Speaking
Phones, social media and screens come up in all three parts. Questions, answers and the vocabulary that separates bands.
Technology is one of the few topics that appears across Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3. It is asked about personally in Part 1, as an experience in Part 2, and as a social question in Part 3, and each part wants something different from you.
It is also the topic where candidates most often fall back on the same three words. Saying technology is very useful for four minutes is a lexical resource problem, not an opinion problem.
The questions
The same topic, three different demands.
How often you use your phone, what you use it for, whether you could manage without it. Personal, present tense, short answers.
Whether you used technology more or less as a child. This invites past and present contrast, which is easy marks if you use it.
A common cue card. Describe it, say how you use it, and say why it matters to you. The last part is where most candidates run short.
Whether technology has improved life, how it has changed work, what it has done to how people communicate. General, not personal.
Where things are heading, and whether that is a good thing. Speculation, conditionals, hedging language.
Screen time, dependence, misinformation, privacy. Being able to argue both sides is worth more than a strong position.
Method
Six things that raise the band.
An app, a piece of software, a particular feature. Specific examples are what stop an answer sounding generic.
Reach for reliable, intuitive, time saving, intrusive, addictive, disruptive. Precise adjectives are the difference between band 6 and band 7 vocabulary.
In Part 1 talk about yourself. In Part 3 talk about people in general. Answering a Part 3 question with a personal anecdote is a common mismatch.
It probably depends, I suspect, on balance, in most cases. Cautious language is exactly what Part 3 questions are designed to draw out.
Say what is good, then what is lost. Two sided answers naturally produce the linking language examiners are listening for.
Long complaints about young people and phones tend to circle. Argue a point, give an example, move on.
No. You are assessed on your English, not your knowledge. A clear everyday example scores better than technical vocabulary used awkwardly.
Words for how things work and how they affect people: intuitive, reliable, time saving, intrusive, addictive, disruptive. Prepare a handful you can actually use.
Not at all. Say so and explain why, then talk about what other people do. That is a perfectly good answer.
Part 1 asks about you. Part 3 asks about society, and expects longer, more speculative answers with reasons.
Yes. There is no correct opinion, only the quality of the English you use to express it.
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