BEC Oral Examinations Model paper (Vantage)
Part One:
Phase I
I: Good morning/afternoon. I’m …and this is my colleague …. S/he’s just going to listen to us.
Could I have your mark sheets, please? (To A) What’s your name? Where are you from?
I: Thank you. (To B) And you? I: Thanks. Do you work or are you a student, B?
I: (What do you do? What do you study?)
I: What about you, A? (What do you do? What do you study?)
I: What do you like most about your job/studies, A?
I: (Why?)
I: What about you, B?
Phase II
Communications --
I: Do you like communicating with other people by letter, phone or e-mail? Why? Well, it depends. Usually, I prefer letter, phone or e-mail because it is cost-effective.
I mean these forms allow us to communicate with each other where and when we want to. But telecommunicating sometimes makes you feel isolated and out of touch, leading to demotivation and less productivity.
I: Do you think companies should be able to contact their staff outside working hours? Why or why not?
Employment --
I: Do you think interviews are the best methods of judging applicant s’ suitability for a job?
I: How do you prefer to prepare for an interview?
I: How do you prefer to deal with stress before and during an interview?
Business meeting—
I: Do you prefer to have a lot of things planned for each week?
I: Do you think it’s essential to arrive on time for business meetings?
I: Do you think that colleagues should have regular meetings with each other?
I: Do you think business people will have fewer face-to-face meetings in the future? Market research—
I: Are you always willing to complete market research questionnaires?
I: why do you think market research is useful for companies?
I: How reliable do you think information from market research is?
I: How important do you think it is to train people who conduct market research? Business consultants—
I: Do you think it’s a good idea for companies to use business consultants?
I: What do you think could be one advantage of working as a self-employed business consultant?
I: Do you think the use of consultants will increase in the future?
I: Do you think you need a lot of business experience to be a consultant?
Managing Change—
I: Are you someone who enjoys change, or do you prefer things to stay the same?
I: What kinds of problems do you think companies can experience when they make changes?
I: What do you think companies should do to avoid problems when introducing changes?
I: Do you think companies need to keep changing?
Part Two:
Now in this part of the test, you are going to be asked to give a short talk. You have to choose one of the topics from the three topics on this card and then talk about it for one minute. You also have one minute to prepare your ideas. After you have finished, your partner will be invited to ask you a question. Are you clear? You can start to prepare now.
A WHAT IS IMPORTANT WHEN…?
Setting prices for new products
●Production costs
●Competitors’ prices
●
●
B WHAT IS IMPORTANT WHEN…?
