[The examiner asks the candidate about him/herself, his/her home, work or studies and other familiar topics.]
Topic: Entertainment
Q. Do you prefer relaxing at home or going out in the evening? [Why?]
A. I like to go outside and enjoy a stroll in the evening. However, if you ask me what relaxes me the most, I would say – a good book, a cup of coffee and my room are the best compositions for my relaxation.
Q. When you go out for an evening, what do you like to do?
A. I like to walk for about an hour each evening. This way I can enjoy some outside views and finish my daily exercise. I often go to a park and the natural sceneries, and colours of flowers refresh my mind. Sometimes I have friends who also enjoy walking in the evening and we discuss so many topics while we walk beside a lake or inside a park.
Q. How popular is this with other people in your country?
A. I think young people mostly play different types of games in the evening and people over 40 like to walk. Though I am 22, I like to walk in the evening rather than playing football, the most popular sport in my country. In terms of the ratio of the people who walk in the evening, it seems like it is a popular activity.
Q. Is there any kind of entertainment you do not like? [Why/Why not?]
A. Yes, there are a few forms of entertainment I do not like at all. For instance, I do not like to kills hours after hours watching TV or scrolling through Facebook posts. Watching TV for a long and browsing Facebook posts often kill valuable times that could have been better utilised. Besides, playing risky games that poses health hazards are on my dislike list.
[You will have to talk about the topic for one to two minutes. You have one minute to think about what you are going to say. You can make some notes to help you if you wish.]
You should say:
and explain why you like this person.
Cue Card Answer:
Thank you for letting me talk about a friend I have and I would like to say who this person is, how I met him, what we do together, how long we know each other and why I particularly like this friend.
Well, the friend I will be talking about is Andrew and he is my best friend. He has a bubbly personality and I like him for his amiable nature. He is open-minded and loves travelling. I met him at my college and till now we are best buddies. I feel like I know him for a long and we are like birds of a feather, according to many.
I still remember the very first day we met and it started when he shared his lunch with me. I was a fresher at Johanson College and did not know that the college canteen would be closed that day. To my surprise, a boy around 16 or 17 years old waved me to him and shared his lunch. Till then he has shared many things with me but I will never forget the gregarious Andrew who without any hesitation shared his meal with an unknown student. Our friendship, over the passage of the time, became stronger and we, despite our separate universities, maintained a great bonding even today.
We often visit each other’s home and our parents know that we are good friends and have many common interests. Our passion for books, travelling and music have tied us together. During our semester break, we travel to a new city and enjoy the expedition. He is a great travel companion and often plans for the trips. We often go to movies together and enjoy live sporting competitions on TV. Football is our favourite sports.
I like him for his intelligence and positive attitude to life. He is very reliable and I can always depend on him to keep his promises. An important aspect of his personality is his natural-born talent and unassuming character. He is humble and helpful and has no desire to be noticed or praised.
Discussion topics: Qualities of friends
Q. What do you think are the most important qualities for friends to have?
Answer: In my opinion, good friends have common interests and they possess similar personalities. Empathy and openness are the first two steps to grow friendship and it gets matured when friends start forgiving each other’s fault. Someone has to accept a friend as he or she is and never tries to manipulate each other. When friends show their unconditional support to each other, their friendship becomes stronger.
Q. Which are more important to people, their family or their friends? Why?
Answer: I will be completely honest with this answer. I believe family comes first and we should do everything humanly possible to help our family and make them proud. However, this does not diminish the value of good friends in life. When our family is the very entity that shapes our existence, friends make life worth living.
Q. What do you think causes friendships to break up?
Answer: Lack of communication and distance sometimes crack the friendship. However, if you ask me why we break up with friends, I would say hypocrisy, selfishness, arrogance, lack of sympathy and breach of trust are the main reasons for that. From my experience, I can say that someone would abhor a friend when this very friend breaks his trust. Materialistic gain often turns friends to deny his support for other friends and this is another reason so many good friends become bitter enemies.
Discussion topics: Other relationships
Q. What other types of relationship, apart from friends or family, are important in people’s lives today?
Answer: Well, this is an interesting question. I have not deeply thought about it before. But, I would say the relationship that teachers and students share has great importance in our life. These days, I think it was applicable in the past as well, teachers have a great contribution to their followers’ lives. It’s a reciprocal relationship and shapes our society. Apart from that, our relationship with our colleges has prominent importance. Finally, our neighbours are persons who determine a great deal of our happiness by being with us whenever we need them- in sorrow and in joy.
Q. Have relationships with neighbours where you live changed in recent years? How?
Answer: To be honest, the relationship among neighbours is not as close as it used to be. Back in my childhood, I did not know that our neighbours were different from our relatives. They were closely known to each other, had more frequent communication and have been more like families, unlike the present days. With the urbanisation, dependence on technology and busy professional life, we hardly visit our neighbours and I feel a distance between families living in the same neighbourhood which was unlikely in the past. I used to play with the children in our neighbourhood and could easily visit each other’s house, but this is hardly seen in my locality these days.
Q. How important do you think it is for a person to spend some time alone? Why/Why not?
Answer: I think being alone sometimes helps us explore our inner self. I do not like solitude but everybody should spend some time being alone to rediscover himself. I remember a quote from the greatest scientist Albert Einstein and it says “Be a loner. That gives you time to wonder, to search for the truth. Have holy curiosity. Make your life worth living.” However, being alone does not mean being lonely and rejected, which could be sometimes unbearable and counterproductive.
This post was last modified on 11th April 2019 12:32 pm