So it's exam season and I'm seeing a common mistake. Seriously if you're taking your B2
first or your C1 Advanced speaking exam then don't do this! Let's talk.
Part three of the B2 first and the C1 Advanced speaking exam involves you talking with your
partner. The interlocutor will give you a question surrounded by prompts. You need
to talk about the question in relation to the prompts for two minutes and then after that
the interlocutor will ask you both to come to a decision about the prompts and you will have
one minute to do this. And this is why I really like the Cambridge speaking exams because it's
not just you being interviewed by an examiner, you're actually engaging in a real conversation
with your partner. In fact how you interact with your partner is so important that examiners even
have a whole marking criteria called interactive communication that assesses just that! You can
watch a video all about how examiners assess your speaking right here! The point is this,
if the way that you interact with your partner is bad then you cannot get a great score ah... and so
please please please remember: part three is not a competition, it's a conversation! Part three is
not an opportunity for you to use as much language as you can in three minutes. No! Part three is not
about trying to say more than your partner. No! If you decide to just talk and talk and talk then
the examiner will be very upset with you and so will your partner, probably. Instead part three
assesses your turn taking. This is your ability to manage a conversation. How do you elicit responses
from your partner? How do you respond to your partner's questions? How do you signal your
interests, your agreement, your disagreement with what your partner is saying? How do you
connect what you say with what your partner has said before? If you decide to go on a monologue
and just keep talking and talking and talking then the examiners won't stop you, nobody can stop you,
you will ruin your part three and oh God that's a terrible thing! And I get it, some people are
super talkative, some people are nervous so if you think you might do this then just don't look
at the examiner. Don't make eye contact with the examiner in part three, that is. Instead look your
partner in the eye. Look your partner in the eye as if they were your first and only love! That way
you'll be able to read their body language and yes I know it's a speaking exam but body language is
important! It will give you clues as to when maybe you've been speaking too much. It will
give you clues as to when your partner's about to stop speaking. It will give you clues as to
whether your partner needs some support. Seriously if your partner struggles don't think "yes they're
gonna do terrible and I'm gonna do better!" No! That's not how it works! In part three,
if they're struggling help them! God! Think of it this way: you are being marked on how you respond
if your partner can't talk then you can't respond to what they say. If you can't respond to what
they say then you can't show the examiners how great you are at responding. And if you cannot
show the examiners how great you are of responding then they cannot give you marks for how great you
are at responding! All right? So respond to that and let your partner respond to you! Yes?
Yes! This is why in my fantastic video All About part three of the B2 first speaking exam I advise
candidates to turn their chairs inwards as soon as part three starts. This way they're signaling
to their partner that they would like to have a chat and they're signaling to The Examiner that
they know that this part of the exam is all about them and their beautiful partner! Yes!
So please remember part three of the B2 first and the C1 Advanced speaking
exam is a conversation not a competition! SMASH the exam, don't SMASH your partner!
...yeah. 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 [Music]