Linguaskill Speaking practice: the five parts, out loud
The five parts of Linguaskill Speaking to practise speaking out loud, on an exam screen: a preparation countdown, a recording so you can listen back, and feedback on what you said, with a mark for each criterion.
Independent preparation. We are not a test centre and have no link with Cambridge.
- 5
- Speaking parts
- 15
- questions to speak on
- en-GB
- transcript in English
Speak and get feedback
Each part is practised on an exam screen, like the real one: one question per screen, with a clock, and nothing marked until the end of the part. You do not choose a level: the questions go from lowest to highest, B1 to C2, because the real exam adapts to you.
Part 1. Presentation
You talk about a topic: introduce the idea, develop it with examples and close it.
- 1 question
- ≈ 2 min
Part 2. Summary
You read a short text and give its main ideas in your own words.
- 1 question
- ≈ 2 min
Part 3. Conversation questions
You answer a series of questions about a topic, developing each answer.
- 1 question
- ≈ 1 min
Part 4. Recommendation
You compare several options, recommend one and explain why.
- 1 question
- ≈ 2 min
Part 5. Defend a point of view
You take a position on a statement and defend it with arguments and examples.
- 1 question
- ≈ 2 min
The whole Speaking, in one go
The 5 parts one after the other, in exam order, with 16 minutes as a reference. After each one you see your feedback and move on to the next.
What Linguaskill Speaking is like
Linguaskill General Speaking lasts 16 minutes and brings together five types of task: presentation, summary, conversation questions, recommendation, defending a position. Here each one is a part, with several prompts to practise.
Cambridge does not publish the exact seconds for preparation and for answering in each part, so the timings on this page are our own and are for training your pace, not for measuring the real exam.
How the practice works
- You choose a part. Each has its own format: talking about a topic, summarising a text, answering questions, recommending or defending a point of view. A different prompt comes up each time.
- Preparation and answer countdowns. First you read and think; when it ends, the recording starts by itself. You can skip the preparation or finish early.
- You record yourself and can listen back. The recording stays in your browser and this site does not receive it.
- It is transcribed as you speak, in British English (en-GB), using the speech recognition in Chrome or Edge. If your browser does not have it, you type or paste what you said.
- Correct the transcript before sending it. Speech recognition makes mistakes; if it shows a word you did not say, fix it.
What is marked and what is not
Pronunciation and fluency are not scored. The feedback receives the text of what you said, not the sound, so it cannot hear pauses, intonation or accent.
It does assess what can be judged in writing: whether you complete the task, how you organise your ideas, grammar and vocabulary. It gives a score from 0 to 5 for each criterion and an estimate from 140 to 210 that is always approximate and not an official score.
For the sound side, listen to your recording with the list of criteria in front of you: the self-assessment includes pronunciation and fluency.
Frequently asked questions about Speaking practice
- Which browser do I need? Chrome or Edge for automatic transcription. In others you can record yourself and type what you said.
- Is my voice stored? Not by this site. The recording stays in your browser while you have the page open and only the text is sent when you ask for feedback. That said, Chrome and Edge speech recognition sends the audio to Google or Microsoft to transcribe it; if you would rather not, press “I would rather write what I would say”.
- What if I do not have a microphone? Press “I would rather write what I would say” and practise the task in writing.
Practise the other Linguaskill modules too: Reading, Listening, Writing and Speaking
Take the free practice test