B2 First Speaking Part 3: Choosing the Best

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In B2 First Speaking Part 3, you and the other student need to discuss the different options of the central theme, described in the mind map or picture for two minutes. After that, you and your partner have one minute to make a decision about which option is best or most important. Here is some language you can use while choosing which option is the best. There are sample answers here.

Moving on to the Decision Stage

In this part of B2 First Speaking Part 3, you and your partner(s) only have one minute to reach a decision. As you know from Part 2, this is a very short time, especially in a speaking test.

In real life, it would be better and usually more coherent to build a bridge between the discussion and decision stages. You could use phrases, such as:

I think we’ve pretty much covered all the bases, so which option do you think would be the best…..

I think we agree that …….. and ……. aren’t the best, don’t we? So, it’s between them.

From our discussion, I would say we are keenest on ….., ….. and …… Wouldn’t you agree?

Right away, I think we should discard …… and ……. Am I right?

But the problem is, building a bridge just wastes time, so start deciding immediately!

So how do you do that. How do you just start deciding straight away? Like this.

Note: each question is different. You may be asked for the best, the most important, the most economical etc. Here, we will just talk about ‘the best’.

I’m absolutely convinced that xxxx is by far the best option because …….

In my opinion, …… is the best due to the fact that …….

As far as I can see, the only choice would be ….. because …….

If you ask me, it’s between ….. and ….. and personally, I would choose ….. for the reason that …..

The way I see it is ……. is by far the best with …… as second best.

If I had to choose, I would choose ….. since ……..

After this, you ask your partner if they agree or disagree.

Wouldn’t you agree?

Don’t you agree?

There are many more phrases for agreeing and disagreeing here.

In my opinion, it’s much easier and less stressful just to agree with your partner. You are in an English test, so don’t start arguing why something is better or worse. It could go badly!

Keeping this in mind, if your partner disagrees with your opinion, just change it. Change your mind and agree with them. You want to pass this test and you still have Part 4 to come.

Here are some more of these expressions so that you can change your mind about the answer and just finish Part 3

Although I thought …… when I saw the question, I see your point and now agree with you on that

Even though I believed ………. I now think you’re right

There are several more phrases for changing your opinion here.

Now you have agreed, all you need to do for the rest of the one minute is to discuss why the other choices are not suitable.

Remember that you still have to discuss, so you should share the task of saying why the other options are not good enough.

It doesn’t matter if you run out of time now, you have made your decision, which is the task you were given.

Using this example:

A/ In my opinion, using the internet is by far the most important factor here. Do you agree?

B/ Not at all. In fact, I feel very strongly that doing more exercise is essential in the modern world. What do you say to that?

A/ Although I thought surfing the net was the most important when I saw the question, I see your point and now agree with you on that.

B/ Great! I also think working less is crucial, but not nearly as important as exercising.

A/ Sure! And as for meeting friends and being outside. As far as I’m concerned, they are also not as important.

This is another tricky part of the speaking test with added time pressure. If you know what you want to achieve, you can do it easily while also helping your partner. Take some time and think about which phrases you would prefer to use and what could happen if your partner does something unexpected. As ever, practice makes perfect, so practice with a friend, teacher or classmate for the best results. Good luck with your test!