This article provides sample examples of how to complete tasks. Speaking Part of the USE 2016 in English. The article was written taking into account the changes that have occurred in the wording of task 3 (point 1 and point 4). I hope this material will help you prepare for the exam.
Task 1
Imagine that you are preparing a project with your friend. You have found some interesting material for the presentation and you want to read this text to your friend. You have 1.5 minutes to read this text silently, then be ready to read it out aloud. You will not have more than 1.5 minutes to read it.
Burney Crouss went to school to study the sounds of nature. For 20 years he has recorded the sounds animals make. He has recordings of animal sounds from all over the world.
Burney has made a record of animal songs. It all began when he took some of the sounds and put them together. Last year, he put together a song he called "Jungle Shoes." It turned out great.
Burney makes the music by taking part of his animal noises and saving them on a computer. He makes each sound play when a key is pressed. Then he asks other musicians to play the keys into songs. Burney believes in working to save nature. He thinks that more people need to take care of our world. The sounds of nature are quickly disappearing.
When he recorded whales in Alaska, he could hear the sound of oil well drilling from fifteen to twenty miles away. It was very loud. He says his goal is to save nature sounds so his children will be able to hear them.
Listen to this audiofile
Audio recording: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or higher) is required to play this audio recording. Download the latest version. In addition, JavaScript must be enabled in your browser.
Mind your pronunciation!
Cr ou ss, s ou nd, l ou d -
B ur ney, t ur n, w or ld - [ɜ:]
to th ink - [θ]
toge th er - [ð]
Vocabulary
nature [´neitʃə] - nature
musician - musician, composer
key - key (piano, organ, computer keyboard)
to record - record, register
record [´rekɔ: d] - record
to disappear [ˏdisə´piə] - to disappear
goal [ɡəul] - goal, task
whale - whale
- Listen to the audio file attached to the text several times, paying attention to the intonation and phonetic design of the text by a native speaker.
- Read the text by copying the intonation and pronunciation of words in English. Pay special attention to lowering intonation at the end of a sentence. From teaching experience, I know that many students do not indicate the end of the phrase in a descending tone, but, on the contrary, increase it, which greatly complicates the perception of the content.
- Do not forget that prepositions and articles must be read together with verbs and nouns.
- Do not stun voiced consonants at the end of a word, as this can change the lexical meaning of the word.
- In the process of preparing for the exam, learn new words (spelling + lexical meaning).
Task 2
Study the advertisement.
You are considering booking a river trip and now you are calling to find out more information. In 1.5 minutes you are to ask five direct questions to find out about the following:
- Booking of the trip
- Boarding time
- Kinds of amenities
- Reductions for senior citizens
- If food and drinks available on board the yacht
You have 20 seconds to ask each question.
Sample answer
- How can I book the trip? / Can I book the trip on the phone? / I can book the trip on the phone, can’t I? /Should I book the trip in advance? / Is there any possibility to book the trip online?
- What is the boarding time? / When does the boarding start (begin)?
- What amenities are there on board the yacht (the boat, the ship)?
- Are there any reductions (discounts) for senior citizens?
- Can we order (buy) any food and drinks on board the yacht?
amenities [ə´minətiz] - amenities
on board the ship (on board the plane) - on board the ship (plane)
Since you need to ask 5 direct questions, you should be aware that reverse word order is used in interrogative structures in English. Not Maybe raise the question only by changing the intonation of the sentence, as we do in Russian.
For example:
In russian language
I can order food and drinks on board the yacht. (statement, intonation descending)
I can to order food and drinks on board the yacht? (question, intonation ascending)
In english
I can order some food and drinks on board the yacht. (statement, intonation descending, word order straight: subject + predicate)
General issues
Can i order any food and drinks on board the yacht? (question, intonation ascending, reverse word order: auxiliary or modal verb + subject)
Special Issues
How can I book the trip? (question, intonation descending, word order: interrogative word + auxiliary verb + subject)
You cannot ask indirect questions like Do you thinkI can book the trip on the phone or I wonder if I can book the trip on the phone.
Task 3
Imagine that these are photos from your photo album.
Choose one photo to present to your friend.
Photo 1 Photo 2 Photo 3
You will have to start speaking in 1.5 minutes and will speak for not more than 2 minutes (12-15 sentences).In your talk remember to speak about:
- where and when the photo was taken
- what / who is in the photo
- what is happening
- why you keep the photo in your album
- why you decided to show the picture to your friend
You have to talk continuously, starting with:
"I" ve chosen photo number ... "
Sample answer
I "ve chosen photo number 2. (Be sure to start your answer with this phrase, after selecting the photo number).
You know, every summer we go to the seaside to have a good rest. So, I took this photo two years ago when our family went to Egypt on summer holidays. It was our first trip abroad.
In the foreground of the photo you can see my little brother Dmitry... He is riding a camel on a sandy beach. He looks very happy because he has never done it before. The camel is covered with bright colorful blanket made of wool. It also has got some funny pompons (decorations) on its head . The day is quite hot and sunny and there are no clouds in the sky. So, not to get sunburnt Dima is wearing a T-shirt.
The sea is very calm. You can notice several snow-white yachts (ships) against the skyline. Every day they take people for offshore excursions where one can watch dolphins and exotic species of fish.
As a rule, I always take a lot of pictures while traveling. I often show them to my friends and relatives to share the best and the most thrilling moments of our journeys. That's why I keep them in my album.
I was really astonished (impressed, struck) by a funny look of the camel. It seems to me that the animal has got a smiling face. I decided to show this picture to you because I think it might improve your mood. I hope you find it amazing, too.
That is all I wanted to say. (obligatory phrase for the examiner, indicating the completion of communication)
Task 4
Study the two photographs. In 1.5 minutes be ready to compare and contrast the photographs:
- give a brief description of the photos (action, location)
- say what the pictures have in common
- say in what way the pictures are different
- say which of the activities presented in the pictures you’d prefer
- explain why
Now I am going to compare and contrast these two photos.
To start with I should admit that holidays are an integral part of our life no matter where we live. And these two photos are the evidence of what I have said.
Both pictures show people celebrating christmas.
The first photo depicts a company of six young people who are enjoying a holiday season on a sandy beach. They are wearing swimming suits, sunglasses and Santa’s hats ... I'm not sure but it seems to me that it is a team of life-guards. In the background of the picture you can see a decorated Christmas tree, a large inflatable snowman and Santa Claus.
As for the second picture it shows a young man and a young woman singing carols in the street which is beautifully decorated with lights. The weather is snowy and I suppose it's pretty cold outside because they are wearing warm clothes, gloves and scarves. Even their dog has got a warm jacket and a scarf and that makes me think(I’ve got a feeling) that these people are very caring and love their pet very much.
As I have mentioned before the main similarity(the most obvious similarity) between these pictures is a festive atmosphere of Christmas. Also I get the impression that people in picture 1 and picture 2 are of the same age and look very joyful. Moreover, both pictures were taken outdoors (out-of-doors / in the open air).
Comparing these two pictures, I'd like to stress out that the most apparent (striking) difference between them is the season of the year. In the first photo the event might be taking place somewhere in Australia because Christmas Day usually falls in the middle of the summer in this country. In contrast, in the second picture you can see people in winter. I can only guess that they are probably British. Besides, picture No 1 was taken during the daytime, while picture No 2 was taken at night.
Dear Colleagues!
And at the same time I will tell you their "medical history" - how it all began and what we came to, including the analysis of mistakes made on the exam. I hope my experience will help you in preparation!
This year, two girls took my exam in English - Anastasia and Irina.
Anastasia
Anastasia came to me a year and a half before the exam with a confident level Intermediate... She studied English with tutors from elementary school, but she turned to me because she did not feel progress in classes with the previous teacher.
Anastasia pleased me with the ease of comprehension of the language, we quickly memorize new structures and words, but frustrated me with mistakes at the Elementary level. And it would be fine if they were fossilized, that is, permanent. But these same mistakes behaved like in a resort - they appeared once and disappeared without a trace ...
Trial version the student wrote about 75 points, which is excellent for a person unfamiliar with the exam format. Therefore, the goal of the preparation was to teach the girl how to squeeze her good English into the exam format.
And after a year of classes, Anastasia changed her decision about choosing a university and said that now she needed a USE in literature, and not in English. But they decided to pass the exam anyway, since so much effort was already required.
The last, pre-examination samplers Anastasia wrote about 90 points, and this was the result that we expected on the exam.
Before the exam, she said, she was not worried at all and was confident in her answers. But upon receiving the results, both were disappointed - 78 credits!
The table clearly shows how the student wrote the samples and what happened on the exam. The columns indicate minus how many points the student received.
Especially offensive for grammar with vocabulary and essays. Let's take a look at errors in the essay according to the criteria for evaluating the exam in English:
The theme of this year's Moscow region is: “The best holidays and festivals are those with specific traditions for celebrating”. Yes, tricky. It would be interesting for me to see how the person who invented it would describe it by 14 points, I am especially worried about the solution of the communicative problem - none of my students got the maximum for this point.
For the decision communication task(KZ) Anastasia has 2 points out of 3. This means: “some aspects specified in the assignment are not fully disclosed; there are some violations of the style of speech ”. Since everything is in order with the style (there are no abbreviations and informal vocabulary), some aspect has not been disclosed.
In my opinion, Anastasia distorted the topic. In the introduction, we see the opposition “old traditions - specific traditions”, which is not entirely true. Rather, it should sound like this: “no particular traditions - specific traditions”, for example March 8 / February 23 - Halloween / New Year. This incorrect juxtaposition is repeated throughout the essay, because of this, the point was removed.
Per text organization(OT) we have 2 points out of 3: “the statement is basically logical, there are some deviations from the plan in the structure of the statement; there are some disadvantages when using logical communication means; there are some shortcomings when dividing the text into paragraphs ”. I did not notice any drawbacks when using communication means, the division into paragraphs is correct, which means we are dealing with a violation of the logic of the statement.
In the second paragraph, where the student's opinion is indicated, the first and second arguments are similar - 1) the old traditions are boring; 2) they cannot surprise tourists.
In the 3rd paragraph, where the opposite point of view needs to be expressed, we read about the old traditions of the countries that show the ancient culture of the country. The counter-argument in the 4th paragraph states that in such countries it will be more interesting for tourists to participate in specific celebrations in order to understand the uniqueness of the country. It is illogical, because ancient traditions also distinguish one country from another.
Here they could put a minus for this link in the 2nd paragraph: “Personally, in my opinion, ...” Although I personally do not see any crime in it.
Per vocabulary removed 1 point. "The vocabulary used corresponds to the set communicative task, however, there are some inaccuracies in the use of words (2-3 words), or the vocabulary is limited, but the vocabulary is used correctly." I do not know where in this topic with vocabulary it was possible to turn around, so, probably, points were taken off for misuse of vocabulary:
celebrate with old traditions/… Are celebrated by old traditions... 1,2 paragraphs our world does not stand on one place, 5 paragraph
On grammar also minus 1 point - “there are a number of errors that do not impede understanding of the text (no more than 4)”.
the old traditions, paragraph 2 (no clarification, which ones)
... are popular with tourists who want to visit a country again and again, paragraph 2 (there is about a certain country)
tradition make any country is different ..., 4 paragraph
... the best holidays and festivals are not those which are celebrated ordinary..., paragraph 5 (wrong part of speech)
Per spelling and punctuation also removed the point. "There are a number of spelling and / or punctuation errors, including those that slightly hinder the understanding of the test (no more than 4)."
Spelling: “they long to try something knew“, Paragraph 2
Punctuation:
The others have an opposite opinion ... __ and I can understand this point of view, 1 paragraph (compound sentences without a comma before the union)
... they sing their national songs, do not dance as usual , but make cool tricks ... paragraph 2 (homogeneous terms, no comma needed)
As a result, events, which make people surprised…, are the best, paragraph 4 (subordinate qualifier, not separated by commas)
... events, which are celebrated by specific traditions, paragraph 4 (relative clause, not separated by commas)
This is how the essay turned out and its analysis. If you disagree with me in the assessment of the essay or in something else, write in the comments!
Irina
Now I'll tell you about Irina. We studied with her for exactly a year before the exam, she also came to me from another tutor, from which she did not see any benefit. Before that, I had not studied the language with teachers, the Unified State Exam in English was needed to enter the university. Language level - beginning of Intermediate, probe wrote on 67 points. Gaps in the elementary things were constantly popping up, like: Are there a vegetarian menu? But unlike Anastasia, these mistakes were already deposited in the subcortex.
During the year, we practically did not touch the vocabulary, the stock of which was enough for writing an essay, but tightened up the grammar and pored over the exam format. A great contribution to the preparation was made by a school teacher, an examiner of the Unified State Exam, she shared materials for preparation and suggested moments that I did not know. Many thanks to her for that!
Before the USE itself, the samplers showed 85 points, so Irina passed - for the expected 85 credits... I was especially pleased with the essay with a difficult topic, which she was able to describe and speaking without mistakes.
Comparison table:
Let's also analyze her essay according to the criteria:
In this work, 1 point is lost on KZ and grammar... I will pay attention only to them, I will not touch the errors in other parameters, which did not affect the loss of points.
So, KZ... For me personally, the topic is revealed, the only place where I see no logic in giving an example to my statement is the 3rd paragraph with the counterargument: “They consider that unusual celebrations can be dangerous because people do not know what they should do there”. For me, the word dangerous does not stand for “people do not know what they should do there”.
Grammar, found 4 errors:
… Because ___ unusual way of spending your free time…, paragraph 2 (no article)
Moreover, you can go with your friend which was there earlier…, paragraph 4 (which instead of who, was instead of has been)
In conclusion, I would state that specific festivals are __ very exciting way of spending your free time, paragraph 5 (no article).
Outcomes
What have I done for myself conclusions?
WITH Anastasia I did not work out the psychology of passing the exam - I had to repeat many times before the exam that she should not relax and be attentive so as not to make mistakes. Perhaps it was her self-confidence that let her down.
This is an example of the fact that a person with good knowledge of the language (by the end of our classes Anastasia had a confident Upper-Intermediate) cannot always adjust it to the exam format. And the Unified State Exam is a lottery this year with unpredictable texts, sometimes higher than the required level, and an intricate topic of the essay.
WITH Irina everything is logical, she wrote as much as she deserved. Of course, I would like her to get about 90, but given the difficult listening (2 tasks), reading (3 tasks) and the topic of the essay, it could be worse. So here we were satisfied.
Here I concluded that the Intermediate level is sufficient for successfully passing the exam, the main thing is to master the format and strategies for solving problems, where there is not enough knowledge to fully understand the text.
At this point, my reflection on the work done comes to an end. It will be great if you share the results of the USE 2016!
Have a nice rest, everyone!
The national exam in English is one of the options for the selective exam in a foreign language. Its structure, complexity and content is no different from German, French or Spanish, which can also be chosen for passing. At the same time, it is worth noting the undoubted popularity of the English language - official statistics indicate that about 9% of graduates want to take it annually. The exam in a foreign language cannot be called easy. For example, we can cite the following fact: two years ago, about 70,000 students passed the English language, while only 11 students scored the maximum number of points (100)!
English remains the most popular elective language subject
Demonstration version of the exam 2016
Dates for the exam in English
Early period
- April 8, 2016 (Fri) - Oral exam
- April 9, 2016 (Sat) - Written exam
- April 22, 2016 (Fri) - Written exam (reserve)
- April 23, 2016 (Sat) - Oral examination (reserve)
The main stage
- June 10, 2016 (Fri) - Oral exam
- June 11, 2016 (Sat) - Oral exam
- June 14, 2016 (Tue) - Written exam
- June 22, 2016 (Wed) - Written exam (reserve)
- June 23, 2016 (Thu) - Oral examination (reserve)
Exam changes
Recall that since last year, the foreign exam has become much more difficult - in addition to the test part, which provides for written answers, the Ministry of Education decided to introduce an additional oral part. The explanatory note from the Ministry says that the student is free to decide on his own whether he will pass "speaking", but it is quite natural that without this component, the maximum number of points cannot be counted. Written and oral English tests are taken in two days.
80 points are allocated for the written part; for speaking you will get 20 more General information
The duration of the written examination in a foreign language is 180 minutes, during which the future applicant must have time to complete a significant number of tasks - 46. The exam ticket consists of four components:
- Listening, which contains 9 tasks (as practice shows, students should not devote more than 80-90 minutes of time to this part);
- Reading, in which the graduate is asked to complete 9 tasks. The first part, which includes 2 tasks, is quite simple - you need to be able to establish a correspondence. The second part (that is, 7 more tasks) involves choosing the correct answer. Students should not spend more than half an hour on this part of the ticket;
- The section on grammar and vocabulary includes the largest number of tasks - 20. The first part consists of 13 tasks with a short answer. The remaining 7 tasks involve choosing and writing down the correct answer. The implementation of this section is optimally invested in 40 minutes of time;
- A letter, which consists of 2 tasks, which is a small written work. The first task is to write a personal letter (100-140 words). The second provides for a small written reasoning on a specific topic and should consist of 200-250 words. It is not recommended to spend more than 70-80 minutes on this work. You can first do this type of work on a draft, but do not get carried away with a lengthy presentation of thoughts. If you don’t have time to rewrite the assignments, your draft will not be graded.
The block called "speaking" has four components. Students will be asked to read a short passage of text, formulate interview questions, compose a story based on the image, and give a comparative assessment of the two events captured in the photo.
How are points distributed?
When passing the written part of the exam, the student can score a maximum of 80 points. “Talking” allows you to score up to 20 more maximum points. Let us also recall that since 2015, the minimum score in this discipline has been increased and is 22 points.
On the Unified State Exam in English, you have to complete 46 tasks in 180 minutes How to Prepare?
Take advantage of the opportunity we have offered and download yourself a demo version of trial testing in English (see the beginning of the article). So you can feel the atmosphere of the exam, assess your current readiness and tighten up all weak points in advance. Please note that some of the tasks are formulated in English, so be sure to translate them in advance so as not to fall into a stupor on the national exam.
Remember the importance of listening preparation - listening is not as easy as it sounds. Oral speech requires no less serious preparation, because you can write perfectly, but you will not speak well without careful practice of pronunciation. Download some easy-to-understand English TV series or movies.
To get started, you can look for the subtitle version. Gradually complicate the task - start listening to audiobooks (or excerpts from them). Pick up pictures from the Internet on various topics and try to describe them. At first, you will take a long time to pick up words and look into the dictionary, but over time it will become easier for you to speak and understand foreign speech.
Have you ever tasted saltwater? I guess you have and if so, you will agree with me that it’s not very refreshing. In fact, drinking more than a few cups worth can kill you.
According to the United States Geological Survey, whose mission is to collect and disseminate reliable, impartial, and timely information that is needed to understand the nation’s water resources, about ninety-seven percent of the water on our planet is saltwater; the rest is stored in lakes, rivers, glaciers and aquifers underground. Moreover, only about one-third of the world’s potential fresh water can be used for human needs. As pollution increases, the amount of usable water decreases.
Water is the most precious and taken-for-granted resource we have on Earth. It is also one of the most threatened resources. Increased population and possible climate change will put more and more strain on supplies of this vital resource as time goes on. What could we do in this situation? Though it may seem like science fiction, the solution could lie in outer space.
I'm not saying we’re going to be teleporting to a spring on the other side of the galaxy or colonizing another planet just to have longer showers - it’s much more mundane than that. What we could achieve realistically in this century is the successful use of the solar system's rare metals and water, barring the invention of the matrix.
You may be surprised to learn that the metal in your keys, coins, cell phone, computer, car and everywhere else, originally came to this planet from space. When Earth formed, the heavy metals sank to the center and formed a solid core. The lighter elements formed the mantle and the crust we live on. Asteroids and comets that struck the Earth brought water and metals to the surface.
There are thousands of asteroids orbiting near Earth. Most asteroids are made of rock, but some are composed of metal, mostly nickel and iron. Probes could be sent out to these to identify useful ones. Then larger probes could push them towards the Earth where they can be handled in orbit.
In order to fuel ships and probes, we simply need to find a source of water, such as a comet or the surface of the moon. We collect the water and pass an electric current through it from a solar panel. The water separates into oxygen and hydrogen, which in liquid form is a powerful rocket fuel.
Is this really possible? We may soon find out. Private company SpaceX has already started delivering equipment to the International Space Station (ISS).
The ISS is proof that countries once at each other’s throats, like America and Russia, can work together and pull off multi-billion dollar projects.
Recently, a company called Planetary Resources Inc. made the news for getting big names like Google and Microsoft to invest in exploring asteroids for material gain. Although it will take many decades, it is wise to put the gears in motion now.
We've already landed probes on the surface of asteroids and taken samples from them. We can put something as large as the ISS, which weighs just short of 500 tons, according to National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), in orbit.
We can make a half-million-mile round-trip to get rocks from the moon. We can do all of these things already. They just need to be applied and developed in a smart way.
The Unified State Exam, in any language, has always raised many questions. But the exam in English does not cause so much negativity. It's just that most of the schoolchildren studied from textbooks, in which a huge number of tasks are built in the test version. Since schoolchildren are accustomed to such tasks, the Unified State Exam is passed psychologically comfortably. But there are still many questions for future employers. Are the tests able to show the level of language proficiency? After all, writing is one thing, and pronunciation and speaking skills are another. But the rules are the same for all subjects and the format for the final exam is exactly that, and you need to prepare for it.
Types of preparation for the exam in English
Since oral skills will not help you pass the exam, tutoring can be wasted. If classes consist mainly of oral communication, then they will not help prepare for the exam. The same is the case with English language courses. A huge number of online appeared on the Internet. Since they mainly improve oral skills, the results of the exam will not get better from them. This raises the question: what is the best way to cook To Unified State Exam in English?
How to prepare for the exam in English?
The first step is to identify gaps in your knowledge. After that, proceed with their elimination. The best way to see your problems is to take the online exam tests in English. On the educational portal Uchistut.ru, you can take the USE trial tests in English an unlimited number of times. During the test, your time is not limited, and you can open the textbook to refresh your knowledge. To pass the tests, you do not need to register or send SMS from your phone. After you have identified the topics in which you do not feel confident, you can turn to specialists or pull up the material yourself. But self-study is fraught with mistakes that can cost you dearly on the exam. Therefore, it is worth choosing such courses of studying English, which will focus specifically on the gaps in knowledge and will help prepare for the exam. Preparatory courses are best for
