What is your favourite season?
Weather and seasons sound like small talk, and that's exactly what Part 1 is. The examiner wants preference language and some description: temperatures, light, what people do at that time of year.
If your country doesn't really have four seasons, say so. "We only have hot and very hot" is a great opening, as long as you then explain what you like about one of them.
Sample answers at 3 bands
Same question, three answers. Read them out loud and notice what changes: not longer words, but more detail, better linking and a bit of you in it.
My favourite season is spring. In spring the weather is not hot and not cold. There are many flowers. I like to go outside in spring.
Why it scores Band 5.5: Accurate, but "spring" is repeated in every sentence and the description is very general.
Autumn, definitely. The summer heat finally breaks, the evenings are cool enough to walk around, and the markets are full of pomegranates and grapes. It also reminds me of the start of the school year, which I always secretly liked.
Why it scores Band 7: Specific, sensory detail (heat, evenings, fruit), a personal connection and a light admission. Good range and coherence.
Where I'm from we don't really get four seasons, we get hot, very hot and monsoon. So I'd say the monsoon, which surprises people. After months of dust, that first heavy rain is incredible: the air smells completely different, everything turns green overnight, and the whole city seems to breathe out.
Why it scores Band 8: It challenges the question with humour, then answers it in vivid, precise language ("breathe out", "turns green overnight"). Excellent fluency and lexical resource.
Bands are our estimate against the public IELTS Speaking band descriptors. In the real test your band comes from all three parts, not one answer.
The follow-up questions
Part 1 stays on one topic for three or four questions. These are the ones that usually come next.
- Is there a season you don't like?
- The height of summer. When it's over forty degrees, you can't do anything in the middle of the day except stay inside with the air conditioning on and feel guilty about the electricity bill.
- Do you do different things in different seasons?
- Definitely. In winter I spend more time at home and see friends indoors. In spring and autumn I'm out much more, walking, cycling and eating outside.
- Has the weather in your country changed in recent years?
- People say so. The summers definitely feel longer and hotter than when I was a child, and the rain comes at less predictable times, which is a real problem for farmers.
- Does the weather affect your mood?
- More than I'd like to admit. A week of grey skies and I get a bit flat. One sunny morning and I'm suddenly full of plans.
Words that lift this answer
- the heat breaks
- When very hot weather finally ends.
- crisp / humid / mild / scorching
- Precise weather words.
- the height of summer
- The hottest part of the summer.
- unpredictable
- Hard to know in advance.
- it puts me in a good mood
- It makes you happy.
- a change of seasons
- When one season moves into the next.
Mistakes that cost marks here
- Repeating the name of the season in every sentence. Use "it" or "that time of year".
- "The weather is not hot and not cold". Say "mild" or "warm but not too hot".
- Pretending your country has four seasons if it doesn't. Honesty gives you better material.
Reading answers won't move your band. Saying them will.
Take a full Cambridge Speaking test: the examiner's questions are played out loud, you answer, and you get a band for fluency, vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation. 10 free corrections a day.