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  • Collapse all Expand all
    Cambridge IGCSE™ / IGCSE (9-1) English as a Second Language 0510/11 / 0991/3 (for examination from 2019)
    Speaking test video (Component 05 - Speaking)

  • Welcome to our step-by-step guide to delivering Cambridge IGCSE speaking tests at your centre. It covers the Cambridge IGCSE English as a Second Language syllabus requirements.

    This video includes information about what you should do:

    • before the speaking test
    • during the speaking test
    • after the speaking test.


    And includes a demonstration of a whole speaking test.


    • show/hide  Video transcript
      Narrator: Speaking Test Demonstration Component 5 Cambridge IGCSE English as a Second Language. The aim of this demonstration is to support teachers/examiners in conducting the Cambridge IGCSE English as a Second Language speaking test. The speaking test is aimed at second language candidates and its main aim is to assess language used with the purpose of meaningful communication.

      The speaking test is NOT testing how much candidates know about a certain subject and there are no right or wrong answers in this test. The test is designed to help candidates communicate clearly by responding to your questions.

      The key to running successful speaking tests in your centre is to be completely prepared.

      A few weeks before the test you will be sent a copy of the Teacher’s/Examiner’s Notes and two sets of speaking assessment cards. These documents must not be opened until one working day before the exam. These materials must remain confidential and must be kept in a secure place by the Centre until the end of the examination period.

      Well in advance of the test, you must find a suitable room to conduct the speaking test with two chairs and a table or desk in between. The room must be quiet and free from disturbances. Examination conditions must be in place at all times. Candidates must not communicate with each other or share the contents of the cards.

      Download the Speaking Examination Summary Form  and fill in the Centre details and candidates’ names and numbers. You should fill in the candidate’s names and numbers in the same numerical order that they appear on the mark sheet (MS1). This form can be found on the Cambridge Samples Database.

      Before the tests begin, you need to check your stopwatch and recording equipment. The recording equipment must be of good quality and you must make sure that candidates can be heard clearly throughout the whole test.

      One working day before the speaking test, you will need to open the Speaking Assessment Cards and the teacher/ examiner’s notes. Use this time to familiarise yourself with the topics and to think about the questions you might ask.

      Once the materials have been opened, they must be stored securely whenever they are not being used to prepare or conduct live speaking tests. You must NOT share this information with anyone and the speaking test materials must remain confidential until after the results enquiry period.

      Check your recording device. The candidate must be able to be heard clearly. Place the recording device closer to the candidate or, if possible, use two microphones: one for you and one for the candidate.

      Each CD should begin with a clear statement giving the Centre number, Centre name, Examination syllabus details, Examiner name and date.

      Check that your equipment is charged or has batteries and that the CD or USB you are using has enough space.

      Check that your room is ready for the candidates- it should be a quiet room, away from noise and distractions.

      Re-read the Speaking Assessment Cards.

      In the exam room you should take: 

      • A stopwatch
      • Recording Equipment with spare batteries or a charger
      • Pens
      • Pencils
      • A glass of water
      • Teacher’s/Examiner’s Notes 
      •   the Speaking Examination Summary Form 
      •  Form MS1 
      • Speaking Assessment Cards 
      • The Speaking assessment criteria grid
      • You cannot bring:
      • Dictionaries
      • Mobile phones- Candidates’ phones are not permitted in the test.

      During the speaking test:

      Candidates must be examined on their own and the speaking test must be conducted in English all the way through. The whole speaking test should last about 10-15 minutes. Candidates must not bring any notes into the examination room.  Candidates must not write any notes and they are not allowed to consult any dictionaries.

      It is important that you begin recording as soon as the candidate enters the examination room and that once the recording of the test has begun it must not be paused. Even though part D is the only assessed part of the test, you must record the WHOLE test–Parts A,B,C, and D

      The speaking test has four parts:Part A – Welcome and introduction, Part B – Warm–up which lasts 2 to 3 minutes, Part C – Preparation period which also lasts 2 to 3 minutes  and Part D, the Assessed Conversation which lasts between 6 and 9 minutes with a total time of between 10 and 15 minutes

      All parts of the speaking test must be recorded but only Part D is assessed.

      Part A-Welcome and introduction:

      • Start the recording as soon as the candidate has sat down.
      • Give the candidate’s name and number and welcome the candidate and explain briefly what is going to happen in each part of the speaking test.  The examiner script for this part is provided in the Teacher’s Notes.
      • Remember- Part A is NOT assessed.

      Teacher/examiner: Morning Huejin my name is Mrs King I am your examiner today. I’ll start the recording and then explain the test to you. Centre number AB123 Centre name International College, Examination IGCSE 0510 English as a Second Language, examiner name Mrs S King, date 16 April 2018. Candidate number 1234 candidate name Huejin Park.


      Narrator: Remember that you need to start recording as soon as the candidate enters the room.

      Teacher/examiner: Ok Huejin first we have a 2-3 minute general discussion about your interests and life outside school. This part isn’t assessed. Then I’ll give you an assessment card, which has the topic we will discuss in the last part of the test. You’ll have 2 to 3 minutes to read the five prompts on the card to prepare for this part. You can’t make any written notes, but you can ask me to explain anything you don’t understand. Finally we will have a discussion based on the five prompts on the card and any ideas of your own on the topic. This part takes 6 to 9 minutes and is the only part that is assessed. You may keep the assessment card until the end of the test.



      Narrator: Take this time to ensure that the candidate is clear about the structure of the test and what will happen at each stage.


      Part B-Warm-Up:

      Put the candidate at ease by conducting a short conversation, maybe 2 to 3 minutes on general topics and the candidate’s hobbies and interests. Give the candidate time to get used to the exam situation. Decide on a suitable speaking assessment card for the candidate. And remember - Part B is NOT assessed but needs to be recorded.

      Teacher/examiner: So do you have questions?

      Candidate: No I’m ok.

      Teacher/examiner: Ok we will start the test. So Huejin, what do you like doing in your free time?

      Candidate: I usually lied in my bed to use my phone.

      Teacher/examiner: OK

      Candidate: I live, now I live in my host family ..

      Teacher/examiner: Oh right

      Candidate: Yeah. I usually talk with my host family and homemate. Yeah one of them came from Thailand, one of them came from Swaziland.

      Teacher/examiner: Do you spend time with them at the weekend? Do you do anything with them?

      Candidate: Nothing special, but we have to have a dinner and breakfast with them, yeah, yeah.

      Teacher/examiner: So you talk to them then.

      Candidate: And maybe for one hours, two hours, yeah, yeah.

      Teacher/examiner: Do you have any other interests or things you like doing in your free time other than lying in your bed?

      Candidate: And I watch film or video. To use my Netflix.

      Teacher/examiner: Right to use Netflix

      Candidate: Yeah and nowadays I try to watch movie without subtitles. Yeah maybe it is very good for my English skill. Yeah

      Teacher/examiner: That’s a good idea. And do you like travelling at all?

      Candidate: Yeah, yeah I like.

      Teacher/examiner: And where have you been. Tell me some of the places you have been to.

      Candidate: Last weekend I went to York.

      Teacher/examiner: Did you like York?

      Candidate: Actually so so. Yes so, so, but quite good and very energetic city. Yeah I felt, yeah yeah.

      Teacher/examiner: Have you been to any foreign countries?

      Candidate: I went to Holland.

      Teacher/examiner: Holland?

      Candidate: And Spain.

      Teacher/examiner: And Spain? Did you like Spain?

      Candidate: Yeah weather was so nice, better than UK.

      Teacher/examiner: Oh yes I’m sure it was.

      Candidate: Yeah better than UK, but food is so so. Yeah it was very salty for me.

      Teacher/examiner: Was it?

      Candidate: Yeah yeah.

      Teacher/examiner: And that was in Barcelona? Did you say you went to?

      Candidate: Barcelona and Madrid.

      Teacher/examiner: Madrid. And was there a difference in the food between the two places?

      Candidate: No I think similar.

      Teacher/examiner: Seems about the same.

      Candidate: Yes it was similar and very salty.

      Narrator: This section should help you to see which card you are going to choose for the candidate.

      Part C: Preparation period

      Select one speaking assessment card for the candidate. This must take place after the warm-up.Give the candidate 2 to 3 minutes to prepare. In this time the candidate may ask questions Any necessary explanation should be given at this point. Candidates must not make notes during this period. Candidates should keep their speaking assessment card for the rest of the test. Remember- the preparation period must be recorded. The speaking assessment card needs to remain with the candidate for the whole time. Each Speaking assessment card has a topic for discussion between the examiner and the candidate, together with five prompts to help the conversation. Students are not allowed to use dictionaries or write anything down.

      Teacher/examiner: I’m going to give you assessment card B which is B Journeys. So you have 2 to 3 minutes to look at this, you can ask me any questions if there is anything there you don’t understand, but you can’t make any written notes. Ok?

      Candidate: Ok…. I’m ready to start.

      Narrator: Try to encourage the candidate to use their full 2 to 3 minutes to prepare for the speaking test. You can answer any questions that the candidate might have but do not give the candidates any ideas about what they could say.

      Teacher/examiner: Oh no please take a little bit more time. You have 2 to 3 minutes.

      Candidate: Oh ok

      Teacher/examiner: So just read through it again. And then I’ll tell you when I am going to start.

      Candidate: Oh ok…. Can I ask something? What does make regularly mean?

      Teacher/examiner: Regularly. If you make a journey regularly it is something you do either every day or every week, or perhaps two or three times a year. It’s not something you just do once.

      Candidate: Oh ok I see.

      Teacher/examiner: Ok are you ready to start?

      Candidate: Yeah I’m ready.

      Narrator: The candidate can ask you questions about the meanings of words and for further clarification but THEY MUST NOT WRITE ANYTHING DOWN. Let the candidate keep the card for the rest of the test. You should not make any notes while the candidate is speaking.

      This is the Speaking Assessment Criteria Grid. Part D is assessed on: Structure, out of 10.  Vocabulary out of 10 and development and fluency, also out of 10. 

      You need to give each candidate a mark out of 10 for each of the criteria and then add these together to give a mark out of 30.

      You will find the Speaking assessment criteria grid in the syllabus and in the Teacher’s/ Examiner’s Notes.

      Part D: Assessed Conversation

      • Use each of the 5 prompts from the Speaking assessment card in the order that they appear on the card. 
      • Ask additional questions of your own based on the candidate’s responses.
      • Aim to spend an equal amount of time on each prompt.
      • Don’t let the candidate deliver a monologue-this should be a discussion.
      • Remember- this is the only part of the test to be assessed.

      Teacher/examiner: Right so many people make regular journeys either short or long, can you tell me about a journey or journeys that you or people you know make regularly?

      Narrator: The examiner can use the opening sentence to help start the conversation.

      Candidate: I know one person who make regularly for journey.

      Teacher/examiner: Who’s that?

      Candidate: The person is my mother. My family religion is Buddhism and my mother always goes to temple on the top of the mountain. Yeah and we have one holiday for our Buddhism and my mother have to go to temple and maybe once a year.

      Teacher/examiner: When’s that? What time of the year is that?

      Candidate: What time of the year? Maybe May, yeah May. I’m not sure actually yeah.

      Narrator: Continue to work your way through the five prompts in the order they appear on the card until the time limit ends. All five prompts must be used. However, you can introduce open questions of your own related to the topic. Do not allow the candidate to deliver a monologue and make sure you ask a range of questions. Try not to pose the prompts as questions, they should be used to develop a conversation.

      Candidate: Yeah and I have been there maybe three times, because of to pray for my Buddhism and now I’m a high school student and I am wanting to go to university and I prayed for Buddhism – I wanted to visit university like that yeah.

      Teacher/examiner: Did you enjoy going to the temple did you like going to the temple?

      Candidate: I like but it was very hard journey because I have to climbing top of the mountain.

      Teacher/examiner: Oh so the top of the mountain … Candidate: Oh yes just on foot

      Teacher/examiner:: How long did that take?

      Candidate: One hours

      Teacher/examiner: Oh quite a long journey.

      Candidate: yeah. From my home to there it takes one hour to take a car, and I have to climbing the top of the mountain for one hours … it’s two hours. Yeah yeah

      Teacher/examiner: And what about the things that people do during long journeys? And why? Can you think of a long journey you have been on?

      Candidate: Oh yeah. When I came to here in Cambridge I had to flight, use flight, it took 12 hours from my country to UK.

      Teacher/examiner:it was a long flight.

      Candidate: yes it was very long journey.

      Teacher/examiner: What did you do on the journey?

      Candidate: In flight, usually I sleep, yeah and I watched the video, film, movie, and drama.

      Teacher/examiner: How many did you watch?

      Candidate: How many? Maybe two or three. Yeah but I never talk to my sit person, yeah just concentrate my movie, and my food.

      Teacher/examiner: And the food. Do you enjoy the food on the plane?

      Candidate: Nowadays it is very nice, I think.

      Teacher/examiner:I think it has improved a lot hasn’t it?

      Candidate: Yeah yeah, yeah, I used British Airways.

      Teacher/examiner:: Oh I was going to ask was it British Airways or Korean.

      Candidate: Yes it was very nice I think, yeah.

      Teacher/examiner: So it was British food.

      Candidate: Yeah British food

      Teacher/examiner: Your first taste of British food was on the plane?

      Candidate: Yeah it was my first experience, yeah.

      Teacher/examiner: And when you are travelling, you say you don’t speak to the person on the plane next to you, but if you are travelling with other people perhaps friends or family, what are the advantages and disadvantages of travelling with other people?

      Candidate: Advantage is I can’t be lonely. It is more fun than without other people.

      Teacher/examiner: I think it is more fun.

      Candidate: Yes it is more fun and it is more safe.

      Teacher/examiner: Why is it safer?

      Narrator: This question allows the candidate to develop their answer. You should ask a range of questions throughout Part D that build on what the candidate has said and encourage a conversation.

      Candidate: In night time maybe if I go outside with other people I can protect to myself more safer.

      Teacher/examiner: With other people it is safer, I think, but sometimes there are disadvantages of travelling with other people. What do you think the disadvantages are?

      Candidate: It is depend on my partners personality and character. I like this food but my partner doesn’t like this food, it is very big problem to our journey.

      Teacher/examiner: So you think the difficulty can be in different opinions. Perhaps where to go.

      Candidate: Yeah but we have to cooperate each other.

      Teacher/examiner:It is important to cooperate.

      Candidate: Yeah yeah.

      Teacher/examiner:There is the suggestion that travel was more adventurous in the past, do you agree with that?

      Candidate: Yeah I agree yeah

      Teacher/examiner: How is it more adventurous?

      Candidate: Because nowadays we can use our Smart Phone or tablet but maybe 50 years ago people couldn’t use anything, just map and campus to find their way. And it wasn’t safe I think, more dangerous.

      Teacher/examiner: Possibly more dangerous. Do you think you could find your way now with a map and compass?

      Candidate: Yeah

      Teacher/examiner: But it would be an adventure?

      Candidate: Yeah maybe nowadays nobody use map and campass.

      Teacher/examiner: And there’s the view that life is one long journey.

      Candidate: Yeah maybe it started when I was born, yeah life is long journey and now I have to live over 50 years and 60 years because nowadays people live until 100 years of age.

      Teacher/examiner: There are a lot more people who live to 100. Are there many people in Korea who live to 100?

      Candidate: Yeah, especially in the Uk.

      Teacher/examiner: In the Uk there are quite a lot.

      Candidate: Yeah

      Teacher/examiner: Would you like to live to 100? Do you think?

      Candidate: Yeah

      Teacher/examiner: Can you think of any problems of living to 100?

      Candiate: Maybe if I am 60 years old or over 60 years old I have to retire my job and I don’t have any job to get my money.

      Teacher/examiner: They have a pension possibly?

      Candidate: Yeah I have to keep my living.

      Teacher/examiner: Perhaps if you like your job you will be happy working.

      Candiadte: Yes but I think I can’t do my work over 60 years old.

      Teacher/examiner:Possibly not. It might be nice to enjoy retirement then.

      Candidate: Yes and maybe there are many old people in country I think it is big problem.

      Narrator: Remember that for Part D you have 6 to 9 minutes. You should stay within this time limit but allow the candidate time to develop their answers. You should use the full time to ask all of the questions on the speaking assessment card and to develop the conversation further with some additional questions of your own.

      Teacher/examiner:Thank you Huejin that is the end of the test. end of recording. If I could just remind you that the assessment card is confidential so please don’t tell anybody about the card. Ok thank you.

      Candidate: Thank you.

      Narrator: Here are some key points to remember:

      • There are no right or wrong answers to the questions.
      • You should always appear interested in what the candidate is saying.
      • You should ask open questions to develop conversation.
      • You should give candidates the full time allowed for each part.
      • You must not allow candidates to deliver speeches or monologues.
      • You must not indicate how well you think the candidate has done either during or after the test.

      At the end of each candidate’s test:

      • Remind the candidate about confidentiality.
      • Keep the speaking assessment card. The candidate must not take this out of the room.
      • Complete the Speaking Examination Summary Form with the candidate name.
      • Check your addition of the total marks.
      • Check the battery on your recording device
      • Reset your stopwatch.
      • Check you have sufficient space on the USB/CD for the next candidate

      When all the speaking tests are complete:

      • Transfer the marks from the Speaking Examination Summary Form onto the Mark Sheet, MS1. 
      • Select the samples to send to Cambridge Assessment and transfer them to a separate CD/USB.  The sample should include a candidate with the highest mark and a candidate with the lowest mark. The remaining sample candidates should be spread evenly across the mark range. Further essential information about the sample can be found on the samples database. 
      • Centres must keep a copy of the recordings of all the tests until the end of the enquiry period.
      • Label the tracks with the candidates’ names and numbers. Asterisk the selected candidates on the Speaking Examination Summary form.
      • Send the sample CD/USB, completed MS1 (or a printout of marks submitted electronically) and Speaking Examination Summary Form to Cambridge Assessment as soon as the tests have been completed.