Resource partitioning is the division of shared resources by species that would otherwise compete.”
One good answer
Resource partitioning is when species living in the same place use different parts of a shared resource, so that they are not competing directly.
7Complete with one verb (third person) beginning with e.
9Complete with one noun beginning with k.
11Complete with one noun beginning with w.
13Complete with one noun beginning with p.
15Write two lines of notes for the lizard example.
One good answer
2 lizard sp., same tree / A = trunk, B = branches → no direct competition
16Complete with one noun beginning with e.
18Complete with one word beginning with w.
20Complete with a number word.
22Complete with one noun beginning with i.
26Complete with one noun beginning with p.
28Complete with one noun beginning with t.
29Write one sentence that reports a lecture point without copying it.
One good answer
The professor points out that the two species avoid competing directly because each one feeds on a different part of the same tree.
31Complete with one noun beginning with t.
33Complete with one noun beginning with v.
35Complete with one noun beginning with c.
37Complete with one adjective beginning with k.
39Complete with one noun beginning with l.
40Explain in one sentence why copying phrases from the reading lowers the score.
One good answer
The task measures whether you understood the concept, so language lifted straight from the passage shows only that you could read it, and raters treat unparaphrased wording as weaker evidence of comprehension.
Note
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Under a minute, which is enough for the term and its definition if you stop hunting for detail. The lecture supplies everything else you will say.
Use it if you have it, but a clear description of the idea scores better than a term used wrongly. Raters are listening for understanding, not vocabulary display.
Report the one you noted most fully and mention the second in a clause if time allows. A complete single illustration beats two half-told ones.
Yes. Explicit attribution makes the integration audible, and it takes a second. Without it, the rater cannot tell which source an idea came from.
Not if the concept and the example are both complete. Trailing off at thirty is the real risk, and the cure is always more detail in the example, not more reasons.