Describing a Scene

Your job is to describe what is happening in the picture. It helps to imagine you are describing it for someone who has not seen it. With that person in mind, it is clear that a list of objects is not enough. Say who is there, what they are doing, where things are in relation to each other, and which small details bring the scene to life. That imagined person would need to follow you from place to place without getting lost, so the order you choose matters as much as the words you use.

Step by step

1. 1

   Scan the whole picture before you plan

   When preparation time starts, look over the entire scene quickly and ask yourself where this is and what the main activity is. This gives you the big picture for your opening. Every detail you add later then fits inside that frame.

2. 2

   Choose a route through the picture

   In your head, divide the scene into areas: front and back, side to side, or the centre and then the edges. Pick the division that suits this picture and settle the order now. That way you never have to stop partway through to decide where to look next.

3. 3

   Pick the details worth saying in each area

   For each area, find the people and what they are doing. Then choose a few specifics that make them vivid, such as a colour, a facial expression or an object in someone's hands. A clear action with a concrete detail says more than a long run of things you only name.

4. 4

   Open with the scene, then walk the route

   When recording begins, set the scene briefly: the place and the main activity. Then move from area to area. Use words that place things in space and words that signal each move, so it is always clear which part of the picture you are describing. Describe the actions as things happening now, because you are narrating what is in front of you.

5. 5

   Go deeper, then close

   If you finish your route and there is still time, go back to an area and add finer details: something happening in the background, how someone seems to feel, what might happen next. Have a short closing thought ready, such as the overall mood or what the scene seems to be about. Use it when your route runs out or time feels short, so your answer ends on purpose instead of just stopping.

Using the time

Use a brief moment at the start of preparation to take in the whole scene. Spend most of the preparation choosing your route and picking the details for each area. Use the last moment to run your opening through in your head. During recording, keep the opening short and spend most of your time walking through the areas. Save your closing thought for the end. The clock does not stop, so don't pause to re-plan. If you lose your place, move straight to the next area on your route.

What usually goes wrong

• Naming things instead of describing a scene

  You can slip into naming object after object without saying what anyone is doing. That leaves out what the task asks: what is happening. If you hear yourself naming a thing on its own, tie it right away to a person, an action or a location before you move on.

  In your feedback: Off prompt

• Jumping around the picture

  Your eye catches something interesting and you leap to it, then jump back, and your description loses its thread. If you notice you have left your route, finish the sentence you are in. Then name the area you are returning to and carry on from there.

  In your feedback: No structure

• Running dry before the recording ends

  Covering the obvious things quickly can leave you with silence and time still on the clock. When you reach the end of your route early, don't stop. Zoom in on the area with the most going on and describe smaller details, feelings or likely next moments.

  In your feedback: Incomplete

• Stalling on a word you can't find

  When you don't know the name of an object, searching for it can create a long silence. Describe the object by its shape, its material or what it is used for, and keep going. The object still comes across, and your flow stays intact.

  In your feedback: Long pauses

Checking your own work against what is judged

Content/Coherence

Check whether your answer had a scene-setting opening, a route that was easy to follow and a closing thought. Also check whether each area included specific details rather than bare labels.

Vocabulary

Listen for the same word used again and again, especially the words you use to say something exists or where it is. Check whether you used precise action verbs and exact names for objects, and varied words for location.

Listenability

Notice where fillers or silences showed up. Moving from one area to the next is a likely spot, so check how smooth your moves were. Check also that your pace stayed steady and your key words came out clearly.

Task Fulfillment

Check that you kept to what is happening in the picture, meaning its people, actions and setting, and didn't drift into unrelated stories. Also check that you kept speaking until the recording stopped.

Drafted by an AI writer and passed by a separate AI editor after one rewrite, checked against our content rules: structure and approach only, no wording to reuse. How our content is made