CAE Speaking Part 4: How to Develop Your Answers in the Discussion

The short answer

CAE Speaking Part 4 is the last five minutes of the test, and many candidates treat it as the cool-down. It isn’t. The examiner asks wider, more abstract questions about the Part 3 topic, and this is where they hear whether you can develop and justify an opinion, not just state one. The candidates who do well give a clear view, a reason, an example or consequence, and often a second perspective. The candidates who struggle answer in one sentence and wait for the next question.

What Part 4 actually asks for

Part 4 lasts about five minutes for a pair. The examiner asks a series of questions that broaden the topic you discussed in Part 3. You may be asked a question individually, or both of you may be asked to respond, and you can add to what your partner says (Cambridge English teacher guide for C1 Advanced Speaking).

Cambridge describes the purpose as expressing and justifying opinions, agreeing and disagreeing, and speculating. The questions are more abstract than anything earlier in the test. In Part 3 you might discuss what matters when people choose where to live. In Part 4 you might be asked whether cities will become less important as more people work from home.

Tiny answers

The pattern I hear most often in Part 4 is the tiny answer. “Do you think people will travel less in the future?” “Yes, I think so, because of the environment.” And then silence.

It happens for understandable reasons. By Part 4, candidates have been concentrating hard for ten minutes. The tasks with pictures and prompts are over, and there is a sense of relief. Without a task to hold on to, answers shrink. Some candidates also believe that a short, correct answer is safer than a longer one that might contain mistakes.

But this is exactly when the examiner is listening for developed opinions. A one-sentence answer, however accurate, gives them very little to assess. It is the same habit I describe as “lists, not ideas” on the CAE coaching page: naming a reason instead of explaining it.

What the examiner is listening for

Part 4 tests Organisation hardest: can you build a short answer with a clear shape, so that your opinion is supported rather than simply stated? It also tests Flexibility: can you deal with an abstract question you haven’t prepared for, look at it from more than one side, and respond to what your partner adds?

In terms of the marking, the top band for Discourse Management at C1 describes contributions that are “relevant, coherent and varied”, and extended “with ease and with very little hesitation”. In Part 4, extended means a developed answer of perhaps 20 to 40 seconds, not a speech, and not a sentence.

A simple way to develop any answer

You don’t need a structure as long as the CPE long turn. You need four short moves, which together take about half a minute.

1. Answer

Give your view in the first sentence, so the examiner knows where you stand.

2. Reason

Explain why, properly. One reason explained is worth more than three named.

3. Example or consequence

Make it concrete: something you’ve seen, or what would follow if you’re right.

4. The other side

Add a qualification or a second perspective: “Having said that…”, “It probably depends on…”

The fourth move is the one most candidates leave out, and it is the one that most clearly shows C1 thinking. It also gives your partner something to respond to.

Before and after: the same question, developed

The question: “Do you think people will travel less in the future?”

Before

“Yes, I think so, because of the environment.”

Correct, relevant, and over in four seconds.

After

“I think people will travel differently rather than less. There’s growing pressure to cut flights for environmental reasons, and you can already see it in things like short-haul flights being replaced by trains in some countries. But I’m not sure the desire to travel will disappear. If anything, people might take fewer trips but stay longer, so it depends what we mean by ‘less’.”

The language is not more advanced. The answer has a view, a reason, a concrete example, and a second perspective that refines the original view. That is what “developed” means.

When the question is abstract

Part 4 questions are often broad: “Is technology making people less patient?” Many candidates freeze because they don’t have a ready opinion. You don’t need one. You can think aloud, and that is a skill in itself.

Buy a moment naturally: “That’s an interesting question. I suppose it depends on…” Then narrow it down to one area you can talk about, such as work, education or your own experience, and reason from there: “In my experience, at work…”

Thinking aloud in a controlled way shows Composure. Silence, or “I don’t know”, gives the examiner nothing to hear.

Use your partner

Part 4 is not only individual questions. When the examiner asks you both, or your partner has just answered, build on what they said: “I’d agree with what you said about cost, but I’d add that…” This links Part 4 back to the interaction skills from Part 3, which you can read about in CAE Speaking Part 3: How to Have a Real Discussion.

How to practise it

Write ten broad questions on everyday topics: work, technology, travel, education, cities. Once a day, pick three. For each, set a 40-second timer and answer out loud using the four moves. Record yourself and listen for one thing only: did you include the other side? Once that becomes a habit, the rest of the answer usually follows.

In my sessions, I ask follow-up questions the way an examiner does, and then show you how your answer sounded from the examiner’s side, so you can hear the difference between a stated opinion and a developed one.

The bigger picture

Tiny answers is one of six patterns I see again and again in CAE candidates. It rarely comes from a lack of language. It comes from tiredness, relief and the belief that short is safe.

If you’d like to find out which patterns are affecting your speaking, the Initial Assessment is a 60-minute diagnostic session followed by a written Speaking Performance Profile. You can also read the rest of this series, starting with CAE Speaking Part 2.

Frequently asked questions