C1 Advanced Speaking Part 4: How to Talk About Unfamiliar Topics

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Taking tests such as C1 Advanced Speaking Part 4 are extremely challenging for many reasons, with one of the main ones being that a certain amount of life experience is needed to be able to talk about some topics. However, there are ways to deal with topics you are unsure of or even ones that you don’t know anything about. it does take practice, though.

Let’s start with the first one.

You may be asked your opinion about something you have never thought about before. Looking at the following examples, what would you say if you had never known your grandparents, have never known life without computers or have never thought about retirement.

Do you think that life is easier now than it was in our grandparents’ day?

Some people say that computers are the biggest time-saving device in modem life. What do you think?

Should there be a compulsory retirement age, or should people be allowed to work as long as they like?

If this happens, then it is often impossible to think what to say.

If you don’t know about something, say so as soon as possible. It helps to break down the block in your mind and helps you to speak.

There are various phrases you can use to do this, but the important point is that you make it clear to the examiner that you are guessing.

This is called talking about an unfamiliar topic. It is just another useful English skill and one that you should be prepared for in your C1 Advanced Speaking Part 4.

Talking about an unfamiliar topic is just another skill. Learn it!

1/ make it clear you are talking about something slightly different. For example:

I’m not sure if it was the same in my grandparents’ time or not, but I can tell you about life 50 or 60 years ago.

I grew up with computers, so I have no idea what it was like without them, but I can tell you how they have improved.

I don’t even know when retirement age is, but I can give you my opinion about everyone working.

You are saying to the examiner, LOOK! I have no idea about what I’m going to tell you about, but I’m going to try my best!

2/ Talk about things that you have heard about second hand or seen on TV.

I’m not sure if it was the same in my grandparents’ time or not, but from what my friend’s aunt says, life was much harder in these days for various reasons.

I grew up with computers, so it’s almost impossible for me to tell you anything from my personal experience, but I read in a magazine recently that the difference they made to people’s lives when they were introduced was incredible.

I heard my uncle complaining about this the other day. Personally, I’d never thought about retirement at all, but he seems to be quite opinionated about it.

When you say I don’t know, it makes it so much easier to continue to talk about something and lets you forget some things or be a bit inaccurate.

But you must relate what you are going to talk about to the question. If you don’t, then it will seem as if you have decided to talk about anything you like. Not good!

If you talk about something you have read or seen, then you can use phrases such as:
As far as I can remember …..
From what it said …..
I’m not sure, but I think …..
If my memory serves me correctly, …..
….. that’s why it sticks in my mind.

Use phrases such as these and you should be able to piece together an answer to any C1 Advanced Speaking Part 4 question that the examiner knows is very difficult. Don’t worry!

2/ Use words and phrases throughout your answer so the examiner knows you are doubtful about what you are saying.

If you know nothing about the topic, say so.

Say so IMMEDIATELY!!!!

How to express that you are not sure in C1 Advanced Speaking Part 4

I may be totally wrong about this, but ……

I know absolutely nothing about this but in my mind ……..

I have no idea about this at all, but I imagine ………

I have never even thought about anything like this, but I in my mind if that happened then …………

I have never experienced anything like that, but from what I have heard ………….  

I’m really not sure about this, but from what I remember ……

I guess he could have been a xxxxx, but I’m not sure.

As far as I can remember he …….

If I remember correctly there is …….…

I think I saw a documentary that said ……

I think I read in a newspaper that ……

If I’m not mistaken, …..

C1 Advanced Speaking Part 4 Examples:

Do you think that life is easier now than it was in our grandparents’ day? Why / Why not?

I may be totally wrong about this because I’m not sure if it was the same in my grandparents’ time or not, but from what my friend’s aunt says, life was much harder in these days for various reasons. Firstly, they didn’t seem to have very many cars and public transport was much more important and completely funded by the government, from what I can tell. Secondly, it was much easier to be out of touch, which would have been terrible in an emergency, but much less stressful after work and if you just wanted to chill out somewhere for a few hours. Lastly, she said because there were no computers or mobile phones, people had to think for themselves and be able to do mental arithmetic and even remember phone numbers.

Some people say that computers are the biggest time-saving device in modern life. What do you think?

I grew up with computers, so it’s almost impossible for me to tell you anything from my personal experience, but I read in a magazine recently that the difference they made to people’s lives when they were introduced was incredible. If we’re talking about PCs rather than ancient computers or anything like that, from what I can gather, they made so many jobs obsolete because they needed much fewer people to do the same jobs. Also, later on, according to the article, email had almost the same effect on communications and now we can communicate with anywhere almost at the click of a mouse. So, yes, I would say that if they are not the biggest time-saving machine, then they must be very close to it.

Should there be a compulsory retirement age, or should people be allowed to work as long as they like?

I heard my uncle complaining about this the other day. Personally, I’d never thought about retirement at all, but he seems to be quite opinionated about it. He seemed to think that everyone should stop working at a certain age. I think it was 55. If we did that, then younger people would have a better chance of getting a good job, rather than having old people in all the higher positions. I’m not sure I agree with that, though because even though I’m not too keen on working, I would get bored if I didn’t have a job to go to and different people to talk to. Because of this, I think people should be able to work as long as they like.

Conclusion

If you don’t know much about the Part 4 question, use some of these words and phrases. As ever, you should choose the ones you are happiest with and not force yourself to learn them all. Talking about an unfamiliar topic is a great skill in any language, so this one will help you at any time with your English and especially for your C1Advanced Speaking test. Good luck!