Environment and Nature
Practise talking about green spaces, weather and everyday eco-habits, then tackle demanding Part 3 debates on climate responsibility, wildlife protection and green economic growth.
Hard
Part 1 · Interview
4–5 minShort questions about you and your daily life. Pick a question to see the strategy and a sample answer.
Are there many green spaces in the area where you live?
How to answer
Use present simple, name one specific park or open space, and add a brief evaluation of whether it's enough rather than just listing places.
Sample answer
A fair bit, as it happens — there's a small park about five minutes from my flat, with a pond and a couple of walking trails. I wouldn't call the area especially green overall, though, because there's so much new construction going up. Still, I'm grateful for that little park; I end up there most weekends.
Part 2 · Cue card
3–4 minCue card
Describe an area of natural beauty you have visited.
You should say:
Where this area is
When and why you visited it
What you saw and did there
And explain why you think this area is so beautiful.
Strategy
Pick one specific place, real or invented, and commit to concrete sensory detail — colours, sounds, temperature — instead of general praise like 'amazing'.
Spend roughly the first thirty seconds setting the scene: the location, how you got there, and the reason behind the trip.
Narrate the visit in past tenses, but shift into present simple when describing the landscape's permanent features — this tense contrast impresses examiners.
Save the last bullet for genuine reflection: contrast how you felt there with your everyday routine, rather than simply repeating that it was beautiful.
Model answer
The place I want to describe is a long, narrow lake up in the mountains, a few hours' drive from where my aunt lives. It sits in a valley between two forested ridges, and the nearest proper town is about forty minutes away, so it feels genuinely remote — no shops, no traffic, just a handful of cabins along the shore. I went there two summers ago with my cousin. We'd both had a stressful few months — she'd just finished her final exams and I was between jobs — and she suggested a three-day camping trip to switch off completely. To be honest, I only agreed to keep her company; I wasn't expecting much. What we found completely changed my mind. The water is this deep green colour that shifts as the clouds move, and in the early morning it's so still that the mountains reflect in it like a photograph. We hired a little rowing boat, swam — very briefly, because the water was freezing — and hiked a trail that climbs above the treeline to a viewpoint over the whole valley. At night the sky was unbelievable; with no streetlights for miles, we could see the Milky Way stretched right across it. As for why I find it so beautiful, I think it's the silence as much as the scenery. There's no phone signal, so you actually hear things — wind moving through the pines, water lapping against the rocks. The landscape made me feel small in a good way, if that makes sense, and I've measured every view against it since.
Part 3 · Discussion
4–5 minDeeper follow-up questions on the part 2 themes.
Who do you think bears more responsibility for protecting the environment — individuals or governments?
How to answer
Concede the weaker side first with 'while it's true that', then commit to a clear position and show how the two levels interact.
Sample answer
I'd put more weight on governments, although I can see both sides. While it's true that individuals can recycle and fly less, the scale of the problem — energy grids, transport networks, industrial emissions — is simply beyond what personal choices can fix. Only governments can ban harmful practices, tax pollution and fund alternatives. That said, politicians respond to voters, so individual attitudes still matter indirectly: a public that genuinely cares gives leaders permission to pass tougher laws. So my honest answer is that governments must lead, but they'll only do it if citizens keep pushing them.
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