About this transcript
An invented but realistic Grade 7 exam, written to the Trinity format and timings, with the candidate at a solid B grade. The candidate is Amina, 31, from Morocco, three years in Bristol, working in a nursery. Notes in the margin point out what the examiner is doing and which Grade 7 items the candidate produces. Trinity publishes real exam videos at the Intermediate stage; watch one after reading this.
Greeting (about 30 seconds)
Examiner Good morning. Come in and sit down. Can I have your Topic Form, please? Thank you. So, your name is Amina?
Candidate Yes, that's right.
Examiner Lovely. We'll start with your topic.
Not assessed, but a nervous candidate who says only "yes" here often stays in that gear. A full sentence helps you more than the examiner.
Topic phase (about 5 minutes): "Working in a British nursery"
Examiner So, tell me about your topic.
Candidate I've worked in a nursery in Bristol for two years now, with children from two to four. I wanted to talk about it because it's very different from how children used to be looked after in Morocco, and because I've changed my mind about a few things. Can I start with how I got the job?
Examiner Please.
Candidate When I arrived I had no British qualification, so I started as a volunteer two mornings a week. After six months the manager suggested I do a Level 2 course, which was paid for by the council, and then they offered me a job. If I hadn't volunteered, I don't think I would ever have been given the chance.
Examiner What's the biggest difference from Morocco?
Candidate The rules. Here everything is written down: who can change a nappy, how many adults per child, what food is allowed. In Morocco a nursery is more like a big family; a grandmother might help, nobody signs anything. The advantage of the British way is safety and you always know what to do. The disadvantage is that sometimes you can't just hug a crying child the way you'd like to, because of the policy. Do you think the rules here have gone too far?
Examiner I'm not sure. What do you think?
Candidate Some of them, yes. I think staff should be trusted a bit more. But I've seen why the rules exist, so I'm not sure I'd remove many.
Examiner You've written "what I'd change". What would you change?
Candidate The pay, honestly. Nursery workers ought to be paid like teaching assistants at least. If the pay were better, people would stay, and the children wouldn't have a new face every three months. I'd also give more outdoor time; we used to be outside all day as children and these children are inside when it rains.
Examiner Thank you, Amina. That's the end of the topic.
Grade 7 items: used to (twice), passive (was paid for, be given, be paid), third and second conditionals, advantages and disadvantages, ought to, should, a question to the examiner, because of. The candidate asked permission to structure the phase ("Can I start with…"), which is a polite way of leading. Phase grade: B (Merit): distinction-level communication, held at B by the grammar slips.
Interactive phase (about 4 minutes)
Examiner Now the Interactive phase. I'm going to tell you something, and then I'd like you to ask me questions and we'll talk about it. Here we go. It's my nephew's seventh birthday next week, and he's asked for a mobile phone. I'm not sure if this is a good idea.
Candidate Seven is quite young. Why does he want one, do you know?
Examiner His friends have them, apparently.
Candidate All of them, or one or two?
Examiner He says all of them. I suspect it's two.
Candidate Yes, that's what they always say. Have his parents said what they think?
Examiner His mum is against it. His dad doesn't mind.
Candidate Oh dear, so you're in the middle. If I were you, I wouldn't buy a phone, because then you're the one who caused the argument. You could buy something he'd like just as much, a watch that tells the time and calls his mum, for example. Some of the children at my nursery have those. Would his mum accept something like that?
Examiner Probably. Do you think seven is too young for a real phone?
Candidate I think so, but I'm not sure my opinion will last. My niece in Morocco got one at nine because of school messages, and it was fine. The disadvantage is that once they have it, you can't take it back. The advantage, I suppose, is that you always know where they are. What did you have at seven, a bike?
Examiner A bike, yes.
Candidate Then maybe give him a bike and let his parents decide about the phone. That's what I'd do.
Examiner Thank you. That's the end of the Interactive phase.
Seven questions in four minutes, two of them following up the examiner's answers. Advice (If I were you, you could), advantages and disadvantages, uncertainty (I'm not sure my opinion will last), because of, a reaction (Oh dear), and a close that hands the decision back. This is what "take control of the interaction" looks like. The one weakness: "you're in the middle" is good but the candidate could have invited more of the examiner's opinion before advising. Phase grade: B (Merit): the questions carried the phase; the article and agreement slips cost the A.
Conversation phase (about 5 minutes): early memories, then pollution and recycling
Examiner Now let's talk about early memories. What's your earliest memory?
Candidate I think it's the roof of our house in Fez. In summer we used to sleep up there, all the children on mattresses, and my grandmother would tell stories. I might have been four. I'm not sure if I remember the stories or if I remember my mother telling me about them later. But I remember the stars, and the call to prayer in the morning, very early.
Examiner Do children today have memories like that?
Candidate Not the children I look after. They have more things, but the memories are of screens, I think. If my own children grew up here, I'd want to take them to Fez every summer so they have the roof too. Do you remember something like that from your childhood?
Examiner Camping, probably. Let's move on to pollution and recycling. How do you deal with recycling where you live?
Candidate Bristol is quite strict. We have a black bin, a green box for glass and tins, a blue bag for paper and a small brown bin for food, and they're collected on different days, which I got wrong for the first month. In Morocco recycling used to be done by people who came round and bought your bottles and cardboard, so things were recycled, but because they had value.
Examiner Which system is better?
Candidate Here, for the result. But people should be paid something, like a deposit on bottles. If there were ten pence on a plastic bottle, I don't think you'd see any in the park. The council could also collect food waste from flats, because at the moment it's only houses.
Examiner Do people here recycle because they care, or because they have to?
Candidate Both, I'd say. My neighbours care. My flatmate does it because of the fine. I'm not sure it matters why, as long as it's done.
Examiner Thank you, Amina. That's the end of the exam.
Early memories: used to, would for past habit, uncertainty (might have been, I'm not sure if), second conditional, a question back. Pollution: passive (are collected, was done), should, could, second conditional, because of, a view with a reason. The candidate "shares responsibility": every answer gives the examiner something to pick up. Phase grade: B (Merit): full answers with reasons on both subjects, a few errors that never blocked meaning.
The result
Pass with Merit: B in all three phases (BBB). The communication was distinction-level throughout; what kept the phase grades at B rather than A: a few article slips not shown here, "every three months" said as "every three month", and no relative clause with whose. What a D candidate (a failed phase) does differently with the same life: answers "the roof" and stops; says "I think phone is good" to the prompt and waits; describes the four bins and does not say what should change.
Use it
Read the candidate's turns aloud. Then cover them, read the examiner's questions, and answer with your own life. Record it. Count your Grade 7 items. Then do the same with the AI examiner, which asks the same kind of questions and gives you the count.