Question Type 1: Basic Description Questions

Topic 51: Childhood

• 
  Did you have a happy childhood?
  
• 
  What part of your childhood do you remember most?
  
• 
  What makes a happy childhood?
  
• 
  What would you like to change about your childhood?
  
• 
  (Use the same vocabulary as Topic 50: Memories of the past.)
  

Nouns

early years infancy formative years adolescence

Verbs

grow up develop

Adjectives

childish adolescent

Idioms

in the prime of one’s life (= in one’s early years)

In the prime of my life, I gained lots of prizes.

vim and vigor (= energy)

During my adolescence I used to always have so much vim and vigor.

Topic 52: Colors

• 
  What’s your favorite color?
  
• 
  What can we learn about a person from the colors they wear?
  
• 
  Do any colors have a special meaning in your culture?
  

Nouns

vibrant colors (=vivid colors) dull colors hue (= shade of a certain color)

Verbs

signify symbolize

Idioms

give sb. the red carpet treatment (= treat sb. like a VIP)

Last night, we were given the red carpet treatment at the banquet

red tape (= official rules)

He hated red tape.

see red (= become angry)

Her criticisms were enough to make anyone see red.

in the red (= owing money)

My bank account is 50 dollars in the red.

in the black (= not owing money to anyone)

A business must stay in the black to keep on.

green with envy (= jealous)

The other boys were green with envy when Joe bought a car

Summary of Part One Topics

All of these Part One topics are the authentic topics that have been used in the speaking test for the last 5 years.

The speaking test recycles these topics but generally speaking, there will be 10 topics in use for around 3 months. After 3 months these topics will be changed to a different set of 10.

The speaking test does not introduce new Part One topics very often. On average 8 totally new topics are introduced in a year. These new topics are introduced gradually: so you will not suddenly encounter new topics in Part One. It is more likely that you will see one or two new topics introduced in each set of 10 topics.