The eight tasks at a glance
| # | Task | Prep | Speak |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Giving Advice | 30s | 90s |
| 2 | Talking about a Personal Experience | 30s | 60s |
| 3 | Describing a Scene | 30s | 60s |
| 4 | Making Predictions | 30s | 60s |
| 5 | Comparing and Persuading | 60s | 60s |
| 6 | Dealing with a Difficult Situation | 60s | 60s |
| 7 | Expressing Opinions | 30s | 90s |
| 8 | Describing an Unusual Situation | 30s | 60s |
Notice the pattern: you speak for 60 seconds on most tasks, but a full 90 seconds on Tasks 1 and 7 — the two that give you the least time to prepare. Tasks 5, 6 and 8 are widely considered the hardest, so they reward the most practice.
What each task asks
Tasks 1–2 draw on you: advise a friend about a described problem, then describe a personal experience from your own life.
Tasks 3–4 use an image: describe in detail what is happening in a photo, then predict what happens next in that scene.
Task 5 gives you two options to compare; you pick one and persuade a listener, after a short step to read and choose.
Task 6 puts you in a tricky situation with two possible choices; you speak to the person involved and use tactful, diplomatic language.
Task 7 asks you to state and defend your opinion on a debatable topic, and Task 8 shows an unusual image that you describe to someone who cannot see it.
There is no examiner in the room — just you, a microphone, and about fifteen minutes to show what you can do.
How Speaking is scored
Your recordings are scored by trained human raters — usually three to five of them — on four equally weighted dimensions:
- Content / Coherence — how many ideas you develop and how well you organize them.
- Vocabulary — range, precision and natural word choice.
- Listenability — pronunciation, intonation, pacing and sentence variety: how easy you are to follow.
- Task Fulfillment — whether you actually did what the task asked, in an appropriate tone and length.
Your level runs from 1 to 12 and maps one-to-one to the Canadian Language Benchmarks, so a Speaking level of 9 is CLB 9.
- There is no live interviewer — every answer is recorded and later scored by trained human raters, usually three to five per test.
- Accent alone is never penalised; raters only need you to be clear and easy to follow.
- Each answer is recorded once and cannot be replayed or redone — the screen advances the moment your time is up.
How to practice effectively
Use every second of prep to jot a quick three-part skeleton — an opening line, two points or examples, and a closing — instead of scripting sentences you will not finish. Then speak for the full time: finishing 20 seconds early signals underdeveloped content. If you stumble, correct yourself once and push on rather than restarting.
Rehearse with real prep-and-response timers and record yourself from day one — it is the only way to get used to the clock and to hearing your own delivery. Each task on this page runs on the official timings and returns AI feedback on the same four criteria, so you always know what to work on next.
