Topic Task

Topic Task ( 4 minutes)

For this task you can use the Topic Form to help you organize your ideas:

Before the test, you need to prepare a topic to talk to the examiner about. 

 Choose a topic you are interested in — anything you can talk about. This could be your work, a hobby or an experience, eg ‘My recent trip to Scotland’.

 Prepare your topic. Write a mind map and think of different areas to talk about related to your topic (When I went to Scotland, Future visits, Time I spent in Scotland, Good and bad experiences, etc). 

 The examiner wants to see you use a variety of language of the level (B1) — see the language functions on page 7. Be ready to talk about what has happened, the future, your preferences, what might happen and so on. 

 Choose four points about your topic that interest you the most. Think about how you can use the language functions and talk about these four things. 

 You need to bring a topic form into the exam. This is a blank form that you can download from trinitycollege.com/ISEItopicform or get from the test centre. You can also write your own.

  There are five boxes on the topic form. Write the title of your topic in the middle, and your four points in the other boxes. You don’t need to write full sentences, just notes are fine. 

 Think about how to talk about each point on your topic form. 

 Think of a question you could ask the examiner about the topic you want to talk about. 

 This is a conversation about a subject you are interested in, so don’t write a script or try to memorise a long text. 

 The topic discussion will last up to 4 minutes. 

Example of a topic — My trip to Scotland — and areas to talk about: 

 The first time I visited Scotland (indefinite past) 

 My plan to visit again next year (describing future) 

 I prefer driving to Scotland (preferences) 

 I don’t have to take a passport (obligation)