Individual Presentation

• Refer to the individual presentation rubric and descriptors to make sure you know the criteria on which you will be assessed.
• Focus on getting the general gist of the passage on which your presentation will be based rather than on understanding and remembering every detail.
• Make brief, clear, legible notes on your cue-card in your own words. Do not copy out phrases from the passage.
• Think about how you can relate the topic of the passage to your personal experience and opinions.
• Avoid cliched presentations that use memorised phrases which the examiners are likely to have heard quite frequently e.g. "The title of my passage is... and it is about... The writer first says... Then he says... He goes on to say... He concludes by saying... This is the end of my presentation."
• Aim for a more natural, spontaneous style of presentation which shows that you have thought about what the passage says and can relate to it personally - e.g. "I found this passage very thought-provoking because the writer expressed some very controversial views about... and this is an issue which I am very concerned about because... While I agree with the author's stance that... since..., I think that he is mistaken to claim that... as actually..."
• Practise posture e.g. by video-taping yourself giving presentations or by asking friends and family to watch you and give feedback. Try to look relaxed but professional, speak clearly and confidently, and make eye contact in a natural way with the other candidates and the examiners. Keep your cue cards as low as possible, referring to them only when necessary. Do not give the impression that you are reeading out a passage which you have written out on the cue cards.
• Remember that you will be penalised for speaking for less than 1 minute and 30 seconds and that you may create a poor impression if you are unable to finish within two minutes. However, don't try to fill every last second at the expense of sounding hesitant or simply repeating yourself. It's better to end on a strong point than to fade out.

Group Discussion

• Refer to the group discussion rubric to make sure that you know the criteria on which you will be assessed.
• Remember that you are not just being assessed on your ability to speak but on your interactive skills, too. Listen to other members of the group and respond to what they say. Some phrases which will help you to make your discussion more coherent can be found here.
• Avoid over-reliance on memorised phrases and redundant expressions such as: "Shall we start now?...Okay lets start...Today we have to discuss (read out instructions from exam paper)...what do you think? I agree with you. That's all for our discussion."
• Take the initiative in managing the discussion. As soon as the examiner says you may begin, say something specific about how the discussion should be managed and why and then seek others' opinions e.g. "Since we have to prepare for an inter-class debate, perhaps we should decide how we are going to do our research first because I think that it will be hard for us to decide what points we can make until we have gathered some more information. Does anyone have any suggestions for how we can find out more about the topic?"
• Make use of what other candidates said in their individual presentations in order to show off your listening skills e.g. "Candidate C - you mentioned in your presentation that students eat a lot of junk food nowadays. Do you think that junk food should be banned in school?" Do not, however, repeat material from your own individual presentation. If someone asks you a question that encourages you to repeat your own presentation, sidestep it e.g. "Perhaps junk food should be banned - but after hearing candidate B's presentation, I think that lack of exercise is an even bigger problem. I'd like to suggest that we have 20 minutes of physical exercise every day. What does everyone think?"
• Show sophistication in responding to others' opinions. Disagree politely, give a reason and give an alternative e.g. "That's a very interesting suggestion and if we had enough money I'd certainly agree with you, but don't you think it'll cost far too much to invite Britney Spears to our Talent Day? Perhaps we could ask some of our teachers to sing instead."
• If someone else tries to move the conversation on too soon, take control e.g. "Perhaps before we go on to discussing how to deliver our presentation we should make sure that we've got enough information. Candidate D, you said something earlier about how teenage drinking is associated with anti-social behaviour. Would you like to include something about that aspect of the topic in our presentation?"
• Ask questions e.g. "What exactly do you mean?" "I'm not sure about your proposal;would you mind explaining it in more detail?" "Why do you think we should hold a competition?" "How do you think we should promote the activity?" "Do you think the principal will let us organise that sort of event?"
• Sum up, very briefly acknowledging what everyone else has said, showing appreciation of their contributions, and showing that you have listened to everyone e.g. "I think we've got a lot of good points now. Candidate A's suggestion that we should invite a representative of the police force is a very good one and I think we all agree with B that we should make a short video to show in our next assembly. Is there anything we have forgotten?"