Your performance on each of the two Speaking role-plays is scored against nine criteria and receives a band score for each criterion. The nine criteria are separated into two different segments: Linguistic and Clinical Communicative.

1. Linguistic Criteria:

1. Intelligibility: The impact of your pronunciation, intonation and accent on how clearly your listener can hear and understand what you’re saying

2. Fluency: The impact of the speed and smoothness of your speech on your listener’s understanding

3. Appropriateness of Language: The impact of your language, tone and professionalism on your listener’s understanding and comfort

4. Resources of Grammar and Expression: The impact of your level of grammatical accuracy and vocabulary choices on your listener’s understanding.

2. Clinical Communication Criteria:

1. Relationship-building: The impact of your choice of opening to the conversation and demonstration of empathy and respect on your listener’s comfort

2. Understanding and incorporating the patient’s perspective: The impact of how fully you involve the patient in the conversation on your listener’s understanding and comfort

3. Providing structure: The impact of how you organise the information you provide and introduce new topics for discussion on your listener’s understanding

4. Information-gathering: The impact of the type of questions you ask and how you listen to the responses on your listener’s understanding

5. Information-giving: The impact of how you provide information and check this information is being understood on your listener’s comfort and understanding.

To maximise your score in each criterion, practice regularly and familiarise yourself with the format of the Speaking sub-test.

Record yourself doing the role play, (both the sides simultaneously), and play it back. See which criterion is missing. Improve it. Rest assured, you can score a grate grade if you follow this strategy.