This article provides examples of how to complete tasks. oral part (Speaking Part) of the USE 2016 in English. The article was written taking into account the changes that have occurred in the wording of task 3 (point 1 and point 4). I hope this material will help you in preparing for the exam.
Task 1
Imagine that you are preparing a project with your friend. You have found some interesting material for the presentation and you want to read this text to your friend. You have 1.5 minutes to read this text silently, then be ready to read it out aloud. You will not have more than 1.5 minutes to read it.
Burney Crouss went to school to study the sounds of nature. For 20 years he has recorded the sounds animals make. He has recordings of animal sounds from all over the world.
Burney has made a record of animal songs. It all began when he took some of the sounds and put them together. Last year, he put together a song he called "Jungle Shoes." It turned out great.
Burney makes the music by taking part of his animal noises and saving them on a computer. He makes each sound play when a key is pressed. Then he asks other musicians to play the keys into songs. Burney believes in working to save nature. He thinks that more people need to take care of our world. The sounds of nature are quickly disappearing.
When he recorded whales in Alaska, he could hear the sound of oil well drilling from fifteen to twenty miles away. It was very loud. He says his goal is to save nature sounds so his children will be able to hear them.
Listen to this audiofile
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Mind your pronunciation!
Cr ou ss, s ou n.d.l ou d-
B ur ney, t ur n, w or ld–[ɜ:]
to th ink-[θ]
toge th er - [ð]
Vocabulary
nature [´neitʃə] - nature
musician - musician, composer
key - key (piano, organ, computer keyboard)
to record - record, register
record [´rekɔ: d] - record
to disappear [ˏdisə´piə] - to disappear
goal [ɡəul] - goal, task
whale - whale
- Listen to the audio file attached to the text several times, paying attention to the intonation and phonetic design of the text by a native speaker.
Read the text, copying the intonation and pronunciation of words in English. Pay special attention lower intonation at the end of a sentence. I know from teaching experience that many students do not mark the end of a phrase with a descending tone, but, on the contrary, raise it, which makes it much more difficult to perceive the content.
- Do not forget that prepositions and articles should be read together with verbs and nouns.
Do not deafen voiced consonants at the end of a word, as this may change the lexical meaning of the word.
- In the process of preparing for the exam, learn new words (spelling + lexical meaning).
task 2
Study the advertisement.
You are considering booking a river trip and now you are calling to find out more information. In 1.5 minutes you are to ask five direct questions to find out about the following:
- Booking of the trip (booking a walk along the river)
- Boarding time (boarding time)
- Kinds of amenities (types of amenities on the ship)
- Reductions for senior citizens (discounts for pensioners)
- If food and drinks available on board the yacht (possibility of ordering food and drinks on board the yacht)
You have 20 seconds to ask each question.
sample answer
- how can I book the trip? / Can I book the trip on the phone? / I can book the trip on the phone, can't I? /Should I book the trip in advance? / Is there any possibility to book the trip online?
- What is the boarding time? / When does the boarding start (begin)?
- What amenities are there on board the yacht (the boat, the ship)?
- Are there any reductions (discounts) for senior citizens?
- Can we order (buy) any food and drinks on board the yacht?
amenities [ə´minətiz] - amenities
on board the ship (on board the plane) - on board the ship (airplane)
Since you need to ask 5 direct questions, you should know that interrogative structures in English use reverse word order. Not maybe put a question only by changing the intonation of the sentence, as we do in Russian.
For instance:
In russian language
I can order food and drinks on board the yacht. (statement, falling intonation)
I can order food and drinks on board the yacht? (question, rising intonation)
In English
I can order some food and drinks on board the yacht. (statement, descending intonation, direct word order: subject + predicate)
General issues
Can I order any food and drinks on board the yacht? (question, ascending intonation, reverse word order: auxiliary or modal verb + subject)
Special questions
How can I book the trip? (question, falling intonation, word order: interrogative word + auxiliary verb + subject)
In this task, you can not ask indirect questions like Do you thinkI can book the trip on the phone or I wonder if I can book the trip on the phone.
task 3
Imagine that these are photos from your photo album.
Choose one photo to present to your friend.
Photo 1 Photo 2 Photo 3
You will have to start speaking in 1.5 minutes and will speak for not more than 2 minutes (12–15 sentences).In your talk remember to speak about:
- where and when the photo was taken
- what / who is in the photo
- what is happening
- why do you keep the photo in your album
- why did you decide to show the picture to your friend
You have to talk continuously, starting with:
"I"ve chosen photo number..."
sample answer
I"ve chosen photo number 2. (Be sure to start your answer with this phrase, after selecting the photo number).
You know, every summer we go to the seaside to have a good rest. So, I took this photo two years ago when our family went to Egypt on summer holidays. It was our first trip abroad.
In the foreground of the photo you can see my little brother Dmitry. He is riding a camel on a sandy beach. He looks very happy because he has never done it before. The camel is covered with bright colorful blanket made of wool. It also has got some funny pompons (decorations) on its head . The day is quite hot and sunny and there are no clouds in the sky. So, not to get sunburnt Dima is wearing a T-shirt.
The sea is very calm. You can notice several snow-white yachts (ships) against the skyline. Every day they take people for offshore excursions where one can watch dolphins and exotic species of fish.
As a rule, I always take a lot of pictures while traveling. I often show them to my friends and relatives to share the best and the most thrilling moments of our journeys. That's why I keep them in my album.
I was really astonished (impressed, struck) by a funny look of the camel. It seems to me that the animal has got a smiling face. I decided to show this picture to you because I think it might improve your mood. I hope you find it amazing, too.
That is all I wanted to say. (mandatory phrase for the examiner, indicating the completion of communication)
Task 4
Study the two photographs. In 1.5 minutes be ready to compare and contrast the photographs:
- give a brief description of the photos (action, location)
- say what the pictures have in common
- say in what way the pictures are different
- say which of the activities presented in the pictures you'd prefer
- explain why
Now I am going to compare and contrast these two photos.
To start with I should admit that holidays are an integral part of our life no matter where we live. And these two photos are the evidence of what I have said.
Both pictures show people celebrating Christmas.
The first photo depicts a company of six young people who are enjoying a holiday season on a sandy beach. They are wearing swimming suits, sunglasses and Santa's hats . I'm not sure but it seems to me that it is a team of life-guards. In the background of the picture you can see a decorated Christmas tree, a large inflatable snowman and Santa Claus.
As for the second picture it shows a young man and a young woman singing carols in the street which is beautifully decorated with lights. The weather is snowy and I guess it's pretty cold outside because they are wearing warm clothes, gloves and scarves. Even their dog has got a warm jacket and a scarf and what makes me think(I've got a feeling) that these people are very caring and love their pet very much.
As I have mentioned before the main similarity(the most obvious similarity) between these pictures is a festive atmosphere of Christmas. Also I get the impression that people in picture 1 and picture 2 are of the same age and look very joyful. moreover, both pictures were taken outdoors (out-of-doors / in the open air).
Comparing these two pictures, I'd like to stress out that the most apparent (striking) difference between them is the season of the year. In the first photo the event might be taking place somewhere in Australia because Christmas Day usually falls in the middle of the summer in this country. in contrast, in the second picture you can see people in winter. I can only guess that they are probably British. besides, picture no 1 was taken during the day time, while picture No 2 was taken at night.
The National English Examination is one of the options for a selective foreign language exam. Its structure, complexity and content is no different from German, French or Spanish, which can also be chosen for passing. At the same time, it is worth noting the undoubted popularity of the English language - official statistics show that about 9% of graduates annually want to take it. Examination in a foreign language cannot be called simple. For example, we can cite the following fact: two years ago, about 70,000 students took the English language, while only 11 students scored the maximum number of points (100)!
English remains the most popular elective language subject
Demo version of the exam 2016
USE dates in English
early period
- April 8, 2016 (Fri) - Oral exam
- April 9, 2016 (Sat) - Written exam
- April 22, 2016 (Fri) - Written exam (reserve)
- April 23, 2016 (Sat) - Oral exam (reserve)
main stage
- June 10, 2016 (Fri) - Oral exam
- June 11, 2016 (Sat) - Oral exam
- June 14, 2016 (Tue) - Written exam
- June 22, 2016 (Wed) - Written exam (reserve)
- June 23, 2016 (Thu) - Oral exam (reserve)
Exam Changes
Recall that since last year, the foreign language exam has become much more difficult - in addition to the test part, which provides for written answers, the Ministry of Education decided to introduce an additional oral part. The explanatory note from the Ministry says that the student is free to decide whether he will pass "speaking", but it is quite natural that without this component, one cannot count on the maximum number of points. Written and oral testing in English are taken in two days.
80 points were assigned to the written part; for speaking you will get another 20 General information
The duration of the written examination in a foreign language is 180 minutes, during which the future applicant must complete a significant number of tasks - 46. The examination ticket consists of four components:
- Listening, which contains 9 tasks (as practice shows, students should not spend more than 80-90 minutes on this part);
- Reading, in which the graduate is asked to complete 9 tasks. The first part, which includes 2 tasks, is quite simple - you need to be able to establish a correspondence. The second part (that is, 7 more tasks) involves choosing the correct answer. Students should not spend more than half an hour on this part of the ticket;
- The section on grammar and vocabulary includes the largest number of tasks - 20. The first part consists of 13 tasks that provide a short answer. The remaining 7 tasks involve choosing and writing down the correct answer. The implementation of this section is optimally invested in 40 minutes of time;
- Writing, which consists of 2 tasks, which is a small written work. The first task is to write a personal letter (100-140 words). The second provides for a short written discussion on a specific topic and should consist of 200-250 words. It is not recommended to spend more than 70-80 minutes on this work. You can first do this type of work on a draft, but do not get carried away with a lengthy presentation of thoughts. If you do not have enough time to rewrite the tasks cleanly, your draft will not be graded.
The block called "speaking" consists of four components. Students will be asked to read a short passage of text, formulate questions for an interview, compose a story based on the image and give a comparative assessment of the two events captured in the photo.
How are points distributed?
When passing the written part of the exam, the student can score a maximum of 80 points. "Speaking" allows you to score up to 20 maximum points. Recall also that since 2015, the minimum score for this discipline has been increased and is 22 points.
At the exam in English you have to complete 46 tasks in 180 minutes How to prepare?
Take advantage of the opportunity we offer and download a demo version of the trial English test for yourself (see the beginning of the article). So you can feel the atmosphere of the exam, assess your current readiness and tighten all weaknesses in advance. Please note that some of the tasks are formulated in English, so take care of their translation in advance so as not to fall into a stupor in the national exam.
Do not forget about the importance of listening preparation - listening to information is not as easy as it seems. Oral speech requires no less serious preparation, because you can write well, but you will not speak well without careful pronunciation. Download some easy-to-understand series or movies in English.
For starters, you can look for a version with subtitles. Gradually complicate the task - start listening to audiobooks (or excerpts from them). Pick up pictures from the Internet on various topics and try to describe them. At first, you will pick up words for a long time and look into the dictionary, but over time it will become easier for you to speak and understand foreign speech.
Dear colleagues!
And at the same time I will tell their “case history” - how it all began and what we came to, including an analysis of the mistakes made in the exam. I hope my experience will help you in your preparation!
This year, I had two girls taking the exam in English - Anastasia and Irina.
Anastasia
Anastasia came to me a year and a half before the exam with a confident level intermediate. She had been studying with English tutors since elementary school, but she turned to me because she did not feel progress in her classes with the previous teacher.
Anastasia made me happy with the ease of perceiving the language, quickly memorizing new structures and words, but frustrated me with mistakes at the Elementary level. And it would be nice if they were fossilized, that is, permanent. But these very errors behaved like in a resort - they appeared once and disappeared without a trace ...
Trial version the student wrote about 75 points, excellent for someone unfamiliar with the exam format. Therefore, the purpose of the preparation was to teach the girl how to squeeze her good English into the exam format.
And after a year of classes, Anastasia changed her mind about choosing a university and said that now she needs the exam in literature, and not in English. But they decided to pass the exam anyway, since so much effort has already been put in.
The last, pre-exam samples, Anastasia wrote about 90 points, and this was the result that we expected at the exam.
Before the exam, according to her, she was not at all worried and was confident in her answers. But, having received the results, both were disappointed - 78 points!
The table clearly shows how the student wrote the samples and what happened on the exam. The columns indicate minus how many points the student received.
It is especially offensive for grammar with vocabulary and essays. Let's look at essay mistakes according to the criteria for assessing the USE in English:
The theme of the Moscow Region this year is “The best holidays and festivals are those with specific traditions for celebrating”. Yes, tricky. It would be interesting for me to see how the person who invented it would describe it by 14 points, I am especially worried about the solution of the communicative task - none of my students received the maximum for this item.
For decision communicative task(KZ) Anastasia has 2 points out of 3. This means: “some aspects indicated in the assignment are not fully disclosed; there are some violations of the style of speech. Since everything is in order with the style (no abbreviations and informal vocabulary), some aspect is not disclosed.
In my opinion, Anastasia distorted the topic. In the introduction, we see the opposition “old traditions - specific traditions”, which is not entirely true. Rather, it should sound like this: “no particular traditions - specific traditions”, for example March 8th / February 23rd - Halloween / New Year. This incorrect opposition is repeated throughout the essay, because of this, a point was deducted.
Per text organization(OT) we have 2 points out of 3: “the statement is basically logical, there are some deviations from the plan in the structure of the statement; there are some shortcomings in the use of logical links; there are some shortcomings when dividing the text into paragraphs”. I did not notice any shortcomings when using means of communication, the division into paragraphs is correct, which means we are dealing with a violation of the logic of the statement.
In the 2nd paragraph, where the student's opinion is indicated, the first and second arguments are similar - 1) the old traditions are boring; 2) they cannot surprise tourists.
In the 3rd paragraph, where the opposite point of view should be expressed, we read about the old traditions of the countries, which show the ancient culture of the country. The counterargument in the 4th paragraph states that in such countries it will be more interesting for tourists to participate in specific celebrations in order to understand the uniqueness of the country. It is illogical, because ancient traditions also distinguish one country from another.
Here they could put a minus for this bundle in the 2nd paragraph: “Personally, in my opinion, …” Although I personally don’t see any crime in it.
Per vocabulary removed 1 point. “The vocabulary used corresponds to the set communicative task, however, there are some inaccuracies in the use of words (2-3 words), or the vocabulary is limited, but the vocabulary is used correctly.” I don’t know where in this topic with vocabulary it was possible to turn around, so, probably, points were removed for the incorrect use of vocabulary:
celebrate with old traditions/ … are celebrated by old traditions… 1,2 paragraphs our world does not stand on one place, 5 paragraph
On the grammar also minus 1 point - “there are a number of errors that do not make it difficult to understand the text (no more than 4)”.
the old traditions, paragraph 2 (no clarification on which ones)
… are popular with tourists who want to visit a country again and again, paragraph 2 (there is about a specific country)
tradition make any country is different …, 4 paragraph
… the best holidays and festivals are not those which are celebrated ordinary..., paragraph 5 (not that part of speech)
Per spelling and punctuation also deducted points. “There are a number of spelling and/or punctuation errors, including those that make it slightly difficult to understand the test (no more than 4).”
Spelling: “they long to try something knew“, 2 paragraph
Punctuation:
The others have an opposite opinion ...__ and I can understand this point of view, paragraph 1 (compound sentences without a comma before the union)
… they sing their national songs, do not dance as usual , but make cool tricks ... 2 paragraph (homogeneous members, no comma needed)
As a result, events, which make people surprised…, are the best, paragraph 4 (subjective, not separated by commas)
... events, which are celebrated by specific traditions, paragraph 4 (subjective definitive, not separated by commas)
Here is the essay and its analysis. If you do not agree with me in assessing the essay or in something else, write in the comments!
Irina
Now let's talk about Irina. We studied with her for exactly a year before the exam, she also came to me from another tutor, from classes with whom she did not see any benefit. Before that, I didn’t study the language with teachers, the exam in English was needed for admission to the university. Language level - the beginning of Intermediate, probe wrote 67 points. Gaps constantly popped up in the elementary, like: Are there a vegetarian menu? But unlike Anastasia, these mistakes were already deposited in the subcortex.
During the year, we practically did not touch the vocabulary, the stock of which was enough to write an essay, but tightened up the grammar and pored over the exam format. A school teacher, an USE expert, made a great contribution to the preparation, she shared materials for preparation and suggested points that I did not know. Huge thanks to her for this!
Before the exam itself, the probes showed 85 points, so Irina passed - on the expected 85 points. I was especially pleased with the essay with a difficult topic, which she managed to describe and speaking without errors.
Comparison table:
Let's also break down her essay according to the criteria:
In this work, 1 point is lost on KZ and grammar. I will pay attention only to them, I will not touch errors in other parameters that did not affect the loss of points.
So, KZ. For me personally, the topic is open, the only place where I don’t see logic in giving an example to my statement is the 3rd paragraph with a counterargument: “They consider that unusual celebrations can be dangerous because people do not know what they should do there”. For me, the word dangerous does not stand for “people do not know what they should do there”.
Grammar found 4 errors:
… because ___ unusual way of spending your free time …, paragraph 2 (no article)
Moreover, you can go with your friend which was there earlier ..., paragraph 4 (which instead of who, was instead of has been)
In conclusion, I would state that specific festivals are __ very exciting way of spending your free time, paragraph 5 (no article).
Results
What have I made for myself? conclusions?
WITH Anastasia I didn’t work out the psychology of passing the exam - I had to repeat many times before the exam that she should not relax and be careful not to make mistakes. Perhaps it was her self-confidence that let her down.
This is an example of the fact that a person with a good knowledge of the language (by the end of our classes, Anastasia had a confident Upper-Intermediate) cannot always adjust it to the format of the exam. And the Unified State Examination is a lottery, this year with unpredictable texts, sometimes above the required level, and a tricky essay topic.
WITH Irina everything is logical, she wrote as much as she deserved. Of course, I would like her to get about 90, but given the difficult listening (2 task), reading (3 task) and essay topic, it could be worse. So here we are satisfied.
Here I concluded that the Intermediate level is sufficient to successfully pass the exam, the main thing is to master the format and strategies for solving tasks where there is not enough knowledge to fully understand the text.
This concludes my reflection on the work done. It will be great if you share the results of the exam 2016!
Have a good holiday everyone!
Today, English is considered the most popular language for passing the exam. In the USE 2017, a number of changes have been made. Even if you are confident in your abilities, you need to pass the USE in English 2016 Online tests this year have four sections consisting of forty tasks. The USE test has a maximum passing time. In 2017 it is 3 hours. To overcome the entry barrier, you must successfully pass 17 tasks. Be prepared for questions from listening, reading, grammar, vocabulary and reading. Preparation for such a test must be colossal. Every year, there is less and less luck. Without knowledge, in a certain area, it is impossible to pass it. This test will help you assess your level for the exam.
USE test in English
Question 1 of 20
She thinks she … responsible. She has never got on well with her … friends.
Rebecca was used to … because she was very shy and used to … very awkward sometimes.
Mr. Stone, who seemed … about his breakfast, … to Lima in surprise.
This island is known … by …
It is a chance … , so they must make a list of things …
They … very tired if they sat up … late.
Remember … your tickets and passports before you …
She can "t help ... that he helps her so ...
Tom says he would rather … socccer … tennis.
Jerry is not … man to give … secret.
I see that … is wrong with you. But you should pull … together.
They found … in the street full of …
She talked to him … and looked very…
Snow is very ... in this place, but once ... it won't stop for weeks.
No sooner … on the light, than he saw that the window …
The deepest of all … lakes in the world is Baikal.
… to the law, smoking is forbidden in public places.
… for a short period of time, the family was rather poor.
Italian cuisine … greatly from French cuisine.
This reward is … to obtain.
Continue
To continue the test, select one of the answer options.
you answered correctly
18 questions out of 20
Your result:
Oops!... Two points(((Quickly start learning English with the Lim English online tutorial. With it, you are guaranteed to get the result.
“Satisfactory”. Start learning English with the Lim English online tutorial using the unique method of Oleg Limansky. The result will not keep you waiting!
“Good” Congratulations! You do not speak English well within the chosen level. Start learning English with the Lim-English online tutorial using the unique method of Oleg Limansky. With it, you are guaranteed to improve your knowledge.
Congratulations! This is an excellent result. You are fluent in English within the chosen level. You have a great opportunity to improve your level with the Lim-English online tutorial. You will get daily practice.
Excellent result! You are fluent in English within the chosen level. There is no limit to perfection, use the Lim-English online tutorial - this is a great way to always be in shape. Test your skills in our advanced courses.
Wrong answers:
Question # (1)
Your answer: (2)
Correct answer: (3)