This set practises five skills from the speaking organisation module: structuring an example, linking causes and results, comparing time, checking pace and choosing a pronunciation target. The questions are original and ordered from easier to harder. Labels are not marks.
Say each answer aloud before opening the explanation. Use the private speaking recorder and review tool to hear yourself, and add any repeated slip to your mistake log and retest queue. The summary selection and paraphrase studio can also help you pick the key points of an answer before you speak.
Questions
Question 1 (easier). Put these parts of an answer in order: (a) “So now I check my bag the night before.” (b) “I learned to prepare early.” (c) “Last week I left my project at home.” (d) “My teacher gave me a late mark.”
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b, c, d, a. (b) is the point, (c) is the situation, (d) is the consequence or action, and (a) is the result that links back to the point. If you mixed the order, revisit structuring a personal example.
Question 2. Correct this sentence: “Because the bus was late, so we missed the start.”
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Use only one linker: “The bus was late, so we missed the start” or “We missed the start because the bus was late.” See connecting causes and consequences.
Question 3. Which linker fits well? “It rained all day. ___, the match was cancelled.” Choose from: because, as a result, although.
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As a result. The second sentence is a consequence of the first, and as a result points forward to it. Because would need the cause after it, and although shows contrast. See causes and consequences.
Question 4. Fix the tense drift: “When I was ten, I go to a small school and I am walking there every day.”
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“When I was ten, I went to a small school and I walked there every day.” The marker “when I was ten” sets the past, so both verbs must be past. See past, present and future.
Question 5. A 50-second answer has 75 words. Calculate the pace in words per minute.
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75 ÷ 50 = 1.5 words per second. Then 1.5 × 60 = 90 wpm. This is slower than the working guide of about 110 to 150, so listen back to see whether the pauses were useful or whether the speaker hesitated. See reviewing pace.
Question 6. Write a point sentence for the prompt “Describe a person who has influenced you.”
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Many answers work. One model: “My older cousin influenced me because she showed me that practice beats talent.” A good point answers the question directly and hints at the reason. See structuring an example.
Question 7 (harder). Build a three-link cause chain for: “Why do some students find speaking tests stressful?”
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One model: “They worry about making mistakes, so they tense up. As a result, they speak too fast. That is why their answers sound unclear.” Yours is fine if each link follows from the one before. See causes and consequences.
Question 8. This answer is hard to follow. Say what is missing and rewrite it in three sentences: “I play football. The field is near school. We have a match. It was raining.”
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It has details but no point, no order and no links. A possible rewrite: “Football has taught me to keep going when conditions are hard. Last Saturday we played a match on the field near school in the rain. We lost, but we still finished it, so I felt proud of the team.” See structuring an example and causes and consequences.
Question 9. A student records 140 words in 1 minute 10 seconds. The recording sounds rushed at the end. What is the pace, and what should the student change?
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1 minute 10 seconds = 70 seconds. 140 ÷ 70 = 2 words per second, and 2 × 60 = 120 wpm. The overall pace is within the working guide, so the student should not slow everything. They should add short pauses in the rushed ending. See reviewing pace.
Question 10 (hardest). A student says “I have three cousin and they live in Ipoh.” The listener is unsure how many cousins there are. Name the target, give a one-sentence practice plan and write the corrected sentence.
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Target: the plural -s ending (“cousins”). Plan: “I will say ten noun pairs aloud each day, such as ‘cousin, cousins’, and re-record the same sentence on Friday.” Corrected sentence: “I have three cousins and they live in Ipoh.” The target is about clarity, not accent. See one actionable pronunciation issue.
If you got these wrong
| What went wrong | Go to |
|---|---|
| The parts of the answer were in the wrong order, or there was no point | Structure a personal example coherently |
| Two linkers for one link, or a link that does not follow | Connect causes and consequences aloud |
| Tenses changed mid-answer, or time markers were missing | Compare past, present and future experiences |
| The words per minute calculation, or what to change after it | Self-review pace using a local recording |
| The target was vague, or focused on accent instead of clarity | Identify one actionable pronunciation issue |
Record each wrong answer in your mistake log by error type. After a day, try a fresh prompt on the same skill and see whether the slip has gone.
If the same error returns, online one-to-one English as a Second Language tuition gives you a teacher who can listen to the whole pattern with you.