Objects and possessions

What the examiner is listening for

Concrete descriptive vocabulary — material, size, condition, age — followed by the ability to attach significance to something ordinary without sounding sentimental or invented.

How to spend the preparation minute

You get exactly sixty seconds with a pencil and a sheet of paper. This is how to divide them on a card of this shape.

1. 0:00–0:15

   Choose the story, not the thing

   Pick the object with the best story attached, even if it is unglamorous. A cracked mug with a story beats a new phone without one.

2. 0:15–0:30

   Four physical facts

   Note colour, material, size, and one flaw. The flaw — a chip, a fade, a repair — is what proves the object is real.

3. 0:30–0:45

   Origin

   Write who gave it or where you bought it, and when. This is where past tenses and the story live.

4. 0:45–1:00

   Use or rule

   Note how you use it now, or the rule you have about it — 'only on first days', 'never leaves the house'. Rules are far more interesting than lists.

Language that transfers across every card here

• it has seen better days

  Affectionate idiom for something worn but loved.

• it was handed down to me

  The precise verb for an object passed through a family.

• it is nothing special to look at, but…

  A concession that sets up the significance perfectly.

• I save it for

  Introduces the rule you have about when you use it.

• it cost me a small fortune

  Idiomatic exaggeration for an expensive purchase.

• it paid for itself

  Value collocation for something that earned back what it cost.

• worn at the edges

  Specific description of age; better than 'old'.

Grammar this family pulls out of you

Grammatical range is a quarter of your Speaking band. These structures arise naturally on these cards, so you do not have to force them in.

Passive voice for origin

“It was given to me by my grandfather, and it had been his father's before that.”

Past perfect for layered time

“By the time it reached me it had already been repaired twice.”

Adjective order

“A small, battered, dark green tin box.”

What costs people marks on these cards

• Spending the whole turn on physical description. Thirty seconds is plenty; the marks are in the story.
• Choosing an expensive object because it sounds impressive. Price is not interesting; provenance is.
• Saying 'it is very important to me' without ever saying why. The final bullet is always the explain point.

• ObjectsDescribe a photograph that helped you remember an important day.Ideas, model answer & Part 3
• ObjectsDescribe something you own that you have kept for a long time.Ideas, model answer & Part 3
• Money and shoppingDescribe something you bought that turned out to be well worth the money.Ideas, model answer & Part 3
• ObjectsDescribe an item of clothing that is special to you.Ideas, model answer & Part 3
• ObjectsDescribe a piece of equipment in your home that you find genuinely useful.Ideas, model answer & Part 3

Where Part 3 usually goes after these cards

The examiner follows your long turn with a four to five minute discussion on the same theme, worked from two related discussion topics. On this family the discussion tends to travel in these directions.

• Whether people today own too much and value it too little
• Why some objects gain sentimental value and others never do
• The rise of repair, resale, and renting instead of buying
• How advertising shapes what young people think they need
• Whether digital photos and files can carry the same meaning as physical objects

The timing you are rehearsing against