The Cambridge b2 First speaking exam
isn't only about your language, it's also about your exam technique and sometimes
the difference between a pass and a fail can be your technique. My name is Toby, I
am a Cambridge speaking examiner. This is SMASH English and here are the five most
common mistakes that people make when taking the b2 First speaking exam! Yes I know,
exams are boring and stressful so you probably will feel bored and stressed
but if you're happy it will improve your marks and here is why! When you are bored
and depressed and sad your intonation flattens. When you are happy your voice
naturally rises and falls, you sound more natural and this will improve your marks
for pronunciation. But also think about your partner! Remember, interacting with
your partner is a very important part of the exam! So important that one of the
marking criteria us examiners use is called "Interactive Communication" and
it's all about what you do and how you communicate with your partner. If you are
miserable your partner won't want to talk to you. If you are open and happy
your partner will be more likely to ask you questions, you'll be more likely to
ask your partner questions and this will improve your marks for interactive
communication. And lastly, sometimes students make mistakes during the exam
and then they get more stressed, more anxious, more nervous, and then they make
another mistake and get more stressed, more anxious, more nervous, and they're
constantly thinking about the mistakes in the past instead of what they should
be saying in the future. Cambridge uses a positive marking scheme. This means if
you make a mistake we don't deduct marks. Instead we give you marks for what you
do correctly so if you make a mistake don't let it distract you! Move on and
use the next questions to show the examiner what you can do! So being happy
helps with your pronunciation. Being happy helps with your interactive
communication. And being happy helps stop you thinking bad things about the past
that prevent you from doing well in the future. Remember the whole point of the speaking
exam is getting you to speak so the examiners can assess your language. If
you don't talk enough then you're not giving them enough material to assess.
This is why the examiner will ask you annoying questions like "Do you like
playing sport?" "Yes I do" "Why?". This is why I ask my students "why?" to almost
everything they say, to get them into the habit of speaking for extended periods
of time. But talking too much can be a problem too, for two reasons. The first is
the more you talk the more likely you are to go off-topic; the less likely you
are to stay relevant. A perfect example of this is the first question in the
exam "where are you from?'. Please give a short answer to this
question! "I'm from London". Stop! Finish! Don't tell us the history of
your town! I did not ask for the history of your town! Keep things short sometimes,
to stay on topic - especially for part one! Talking too much is also bad for
interactive communication because maybe you're not giving your partner the
opportunity to communicate. The exam is not a competition between you and your
partner, it's not a game of who can say the most words. Instead it's a
conversation and you should be working WITH your partner! So, ask your partner
questions about them, get to know them in the exam especially for parts three and
four. If you don't do this and it's "me me me" you will definitely lose marks for
interactive communication. Not answering the question in part 2 is
a very common problem. Remember in part 2 you are given two pictures and you must
answer a question about them. The task is not about describing the pictures so
please do not describe the pictures. One problem with describing pictures is it
limits your potential grammar. If you are describing something that is happening
you can only really use the present simple and the present continuous. The
questions are designed to broaden the amount of grammar that you can use and
also so you can speculate. The questions usually ask why someone is feeling a
certain way, why someone is doing something, why someone has done something.
These questions encourage you to use modal verbs, speculative language, past
modals of deduction, and if you don't answer the question you don't have the
opportunity to use this language and show the examiner the fantastic grammar
that you know. So please, in part 2 do not describe the pictures! Answer the
question and only answer the question! It's important to have a normal natural
conversation with your partner. Of course I'm referring to parts three and four.
This is especially true for part three, the part where you must work with your
partner to answer a question using prompts provided. What many candidates do
and what examiner's hate is when the candidates do not interact with each
other. Instead they talk about each prompt individually and none of them
references what the other candidates said before them. Make sure you listen to
what your partner said and then comment on what they said. And when I say comment
I don't mean saying 'I agree' and then moving on. No! Instead rephrase what your partner
said, put it into your own words to show that you understood. Then state whether
you agree or disagree and then try and connect it to your next point. This is
how a normal conversation works so why would a Cambridge exam be any different?
In part four you can ask your partner questions. If your partner says something
that's interesting to you, do not hesitate to ask them a question about it!
Remember in part four the examiner is only asking these questions to get you
to produce language, anyone can speak in this part so if your partner says
something cool then tell them you think it's cool! Ask them when they did it or
why they did it or ask for more detail about what they're talking about.
The best part fours for me as an examiner are the part fours where I only
need to ask one or two questions because the candidates get lost in the
conversation, they forget that it's an exam and instead they're talking to
their partner like they would in everyday life. And that is what we want,
so have a conversation, relax. Part four is about you and your partner,
the examiner doesn't exist, have a good time. And lastly and this is the one piece of
advice that I give all of my students and it is the most important: avoid the
present simple! Okay, okay, sometimes you will need the present simple. Right, "my
name is", okay, "I live in", yeah, you need the present simple. However when you can
avoid it don't use it. The present simple is simple grammar! Even if you speak
perfect English for the entirety of the exam, if you're predominantly using the
present simple it's impossible to pass. To pass you need to at least try complex
grammar! This sounds a lot more difficult than it is. If you watch my video on part
one of the First Certificate speaking exam you will see lots of useful
structures that you can use to avoid the present simple. For example: "do you like
sport?" "Well I used to when I was young but now I am older I prefer gaming". So
instead of using "no I don't I prefer gaming", we're using "used to"
instead to talk about a past habit and routine. Now remember your answers to the
questions in part one, that are basic questions on familiar topics, don't have
to be true. So find any way you can to use some more complicated grammar. "Tell
me about your best friend" "Well to be honest, if only I had a best friend! But I
don't.Instead I have lots of friends". So instead of just using the present simple
we're trying to mix things up using different grammatical structures that
make the examiners go wild. And with that we are finished. Those were the five most
common mistakes that candidates make when taking the B2 First 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
