Part two of the C1 Advanced Speaking exam! Are we gonna talk about some pictures? Yes! We're
gonna talk about some pictures! My name is Toby, I'm a Cambridge speaking examiner, this is SMASH
English and here is everything you need to know about part two of the C1 Advanced speaking exam!
Part two of the C1 Advanced speaking exam is four minutes long if you have
one partner or six minutes long if you have two partners. The interlocutor will give you three
pictures and ask you to answer two questions. You must choose two of the three pictures and
answer the questions in relation to both of them. You have one minute to do this and then
your partner will be asked a question about the three pictures. After that the process will repeat
except your partner must talk about two pictures and you will be asked a question in relation to
your partner's pictures... obviously. Now before we begin let me give you some quick advice. Yep.
But Toby I don't need any advice I'm already perfect! Monica, you're right,
but uhhh... you do need a little bit of shaving advice you know what I mean?
Oh my god, Bruce! Shut up! If you have taken the B2 First speaking exam then this part of the C1
Advanced speaking exam will seem familiar to you. However there are two very important differences.
Number one: unlike part two of the B2 First speaking exam you will be given three images and
not two. However just like the B2 First speaking exam you are only expected to talk about two
of the images. Remember that you are given three images but you should only talk about two of them
and you can choose which two you speak about. And the second difference is you will be asked
to answer two questions about each image instead of just one question. This means you will have
about 15 seconds to answer each question about each picture so it is very very very
very very important that you organize your answers appropriately. Yes? Yes! Right then, let's look at
an example. In this part of the test I'm going to give each of you three pictures. I would like you
to talk about two of them on your own for about a minute and also to answer a question briefly
about your partner's pictures. Bruce, it is your turn first. Here are your pictures. They
show people listening to music. Okay. I would like you to compare two of the pictures and say
why the people might have decided to listen to music in these ways and how they might be feeling.
All right? Yes. So uh I will talk about the uh the first picture and the second picture. Right
uh in the first picture people are listening to a man playing an instrument uh it's in public maybe
it's a train station uh he is... I can't remember the word but he's playing a piano um the people
probably decided to listen to music here because they were walking and heard it and uh decided to
listen to it. I think they feel entertained by the musician. Maybe they feel surprised
because they hadn't planned to listen to music. However, in the second picture it is a concert
so the audience I think paid to listen to it maybe because it's a musician or a band that they like.
They feel excited because they paid money to see this and want to have a good time unlike
the first picture where they probably found the musician by by accident. Right. Thank you. And
Monica, in which of these environments do you think the people are having the most fun? Um
I would say probably the second picture because the people in the audience have obviously chosen
to go there and probably have been really looking forward to it for a long time. Like, I know when I
arrange to go somewhere with my girls I'm always like so excited! Let's start with Bruce. Bruce's
answer wasn't bad. The first thing he did was let the interlocutor know which two pictures he was
going to talk about and that is good. However in my opinion he did make one very very big mistake!
What!? Excuse me, Toby! How dare you! Bruce chose the first picture however this was a terrible
decision because Bruce did not have the vocabulary to talk about the first picture! Bruce stated "he
is uh I can't remember the word but he is playing the piano". No! No! This man is busking. To busk.
If you busk you play music in the street for free in order to get donations. But Bruce did not know
that and so his answer was not as good as it could have been. Bad decision Bruce! This is a very
important error to avoid. Remember, you are given three pictures so the first thing you should do
is look at all of the pictures and think: "which pictures do I have the most vocabulary for?" and
those two pictures are the ones that you should talk about. For example, Bruce, look at the third
picture, what is this guy doing? Oh well, he's listening to music with headphones. Exactly. The
vocabulary "headphones" is good so why didn't you choose the third picture to talk about instead?
I don't know. So remember, the first thing you should do is look at the images and decide which
two you have the most vocabulary for or decide which one you have the least vocabulary for.
Now let's look at Bruce's answer in more detail. The first question was "why might
the people have decided to listen to music in these ways?". What is the question asking you
to do? It's asking you to speculate about the past. In Bruce's answer how did he do this?
He said "the people probably decided to" and "the audience, I think, paid to listen to it".
This again is not terrible but we can certainly use better grammar for speculation.
We need to use past modals of deduction. Seriously, if you have a question in part
two that requires you to talk about the past, use past modals. So instead of saying
"the people probably decided to" Bruce should say "the people may, could, or might have
decided to". Instead of saying "the audience, I think, paid to listen to it" Bruce should say
"the audience must have paid to listen to it". We have used MUST here to express certainty.
This is a concert and you usually need to pay for concerts so MUST not COULD, MAY or MIGHT.
But you are studying for the C1 Advanced Cambridge exam so you should already know all there is to
know about past modals of deduction! And if you don't know all there is to know about past modals
of deduction... well that's a terrible thing... But don't worry about terrible things because we
can always turn terrible things into fantastic opportunities! Right here is a video about
everything you need to know about past modals of deduction! What was Bruce's second question?
How might they be feeling? So again what is this question asking you to do?
It is asking you to speculate but this time about the present not the past.
In Bruce's answer how did he do this? Bruce stated "I think they feel entertained",
"maybe they feel surprised" and "they feel excited". Again these are not terrible
sentences but we can do so much better. We need to use modal verbs to speculate. This means that
instead of "I think they feel entertained" we should say "they might be feeling entertained".
Instead of "maybe they feel surprised" we should say "they could be feeling surprised".
Now remember we are looking at a picture so another good expression to use is "look as if". So
we could say "they look as if they are surprised" or "they look as if they are excited". And you are
studying for the C1 Advanced Cambridge exam! So you should know all about "look as if". But
if you don't? Video right here! So let us try and improve upon Bruce's answer. Remember,
for part two of the C1 Advanced speaking exam it's very important that you do not waste time
simply describing the pictures because you have two questions to answer about each picture and as
I have said before that's 15 seconds per question per picture and that is not a lot of time. However
if you are answering the questions well you are going to be describing the picture to some degree
in your answer. So yeah, just focus on the questions and on using speculative language
to do so. So Monica, here is the picture of the man listening to music with headphones.
I want you using the grammar of modal verbs and to look as if to answer the following question:
how might this man be feeling? Okay sure. So like, this guy looks as if he's relaxing on a sofa. Um
he's listening to music with headphones so he might be feeling tired after a day
of studying or work or he could be worried about something and so he's thinking about how to solve
a problem. And that was perfect! Oh bloody hell, Toby! Shut up! Thanks Mr. Toby! Your question was
also really cool as well so like well done you! Remember for Part two of the C1 Advanced Speaking
exam the questions are always basically the same. They'll ask you to speculate about the present or
they'll ask you to speculate about the past maybe you'll have one question asking you to speculate
about the past and another question asking you to speculate about the present. So it is
very important that you practice doing these two things: using modal verbs to speculate about the
present and using past modals of deduction to speculate about the past. You do that you will
be fine, I promise. So if you want to practice on your own it's really easy! Just look at a picture,
any picture, and ask yourself some questions like: why might this person be doing this? How could
this person be feeling? Why might this person have decided to take up this hobby? What could
the benefits of doing this be? Why have the people decided to work in a team? Very, very easy. And
that is the solution! Practice practice practice using modal verbs to speculate about the present
and modal verbs to speculate about the past. And maybe you have forgotten but Monica was also asked
a question so let's have a look at it! ,onica was asked in which of these environments she thought
the people were having the most fun and this was her answer. Do I have anything to criticize here?
Well no. She chooses her answer. She explains her answer and then she briefly relates it to personal
experience. If you do these three things for your little question in part two after your partner has
finished talking about their pictures then you will be fine. Remember that this short question
will always be a WHICH question. So again choose your answer explain your answer and then relate it
to personal experience. If you do this then the examiner will be very very happy
and you'll move on to part three. Even if the examiner isn't happy you will move on to part
three, so I guess the examiner's happiness is irrelevant... So, Monica! Now it is your time to
shine! Let's move on. Here are your pictures! Yes! Yeah okay sure. Perfectly is my middle name! Yes,
Monica. Sure it is. And uh, what's your last name? Hairy? Monica Perfectly Hairy yeah? Oh my god,
Bruce like I'm gonna tell you! You'll probably look me up on instagram and follow me and then
you'll like all my pictures and stalk me and stuff because you're, you're such a pervert! Oh
wow. Monica here are your pictures. They show people doing different activities. Yeah. I would
like you to compare two of these pictures and say how the people can benefit from these activities
and why they might have decided to take up these hobbies. All right? Okay totally. So I'm going to
talk about the hot guy climbing and the ugly girl painting. Well she's not ugly ugly but she's not
cute like me. Like you cannot compare that to this do you know what I mean? No one can even
deny that I'm the most beautiful... Monica! No! Okay sorry, Mr. Toby. I'm gonna talk about the
guy climbing and the girl painting. So, climbing is a really difficult sport. It requires a lot of
upper body strength and he looks as if he has a lot of muscles so that could definitely be a
benefit because girls like me love guys with muscles that's like a fact. Um he may have
taken up the hobby as a way of getting in shape or he could be an adrenaline junkie and enjoy
extreme sports. The painter on the other hand is in a far more relaxing environment by the sea so
one benefit could be being able to forget about your problems in a natural peaceful environment.
This woman must be a very creative person and as a result she may have chosen to take up painting
as an outlet for her creativity. I don't know... it's possible, right? Thank you. And Bruce, which
of these activities do you think is the easiest? Uh to be honest I think climbing is the easiest,
yeah. You just need to hold something and pull! Anyone can do that! I often get drunk
and I go to the park and I climb trees. It's uh, it's one of my hobbies, do you know what I mean?
Both answers were magnificent! Monica introduced her answer by stating which
pictures she was going to talk about. She then used a discourse marker before answering the first
question about the first picture. She used both looks as if and a modal verb to do this.
She also used vocabulary related to the topic like adrenaline junkie and getting in shape.
She then used a contrasting expression to introduce the second picture.
She answered the first question with a modal verb to speculate and then answered the second
question with a past modal of deduction. Ah, wonderful! Thank you, Mr. Toby!
Can I go? Yes! We're done. Go! Okay! Ciao! All right and what about me? Can I go? No,
no you can't. Wait a sec. Bruce's answer was very good because he did the three things that I have
asked you all to do! He chose his answer. He gave a reason for his answer and then he related his
answer to his personal experiences. Okay good. Perfect, Bruce. Now you can go. See you later.
And with that we are finished! Now you know everything you need to know about part two of the
C1 Advanced speaking exam! If you liked the video don't forget to SMASH that like button, subscribe
if you haven't already, leave a comment down below. My name is Toby and this was SMASH English.