It seems obvious what they are testing you on in the Speaking part of the Cambridge Certificate in Advanced English (CAE) exam, your ability to speak in English. And it is. But how do the examiners decide what your score is for this part of the exam? What type of things are they looking for you to do when you are doing the Speaking exam?
Knowing both what areas the examiners are evaluating you on and what things they are looking to see if you do or not, is important for doing well in this part of the exam. Because when you know them, it will not only help you know what things you need to do in the different parts of the Speaking exam, but also what areas of your speaking you need to improve on.
Below I will start by explaining what the main areas of your English the examiners are evaluating you on in the exam. After this, I'll explain what the differences are between this and the Speaking exam in the Cambridge First Certificate of English (FCE) exam. Then after this, you'll learn things what the examiners are looking for you to do in the different parts of the exam.
The 5 main things your speaking is evaluated on
In the speaking exam, your score is based on 5 main things:
Your vocabulary: The variety and the level (basic or more advanced) of words and phrases you use in the exam, and if you use them correctly.
Your use of grammar: The variety and the level (simple or complex) of grammatical structures you use when speaking, and if you use them correctly.
Your pronunciation: If you are able to pronounce not only words correctly, but also know how to stress the different parts of a sentence (e.g. the last word in a question).
Your fluency: Your ability to not only speak without making lots of pauses, but also how you link what you say to make it easy to understand and logical (e.g. using phrases to add and contrast what you or the other person has said before (e.g. 'And another which is important is...')).
Doing the tasks correctly: Your ability to not only understand instructions, questions and what other people have said, but also that you do each part of the exam correctly.
Differences to the FCE Speaking Exam
If you haven't done or studied for the Cambridge First Certificate in English (FCE) exam before, you can ignore this part and start reading the next one. But if you have, I recommend that you read it.
There are some differences in the format of the parts and topics used between the CAE and FCE exams (to find out what these are, read our article called 'CAE Speaking Exam Basics') and obviously to do well in the CAE exam, you have to speak better in all areas than in the FCE one. But for what you are being evaluated on and what you should do in the different parts of the the exam (which I'll explain below this section), it is very similar in both the CAE and the FCE Speaking exams.
But there is a difference which you need to know, and that is that your use of vocabulary and grammar contributes more to your final score in the CAE Speaking exam than it does in the FCE one. This means that you not only need to use more advanced vocabulary and grammatical structures when speaking, but you also need to use them correctly and use a variety of them (i.e. not repeating the same word or phrase again and again).
How and what you do in the different parts
In addition to evaluating the 5 things that I mentioned above, your final score also depends on what you do in the different parts of the exam. In three of the four parts of the Speaking exam (the exception is the first part (in which you are asked to answer some questions individually)), the examiners are looking to see if you do some specific things when speaking and how well you are able to do them.
These things are often different between each part. And below, you will learn what these are:
Part 2:
- Ability to compare: Express the similarities and differences between the photos.
- Express probability: The ability to say different levels of probability when describing what you see in the photos and answering the question (e.g. 'It looks like...', 'It must be...', 'They are probably feeling...' etc...).
- Justify your opinions: When giving an opinion about the photos (e.g. what or where something is), be able to give a reason why you think that.
- Do the task within the time: Be able to answer two questions about two photos within a minute and at the same time as doing this, describe/compare the photos.
Part 3
- Have a conversation with a person: Be able to have a fluid conversation with the person doing the exam with you. Responding to what they say and asking their opinion.
- Express opinion: Be able to express your opinion about both the options you have to talk about and what the other person doing the exam says.
- Justify your opinions: When expressing opinion, be able to justify it by giving a reason why you think that.
- Agreeing and disagreeing: Show that you can both agree and (more importantly) disagree with what the other person has said.
- Referring to things said before: Refer to things that either you or the other person you are doing it with has said before (e.g. 'Like you said before, it's important to...').
- Do the task within the time: For the second part of this part (where the examiner asks you a question), give them a direct answer to the question which is asked in the minute. For example, 'For me, the newspaper is the least important of the options.'.
Part 4
Part 4 is very similar in many ways to part 3 to what the examiners are looking for you to do:
- Have a conversation with a person: Be able to have a fluid conversation with the person doing the exam with you. Responding to what they say and asking their opinion.
- Express opinion: Be able to express your opinion about all the questions that are asked and on what the other person doing the exam says.
- Justify your opinions: When expressing opinion, be able to justify it by giving a reason why you think that.
- Agreeing and disagreeing: Show that you can both agree and (more importantly) disagree with what both the other person has said and with the questions you are asked.
- Referring to things said before: Refer to things that either you or the other person you are doing it with has said before (e.g. 'Like I said before, it's necessary to...').
What to do now you know
Now that you know what areas you are being evaluated on in the exam and the things you have to do in the different parts of it, you need to improve your ability to do them.
Learn phrases for doing these things
The first thing I would recommend that you do is to learn more phrases for doing the things which I said that the examiners are looking for you to do. Learn different phrases to do things like expressing probably, agreeing and disagreeing, speaking with other people etc...
When you have learnt them, make sure that you practise using them. First by making sentences and saying them to yourself and then using them in a conversation with somebody.
Although you don't really need to learn phrases for justifying your opinion, practise giving reasons to justify your opinion about things (both by yourself and when having a conversation with other people in English).
Improve your vocabulary
Improve your range of vocabulary. Regularly read different types of topics (e.g. science, arts, sport, social science etc...) in English. When you see new words and phrases, guess what they mean from the context, check to see in a dictionary if you are right, and then create your own sentences with them.
Learn synonyms of commonly used words (e.g. 'dull' for 'boring') and then practise using them by creating your own sentences with them. Also, try improving your knowledge and use of phrasal verbs.
To learn what type of vocabulary you need to know for the CAE exam, read our article called 'Vocabulary Used in CAE Exams'.
Learn more advanced grammatical structures
Like with improving your vocabulary, learn more complex grammatical structures and then practise using them. One particular structure that I recommend you learn is 'inversions'.
To learn what type of grammatical structures you need to know for the CAE exam, read our article called 'Improve your Grammar for the CAE Exam'.
Have frequent conversations in English
One of the best ways to improve all areas of your speaking for the exam (your use and range of vocabulary and grammar, fluency and pronunciation) is by having frequent conversations in English. This is not practising doing parts of the Speaking exam, but by having normal conversations about things in English.
When you have the conversations, try to do some of the things you have to do in the Speaking exam (e.g. disagreeing, justify your opinion etc...) and use the phrases that you have learnt to do these things.
If you go to English classes, ask your teacher if you can spend 10 minutes every class to have a conversation with another student. If you don't go to English classes, have conversations with people you know who speak English.
Practise doing the different parts of the exam
The last thing I recommend you do is to practise now and again doing the different parts of the exam. But before each time you do them, make sure you know what things you have to do for the part (e.g. comparing, expressing opinion etc...).
To learn essential information about the CAE Speaking exam (the format/structure of exam, what mark you have to get to pass etc...), read our article 'CAE Speaking Exam Basics'.