It’s an essential skill not only for the exam but for any encounter with a new English-speaking friend to be able to prattle on about your likes and dislikes, hobbies and daily activities!

Who doesn’t like talking about him or herself anyway? So, make a short list of general topic areas: people who motivate you, places you go (or want to go) with reasons, things you have fun doing. Then mindmap your responses to these topic areas and select some useful adjectives and verbs you can use with that noun.

Finally, have a try at speaking about each of these areas for about a minute using an introductory phrase such as ‘My best response to that would be’ or ‘I’d have to say...’ and concluding with something that gives a sense of completeness ‘so those are my reasons’ or ‘that’s all I have to say about that topic’.

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