Strategy to aim for higher Speak About the Photo scores

We acknowledge that speaking is super hard for some people in the Duolingo English Test, especially when it comes to describing an image within 90 seconds and 20 seconds initially for preparation. 

Besides, many of our members struggled to accomplish their desired scores before; therefore, we are excited to support our members and you in obtaining your dream score. It’s a complete step-by-step strategy, so we strongly suggest you read it from the beginning until the end and practice with us along the way. Furthermore, we will share where you could apply this strategy to practice. 

Let’s look at one of our members, who has improved his Production sub-score enormously within a couple of months.

If you are ready to explore, let’s down to business.

1. Identify the main part

If you see these images, what is the main part of each of them?

A	B	C

• In picture A, there is a middle-aged woman holding a white dog and sitting on a white table…
• In picture B, four adults are playing volleyball on a sandy beach in the daytime.
• In picture C, we can see a blue and orange helicopter in the sky…

Are they the main parts that you identified? If so, congratulations! 

But, do you know why we should classify them in the first place? Because when you Speak about The Photo, you CAN NOT miss the main part, which helps you show people briefly what the photo is. Then later, you can describe it in detail and other stuff around the main part. 

So please, do not ever forget to determine it in the beginning.

Time management strategy: 

You have 20 seconds to get yourself ready when you see the image. However, you should only utilize the first 05 seconds to do so because it is very detectable most of the time.

2. Describe images strategically

Strategy is profoundly vital to delivering an organized and attractive speech, which helps you aim for a higher score in Production. 

From now on, let’s use the below image as an example to apply all strategies. 

Speaking of strategies, there are two imperative parts you need to pay close attention to.

a. Focus on the main part in detail

Earlier, you defined the main part, which is “a middle-aged woman in her red dress in the center of the photo”.

So, how could you describe everything about her before moving on to other stuff in the image? 

For example: 

“This image portrays a middle-aged woman in her red dress, and she is sitting on a white table in the center. She looks relaxed and enjoyable in a bookstore while holding a cute white dog. Besides, she has short brown hair and wears a pair of white sandals. Even though everything is simple, she is outstanding in this photograph.”

You should only concentrate on one particular thing at a time to describe. Once you finish it, it’s time to move on to others because it will likely become a mess if you keep changing your people or objects to describe. 

Oh, wait a second before we move on; do you know what tense you should use to describe an image?  

Thousands of students ask us for advice, so let’s clarify it before the strategy.

Firstly, we use the Simple Tense to describe stuff in the image most of the time. It means you tell what is in the picture. 

• In the picture, I can see ...
• There’s / There are ...
• There isn’t a ... / There aren’t any ..
• The photograph portrays/ depicts …

Secondly, we use the Present Continuous to describe what is happening. For example:

• The lady is holding a white dog and sitting on a white table.
• They are playing volleyball on a sandy beach.
• The helicopter is flying in the sky.

If there is no helicopter in image C, then there is nothing for us to apply the Simple Continuous. If you see humans, you should use the Simple Continuous to describe their actions most of the time.

Lastly, you can use the past simple or the present perfect tense or others to describe something depending on the situation. For example, in image A, you may say something like, “It looks like the woman just asked someone to take a picture for her”.

b. Describe all other parts 

So, what should you describe next if you complete the main part? Some ideas below are for you.

• White bulbs on the top of the woman,
• Bookshelves on the right and the left,
• Lots of white tables in the center,
• And a tall brown portable stair in the bottom left-hand corner.

If we put them into a speech, it should be like this:

“Additionally, we can detect three white bulbs vertically on the top of her head, which mainly deliver light to the room. There are millions of different types of books all over the place we are inside a bookstore. There are a few large brown bookshelves on the left and a tall portable stair in the bottom left-hand corner. While we can see a few smaller bookshelves on the right and lots of white tables in the middle of the image.”

Do you want to speak like our sample answer? Keep exploring our next steps till the end.

Time management strategy:

After the first 05 seconds to identify the main part, you need to optimize all the last 15 seconds to plan out how you should speak strategically by following our above suggestions. 

3. Learn the opening statements 

How do you usually start describing an image? 

We have a couple of ways to share:

• This is an image of…
• In this picture, there is/ are… 
• This photograph portrays/ depicts/ shows…
• What we can see from this photo is/are…

Because Speak about The Photo appears only once in the actual test, we strongly suggest you choose one type and practice until you master it. You apply the rest for Write about The Photo, which appears three times instead. By doing so, you will definitely increase your Production sub-score as DET grades your performance based on Grammatical Complexity. 

Check this article to see how the questions are scored, "Everything about Duolingo English Test Part 2".

4. Add details to the picture

Duolingo English Test strongly recommends we speak as much as possible as long as it’s related to the image. You cannot just label the picture, can you? Thus, we have several methodologies to make your answers longer but still right to the point and inviting, of course. 

We put the image here for you to check easier.

a. Write about the actions of the people

What are the actions of the woman if you speak about it? Some verbs you may use to describe the actions: looking at, holding a white dog, wearing a red dress.

It’s essential to talk about what they do because it’s one of the effective ways to deliver a detailed answer.

You simply need to define some actions in the image and describe them in detail. However, what if the image does not include anyone, such as in picture C. In this case, please follow our next tip.

b. Describe the objects or people in detail

In this tip, what else could we use besides the actions? Yes, there are still many of them.

• About people, you can describe: people’s clothes, accessories, or emotions. 
• Or you can talk about other objects: what is it, its colors, sizes, or benefits. 

In the example image, you can write something like a red dress, white sandals, white light bulbs, tall portable stairs, large bookshelves, smaller bookshelves, white tables, and so on. 

If the picture does not have humans, we will first describe the biggest object. In picture C, we can speak about a large blue and orange helicopter, with white words “VN 8650” on its tail, majestic ranges of mountains in the background, and trees covering all hills.  

c. Show the locations of everything 

This’s not less important compared to the previous two. Whether you write or speak about the photo, it’s truly critical to show others the locations of everything (ideally). 

You can check this image to apply appropriate words to show the locations in the photos. 

What should you write about our example image if you apply the direction above?  You may write something like this:

• The woman is in the middle. 
• The tall portable stair is in the bottom left-hand corner.
• The white bulbs are on the top of the woman.
• The large bookshelves are on the left.
• The smaller bookshelves are on the right.

Most people get a low Production score compared to other sub-scores as Production is the combination of Speaking and Writing skills. As a result, if you add more details to the picture, you will get higher Production in your Duolingo Test.

5. Predict what is happening – If something isn’t clear 

You probably do not have time to predict anything if you Write about The Photo. But, you definitely have time to predict when it comes to Speak about The Photo because we rarely utilize all 90 seconds to describe it. 

Hence, it would help to leverage your available time to predict what may happen. And of course, you should only do this if you have no ideas left, and there is still time.

Let’s review our recommendations:

• It seems like…
• It looks like…
• It might be…
• I guess…
• I think…
• I predict…
• I reckon…
• From my speculation…

For example, It looks like the woman is the owner of this bookstore, so she looks so confident and relaxed while holding a cute white dog in the center.

6. Deliver a conclusion

This is a great way to help you leverage all the given time in case you run out of ideas, but time is still available. As long as your content is relevant to the image, every idea is welcome to apply. 

Several notions of starting your summary are below:

• All in all…
• To summarize…
• To conclude…
• To encapsulate…
• To recapitulate…
• In conclusion…
• In summary…

Therefore, what should you conclude from the following example? 

For example: To encapsulate, this bookstore is a perfect spot for bookworms to visit, whether they want to buy new books or just browse around for pleasure. 

A bonus tip 

What are linking words? And why should we use them? 

Have you ever asked yourself these questions? 

Linking words are words or phrases that show the relationship between paragraphs, sentences, or sections. Some examples are below:

Simply put, we use linking words to connect ideas and ideas, paragraphs and paragraphs that help you deliver an organized, readable, and engaging speech. 

Note: Only Premium members can access this list!

*Practice makes perfect!

Live-interactive DET Practice Website

Strategy is vital to aim for a high Production sub-score in your Duolingo English Test, but you cannot master the technique without adequate practice. We completely understand our members’ pain points, so we are here to offer thousands of questions for your practice. On top of that, our correcting systems will assess your performance and provide detailed feedback based on the same grading elements that the Duolingo English Test uses to evaluate test-takers' skills including Content, Fluency, Coherence, Lexis (Lexical Sophistication and Lexical Diversity), Grammar (Grammatical Accuracy and Grammatical Complexity), and Acoustic features (Pronunciation). 

Students don't need to spend a large amount of budget on live training courses, they simply utilise our detailed feedback, learn from their own mistakes and avoid similar ones in the next try.

Here is sample feedback when students practice a Speak About the Photo question, feel free to review video sample feedback for a better understanding.

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