1. Planned Response (15 marks)

• Focus: 
  • 2-minute presentation of answer
  • Focus on Activity:
    • Would you want to participate? What do you think is happening? What do you think they are doing? How do you think they are feeling? 
  • Focus on People:
    • What do you think the person on the right is feeling? Thinking? Who do you
      think is … ?
  • There are other variations, but these are the more common variations.
• Strategy
  • Use about 5-7 minutes of the preparation time to work on this (suggestion)
  • Plan in Point Form (PEERS) or Mindmap
  • Answer question first, followed by PEERS with personal experience.
  • Use the information from the video only as evidence to support your own answer.
  • Minimum – 2 PEERSs / Reasons / Perspective
  • Positive and Negative perspectives or only Positive (suggested)
  • If Negative, give an alternative
    • E.g.: NO I would not like to take part in this activity. This is because…Instead, I
      would rather…
  • Always end well – Don’t end abruptly. You’ve done a good job – land smoothly.
    • All in all / In conclusion / That is why…
    • Final Thoughts on the topic

2. Spoken Interaction (15 marks)

• Focus: 
  • Personal Response: to give considered and developed personal responses.
    • Considered : Break down the question and Think about your points
    • Developed: Give details, Examples, Opinions
  • Clarity of expression: to express oneself clearly with
    • apt use of vocabulary
    • varied sentence structures
    • use of transitions and
    • proper pronunciation of words
  • Interaction: to engage actively with examiners in a sustained discussion.
    • Actively: Do not wait to be prompted
    • Sustained: Don’t stop for too long
• Strategy
  • Brainstorm for possible topics first during the 10mins given.
  • Think of personal stories to use in your PEERS answers.
  • Include recent or news events (if possible) to show that you are up to date.
  • Even if you cannot use directly, you can work the stories in AFTER answering the question by leading the conversation
  • Always think before answering the questions. It helps to organize your ideas.

3. Personal Reflective

• Possible focus: 
  • What
    • Factors, Characteristics
    • Problems / Solutions, Pros and Cons
  • Why
    • Reasons OR Causes
    • Explanations
  • How
    • Methods of doing things
    • Ways to achieve a goal

4. Persuasive

• More like an argumentative or discursive format
• Use PEERS format to explain your POINT and how it supports the side you have taken
• Give at least 1 point from the opposing side to show that you can look at the issue from different angles.
  • E.g.: There are of course those who may suggest / argue that … (opposing view)
  • Acknowledge / Refute this point
• If you do that, please also present a Rebuttal – bringing it back to your point of view
  • While I acknowledge that there is some truth in this … , it does not take away
    from …

Shaping your Responses

Point

• State what is the reason / idea / suggestion/ event
• e.g.: Firstly, I …

Explain

• Tell your listener what you mean.
• Break it down / simplify / exactly what you mean by your point.
• Use signal words like “This is because”, “What I mean is”, or get straight to the point.

Experience

• Show your listener what you mean by sharing a story.
• Personal or real-world, both work!
• What is more important is that you give details.
• Use 5W1H to break down your experience in detail.
• Use transitions like “For example”, “Some time last year”, “A few weeks ago”, “On one
  occasion”…

Reflection

• Depends on the question
  • What did you realise after this experience?
  • What did it show you?
  • How did it change you?
  • What was your take away?
• Make sure u keep it related to the topic

Summarise – Link back to your Point. Use transitions like Hence, Therefore, Thus, In this way, As such, …

OR

Suggestion – link back by giving an overview. Perhaps add a recommendation on how things can improve / change or give and alternative.

Repeat this Process with your Next Point.

**Level up – Extend the talk (OPTIONAL)

Go beyond your immediate level – Individual, Community, Country, Local, International.
Give recommendations.

Presentation skills – Do NOT Ignore

Pronunciation and Articulation:

• Good pronunciation – words are sounded correctly
• End consonants are heard [e.g. d, t, s, k, p]
  • e.g. first [not ‘firs’]
  • Double ‘s’ [‘mists’ should be pronounced with ‘s’ followed by another ‘s’ sound. It should not sound like ‘misses’, which is an ‘es’ sound]

Clear articulation – not muffled, open your mouth

• ‘th’ sound [e.g. Tree vs Three]

Rhythm and Fluency:

• Read with appropriate rhythm and stress
• Rhythm: Almost like music, there is a beat to reading sentences. Practise with some tongue twisters.
  • e.g. She sells  [ slight pause ] seashells [ slight pause ] on the seashore. [end voice down]
• Stress: To emphasize certain elements as more important than others
• e.g. She stole the wallet yesterday.
  • On person: SHE stole the wallet yesterday.
  • On the act: She STOLE the wallet yesterday.
  • On the object: She stole THE WALLET yesterday
  • On time: She stole the wallet YESTERDAY.

a.   to achieve a well-placed, fluent presentation of answers

• Speed up for action sequence, slow down for emphasis

Expressiveness:
b.   Appropriate variation of pitch and tone in order to convey the Information, ideas and feelings in the answer.

For the sample of O level questions, click here.