I'm going to give you five useful tips to help you get a better grade on Task 3 of the DELE B2 speaking test. In this part you'll have to hold a conversation with the person examining you, based on a survey carried out among a sector of the population, who were asked two interrelated questions about habits, customs and opinions on different topics. The answers are presented as percentages that you'll be able to see and analyze.

You'll be asked, for example, what you would have answered, which percentages caught your attention the most, or what you think the results would have been if the survey had been carried out in your country. Keep these recommendations in mind to raise your grade!

  1. Ask at least one question

Remember that this is a dialogue and the conversation should flow between two people. Don't hog the floor, since it isn't a monologue, but don't be passive either, waiting the whole time for the examiner's questions.

Instead, try to ask the examiner at least one question yourself. To do this, you can turn the question they asked you back on them, or ask their opinion about one of the survey's figures.

This way you'll earn more points, since you'll have greater control of the conversation. It will also prove that you're not only ready to give answers, but also to ask questions naturally and fluently about a specific topic.

  1. Take the lead

You should be the one holding the reins of this conversation. If you're asked a question, after answering it you can link it to another part of the survey.

Besides asking the examiner questions and requesting their opinion, you can carry the conversation beyond the question you've been asked. In other words, answer what you've been asked and always justify your answer, but afterwards you can contrast that figure with another one included in the survey, or comment on what that figure might have been in your country. That way, you'll be the one guiding the conversation.

  1. Use idiomatic expressions

During the test, use at least one idiomatic expression — nothing too vulgar, of course — to get a better score in the Alcance (range) category, which assesses your ability to show your vocabulary.

You can come prepared with some of these expressions to include in different conversations, such as “Por si las moscas” (just in case), “No es oro todo lo que reluce” (to refer to a disadvantage) or “No es un camino de rosas” (to say that something isn't easy), among others, depending on the occasion.

Likewise, if you notice among the results that a percentage is very low, you could say it is “De capa caída” (in decline), or if it's very high, that it's “Por las nubes” (sky-high). There are many more expressions like these, easy to slip into a conversation, that will help you earn extra points on your speaking test.

  1. Include discourse markers

Learn discourse markers and connectors that allow you to express contrast, since in this speaking test task you'll need to compare and link the survey data.

It's important to connect the topics well, and to do so you can use connectors such as “A pesar de”, “Mientras”, “No obstante”, “Aunque” and “Sin embargo”, among many others, being clear about which verb forms they can go with.

Using these discourse markers will raise your grade, above all in the Coherencia (coherence) category. And if you also use them with the right verb tenses, you can achieve better Corrección (accuracy).

  1. Use relative quantities

When referring to the survey data, you won't need to talk about the exact percentages the whole time. Instead, you can mention some of the results using relative quantities.

For example, instead of talking about the “73,4% de los encuestados” (73.4% of respondents), you can say “La mayoría” (the majority) or “La inmensa mayoría” (the vast majority) of a given sector of the population or, on the contrary, “La minoría” (the minority), “Una cuarta parte” (a quarter) or “Casi la mitad” (almost half), among other options, if the percentage were lower.

You'll also enrich the conversation by combining precise quantities, referring to the actual number, with relative quantities, giving this dialogue with your examiner more variety and fluency.

I hope these tips have been useful for raising your grade on Task 3 of Test 4 of the DELE B2.

Here's the explanation in video form:

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