Part 3: develop an idea.

Part 3 is the discussion, and it is where the higher bands are decided. The examiner stops asking about you and starts asking what you think, then presses. You cannot memorise your way through it, but you can learn the handful of question types it is built from, and learn how to answer each one at length.

How to use this. For each question type, read the sample and answer it out loud before you look at anything. Then open the models and read them for the difference between a 6 and an 8, the position taken, the reasons stacked, the way the idea is widened, never to memorise. The questions and answers are my own, written for this page, not recalled exam questions.

01What Part 3 is

Four minutes of real conversation about ideas.

Part 3 comes last and runs four to five minutes. The examiner takes the theme of your Part 2 card and opens it out into broader, more abstract questions: not "tell me about a teacher" but "why do good teachers matter to a society". The talk moves away from your own life towards opinions, comparisons and predictions, and the examiner will follow up, push back, and ask you to go further. This is the part that separates a six from an eight, because it rewards developed thinking, not just correct English.

02The question types

Part 3 is built from a handful of moves. Learn them.

Almost every Part 3 question is one of six kinds. Learn to recognise the kind, and you know what shape the answer wants: an opinion, a comparison, a weighing-up, a prediction, an explanation, or a response to a claim. For each below, the typical wording, and then one question answered twice, at Band 6 and at Band 8, so you can see exactly what turns a fair answer into a strong one. The models are illustrative, in a natural spoken register, written to be learned from, not recited.

1 · Giving and justifying an opinion

Do you think it is important for people to have hobbies?
In your view, should university be free for everyone?
How important is it for children to learn a second language?
Do you agree that money makes people happier?

Sample question · “Do you think it is important for children to have hobbies?”

Band 6. Yes, I think it is important. Hobbies are good for children because they can learn new skills and have fun. It is also better than just watching television all day.

Band 8. I do, quite strongly. I think a hobby gives a child something that school and family cannot always provide, which is a space where they are doing something purely because they enjoy it, and where failing does not really matter. That freedom to be a bit rubbish at something and keep going anyway builds a kind of resilience that turns out to be useful far beyond the hobby itself.

What lifts it. The Band 8 states the opinion clearly and then does the real work: it explains why with a specific mechanism, resilience through low-stakes failure, rather than listing generic goods. Phrases like a bit rubbish at something keep it natural. The Band 6 is correct and relevant, but its reasons stay at the surface.

2 · Comparing and contrasting

How is family life today different from in the past?
Are the things young people and older people worry about the same?
Is city life very different from life in the countryside?
How has the way we communicate changed?

Sample question · “How is the way people shop today different from in the past?”

Band 6. In the past, people went to shops in town to buy things. Now a lot of people shop online because it is easier. They can buy things from home and it is delivered to them.

Band 8. The obvious change is the shift online, but I think the deeper difference is in the experience itself. Shopping used to be a social thing, you would run into people, ask a shopkeeper for advice, make an afternoon of it. Now it is faster and more private, which is convenient, but a lot of that incidental contact with your neighbourhood has quietly disappeared along with it.

What lifts it. Both answers spot the online shift, but the Band 8 uses a clear then versus now frame and reaches past the obvious point to a subtler one, the loss of social contact. The comparison language, used to be, now, along with it, holds the two halves together. The Band 6 states the change but does not really compare the two eras.

3 · Weighing advantages and disadvantages

What are the benefits and drawbacks of living in a big city?
Is social media good or bad for young people, on balance?
What are the pros and cons of studying abroad?
Does tourism do more good than harm to a country?

Sample question · “What are the advantages and disadvantages of working from home?”

Band 6. The main advantage is that you save time because you do not have to travel. You can also be more comfortable. The disadvantage is that it can be lonely and it is harder to concentrate at home.

Band 8. On the plus side, you claw back the commute and you get long stretches of quiet, which is brilliant for anything that needs deep focus. The trade-off, though, is that the casual side of work vanishes, the quick question over a desk, the chat that sparks an idea, and for a lot of people that isolation slowly wears them down. So I would say it suits the task more than the person; it depends whether you are wired to work alone.

What lifts it. The Band 8 genuinely weighs the two sides against each other and lands on a nuanced position, it depends on the task and the person, rather than just listing. Signposts like on the plus side, the trade-off, though frame the balance. The Band 6 gives a valid advantage and disadvantage but never brings them into tension.

4 · Speculating about the future

How do you think education will change in the future?
Will people still read printed books in fifty years?
How might work be different for the next generation?
Do you think cities will become more or less crowded?

Sample question · “How do you think cities will change over the next fifty years?”

Band 6. I think cities will be bigger in the future because more people will move to them. There will probably be more technology, like self-driving cars, and maybe more tall buildings to fit everyone.

Band 8. It is hard to say for certain, but my guess is that cities will actually be forced to become greener, not by choice so much as by necessity. If the climate keeps shifting, they will have to build in more parks and trees just to stay liveable in the heat. I could also see them becoming quieter, if petrol cars really do disappear, which would change the feel of a city far more than people expect.

What lifts it. The Band 8 hedges honestly, it is hard to say, my guess is, then commits to a specific, reasoned prediction with a cause behind it. The modals and conditionals, would, could, if the climate keeps shifting, are exactly the grammar this question type rewards. The Band 6 predicts sensibly but leans on will and lists rather than reasons.

5 · Exploring causes

Why do you think some people are afraid of change?
What makes a city a pleasant place to live?
Why are some traditional skills disappearing?
What causes people to move away from their hometowns?

Sample question · “Why do you think fewer young people read books these days?”

Band 6. I think it is because of phones. Young people spend a lot of time on social media, so they do not have time to read. Also, reading a whole book takes a long time and some people find it boring.

Band 8. I suspect it is less that they read less and more that they read differently. They are actually reading constantly, messages, articles, subtitles, but in short bursts, and a novel asks for the opposite: a long, unbroken stretch of attention. So I would put it down to a shift in how attention itself works now, rather than laziness, which is how it tends to get framed.

What lifts it. The Band 8 questions the premise before answering it, they read differently, not less, then offers a single, well-developed cause, the fragmentation of attention. That is more persuasive than a list of separate reasons. Causal phrasing, put it down to, less that... more that, does the heavy lifting. The Band 6 names a real cause but stays with the obvious one.

6 · Responding to a general claim

Some people say the internet has made us less social. Would you agree?
It is often said that money cannot buy happiness. What do you think?
Some argue that competition is always healthy. Do you agree?
People sometimes say the young have it easier than their parents did. Is that fair?

Sample question · “Some people say the government should fund the arts. Do you agree?”

Band 6. Yes, I agree with this. The arts are important for a country and they make people happy. If the government does not give money, some theatres and museums might have to close, which would be bad.

Band 8. I do agree, though I understand why people push back on it, when budgets are tight, spending on art can look like a luxury next to hospitals and schools. But I would argue that is a false choice. The arts are part of what makes a place worth living in, and a lot of them, small theatres, local museums, simply cannot survive on ticket sales alone. Pull the funding and you do not save much money; you just quietly lose them.

What lifts it. The Band 8 concedes the opposing view first, I understand why people push back, then answers it, which is far more convincing than flat agreement. That concede-then-counter move, though, but I would argue, is the single most useful habit in Part 3. The Band 6 agrees reasonably but never engages with the other side.

03How to answer well

Five habits that carry an answer into the higher bands.

Take a position, then defend it. Part 3 rewards a clear stance far more than a balanced fence-sit. Say what you think in the first breath, then spend the rest of the answer justifying it. An opinion without reasons is a Band 6; a reason without a stated opinion drifts.
Speak in general, not just personal, terms. Part 1 is about you; Part 3 is about people, society, the world. Move from I to people tend to, in most countries, generally. The examiner wants to hear you handle ideas, not just report your own life.
Concede, then counter. The most powerful move in Part 3 is to admit the other side, I can see why people think that, and then explain why you still disagree. It shows you can hold two ideas at once, which is exactly what the higher bands describe.
Reach for the second point. The obvious answer earns a six. The interesting answer, the subtler cause, the deeper difference, the thing most people miss, is what earns the eight. Ask yourself and what else, and go one layer down.
Do not fear not knowing. You will be asked about things you have never considered. That is fine. Think aloud, hedge honestly, I have not thought about this before, but I suppose, and reason your way to an answer. Fluency under uncertainty is itself a high-band skill.

Work back through the earlier parts if you need to: the Part 1 questions and the Part 2 cue cards, or browse all three together on the speaking topics page. Want a person pressing you the way a real examiner will, and telling you which band each answer is sitting at? That is what the lessons are for.