How to show that you are a confident B2 speaker? This is specific practice for your oral exam and also for your writing exam.
Tip 1
Imagine that you want to express a contrast, for example you want to compare conventional medicine and alternative medicine. This is one of the most common topics you are going to find in your EOI Exam.
In this case, it is a very good idea to use the connector whereas. I could say something nice like:
“Conventional medicine treats illness from a medical point of view. You usually have to take a treatment that implies taking pills or some kind of medication so you are put on medication by your doctor. Whereas alternative medicine treats illnesses from a natural perspective, so you usually avoid taking medication.”
So, as you can see, using whereas as a connector to express a contrast is something that you can easily do in many topics.
Another example could be something like:
“Taking care of the environment is seen as something that takes work an implication, whereas ignoring the problem that we have with climate change or with other environmental issues is the easy option and that’s why many people don’t get involved.”
Well, there you have two examples to use whereas to express contrast, and that does show that you are a confident B2 speaker.
Tip 2
In your monologue you will surely need to add information and to reinforce arguments.
A fantastic connector to use to add information is besides, and to reinforce arguments you can use in fact.
These two are common connectors that native speakers use and that you can easily use for many topics when you are preparing for either your speaking or writing exam.
You could say something like:
“There are some benefits of natural treatments that are worth mentioning. Many of the people who choose alternative medicine say that, first of all, they don’t have side effects because everything is natural, so they either take vitamins or other types of natural remedies like natural oils for example. In fact, more and more people who choose alternative medicine do so because they don’t want to be put on medication for long periods of time. Besides, there are some conditions that can be treated both by conventional medicine and traditional medicine, as complementary treatments in which case you are taking the best of both worlds”.
Tip 3
Use double comparatives
Double comparatives are one of the easiest ways to show that you are a confident B2 speaker.
Let’s say for example that you are asked to speak about environmental issues, you could say something like:
“Obviously, every little counts, so the more people take it seriously, the better for the environment.”
Or you could say something like:
“Fortunately, more and more people are getting used to doing their bit for the environment with small acts just like recycling and reusing. And that’s in fact why platforms like wallapop and other similar platforms are becoming so, so popular. Because that way you’re not only saving money but you are also contributing to reusing things that still have a life and that don’t have to be thrown away just because somebody doesn’t need them anymore.”
So there are two ways you can use double comparatives at B2 level. One is the more the more or the more the less or the less the more. But you can also use more and more, as in:
“More and more measures are being taken towards protecting the environment and natural spaces. “
Tip 4
How to use passives to your advantage
Passives is one of those challenges for students, especially when you’re trying to use them naturally in spoken English. It is a totally different story when you’re writing, because it’s easier to take your time to think about the right passive structure that you want to use in your writing exam for example. However, it’s not that easy when you are speaking in your oral exam.
You can read our article about how to use “have something done” for the causative passive that we published some time ago in our blog. You can add it to your list, of course, but another simple way to use passives is to use them with reporting verbs.
For example, it is believed that… or it is thought that… So let’s think of a very simple example:
“News are thought to be true anywhere you find them, when you’re browsing the Internet and online media but it is more and more common to find fake news in different platforms or being shared in WhatsApp or telegram so you need to be aware that anything that sounds unreal, surreal or not so believable needs to be questioned”.
Tip 5
This time we’re gonna go for an adverbial time phrase: NO LONGER.
No longer is an adverbial time phrase that is really really easy to use and it comes in real handy when you are speaking about things that are different from the way they were in the past.
For instance, imagine you’re speaking about online shopping. One thing you could say is:
“It’s no longer that common to go to local shops because we now have it all at a click. You can buy anything on Amazon and so many other platforms, just from the comfort of your home so more and more people choose to buy online, not only because of the good prices but also because they don’t have to spend their time going to a physical shop, comparing, looking at things, and then coming back. So they’re basically saving on gas, they’re saving their time and they are finding better prices. “
You can also use no longer to speak about how your life has changed.
One of the topics that you can find in your EOI exam is STAGES IN LIFE. How your life has changed, how you’ve changed your habits and how things are now different from the past.
If you get this topic, you could say something like:
“I no longer spend that much time with my friends because I have other responsibilities like children and work and then also because I also value my me-time, that time that I can spend doing things that I enjoy and that I know are good for me. As the friends I used to hang out with are in the same situation, what we do is we keep in touch on social media. We have a chat every now and then or meet for dinner or a coffee. But we no longer go out every weekend as we used to do.”
As you could see, I used several structures and expressions that you can also adapt to show you are a confident B2 speaker. I used “used to” for things that were habitual in the past but that now you don’t do anymore. I used, of course, no longer and then I used this expression “me-time”. This is a very nice way to express what we know as time for yourself, time that you spend doing things that you like.
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