• Candidates should choose a topic for their presentation that genuinely interests them, so that they can freely enter into a discussion about issues arising from the topic.
• Teachers should advise candidates with their topic choices so that they do not choose topics which are either predominantly factual or simply too big to cover within the given time frame.
• Teachers should encourage their candidates to prepare their presentation, but not to learn it off by heart as this often leads to very stilted intonation, garbled delivery due to the candidates speaking too fast, and mispronunciation of more complex words.
• Candidates should be encouraged to time their presentations, so that they are not too long even if they speak at a normal speed.
• Teacher/examiners should give candidates plenty of scope to present and develop their ideas and opinions through questioning that encourages them to do that.
• The timing of the tests is important. Teacher/examiners are advised to use a timer.
• Teacher/examiners are strongly advised to use the prescribed questions/prompts in the Conversation Task Card section, to help the candidate cover all the prescribed tasks.
• Candidates who learn their presentations off by heart often sound stilted and may speak so fast that communication is impaired. There is a fine dividing line between thorough preparation and rote memorisation. 

For further details about how candidates performed in this particular examination series please refer to the Principal Examiner Report for Teachers (PERT).

For further guidance for Teacher/examiners on conducting the Speaking tests please refer to Speaking Test Video and Specimen Speaking Tests (for examination from 2025) on the School Support Hub.