Question Type 1: Basic Description Questions

Finishing or "Rounding Off" Part Two

After your two-minute talk the examiner might ask you one or two very basic questions about your Part Two content. Examiners call these questions "rounding off" questions. For example, in Part Two your topic was "Describe your favorite form of public transport." Let’s say you described buses. After you have finished talking, the examiner might ask questions like:

Are the buses cheap in your city?

Did you travel to the test today by bus?

These simple questions are used to close Part Two of the speaking test. You DON’T need to give a complex answer to these questions. This is the only time in the speaking test when you should give simple answers. It would be line to answer:

Yes, about 2 yuan for a single journey.

No, actually I came by taxi.

The examiner will want to move on to Part Three as quickly as possible - so do not try to give long responses to these questions.

In some situations the examiner will not ask these questions and will move straight to Part Three.

Do not worry if the examiner does not ask these questions - it means that the total timing for Part Two has reached 3 minutes. This is usually a positive thing because it means your Part Two talk was quite long.