Speaking Part 2 (the dreaded pictures) is often one of the most difficult sections of the Cambridge CAE exam for students to pass. However, with proper training and practice, this section is easily mastered.
To begin with, CAE exam topics normally revolve around similar categories:
- Science and technology
- Climate and environment
- Work and professional fields
- Relationships
- Hobbies and sports
- Travel
- Education
- Health
- Moods and emotions
- Students should begin by learning vocabulary, phrasal verbs, set expressions, collocations, adverbs and adjectives related to each of the categories. It is useful to brainstorm using random pictures as prompts.
- Secondly, Part 2 asks the candidate to answer two questions related to the pictures. These questions normally require an answer regarding on skill sets, emotions (i.e. adjectives and adverbs)
Some examples of typical questions are:
What do you think the people are feeling?
What skill is being taught?
What are their personalities like? - Students should learn to compare and contrast elements using the correct discourse markers/ modifiers and linkers. (regarding, nevertheless, on the other hand, in contrast to, etc…..)
- Students should remember that this is a very quick exercise with lots of required detail. They should NOT spend time describing all of the objects in the photo (as in FCE/ PET). They must the task and answer the questions in 2-3 minding the time.