7

Generally your vocabulary and grammar is very impressive, definitely worth a score of 7. Your control of structure is mostly very good, i.e. grammar is almost ‘normal’, and your expression is very natural English.

If you can focus on giving more energy and pushing yourself to vary your speed, and train yourself to give a higher level of detail so more vocabulary will emerge, and show a willingness to speak for longer periods, you could do better.

For a high band score, you need to show you are able to answer the questions and deliver an answer with extension and with ease. It shouldn’t seem hard work and the speaker should not be searching for more language. There really should be limited hesitation and limited pauses in your speech.

You have a low error rate in grammar. Below are some corrections:

Part 1:

• “I like playing basketball very much”, not “so much”;
• “spend 1 hour playing basketball”,  not “to play”;
• “I got back to building aircraft models”, not “to build”;
• “so I'd better start saving money”,  not “so better start to save money”;
• “It is a good idea to stay away from chips”,  not “it should be a good idea to stay away …";

Part 3 : 

• “When you're in a team”, not “Now that you're in a team”;
• “'There's no point in doing …” , not “there's no point for you to ... “;
• “much more quickly than you might imagine”, not “much more quickly than you can imagine”;

There is some evidence of higher level vocabulary. But some of your answers are quite limited which limits the range of language used.

To achieve a higher band score, you need to demonstrate a clever and skilful use of vocabulary and use a good range of idiomatic language, phrasal verbs. You can demonstrate flexibility by using different parts of speech, e.g. “education”, “educated”, “well-educated” and “to educate”, and also by using some precise synonyms as well.

Maybe 70% of the time your pronunciation is quite clear but with some words and phrases I had to guess what you were saying, e.g. “[Nowadays] children love junk food”.

Other words that need work in pronunciation include:  favourite, leisure, severe, physical, exercise, luckily, responsibility, collaborate (4 distinct syllables), aspect. 

Be particularly careful with pronunciation of flat vowel sounds, e.g. first syllable of 'aspect'.

It would also help your score if your intonation was more natural.  Sometimes it is quite flat and monotone.

Here are several suggestions for your improvement:

• Give much longer answers that include specific details and examples to show the examiner that you have a good range of vocabulary
• Communicate information with the sound of your voice. Don't be afraid to RAISE your voice if you feel strongly about a subject or even groan if the question is painful. The whole object is communication. You are judged on how you say, not what you say.
• Imagine you are speaking to a friend. This will help you sound a bit more natural, interested and show the examiner a keen willingness to extend and communicate. This is important to achieve a high band score.