Oh my god! Can you stop!? You're so immature! Oh my god, can't you sit still for five minutes!?
Well... this will be interesting. In part three of the Cambridge First
Certificate speaking exam, you must talk to your partner. Oh... Sounds difficult? Well
no it's not, if you know what to do. My name is Toby,
I am a Cambridge speaking examiner. This is SMASH English, and here is how to pass
part three of the Cambridge First Certificate speaking exam.
So what do you need to do? Part three is four minutes if you have one partner or
five minutes if you have two partners. In most situations you will have one
partner but in some circumstances you could have two. Now it is time to talk to
your partner. Eww! Oh my god. I don't wanna talk to him he's such a loser!
The examiner will give you a sheet of paper with a question in the middle for
you to discuss. Around the question will be five prompts. These are there to help
you answer the question but remember you do not need to talk about all of them.
You have two minutes to do this. Then the examiner will ask you another question
about the topic. This usually involves you and your partner selecting one or
two of the prompts to answer a question. For example "which of these activities do
you think is most difficult?". You have one minute to complete this. So then shall we
begin? Ok, I guess I could do that for you...
First I would like you to talk about something together for two minutes. Here are some
things that people often think will make their lives happier and a question
for you to discuss. First you have some time to look at the task.
I'm sorry!
This is actually a
common problem. No one wants to go first and so at the beginning of the exam we
have an awkward ten seconds: "will you go first shall I go first",
so here is what to do: The very first thing you do when part three starts is
turn your chairs inwards, facing your partner. That way you are initiating
contact and also demonstrating to the examiner that you know you are talking
to your partner in this part of the test. So, come on then! Turn your chairs inwards!
Monica! You are looking very nice today!
Eww! Shut up! That's gross! Monica, I was joking! Yeah...
You look disgusting! Excuse me, Bruce! I'm hot...
yeah? Monica! You look like a boy! Yeah? You've got a beard! Do you have any idea how
offensive that is! Oh my god, Bruce! you're so rude! ...
Just like that... After the examiner has invited you to start talking I want you
to take control of the situation. Look at your partner in the eye and say "should I
go first or would you like to?". Make sure you're smiling when you do this. Urrr, Monica, should I
go first or would you like to? Urm, you can go first! No, Monica I was
just saying that to be polite! Right, you are gonna go first, alright!?. Urr, no! You
can go first! Forget it. Oh my gosh, Toby, Bruce won't talk! Maybe I could talk to
you instead!? Not this again.
Again, what a fantastic example. Monica, please just
begin! Thank you. Well, like, meeting new people often makes me happy because, like,
people usually, like, really love me when they first see me because I'm really
outgoing and sociable. So when I meet new people
I feel like totally happy! Bruce? I can already see three things wrong with this.
Number one: Monica you are far too personal. It's okay to be
personal sometimes however remember the question was about people not about you.
Also, the more personal you are the more difficult it is for
your partner to contribute, so try to keep things general. However you can talk
about your personal experiences to provide examples of your point, just
don't let your own experiences become your point. Number two: Bruce, your body
language is terrible. When you are not talking and your partner is it is very
important to listen and listen actively. That means maintain eye contact from
time to time, that means nod your head when you agree
or shake your head when you disagree, that means make some noises: "mm-hmm", "yeah",
"absolutely". This lets your partner know you are listening to your partner and it
lets the examiner know that you are listening to your partner. Very important
stuff! And Number three: Bruce you look very depressed. This is a
problem. Now, I know the exam is not very fun but do your best to have fun and it
will improve your marks. Here is why: when you are happy your intonation naturally
rises and lowers. This makes your pronunciation more natural and as a
result you will score higher marks for pronunciation. If you are very bored and
you don't want to be there then your intonation will be very flat and it will
ruin your marks for pronunciation. So Number one: do not be too personal
not only anyway. Number two: remember to listen and listen actively to your
partner. And Number three: try to be happy. Meeting people could make people really
happy because like if they're sociable and outgoing people then they'd
really love it. For example, I love meeting new people, I'm a really
personable person and I really enjoy spending time with others, you know? yeah...
Yeah, I agree. And moving to a new area could make people very happy because
sometimes life could be boring if you always followed the same routine. Yeah...
Bruce, did you, like, ignore everything I just said? Very good job, Bruce boy! Brilliant! Great!
The vocabulary here was great! The grammar was perfect! The interaction was
TERRIBLE. In the exam the Assessor marks you on something called "Interactive
communication". The two most important things that you need to know are this:
Number one: make sure you link what you say to what your partner said before
you. And Number two: make sure you negotiate: You work with your partner to
answer the question. To do this I want you to never say "I agree". Never say "I
disagree". Instead, use your language to demonstrate to your partner if you agree
or disagree. The first thing you should do is rephrase what your partner said
before you. This demonstrates to your partner and to the examiner that you've
heard what they said; that you were listening.
Then you must link your contribution to what your partner said. This is to
demonstrate if you agree or disagree without actually saying it. And lastly,
when you move on to your next prompt, your next topic, make sure it is linked.
For example: Monica has spoken about how meeting new people can make people happy.
Bruce has spoken about moving to a new area. Bruce could have linked these ideas
together. "Yes, meeting new people can make people happy,
especially if you are sociable, and for the same reason, moving to a new area can
make people happy because if you moved to a new area you
would meet lots of people. Here we have demonstrated: One: that we understand what
our partner was saying. Two: that we agree with what our partner said. And Three:
that we can link our contribution with the contribution of our partner.
This makes the examiners go crazy so make sure you do it! Don't say "I agree"
and definitely don't say "I disagree". So then Bruce, give your response again but
this time don't say "I agree" and please link it to what Monica actually said.
So if you are sociable, right... Meeting new people could make you very
happy. Also then, so could moving to a new
area, because if you moved to a new area you would also meet new people.
Yeah totally, Bruce! That's a really good point!
Thank you! Urm, eww... But also people want to move to new area because
they think their lives will be better, but sometimes don't you think that like
it's better to accept what you have? Yeah, yeah, like for example: I am
perfect and I accept that and I'm very happy about this situation. It's great!
Well, yeah but in some situations accepting what you have could like be a really
bad thing. Like if you're really ugly and you've got terrible fashion sense and
you've got no friends then maybe you should, like, work to like improve yourself
and, like, learn new skills, like how to dress or something? What are you trying to say,
Monica!? Thank you. And now you have about a minute to decide which two
things would make the biggest difference to people's lives. Um should I go first
or would you like to? You can go first. OK no problem! Um, I think meeting new
people makes the biggest difference like I said before, oh and also getting more
money. I love money because with money people can have more freedom to do
what they want to do. Um? I've got nothing to say to you. OK, so yeah making
money and meeting new people for me... yeah... You may have a partner that is very shy
and doesn't want to talk. Maybe that person is you. Remember the examiner
cannot ask you questions in part three. If you don't talk, then you don't talk.
This is a problem for you, but also for your partner. If your partner doesn't
talk then you must ask them questions, ask them questions, and ask them
questions. If they give you one word answers then expand their answer! Take
their answer, put it into a sentence, say "is that what you meant?", and demonstrate
to the examiner that you are interested in what your partner has to say.
Especially for part two of part three where you have to choose one or two of
the prompts to answer a question. This demonstrates that you can negotiate with
your partner towards an outcome that you can take a problem and try to solve it
with other people in English. Oh my gosh, Bruce! I'm really sorry about what I said
so like, what do you think? Well I think that making money, getting more money, is
important, like you said. But we need two things so can you think of another
one? Yeah well like money's totally important but like you can't have money
without other people, can you? So like money comes from other people. Yeah, so
you can't have money also without a skill...
so maybe we should say "meeting new people" and "learning new skills"? Yeah yeah!
That's really great idea, Bruce! So we say learning new skills and meeting new people.
And that's what we want to see! So let's go again, but this time using all eight
pieces of my advice. Number one: when part three starts turn your chairs inwards.
Number two: as soon as you are invited to talk ask your partner "should I go first
or would you like to?". Number three: don't be too personal.
Number four: listen actively. Nod your head, shake your head, make sounds.
Demonstrates to your partner that you are listening. Number five: be happy
because being happy improves your intonation and therefore your
pronunciation. Number six: never say "I agree" never say "I disagree".
Number seven: always link your contributions to what your partner said
before. And Number eight: ask your partner questions. Ask what their opinion is!
Demonstrate to the examiner that you are negotiating with your partner towards a
result, towards an outcome. So then, are you ready for round two?
Yeah okay... yeah... I guess we could do another one.
Now I'd like you to talk about
something together for about two minutes. Here are some situations in which some
people always say exactly what they think and other people don't, and a
question for you to discuss. First you have some time to look at the task.
Now talk to each other about whether it's a good
idea to always say exactly what you think. Should I go first or would you
like to? Don't worry, Monica! I will go first
this time! So I think that it's really important to say what you
think in shops and restaurants because you're paying for a service! If the service
is not good enough then I think you have a right to complain. Yeah, yeah, like, if you
pay for something and it's not got enough then you definitely should
complain and be honest, but like what about friends and family? You're not
paying them, right? If one of my girls is wearing a really ugly dress
I definitely tell them because I don't want them to go out and be laughed at or
anything. Yeah well Monica, I haven't got any friends, but at University, usually, I often
complain. I think it's important to be honest. For example one of my philosophy
professors, he clearly misunderstood Nietzsche's idea of eternal recurrence
right so I had no choice but to complain. Wow, Bruce! You go to university!? yeah I
didn't even know why didn't I know that! But like, you really should be
careful being honest in class discussions because remember the teacher
gives you your grades. That's true, that's true. I guess it's a bit similar to at work you know yeah because you're
boss gives you your money, so you don't want to argue with them too much, do you?
Yeah! That would be a really bad idea. But the internet is different to that because
it's so anonymous like you can say anything you want and no one knows it's you.
Yeah I say anything I want on the internet. I'm always completely honest. I even post
on this stupid YouTube channel SMASH English. Ahaha, SMASH English, that sounds so
lame! It's a joke! Thank you. Now you have about a minute to
decide in which situation people should be most careful about what they say. Well
as we said before I think that the classroom and at work are the places
where you need to be most careful. Yeah you're right like we said before. But, where is
it more dangerous to be honest. Like, if my professor gets angry with me, he
can't fire me.Yeah you're totally right like, if your professor is
really angry at you you can't really do much! Yeah so, we agree then, that at work sometimes
you should be careful about what you say yeah? Oh totally! Yeah! Oh my god! we were
like a really good team together!
And with that, we are finished. Now you know what to do to pass part three of the Cambridge First
Certificate speaking exam. If you liked the video don't forget to SMASH that
like button, subscribe if you haven't already, and leave a comment down below.
My name is Toby and this was SMASH English