B2 First Speaking Parts 3 & 4 Sample Answers

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These are high-scoring sample answers for the following Cambridge B2 First Speaking Parts 3 and 4. Read them and the analysis to understand what you need to talk about and the kind of answers you need to give for a good B2 First speaking score.

B2 First Part 3

Question

Sample Answer – Discussion

There is two minutes to discuss how each part influences the central question.

A/ Regarding watching a film, I would say it’s critical to concentrate, otherwise you wouldn’t know what the story was about. And if you didn’t know what the story was about, what’s the point in watching the film? Wouldn’t you agree?

B/ Yes, I would agree indeed. I think concentration is absolutely essential as far as studying is concerned. I think to actually get deeply into your subject or your homework or the book you’re supposed to read is so important for furthering your studies.

A/ I completely understand what you’re saying there, and I would also say it’s critical for playing computer games. If you don’t concentrate, then you’ll fail and you’ll lose. You’ll never get to the next level, and so on. So, I would say for those that play computer games, that concentration is one of the most important things.

B/ Yes, team sports. I would say you wouldn’t last long in a team if you didn’t concentrate, because you need to concentrate so you know where the other players are and so on. So, if you can’t concentrate, you’re not really in the team, so you’d get dropped quite quickly, wouldn’t you say?

A/ I would indeed. And understanding directions in another language always takes concentration on my part, and I’ve been lost several times.

Sample Answer – Reaching a Decision

There is one minute for the candidates to reach a decision about which activity needs the most concentration.

B/ Personally, I can’t decide which is the most important. The two main ones for me are understanding directions in another language, because you’re in another country, you might get lost, something bad might happen. But there’s also studying a difficult subject because that could determine your future career or the university you went to and so on. What do you make of it?

A/ I completely agree, but I think studying a difficult subject would probably be the most important reason to concentrate, understand what you’re saying about listening to directions. As for watching a film and playing a computer game, I don’t really think they’re that important because they’re just really entertainment, aren’t they?

B/ Absolutely. And as for playing a team sport, if things don’t go well in one game, maybe they’ll go well in the next game.

Sample Answer Video

B2 First Part 4

One candidate is asked a Part 4 question, then the other one is asked to give a shorter opinion on it too.

Questions

Sometimes, people don’t like having to concentrate. Why do you think this is?
Do you think young people find it easier to concentrate on things than older people? (Why / Why not?)
Do you think that learning languages requires a lot of effort and concentration? (Why/Why not?)
How important is it for people to have time to relax and forget the pressure of work or studies?
What do young people do to relax in (candidate’s country)?
How easy do you think it is to work when there is background noise?

Sample Answers

Question – Sometimes, people don’t like having to concentrate. Why do you think this is?

Sample answer – There are several reasons, but the main one in my mind is that concentration is like doing hard work with your brain. So, people usually take an easier option if they can. As far as I’m concerned, this is why computers, and all computerised technology is so popular. It takes away so much of the thinking people used to in the past. It’s not always a good thing, in my opinion.

Question – Do you think young people find it easier to concentrate on things than older people? (Why / Why not?)

Sample answer – To be honest, I think it depends on what they have to concentrate on. If youngsters are interested in something or if it is good fun, they will find it pretty easy to become engrossed in its every little detail. Saying that, they need to concentrate for exams and so on, so they know how to do it if they need to. Older people, though, are more used to having to do something, even if they don’t like it at all. They have to concentrate on issues younger ones haven’t even thought about.

Question – Do you think that learning languages requires a lot of effort and concentration? (Why/Why not?)

Sample answer – For most people, yes, but some take to it really naturally like a duck to water. It also depends on which part of learning a language. If you are doing your best chatting with a native speaker, you really need to think about the topic. However, if you are in school or a language class you need to think about things much more and remember grammar, vocabulary and so on.

Question – How important is it for people to have time to relax and forget the pressure of work or studies?

Sample answer – I think it’s essential, to be quite honest with you. If nobody relaxed or took it easy, what kind of world would it be? The pressure of working and studying is pretty much the same as far as I’m concerned. Playing sports is a great way of keeping mentally healthy and not letting everything get on top of you, while listening to music or meeting friends works really well too.

Question – What do young people do to relax in (candidate’s country)?

In this country, they do a variety of things, such as hang out with their friends at the mall, play basketball or go to the cinema to watch the latest movie. Most popular, though, is playing computer games together, either at somebody’s home or online Becoming totally immersed in a game is one of the best ways to leave the stresses of school or work behind.

Question – How easy do you think it is to work when there is background noise?

From what I can gather, most people prefer to work in silence or with some gentle music playing. My problem is I like complete silence, which is really hard to achieve, so I often become frustrated and find it difficult to concentrate. Unusually, I can get an incredible amount of work done if my surroundings are really noisy. I can’t hear anything specific, so it’s just like silence to me.

Less Common Vocabulary

As far as I’m concerned – this is my opinion
takes away (to take away) – removes
Saying that – on the other hand
issues – problems
to take to something – to start to like something or start to be good at doing something
naturally – as in nature
like a duck to water – to learn to do something very easily
essential – extremely important
to be quite honest with you – this is what I really think
pretty much the same – about the same
mentally – to do with the mind
not letting xxx get on top of you – not allowing something to take over your life or overwhelm you
hang out – spend time relaxing
immersed – to be deeply involved in something
silence – no noise
frustrated – being annoyed because you can’t change or achieve something