Ask the Examiner to Repeat the Question

Transcript

Examiner: What impact has tourism had on the economy of your country?

Candidate: Excuse me?

Examiner: What impact has tourism had on the economy of your country?

Candidate: Can you repeat that one more time please?

Examiner: Yes. What impact has tourism had on the economy of your country?

Candidate: D..don’t understand. Just one more time.

Examiner: What impact has tourism had on the economy of your country?

Candidate: Your asking is what impact has tourism had on my country?

Examiner: What impact has tourism had on the economy of your country?

Candidate: Oh well, just lots and lots actually. You know…more pollution, more consumption…

Tips

During an interview there may be a time when you do not hear or understand a question clearly. What do you do?

Well, you could have a guess at what you think you heard and then answer, or you could ask the examiner to repeat the question.

It’s important in the exam to answer the question directly and you won’t score as highly if you talk off-topic. If the question is ‘What impact has tourism had on the economy of your country?’ and the only word you hear clearly in the question is ‘tourism’, what are you going to say. If you talk about tourist spots in your country, you wouldn’t be answering the question and you stand to lose marks.

It is a much better strategy to ask the examiner to repeat the question. The examiner can’t explain the meaning of the question to you, but they can repeat it a number of times. You can also repeat the question back to the examiner as the candidate does in the video,

“Are you asking what impact tourism has had on my country?”

Here are some other useful expressions used by the candidate in the video:

Excuse me?

Could you repeat that one more time, please?

Sorry, I don’t understand, just one more time.

And here are a few extra expressions that you might find useful:

I’m sorry I didn’t quite catch that, could you say it again?

Would you mind repeating the question for me?

（英国使馆文化教育处提供）