Useful speculative phrases include:

 Perhaps
 It seems like
 They might have
 It could be that

etc

Look at these photos - imagine the task is 'Say why the people might be wearing hats.'

"Perhaps these men are retired and are spending their day feeding ducks by the lake.
In contrast, the policeman has to wear a hat for his job. It could be that he hates
wearing the hat, whereas the old men have probably chosen to wear theirs. Maybe it's
a sunny day and they want to protect their heads from the sun, while the policeman's
helmet might protect him from attackers."

Here are your pictures: They show students doing different activities. I'd like you to
compare two of the pictures and say how students can benefit from doing these
activities, and how helpful the activities might be in preparing them for their future
lives.'

(Remember: only two pictures / always be comparing / speculate.)

Her answer: "They're both young students, girls, and both in a traditional school
setting. This picture shows a student on her own, whereas this student is in her whole
class. She has the support of a teacher, but this student doesn't have that. She has to
learn to study on her own, and that's not bad. I think she might be studying for a test or
- oh! Probably she's just doing her homework. Both are useful skills for her future. I'm
sure she has a lot of tests and homework still ahead of her! While the first student is
doing her homework for tomorrow, this one has already done her homework and now
she's presenting it to the whole class. That's useful - she'll have to do presentations
when she gets a job or give a speech when she gets married! What else? Well, it's
beneficial for the second girl to practice this - but I think doing the research will have
more benefit in the future, because you have to prepare before you can give a good
presentation."

GIVING OPINIONS

Part 1 of the CPE Speaking test asks for opinions, but many candidates fall into the
trap of using the same old language to do this, with every sentence starting with an "I
think ....". Mix it up a bit! Even in Part 1 it's important to use every opportunity to sound
like you know how to use English confidently and flexibly, and every little helps. So,
instead of saying "I think ...", how about trying something like:
It's likely/unlikely that ....

I bet / You can bet that ....

I imagine that ....

The chances are that ....

There's no chance of ....

In all probability .....

My guess is that .....

I wouldn't be surprised if .....

It seems to me (that) ....

All things considered ....

To tell you the truth ....

Personally ....

To my mind .....
I reckon ....

As I see it ....

I'm inclined to think/believe that ....

In my opinion ..

I believe ...

I reckon ...

I suppose ...
For me ...

As I see it ...

It seems to me ...

As far as I can tell ...

I would say ...

As far as I'm concerned ....

What do you enjoy most about the place where you're living now?
Describing Areas:

upbeat, leafy, suburban, sleepy, a cultural hotspot, vibrant, got a real buzz, family-
friendly, secluded, brilliant nightlife, amenities, facilities, cosy, traditional, modern, just a
stone's throw from the X
How much time do you spend travelling every day?
Describing Travelling:

(gruelling) commute, fellow commuters, daily grind, rush hour, congestion, traffic jams,
exhausting, waste of time/money, poor/excellent public transport system, season
tickets, invigorating, get some headspace, catch up on my Podcasts/TV shows
Do you think it's easy for people to find a good job nowadays?
Describing Jobs:

job market, labour pool, high/low salary, relevant (work) experience, qualifications,
interview techniques, major corporations, climb the corporate ladder, start on the
bottom rung, paid/unpaid internship

Essay: Example topics

Write an essay summarising and evaluating the key points from both texts. Use your
own words throughout as far as possible and include your own ideas in your answers.

Topic

Read the two texts below. Write an essay summarising and evaluating the keypoints
from both texts. Use your own words throughout as far as possible, and include your
own ideas in your answers.

Examinations are not fair.

Making judgments about the ability of students based on examinations that take place
just once or perhaps twice a year is simply not fair. So many students fail to show their
true ability due to anxiety, stress and a number of other factors. Many students who do
well in exams do so simply by cramming facts into their heads the
week before the exam, to be forgotten by the following weekend. Surely assessment of
the work done in class and at home throughout the school year would be a fairer
system?

Classroom assessment is idealistic.

It’s all very well to talk about teachers judging their students work in the classroom, and
students working alone at home on their projects, but everyone knows that continuous
assessment doesn’t work like that. Teachers are only human, and tend to be softer on
their students than an examiner would be (or, in a worse scenario, harder on a student
they don’t like). Parents or older siblings help students with the projects they have to do
at home, even if it’s just coming up with ideas for them. Exams may not be fun, but at
least we get to see what each individual student is capable of.

Model answer

The two texts express contrasting views on the hotly debated issue of school exams.

The first author considers the annual assessment of students’ performance as

inadequate. Knowing that your only chance to prove your competence relies on a
couple of questions that need to be answered within a suffocating time limit cannot but
fill you with anxiety. To make matters worse, even when the students manage to cope
with the stress it is doubtful whether they gain any academic benefit. All they do is
switch off their critical thinking and employ their parrot fashion learning. When the
exams are over they ‘delete’ all this array of incongruent information. Therefore, they
end up with lots of pains and no gains!

Conversely, the second text sees the exams as the only reliable means of school
assessment. If the students were continually evaluated throughout the year they would
be at the mercy of the bias of their teachers. If the professors are positively
predisposed they will inflate the marks and if they have any sort of conflict with
their pupils they could use the marks as a form of punishment. Moreover, the project
work that has often been hailed as the creative alternative of barren exams may prove
to be a hoax. More often than not it is other family members that do the work and the
students undeservingly reap the rewards.

While I agree that the exams entail counterproductive stress that may spoil the true
meaning of education, I cannot overlook the fact that they are an objective and
trustworthy method of evaluation. If the written tests accounted for a proportion of the
pupils’ overall mark and the rest was completed with projects and class
participation we could successfully combine the profits of these too seemingly
contrasting methods.

All in all, the examinations can contribute to an objective assessment of school

performance as long as they are combined with elements of continuous assessment.

The Financial Costs of Stress

Research carried out by the Health and Safety Council estimates that stress and
mental illness continues to be neglected by many businesses, both small and large.
And the economic impact of this is huge, costing employers around £26bn a year.
Stress at work can lead to a lack of concentration, fatigue and low motivation, all of
which will cost the company in terms of low productivity, customer satisfaction and the
very reputation of the company itself. Employers are being urged to become more
“emotionally intelligent” and to improve the way they deal with stress and mental
illness.

Speak up about Stress

Many people find it difficult to talk about their feelings, particularly if we’re feeling weak
or vulnerable. However, when suffering from stress it’s vital you seek help. It’s
important to feel you can talk honestly with a close friend, a loved one, a work
colleague or doctor about what’s going on. Stress is easily diagnosed and there is
plenty you can do to successfully treat and manage stress. One of the most effective of
these is to share your feelings with those you trust. Remember that accepting help and
support is not a sign of weakness. Close relationships are vital to helping you get
through this tough time.

Sentence openers :
The first text suggests that…..

The second text raises the issue of …..

 The writer is of the opinion that….

 Additionally, it is ragued that…..

The two texts contrast differing views of…..

According to the first passage…….

Personaly, i …………….

The second text put forward……

I believe that………

In conclusuon , it is my opinion that……

Linking points and arguments

As opposed to

In the sense that…..

For this reason……..

Making generalisations :
On the whole….

In general…..

For the most part….

As a rule……

It is often that….

It is usually the case that…..

People to regard…..

The reality is that…..

Being specific:
With respect to…

In the case of…

As regards…

In terms of….

With the exception of…..

From the ….. point of view….

They are seen as…..

As far as ……are / is concerned……

Raising an argument:
Considering…..

On the question of….

No one would dispute…….

Giving one side:

One argument in favour of this is ….

In support of…..

It is true that……

Giving the other side:

At the same time….

In actual fact…..

On the other hand….

In contrast to….

Set/ weighed against this is…..

Attitude :
Personally…

Unfortunately…

Obviously…
Evidently…

Presumably…

Naturally…

fortunately..

CPE Report: Useful phrases

We will finish it with some useful vocabulary mostly used to organize information. If you
learn several expressions for each paragraph in each type of text that could be on your
exam, you will certainly be able to create a very consistent and well-organized text.

Introduction:
The purpose/aim of this report is to….
This report sets out to…
The report will comment on…
Below is an explanation of…
The focus of this report is…
This report will offer an in-depth critique of…

Comparing and Contrasting

There is a world of difference between… and…
… and… are fundamentally similar
… and… bear little resemblance to each other
There is a clear distinction between… and…
…compares favourably with…
… and… are polar opposites
There is a yawning gap between… and…
There is a subtle difference between… and…
There is a growing disparity between rich and poor.
… is strikingly different to…

Giving Recommendations:
In light of the above, we believe the following
measures should be adopted…
In the short/long term, we suggest you should consider…
My recommendations are as follows:…
In my view, in future, we should…
To improve the situation, we recommend…
It is recommended that…

It is now possible for scientists and tourists to travel to remote natural

environment, such as the South Pole. Do the advantages of this development
outweigh the disadvantages?
Sample 01:
As technology has developed, people can now travel to remote natural areas. While
this trend is beneficial to some extent, I would argue that its disadvantages are more
significant.
On the one hand, visiting isolated natural places has some benefits. Firstly, this is a
newer and more interesting type of travelling. Since going to other cities or countries
has been too common for most people, it might be more exciting for them to explore
new places such as the South Pole or the Amazon rainforest. This gives them valuable
experiences and unforgettable memories. Secondly, when visiting remote areas,
people, especially scientists, might acquire more knowledge about the natural habitat.
For example, when coming to the North Pole, scientists can learn about the life of polar
beaOn the other hand, I believe this development has far more drawbacks. The first
one is that travelling to remote natural areas can be risky if the travellers are not
sufficiently prepared. For instance, the temperature at the South Pole is usually very
low, which adversely affects people’s health. Travelling to forests can also be
dangerous as people have to face the risk of being attacked by animals. Also, since
visiting isolated places often requires a large amount of investment in researching and
ensuring the safety of travellers, the costs of travelling tend to be high. Therefore, it
seems like only scientists and rich people can afford this activity, so this development
is likely to benefit only a small group of individuals.
In conclusion, I believe the disadvantages of people being able to travel to remote
areas outweigh its advantages.

Sample 02:
It is true that humans can now set foot in wild regions far away from civilisation. While I
accept that this development can have certain benefits for the human race, I believe
that it is likely to have a harmful impact on nature.
On the one hand, undertaking expeditions to the wilderness can be valuable in terms of
both science and recreation. There are a considerable number of undiscovered secrets
that can be tremendously useful for researchers to conduct their studies. For instance,
environmental scientists can analyse the data about the thickness of ice layers over
millions of years in both hemispheres to predict the possible changes in global
temperatures. Such findings are crucial for the governments to develop appropriate
plans to alleviate global warming. Furthermore, the untouched beauty of these areas is
usually appealing to travellers, providing people with an attractive option of holiday
destination or excursion.
However, I would argue that these positive aspects are outweighed by the drawbacks.
When people are given full and easy access to the distant and unpopulated areas,
there are likely to be more moving there to reside or start their business. It has been
shown that substantial damage has been done to nature such as massive deforestation
or water contamination due to humans’ lack of environmental awareness. If there is
inadequate protection of the environment from this type of action, wild regions in the
world will no longer exist, unspeakably affecting not only the overall ecology but also
the lives of other people.
In conclusion, it seems to me that the potential dangers of travelling to wild
environments are more significant than the possible benefits for the mentioned
reasons.

IELTS Writing Task 2 Topic

Some people think that young people should be required to do unpaid work helping
people in the community. Are disadvantages of this requirement greater than the
benefits for the community and individuals? OR
It is suggested that all the young adults should undertake a period of unpaid work
helping people in the community. Does it bring more benefits or drawbacks to the
community and the young people?
Band 8.0 Sample Essay
Every year when summer comes around, volunteer students in their conspicuous blue
shirts are ubiquitous. They can be spotted in the streets, delivering free food to the less
fortunate, at waiting tables in front of the school gates providing information to
 students, or on the beach collecting trash under the sizzling weather. However, it still
remains a topic of debate whether these activities are wholly beneficial for students.
On one side of the argument, there are a number of benefits for students who are
involved in community service. In the technologically-advanced world, it is a common
problem that people show scant concern about others’ affairs. These activities certainly
help them gain insight into the lives of the underprivileged, realise how fortunate they
are, and therefore inspire in them a higher sense of responsibility with the community.
Besides, participating in volunteer programs is also a very effective way for students to
combat stress and hone various crucial life skills such as communication, teamwork, or
time-management.

Despite the multiple merits of volunteer activities, there are still a lot of raised
eyebrows. Firstly, making unpaid work obligatory to all students without any exception
will certainly cause resentment among themselves or their families. In addition,
students’ studies at school can be sabotaged as they are always short of time to
complete their homework or revise their lessons. The other, more profound
consequence that can ensue from the constant poor academic performance is the
bleak career prospects that the future hold for them.
To conclude, the importance of community service should be fully realised; however, it
should not be made compulsory for all students.
Useful Expressions :

 Show scant concern about…: Pay no interest to…

 The underprivileged: Those who don’t have much money, possessions…
 The sizzling weather: extremely hot weather.
 Inspire in them higher sense of responsibility: to make them become more
responsible.
 Hone various crucial life skills: improve those skills.
 Multiple merits: a lot of benefits.
 There are still a lot of raised eyebrows: There are more things to be considered.
 To be short of time: do not have enough time.
 To cause resentment: cause anger, disagreement.
 To sabotage (v.) to damage, destroy.
 Ensue (v.) happen.
 Bleak career prospects: low chance of getting a good job.
Social media has replaced the traditional methods of communicating and people use
more and more of social media to communicate and to follow news and events. Some
people think the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. Discuss the advantages and
disadvantages and give your opinion with example.

Mobile communication including the use of social media has substituted the usual ways of
interacting and being updated about current events. This essay believes that the advancement
of social communication is more advantageous rather than a burden.  Firstly, this essay will
discuss the benefits of using social media as a tool and secondly the detrimental effects of
having these apps in our lives.

On the one hand, the main advantage of using social media as a communication tool to
message friends and keep up to date with current news and events is that you can easily
access this information at any time on your mobile device. Using news apps means that you can
read about events as they happen in real-time, as well as write comments on news articles. This
way of learning about news and interacting with it has evolved with the increasing use of social
apps. For example, the BBC news reported in 2017 that 90% of readers use the app to read
news and comment on articles via their Facebook page. 

On the other hand,  the primary disadvantage of using social media to learn about news and
events is that it has been used to spread fake news which disseminates the wrong information.
Fake reporting of celebrity deaths, bomb scares and government legislation has been
widespread and shared on social media apps like Facebook and Twitter. For instance, a news
report about the death of US actor Sylvester Stallone in 2017 went viral on Facebook and later
turned out to be a fake news story. 

In my opinion, I believe that the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages because of how
easy it is to use social media to share information with others. Traditional methods of hearing
about the latest news are long outdated now that it is easy to share stories via social media
apps. You can instantly share a news story with friends on Facebook or Twitter. For example, in
my own experience, I regularly use Facebook to read news from the BBC, New York Times and
The Economist, sharing articles with friends via the messenger app or into their newsfeed. 

In conclusion, the advancement of social media has more benefits than drawbacks for this is the
easiest way of sharing information and connecting different people around the world.