How long should I speak for/when should I stop speaking?

When and how should I interrupt my partner?

Interactive Conversation vs Monologue - eg, part 2 picture discussion vs 3a question

card monologue

Timing – the ‘stop/start’ nature of the format

- Part 2: 1 minute STOP 3 minutes STOP
- Part 3a: 2 mins monologue STOP Q to partner STOP Q back to you (c 1 minute =
total c 3 minutes total x 2)
OFFICIAL TIMINGS:
Part 1 – 2 m
Part 2 - 4 m
Part 3 – 10 m
What makes a good candidate?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTdte3pksBs
selected comments (1):

Angela, you hit the nail on the head. Listen carefully to the examiner's instructions.
Pay attention to what your partner says and above all, be as natural as possible.

Excellent video this, great advice, which I am happy to pass on to my students. I would
add one other piece of advice though (which interestingly enough is demonstrated by
the three examiners here) and that is, don't monopolise the conversation. In Part 3 for
example, short bursts of language (10-15 seconds) is what makes a good dialogue.
Focus more on "passing the ball" over to your partner, and less so on getting out the
wonderful third conditionals and anecdotes that you have prepared. Focus on the
back and forth of the interaction, less is more!
selected comments (2):

If you don't mind me saying, these ladies say a lot of things such as, hmmm, yes, I think,
no, hmm, yeah, definitely, yes. And a lot of their conversation is repeating what the other
ones have said. I'm not sure what the word is in English, it's muletillas in Spanish, in
English we don't have a specific word, but maybe you could say linguistic crutches? Is this
now acceptable English? I don't mean to criticise, but to me this type of dialogue shows a
lack of fluency on the part of the examiners themselves.
 
Reply
Hi David. Actually these help the everyday conversations flowing and for this reason they
are rewarded in Cambridge speaking tests. Word like "well.." ," you know..." ("sabes.." in
spanish) are called "discourse markers" and are specifically mentioned as a requirement to
get high scores in the speaking tests. Nodding and saying things like "yes", "of course",
"that's right" while the other candidate is speaking are signs of attention, which also help
in getting higher marks in the test. Source: I prepare students for Cambridge exams.
Part 2 video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-lhu9ePZFE&t=91s
SPEAKING TEST – the multi-layered, co-constructed flow of naturally interactive conversation:

A: … so in picture 3C, we can see, umm, two men who are having a discussion, and I do think the older man looks
as if he is not satisfied with the work of the younger one …
B; … you can see by his expression …
A: … yes, his expression …
B: … he’s not happy …
A: … yes, and from the pastries that are there we can assume they are in a pastry shop …
B: … or a bakery …
A: … a bakery, yes, and we can assume he is a new employee who is maybe not used to the way things work and
the skills that are required ….
B: … in that field …
A: … in that field, and so
A: … it’s like ….
B: … the older man is giving him instructions, …
B: … yeah, and we do not perceive a very umm, a very calm bond between them, unlike picture 3B, where the
situation seems more, umm, mild, in my opinion …
A: …yes, it’s like, the, I dunno, I guess it’s the CEO of company giving a presentation to new employees about a
specific topic something they don’t know about the work, about the job …
B: … yes, well, it’s …
INTERLOCUTOR: Thank you. Now, I’d like you to look at all the pictures …..
selected comments (3):

What if in Part 3 Candidate A starts talking about one of the five options and then
goes on to discuss the next option without asking Candidate B about their opinion? In
this way Candidate A tries to dominate the conversation and Candidate B ends up
speaking less. I wonder how examiners view that.
 
Reply
Our examiners are trained to deal with such situations -- they will ensure that both
candidates will have equal opportunities to speak and that neither is disadvantaged by
the other.
 
selected comments (4):

When I did the exam, we were a group of three, which was a little awkward, because
it's easier for the person speaking last to run out of things to say, after the other two
have already spoken. But our interlocutor seemed quite mindful about that and
switched it up, but it still felt like we were being a bit clumsy. After some point the
three of us really bonded and were just talking between each other and to the
interlocutor and so I feel like it went well all in all.