5d • General discussion
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🎤 Speaking Task of the Day (Part 2 — Cue Card)
Describe a place in your city you like to visit. You should say:
where it is
how often you go there
what you do there
and explain why you like it
⏱️ Take 1 minute to prepare notes, then speak for 2 minutes.
Band 6 sample opening: "I want to talk about a park near my house. It is very big and has many trees. I go there every weekend to walk and relax. I like it because it is quiet and the air is fresh."
Band 8 upgrade: "I'd like to talk about a sprawling park just a stone's throw from my house. I make a point of going there every weekend to unwind, mainly because it's a tranquil escape from the noise of the city."
sprawling = covering a large area (better than "very big")
make a point of = do something deliberately and regularly
tranquil = calm and peaceful (better than "quiet")
👉 Record yourself or post your 2-minute answer in the comments!
✍️ Writing Task of the Day (Task 2 — Opinion Essay)
Some people believe that children should learn a foreign language from their first year of school. To what extent do you agree or disagree?
Skeleton outline:
Intro — paraphrase the question + state your opinion clearly
Body 1 — your strongest reason + example
Body 2 — your second reason (or a concession + rebuttal)
Conclusion — restate opinion, no new ideas
Examiner tip: Don't sit on the fence vaguely. "To what extent" questions need a clear position in the introduction AND conclusion — examiners penalize essays where your opinion only appears at the end.
🟢 Easier goal: write just the introduction (2-3 sentences). 🔵 Full goal: 250+ words in 40 minutes.
📖 Reading Tip of the Day: The "Not Given" Trap
True/False/Not Given questions love to bait you with things that sound reasonable but aren't in the text.
Mini passage: "The Arctic tern migrates annually from the Arctic to the Antarctic, a round trip of roughly 70,000 km. Researchers tracking the birds found that they rarely fly in straight lines, instead following wind patterns to conserve energy."
Question: The Arctic tern is the bird with the longest migration in the world. — True, False, or Not Given?
Answer: Not Given. Sounds true, right? But the passage never compares the tern with other birds. "Longest in the world" is YOUR outside knowledge talking, not the text. Rule: if you need information from outside the passage to answer, it's Not Given.
💬 Question for the comments: Which section eats most of your time in the Reading test — and have you tried timing each passage separately?
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