Part 1: Common Errors and How to Fix Them

Examiner: Do you enjoy reading? > Candidate: Yes, I do.

This is a grammatically perfect answer that scores around band 4 for Fluency and Coherence because it does not let the examiner assess your range.

Fix — the 2-sentence rule: Always follow a yes/no with one sentence of reason or example.

Yes, I do — I read for about an hour before bed most nights, mostly fiction.

"First of all, let me introduce myself. My name is Daisy and I come from a beautiful country called Nepal, which is famous for Mount Everest..."

This blocks scoring. Examiners are trained to spot memorisation in the first 10 seconds and will downgrade you regardless of the content.

Fix: Answer the question directly. If the question was "Where are you from?", say "I'm from Kathmandu, in Nepal."

I like reading. I like cooking. I like playing tennis.

Three identical patterns scores low for Grammatical Range.

Fix — vary the verb structures: > I'm a keen reader. Cooking is something I've got into recently. And I play tennis whenever I can.

Erm, yes, you know, I mean, like, basically...

Some filler is natural, but heavy filler lowers the Fluency band.

Fix — substitute thinking phrases that also add substance:

These buy you thinking time AND demonstrate range.

These words are mispronounced most often by Part 1 candidates:

Sometimes candidates answer a similar-but-different question. Listen for the exact verb in the examiner's question.

• Do you... → present habit
• Did you used to... → past habit
• Will you... → future plan
• Would you... → hypothetical

Answering "yes, I will" to "did you used to?" is a noticeable mistake even if the follow-up is strong.

Record yourself answering 5 Part 1 questions. Listen back and look for:

• Every yes/no answer has 1+ supporting sentences
• At least three different grammatical structures across answers
• No sentence starts with "First of all, let me..."
• Fillers are thinking phrases, not empty ones
• I answered the exact question asked