The examiner asks you some questions about yourself and about familiar, everyday topics. Answer each question aloud and record yourself if you can; the model answers unlock after you submit.
Topic 1 — Your home
"I live in a flat on the fifth floor of a building in Mohammadpur, with my parents and my younger sister. It's not huge, but it's comfortable and gets plenty of light."
"Probably my bedroom, because that's where I study as well as sleep. I've set up a small desk by the window, so I can look out at the trees while I'm working."
"I'd love a proper balcony. We do have one, but it's really only big enough for a couple of plants, and I'd like somewhere to sit outside in the evenings."
Topic 2 — Hats
"Not very often, to be honest. I'll put on a cap if I'm going to be out in the sun for a long time, at a cricket match, for instance, but in everyday life I find hats a bit of a nuisance."
"Yes, quite a lot. My mother always made me wear a little cotton sun hat on holidays, and I remember complaining about it constantly, although I'm sure it saved me from a few headaches."
"Not hugely, apart from baseball caps among young men and the white prayer caps that many men wear to the mosque. Because it's so hot and humid, most people would rather stay in the shade than have something on their heads all day."
"Probably not. I think you need a certain amount of confidence to wear a stylish hat, and I'm not sure I've got it. Mind you, if I lived somewhere cold, I'd happily wear a woolly hat all winter."
Topic 3 — Picnics
"Yes, every winter my school organised a picnic to a park outside the city. I still remember the long bus journeys, the singing and the huge pots of biryani the teachers brought along."
"Usually somewhere green with plenty of space, like a park or a riverbank. In winter, a lot of families and offices hire a spot at one of the resorts on the edge of the city, where children can run around safely."
"Something that's easy to carry and doesn't need to be kept hot. Sandwiches and fruit are ideal, although people here tend to be far more ambitious and cook an entire meal on the spot!"
"It depends on the weather, really. On a cool, dry evening I love eating outside, but for most of the year it's simply too hot and humid, and there are mosquitoes to deal with as well."
Read the card, then use the 1-minute preparation timer to make quick notes. When it ends, start the 2-minute timer and speak until it stops, covering all four points.
"The event I'd like to talk about is the final of an inter-school kabaddi tournament that I played in when I was about fifteen. For anyone who doesn't know, kabaddi is our national sport. It's a sort of team tag game where one player raids the other side's half while holding their breath — or at least chanting 'kabaddi, kabaddi' to show they're not breathing in.
The final took place on the playing field of a big government school in our district town, on a freezing January afternoon. Well, I say freezing — it was probably about twelve degrees, but for us that felt like the Arctic!
I was with my teammates, obviously, and our sports teacher, who'd been training us three evenings a week for months. But what made it special was that half the school had come along to watch, along with quite a few parents, including my father, who'd taken the afternoon off work, which he almost never did.
As for the match itself, we were behind for most of it, and with about five minutes left, we were trailing by four points. Then our captain, who was easily the best raider in the district, pulled off two incredible raids in a row, and suddenly the momentum completely shifted. We ended up winning by a single point, and the whole crowd poured onto the field.
I think I remember it so well for two reasons. First, it was the first time in my life I'd been part of something where everyone depended on everyone else — one mistake from any of us would have cost us the match. And second, there was the look on my father's face afterwards. He's not a very emotional man, but he hugged me in front of everyone, and I don't think I'll ever forget that."
The examiner asks you some more general questions connected with the topic in Part 2. Answer each question aloud; the model answers unlock after you submit.
Theme 1 — Watching sport
"The biggest difference is the atmosphere. In a stadium you're surrounded by thousands of people reacting to every moment, and that shared emotion is something a screen can't really reproduce. On television, though, you actually see far more of the game — replays, close-ups and expert analysis — so in some ways you understand it better. I'd say the stadium is better for the experience, and television for the sport itself. Ideally, I'd do both: go to the big matches and watch the rest at home."
"I think it's largely about national pride. When your country is playing, the result somehow feels personal, even if you know very little about the sport. There's also the unpredictability: unlike a film, nobody knows how it's going to end, which creates genuine suspense. And these events give people a reason to come together, whether that's at a friend's house or in front of a big screen in the street. For a few hours, people who normally disagree about everything are on the same side."
"It can be, but only with very careful planning. Events on that scale bring in tourists, can speed up improvements to transport and put a country on the world map. However, there are plenty of examples of stadiums built at enormous expense that are hardly used afterwards. So I'd say it's only worthwhile if the facilities are designed to benefit local people long after the event, rather than for a few weeks of television coverage."
Theme 2 — Sport and young people
"Both have their benefits. Team sports teach children to cooperate, to communicate and to accept that they can't always be the star, which are really valuable lessons for later life. Individual sports, like tennis or athletics, demand more self-discipline, because there's nobody else to blame if you lose. Ideally, I think children should try both, since they develop quite different qualities. Then they can choose whatever suits their personality as they get older, rather than being pushed into one type too early."
"I'd argue that schools should give it more importance, not less. Children spend so much of their day sitting down, either in class or in front of screens, and regular exercise is widely believed to improve concentration, so it can actually support academic work. The key is variety, though. Not every child enjoys competitive games, so offering things like dance, cycling or martial arts would mean everyone finds something they want to do. Sport should feel like a break, not another test."
"Mostly, I think, because other pressures take over. Once exams become serious, parents often see sport as a distraction, and later on work and family leave very little free time. There's also a confidence issue: teenagers who aren't naturally talented can feel embarrassed, especially if school sport is very competitive. If there were more casual, friendly options, I suspect far more people would keep playing into adulthood. Staying active is a lifelong habit, after all, not something just for school."
"I think we'll see much more of it in the way games are judged and in how athletes train. Video replays already help referees, and wearable devices can track a player's heart rate and movement in real time. In future, that data will probably be used to prevent injuries before they happen. My only concern is that if technology decides too much, sport might lose some of the human drama that makes it so exciting."