Cambridge Speaking Part 3: Interactive Communication Phrases and the 2 plus 1 Minute Plan

What Part 3 is, in one paragraph

Part 3 is the part of the Cambridge Speaking test where the interlocutor sets up a task and then steps back, so you talk only to the other candidate, and it is where Interactive Communication is mostly won or lost. At B2 First and C1 Advanced the interlocutor puts a sheet in front of you with a question in the middle and five written prompts around it, gives you about 15 seconds to read it, and asks you to "talk to each other" for about 2 minutes. Then a second question asks you to decide something in about 1 minute. The B2 First handbook says candidates "are not expected to discuss all five prompts", "are not penalised if they fail to reach a negotiated decision", and are assessed on "their ability to hold a conversation, to turn-take appropriately, and to use the language of negotiation and collaboration". So the plan is simple: fewer prompts in more depth, real back-and-forth, and a decision that is negotiated rather than announced. Cambridge's own lesson plan for C1 Speaking puts it in one line: "It is very important to interact with the other candidate in Part 3. You will get marks for this." This page gives you the plan second by second, 50 phrases grouped by job, a full worked exchange written by TalkDrill, and what Cambridge examiners actually credited in a published B2 First test.

The task at B1, B2 and C1, side by side

The decision question is a different question from the discussion one, and it usually narrows the topic. In the handbook sample tasks, the B2 decision is "which of these things is most important if people want to eat healthily", and the C1 decision is "which two ways of communicating are the least effective". Listen for the number (one thing, or two?) and the angle (most important, least effective, easiest to change), because a decision that answers a different question is not relevant to the task.

Why a monologue costs Interactive Communication marks

Read the Interactive Communication descriptors and count the verbs that need another person. These are the Band 3 and Band 5 lines from the three handbooks.

Initiates, responds, links to other speakers, negotiates. A 60-second speech can be perfect English and still give the assessor no evidence for any of them. Here is what that looks like, written by TalkDrill to show the pattern:

A has covered every prompt and asked nothing. B has had nothing left to say and has only agreed. Both have lost evidence for Interactive Communication: A for never inviting or responding, B for never developing. And the C1 handbook names B's habit directly: "Simply agreeing or disagreeing with their partner, or echoing what their partner has said, while being a natural thing to do, will not enable them to show what they themselves can do."

What the examiners credited in a real B2 First test

Cambridge's published examiner comments for the B2 First Speaking test of Giulia, Tabatha and Elena (a group of three; PDF linked from the B2 First preparation page, read 21 October 2026) show interaction being scored separately from accuracy.

Tabatha's Interactive Communication mark was the highest of her five marks, and the comments point to her questions to her partners. Giulia, whose English was stronger elsewhere, did not out-score her on interaction, and the comments name the gap: she did not always invite in words. Asking your partner a real question is the cheapest evidence for Interactive Communication you can give.

The 2 plus 1 minute plan

The structure comes from the handbooks; the second-by-second timings are TalkDrill's recommendation. Turns of roughly 10 to 20 seconds each keep the conversation moving and leave room for both of you, but they are our guide, not a Cambridge rule.

The timing error to avoid is deciding in the discussion phase: "OK, so we agree cost is the most important" at 0:40, followed by a long silence. The decision has its own question and its own minute. Use the two minutes to explore.

The 50 phrases, by job

Phrases marked (handbook) are examples in the B2 First or C1 Advanced handbook; (lesson plan) means the official C1 Speaking Parts 3 and 4 lesson plan; (examiner comments) means a line Cambridge's examiners quoted with credit in the B2 commentary above. The rest are TalkDrill's. The lesson plan's advice is to "use a range of expressions to agree or disagree politely, ask questions and move the discussion on", and the C1 handbook suggests keeping a notebook of functional language and using "as many different ways of doing things as possible to avoid repetition". Pick two from each group.

Starting and organising (1 to 5)

Inviting your partner (6 to 12)

Agreeing, and adding something (13 to 18)

Never let an agreement phrase stand alone. "I agree" plus nothing is the echo the C1 handbook warns about; "I agree, and ..." is development.

Partly agreeing and disagreeing politely (19 to 25)

Linking and referring back (26 to 30)

Linking is the line that separates Band 3 from Band 5 at B2 ("linking contributions to those of other speakers"). One "going back to your point about" in two minutes is clear evidence of it.

Moving on and managing time (31 to 35)

Thinking time (36 to 38)

The C1 handbook recommends these "to give themselves time to think" but adds "not to over-use these as this will limit their range of language". One per minute is plenty.

Bringing in a quiet partner, and coming in on a busy one (39 to 43)

Negotiating the decision (44 to 50)

The official lesson plan's model decision minute ends without a full decision: the candidates "agree on two ideas but run out of time to agree on a third", and the answer key says "This is not necessary, however. They complete the task very well". Negotiating is the skill; the verdict is optional.

A worked exchange, B2 First (TalkDrill)

The two-minute discussion

The one-minute decision

Count the evidence: A asks two questions and B asks three; each refers back to the other at least twice; one prompt is left uncovered and then used to open the decision. Neither speaks for more than about 15 seconds at a time. None of the English is beyond B2, which is the point: Interactive Communication is earned by what you do with your partner, not by difficult vocabulary.

The C1 difference in one decision minute (TalkDrill)

At C1 the Band 5 descriptor adds "Interacts with ease" and "Widens the scope of the interaction". Here is a short decision exchange for a C1 task about ways a city could make life better for older residents (prompts: free public transport, more benches and public toilets, digital skills classes, shared housing with students, community lunch clubs); decision question: which two would make the biggest difference.

The move that makes this C1 is the first line: instead of choosing, A questions the terms of the decision, and both candidates then use that distinction to justify the choice. That is what "widens the scope of the interaction" sounds like.

If your partner talks too much, or hardly at all

You cannot choose your partner, and the B2 handbook notes that candidates from different schools may be paired together at the same centre. The good news is in the assessment rules: candidates are "assessed on their own individual performance and not in relation to each other". A difficult partner is an opportunity to show interaction skills, as long as you stay polite.

• If your partner says almost nothing: ask open questions about specific prompts (phrases 39 and 40), react warmly to whatever they say, and build on it. Keep contributing as well: the C1 handbook says strategies that invite a partner in should not "give the impression that they are relying on their partner to do all the work". Filling the silence with your own monologue is the opposite mistake.
• If your partner talks too much: wait for a breath and come in with phrase 41 or 42, connect to their last point, then hand the turn back with a question. The C1 handbook suggests teachers practise exactly this, acting out a partner who either "constantly interrupt[s]" or says "almost nothing at all" so students learn to deal politely with both.
• If you are the strong one: the B2 handbook suggests one student in each practice group be responsible "for ensuring that every member of the group gets an equal opportunity to speak". Do that job in the exam and it counts as interaction.
• If the conversation stops: at B1 the handbook says the interlocutor "will help to redirect the candidates but will not take part in the task itself". At any level, the quickest restart is phrase 33: "We haven't talked about ... yet."

From Part 3 into Part 4

Part 4 follows Part 3 without a break and develops its topic: 4 minutes at B2 First, 5 at C1 Advanced and a 3-minute general conversation at B1 Preliminary. The B2 handbook says Part 4 questions "ask primarily for an evaluation rather than for information", and the interlocutor may turn to your partner with "What do you think?", "Do you agree?" or "And you?" (at C1, "How about you?"). Two habits carry over from Part 3. First, refer back: "As we said in the last task, ..." shows you are building on the conversation. Second, respond to your partner's Part 4 answer when invited, with a reason, rather than starting fresh. The official lesson plan's Part 4 tip is to "listen to your partner and be prepared to comment or react to what they have said if asked". The bank has Part 4 sets that follow its Part 3 tasks: B2-09, B2-10, C1-09 and C1-10.

First-language habits that affect interaction

These notes are TalkDrill's judgement, drawn from our research on Cambridge candidates' first languages, not Cambridge data. Every group below includes excellent communicators; the point is to know which habit to watch in your own recordings.

More, with drills, on the pages for Spanish, Italian and Portuguese speakers and Turkish and Vietnamese speakers.

Practise Part 3 with a partner or the AI

Part 3 cannot be fully practised alone, so build the week around another voice.

1. Record one task with a partner. Use bank task B2-06 at B2 or C1-06 at C1, timed: 15 seconds, 2 minutes, 1 minute. Count your questions to your partner. Fewer than two in the discussion is the first thing to fix.
2. No partner? Use the AI. In TalkDrill's role-play practice, describe the situation ("Cambridge B2 First Speaking Part 3; you are my partner, Candidate B") and paste the task and the partner side from the bank. Run your own timer.
3. Train coming in. The group discussion mode puts you in a timed round with several AI participants who talk over each other. It is rougher than Cambridge Part 3, which is a polite two-person task, but practising phrases 41 to 43 there makes them automatic.
4. Work through the bank's Part 3 tasks: B1-06 to B1-10, B2-06 to B2-08 and C1-05 to C1-08, each twice with roles swapped.
5. Read the official lesson plan, C1 Advanced Speaking Parts 3 and 4 (useful at B2 too), and watch a Speaking test video on the B2 First or C1 Advanced preparation page with the examiner comments open.

For the long turn before it, see the Part 2 phrase page; for how the four criteria and Global Achievement turn into a grade, see the criteria and scale page. If your paper-based exam is B2 First on 7 November, 24 November or 12 December 2026, or C1 Advanced in November or December, check your Speaking date with your centre: the official dates page says Speaking test dates "are subject to local provision", so it can be a different day. All Cambridge pages are on the Cambridge English hub. Format checked against the B2 First exam-format page on 21 October 2026 and the C1 Advanced exam-format page.