C1 Advanced Speaking Part 2 Sample Answer

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These are high-scoring sample answers for the following Cambridge C1 Advanced Speaking Part 2. Read them to understand what you need to talk about and the kind of answers you need to give for a good C1 Advanced speaking score. For advice, strategies and tips on the best ways to answer (because 1 minute is very short), this article will help.

Question

What might be difficult for the people to deal with in these situations?

How important might it be for them to deal with the situation well?

C1 Advanced Speaking - Young woman in a red top and jeans making a phone call in front of a car that has its bonnet up

C1 Advanced Speaking - Many people getting on and of a subway train

C1 Advanced Speaking - Travellers queuing inside

Sample Answer

1 minute to compare and contrast the two pictures you have chosen as well as answer the two questions.

I’d like to choose the first picture and the second picture. I think the girl with the broken-down car in the first picture looks like she’s stuck in the middle of nowhere in the countryside. And I think it’s important that she deals with this situation well, otherwise, it could be quite unsafe. Whereas in the second picture, there are hordes of people waiting to get on a train or a subway, probably a subway, and they need to deal with that situation well just to get home at night. So, in that picture, there are many, many tens of, tens of people, whereas in the first picture, there’s the girl by herself. The girl is outside looking around, whereas the people in the subway station, are anywhere but outside.

Video

Analysis

This is my opinion of the above answer. The answer was given as in a test, with minimal preparation time.

This way of answering is the most common. talk about one picture, then talk about the other. If you have time, then talk about them both. There are pitfalls doing it this way, the biggest one being that it is really easy to run out of time.

The word ‘whereas’ is used too much.

‘people waiting to get on a train or a subway, probably a subway’ – if you start to explain exactly what you mean, you will run out of time without finishing.

Lesser-Known Vocabulary

broken-down – usually used about a machine that has stopped working
stuck – cannot move
the middle of nowhere – where there are no facilities available maybe even no houses.
hordes – large groups of people
by herself – with no one else / alone
looking around – looking from right to left and from back to front

Let me know if you think the sample answer is useful or not in the comments below. Good luck with your C1 Advanced Speaking test!