45 UK Visa English Test Questions with Model Answers: A1, A2 and B1 Speaking and Listening

Model answer at A1 (written by TalkDrill)

My name is Kulwinder Kaur. I am from Jalandhar. It is a city in Punjab, in India. I am thirty-four years old. Now I live in Southall, in London, with my husband. I came to the UK two years ago. I like it here, but I miss my mother.

To the follow-up: I came to the UK because my husband lives here. He works in a shop. We want to live together.

Model answer at A1 (written by TalkDrill)

I have a small family. My husband is called Asad. He is a taxi driver. We have two children. My son is six and my daughter is three. My son goes to school. My daughter is at home with me. My mother and father live in Lahore. I talk to them on the phone every day.

To the follow-up: I like living with my family because I am happy with them. My children make me laugh.

Model answer at A1 (written by TalkDrill)

I live in Birmingham. My home is a small house with two bedrooms. There is a kitchen, a living room and a bathroom. We have a small garden. My children play there. The house is near a park and a bus stop. The neighbours are friendly. There is a shop at the end of the street.

To the follow-up: I like my home because it is quiet and it is near the school. The rooms are warm in winter.

Model answer at A1 (written by TalkDrill)

I get up at six o'clock. I pray and then I make breakfast. My children go to school at half past eight. I clean the house and I cook lunch. In the afternoon I go shopping or I visit my sister. In the evening we eat dinner together and watch television. I go to bed at ten.

To the follow-up: I get up at six because my children need breakfast and clean clothes before school. I like the morning.

Model answer at A1 (written by TalkDrill)

I like rice and fish. In Bangladesh we eat rice every day. Here I cook rice with fish curry and vegetables. My children like chips and pizza. I like tea with milk and sugar. I drink three cups a day. I do not like very sweet cakes. On Friday we eat together with my husband's family.

To the follow-up: I like fish curry because my mother cooked it at home. It tastes like my country and it is healthy.

Model answer at A1 (written by TalkDrill)

Yes, I work. I am a care assistant in a care home in Leicester. I help old people. I give them food and help them wash. I work four days a week. I start at seven in the morning and finish at three. My manager is kind. Before, in Gujarat, I was a teacher.

To the follow-up: I like my job because the old people are happy to see me. But the work is hard for my back.

Model answer at A1 (written by TalkDrill)

At the weekend I do not work. On Saturday I go to the market with my wife. We buy vegetables and meat. In the afternoon I watch football on television. On Sunday we go to church. After church we eat lunch with friends from Nigeria. The children play outside. In the evening I call my brother in Lagos.

To the follow-up: I do these things because I am with my family all day. In the week I am at work.

Model answer at A1 (written by TalkDrill)

Yes, I like shopping. I go to a big supermarket near my house for milk, bread and rice. I go on Monday. For clothes I go to the shopping centre in the town. I go there with my daughter. Sometimes I buy things on my phone. The shops here are very big. In my village the shop was small.

To the follow-up: I go to the supermarket because it is cheap and it is near my home. I can walk there.

Model answer at A1 (written by TalkDrill)

In the Philippines the weather is hot. It is hot all year. In June and July there is a lot of rain. Sometimes there are big storms. In England the weather is cold and it rains. In winter it is dark at four o'clock. I wear a big coat. My children like the snow. I do not.

To the follow-up: I like hot weather because I can go outside and sit with friends. In the cold I stay at home.

Model answer at A1 (written by TalkDrill)

I usually go by bus. The bus stop is near my house. I take the number 207 to the shops. My husband has a car, but he takes it to work. I walk to the school with my children. It is ten minutes. Sometimes we take the train to see my sister in Leeds. The train is fast but expensive.

To the follow-up: I go by bus because I do not drive. The bus is easy and it comes every ten minutes.

Model answer at A1 (written by TalkDrill)

When I am ill, I stay at home and rest. I drink hot water with lemon and honey. If I have a headache, I take a paracetamol. If I am very ill, I call the doctor. My GP is in the health centre near the park. My husband goes to the pharmacy for my medicine.

To the follow-up: I rest at home because sleep helps me. I do not want to give my illness to my children.

Model answer at A1 (written by TalkDrill)

My favourite festival is Eid. We get up early and pray. Then we eat a big breakfast with sweet rice. I wear new clothes. We visit my husband's family in Bradford. The children get money and presents. In the evening many friends come to our house. I cook biryani. We are happy all day.

To the follow-up: It is my favourite because all my family are together. We eat good food and the children are happy.

Model answer at A1 (written by TalkDrill)

Yes, I have some friends. My best friend is called Fatima. She lives on my street. We drink tea together in the afternoon. We go to the park with our children. On Friday we go to the mosque. My husband's friends come to watch cricket on television. I cook for them. We talk about our families.

To the follow-up: Fatima is a good friend because she helps me. When I was ill, she took my son to school.

Model answer at A1 (written by TalkDrill)

Yes, I study English. I go to a class at the community centre on Tuesday and Thursday. The teacher is called Sarah. We speak and we write. At home I watch English television with subtitles. I use an app on my phone every day for twenty minutes. My daughter helps me with new words.

To the follow-up: I want to learn English because I want to talk to the doctor and the teachers myself, without help.

Model answer at A1 (written by TalkDrill)

Tomorrow is Saturday. In the morning I am going to clean the house. Then I am going to the market with my husband. We are going to buy vegetables and fish. In the afternoon my sister is coming to visit. I am going to cook dinner for her. In the evening we are going to watch a film at home.

To the follow-up: I am going to the market because the vegetables are fresh and cheap on Saturday. My sister likes my cooking.

Model answer at A2 (written by TalkDrill)

A typical day starts early. I get up at half past five because I work the morning shift at a warehouse in Slough. I take the bus at six and work until three, with a half-hour break for lunch. After work I pick up my daughter from the after-school club. I cook something quick, usually dal and rice, and she does her homework. In the evening I call my parents in Gujranwala, and then I study English for half an hour before I sleep.

To the follow-up: My days are busy because I work full time and my wife works evenings, so I look after our daughter after school.

Model answer at A2 (written by TalkDrill)

Last weekend was quiet but nice. On Saturday morning I went to the gurdwara with my mother-in-law and we helped in the kitchen for two hours. In the afternoon I took the children to the library because it was raining. On Saturday evening my husband's cousin came for dinner and we talked until late. On Sunday we stayed at home. I cleaned, washed the clothes and cooked for the week. I was tired on Monday, but I felt happy.

To the follow-up: We went to the library because it was raining and the children were bored at home. It is free and warm.

Model answer at A2 (written by TalkDrill)

I live in Luton, which is a town about thirty miles north of London. It is not very big, but it has an airport, a large shopping centre and a lot of parks. There are many families from Pakistan and Bangladesh in my area, so there are halal shops and a mosque near my home. The train to London takes about forty minutes. Some streets are busy and noisy, but my street is quiet, and the schools near us are good.

To the follow-up: I like living here because my husband's family is close and I can find everything I need near my house, in my own language if I want.

Model answer at A2 (written by TalkDrill)

In the Philippines I worked as a nurse in a hospital in Cebu for six years, on a children's ward. Here in the UK I work as a healthcare assistant in a care home while I prepare for my nursing registration. I help the residents to wash and dress, I serve their meals and I check their blood pressure. I work twelve-hour shifts, three days a week. The night shifts are difficult, but the team is friendly and my manager helps me with my English.

To the follow-up: I chose nursing because my aunt was a nurse and I saw how people respected her. I also wanted a job where I could help people every day.

Model answer at A2 (written by TalkDrill)

I do both, but it depends on what I need. For food I go to the shops. Every Saturday I walk to the Asian supermarket for rice, spices, vegetables and fresh meat, because I want to see the quality before I buy. For milk and bread I use the small shop on the corner. For clothes and shoes I usually buy online, because the sizes are easy to return and the prices are lower. I do not like paying for delivery, so I wait until the order is free.

To the follow-up: I prefer the shops for food because I can check the vegetables are fresh. Online, you cannot touch anything, and once the tomatoes arrived soft.

Model answer at A2 (written by TalkDrill)

Last month I went to Manchester to visit my sister. I went by coach because it was much cheaper than the train. The journey took about five hours. I left at eight in the morning and arrived after lunch. My sister met me at the station and we took a tram to her flat. I stayed for three nights. We cooked together, went to a big market and visited the mosque in her area. On the way back the coach was late, but I did not mind.

To the follow-up: I went because my sister had a new baby and I wanted to help her for a few days. It was the first time I saw my nephew.

Model answer at A2 (written by TalkDrill)

I try to do three things. First, I walk every day. I walk my children to school and back, and in the evening I walk for twenty minutes in the park with my neighbour. Second, I cook at home most days, so we eat vegetables, lentils and rice, and we have takeaway only on Fridays. Third, I go to bed before eleven. I used to drink a lot of sweet tea, but my doctor told me to cut the sugar, so now I have one spoon.

To the follow-up: It is important because my father has diabetes and I do not want the same problem. I also need to be strong for my children.

Model answer at A2 (written by TalkDrill)

I have two children. My daughter Aisha is nine and my son Ibrahim is five. Aisha is in year four at the primary school near our house. She loves reading and she is very good at maths. Ibrahim started school last September. He was shy at first, but now he has many friends and he likes football and drawing. In the evenings I help them with homework, and at the weekend we visit their grandparents in Birmingham. They speak English with each other and Arabic with me.

To the follow-up: I am proud because Aisha won a reading prize at school last term, and because Ibrahim learned English in a few months. They work hard.

Model answer at A2 (written by TalkDrill)

My favourite room is the kitchen. It is not big, but it is warm and bright because the window faces the garden. I spend most of my day there. In the morning I make breakfast and the children eat at the small table. In the afternoon I cook for the evening and listen to Bengali songs on my phone. When friends visit, we always sit in the kitchen, not the living room, because the tea is there. On cold days it is the warmest room in the house.

To the follow-up: I spend a lot of time there because cooking is my job at home and I enjoy it. It is also where my family talks to each other.

Model answer at A2 (written by TalkDrill)

We celebrate Diwali every year, even in the UK. A few days before, we clean the whole house and I buy new clothes for the children. On the day, we get up early and do a small prayer at home. I make sweets like ladoo and barfi. In the evening we light small lamps in the windows and outside the front door. Then we visit my husband's parents in Wembley and eat together. Last year our English neighbours came to see the lamps, and we gave them sweets.

To the follow-up: It is important because it is the time when all our family meets, and because I want my children to know our traditions even though they grew up here.

Model answer at A2 (written by TalkDrill)

There are many things I like here. The schools are free and good, the GP is free, and the buses run on time. People are polite in shops and nobody shouts in a queue. The thing I miss most is my family. In Faisalabad my mother, my sisters and my cousins all lived within ten minutes of us, and someone was always visiting. Here the evenings are quiet. I also miss the fruit, especially mangoes, and the weather. The first winter was very hard for me.

To the follow-up: I miss my family most because I grew up in a house full of people. When my children are at school the house is silent, and I feel it.

Model answer at A2 (written by TalkDrill)

I enjoy sewing. I learned from my mother when I was about twelve, in Sylhet. Now I have a sewing machine at home and I make clothes for my daughters, mostly salwar kameez for Eid. I also repair clothes for my neighbours, and sometimes they pay me a little. I sew in the afternoon when the house is quiet, usually for an hour. Last year I made a dress for my niece's wedding and everyone asked who made it. I would like to sell my clothes online one day.

To the follow-up: I started because my mother sewed all our clothes and I wanted to be like her. Now I continue because it relaxes me and it saves money.

Model answer at A2 (written by TalkDrill)

I use my phone all day. In the morning I check WhatsApp messages from my family in Nigeria and from the school, because the school sends letters by app now. I use Google Maps when I go somewhere new, because I still get lost in London. I pay bills on the banking app and I buy bus tickets on my phone. In the evening I make a video call to my mother in Ibadan, usually for half an hour. I also use an English learning app before bed.

To the follow-up: It is useful because everything in the UK is online now, the school, the bank and the GP. Without my phone I could not do simple things.

Model answer at A2 (written by TalkDrill)

I have three plans. The first is to pass this test and then apply for my visa extension. The second is to finish my English course at the college; I want to move up a level in September. The third is to find a part-time job. My younger son starts nursery in January, so I will have the mornings free. I would like to work in a school kitchen or a shop near home. If I get a job, we are going to save for a trip to Dhaka.

To the follow-up: The job is my main plan because I want to earn my own money and use my English every day. Staying at home all day makes my English slow.

Model answer at A2 (written by TalkDrill)

My neighbour Margaret helps me a lot. She is about seventy and she has lived on our street for forty years. When we moved here three years ago she brought us a cake and told us where everything was. Now she helps me with letters from the council when I do not understand them, and she looks after my children for an hour if I have an appointment. In return I cook for her on Sundays. Last winter, when my husband was in hospital, she drove me there every day.

To the follow-up: She is important because she was the first English person who was kind to us here. She is like a grandmother to my children.

Model answer at B1 (written by TalkDrill)

I am Harpreet, I am forty-one, and I came to the UK from Ludhiana nearly five years ago to join my husband. Before that I had never lived outside Punjab. The biggest change was work. In India I ran a small tailoring business from home; here I started as a cleaner in a hotel because my English was weak, and now I supervise a team of six. We live far from family, so my husband and I share the housework and the school runs, which my mother still finds strange. I have become more independent. I deal with the council, the GP and the school myself, and I drive. I would say I am the same person, but with more confidence and less free time.

To the follow-up: The hardest change was being alone during the day in the first year. I had no friends and no work, and the silence in the house made me homesick. Joining an English class fixed it.

Model answer at B1 (written by TalkDrill)

I would like to work as a teaching assistant in a primary school. I have been volunteering two mornings a week at my daughter's school since last year, mostly helping children who speak Urdu or Punjabi at home, and I have found that I am good at it. The children trust me because I understand what it is like to learn in a second language. The hours also suit a family: I would finish when my own children finish. To get there I need two things: a level two qualification in supporting teaching and learning, which the college offers in the evening, and better written English, because teaching assistants write short reports. I plan to start the course next September, once my youngest is in full-time school.

To the follow-up: Money could stop me, because the course has a fee and I would earn less than I do now in the warehouse. I would ask about the council's adult learning grant and work weekends for a year.

Model answer at B1 (written by TalkDrill)

Yes, I strongly think they should, and we do this at home. My children speak English at school and Bengali with me and their grandparents. I think it matters for three reasons. First, family. My mother in Sylhet does not speak English, and if my children lost Bengali they would lose her too. Second, identity. They are British, but they are also Bangladeshi, and language is the easiest way to keep that part alive. Third, it is useful. Two languages open more doors later. I admit it takes effort. My son answers me in English when he is tired, and I have to insist gently. We read Bengali stories at bedtime and we visit Bangladesh every two or three years.

To the follow-up: I would say the confusion is short and the benefit is long. My daughter mixed the languages at three, and by six she kept them separate without any help from us.

Model answer at B1 (written by TalkDrill)

It has changed everything, especially for families like mine that are spread across three countries. When my father came to England in the nineties, he phoned home once a week from a call box and a letter took two weeks to reach Jalandhar. Now I speak to my mother every morning on a video call while she has her tea and I make the children's breakfast. We have a family WhatsApp group with about forty people in it, from Canada, India and the UK, where photos of every birthday appear within minutes. My children know their cousins in Toronto even though they have met them twice. Money is easier too; I send something to my parents from my phone in seconds instead of going to an agent in town.

To the follow-up: Mostly, yes, because distance hurts less than it did for my father. But the group also brings every argument and every piece of gossip into the house, and sometimes I mute it for a week.

Model answer at B1 (written by TalkDrill)

Last winter the boiler in our rented flat stopped working in the first week of December. I phoned the letting agent and they said someone would come within a few days, but nobody came for two weeks and we had two small children in a cold flat. At first I kept calling and being polite, which achieved nothing. Then a friend told me about Shelter's website, and I learned that the landlord has a legal duty to repair heating within a reasonable time. I wrote an email to the agent, quoted that duty, gave a date, and said I would contact the council's housing team if nothing happened. An engineer came two days later. It taught me that in the UK a written record works better than a phone call.

To the follow-up: I would write the email on the first day instead of phoning for two weeks, and I would take photos of the thermometer every morning so I had evidence from the start.

Model answer at B1 (written by TalkDrill)

For me the biggest difference is how people use time. In Lagos, life is loud and social and nothing starts exactly when it is supposed to. Neighbours drop in without calling, and if you arrive an hour late nobody minds. Here, time is organised. The school gate closes at five to nine, the GP gives you ten minutes, and if you invite someone for seven they arrive at seven. At first I found this cold. I thought people did not want to see me because they asked me to arrange a visit a week ahead. Now I understand it is a form of respect for other people's day, and I have started to like it. The price is that friendships take longer to build here.

To the follow-up: It matters because it changed how I see friendship. In Nigeria closeness means being present without being asked; here it means being reliable. I am learning to value both.

Model answer at B1 (written by TalkDrill)

In the long run I think buying is better, if you can manage it, and that is the big "if". We rented for six years in Leicester and in that time we moved three times, twice because the landlord sold the house. Each move cost us money, the children changed schools once, and we could never paint a wall. Two years ago we bought a small terraced house with help from my brother-in-law, and the difference is mainly peace of mind. The mortgage is a little less than our last rent. Having said that, renting has advantages. If the boiler breaks it is not my bill, and if my husband's job moved to Birmingham we could follow it in a month.

To the follow-up: No, for a young single person I would say rent for a few years. They do not know yet where their work or their partner will take them, and the deposit is better spent on training.

Model answer at B1 (written by TalkDrill)

I think it is very important, more important than people here sometimes realise. In my street in Mirpur everyone knew everyone, and when my father was ill, food arrived at our door every evening for a month without anyone asking. When we moved to our street in Bradford, for the first year we only knew the family on one side. Then there was a burglary two doors down, and suddenly people started talking. Now we have a street WhatsApp group, we take in each other's parcels, and the old man opposite waters our plants when we are in Pakistan. Knowing your neighbours makes a street safer, it helps in an emergency, and for someone new to the country it is the quickest way to learn how things work.

To the follow-up: Small things. Introduce yourself when someone moves in, join or start a street group, and say yes once to the summer street party even if you do not drink. Most people are waiting for someone else to go first.

Model answer at B1 (written by TalkDrill)

If I could change one thing about Oldham, it would be the buses in the evening. During the day the service is fine, but after seven the buses on our route come every forty minutes, and the last one is before ten. It shapes people's lives. My husband finishes his shift at the hospital at half past nine and often waits in the cold for half an hour. Young people cannot take evening jobs in the town centre unless someone drives them. If the buses ran every fifteen minutes until midnight, more people would work, more people would use the town centre in the evening, and fewer families would need a second car. I know the council says there is no money, but I think it would pay for itself.

To the follow-up: I think the council and the bus company should share it. The company earns from the extra passengers, and the council benefits from a town where people can work and shop in the evening.

Model answer at B1 (written by TalkDrill)

I use both, but if I had to choose I would say small shops, and I will explain why. We do a big supermarket shop once a fortnight for things like nappies and washing powder, because the prices are lower. But for fresh food I go to the small shops on Green Street. The Bangladeshi grocer knows which fish I buy and tells me when it is fresh. If I am short of money before payday, the grocer lets me pay on Friday, which no supermarket would ever do. Those shops also keep the street alive; when a shop closes the street feels darker. The supermarket is cheaper and faster, I accept that, but it treats every customer the same and sends its profit somewhere else.

To the follow-up: Rent and online shopping, mainly. Rents on our high street have gone up, and younger families order almost everything from their phones, so the footfall the small shops depend on has fallen.

Model answer at B1 (written by TalkDrill)

Overall I am grateful for it, with one big frustration. In the Philippines my family paid for every visit and every test, and when my father had his heart operation we borrowed money from relatives for years. Here, when my son broke his arm last summer, we went to A&E, he was x-rayed, plastered and seen by a specialist, and we paid nothing. That still amazes me. The frustration is getting a GP appointment. You have to phone at eight in the morning, the line is busy for twenty minutes, and often the only appointment is in two weeks. For a child with a high temperature that is too long, so people end up in A&E. The pharmacists here, though, are excellent and under-used.

To the follow-up: I would make the GP booking work online with same-day slots held back for children and old people. The care, once you reach it, is good; the door is the problem.

Model answer at B1 (written by TalkDrill)

I would give three pieces of advice, and I wish someone had given them to me. First, register with a GP and a dentist in the first week, before you need them, because the forms are easier when nobody is ill. Second, speak English every day with somebody who is not from your family, even if it is only the person at the school gate. I stayed inside the Punjabi community for my first two years because it was comfortable, and my English hardly moved; the day I joined a parents' group at school it started to improve. Third, learn how the paperwork works here. Reply to the council and the Home Office on time. In India a letter can wait; here, missing a date can cost you a visa.

To the follow-up: Because health problems do not wait for your English to be ready. A friend of mine was pregnant and had no GP, and the first weeks were frightening for her. Register first, then everything else.

Model answer at B1 (written by TalkDrill)

I think many people do, but not always because they want to. In my husband's warehouse, most of the men take every overtime shift they are offered, not because they love packing boxes but because rent in London has risen faster than wages and they are sending money home. So it is less about greed and more about pressure. At the same time, phones have removed the line between work and home. My sister is a care coordinator and her manager messages her at nine in the evening, and she feels she has to answer. In Lahore my father worked long hours too, but when he closed the shop he was finished. The day has just become longer and less clear, and families pay for it in tiredness.

To the follow-up: Yes, partly. I work four days, which is manageable, but I check the rota and the school app constantly, so my mind rarely stops. I have started leaving the phone in the kitchen after nine.

Model answer at B1 (written by TalkDrill)

The tradition I most want my children to keep is Vaisakhi, and especially the langar, the free community kitchen at the gurdwara. Every April our family spends the day there. My husband and his brothers chop onions from six in the morning, my mother-in-law supervises the dal, and the children carry trays and serve water to whoever sits down, whether they are Sikh, Muslim, homeless or just hungry. For a child growing up in England, where so much is about what you own, I think there is nothing better than serving a stranger a meal and expecting nothing back. It also connects them to Punjab without a lecture. I do not mind if they stop wearing traditional clothes one day. I do mind if they forget how to serve.

To the follow-up: Because it is about behaviour, not decoration. Clothes and music are easy to keep and easy to lose. Serving others changes who you are, and I want that to stay in them when I am gone.

Model answer at B1 (written by TalkDrill)

I would learn to drive. I know that sounds ordinary, but for me it would change daily life more than anything else. We live in a village outside Peterborough where the bus comes every two hours, and my husband takes the car to work at six. So every appointment, every school event and every shopping trip depends on his day off or on asking a neighbour. If I could drive, I could take a job in the town, take my mother-in-law to her hospital appointments myself, and visit my friend in Cambridge without planning it a week ahead. I have already passed the theory test, which I studied for on my phone in Arabic and then in English. My plan is one lesson a week from February.

To the follow-up: Money and confidence, honestly. Lessons cost a lot, and in Syria women in my family did not drive, so it took me time to believe it was for me. My daughter asking why I could not take her to football was the push.

Script: plan a day out for a visiting relative (A2 to B1, about four minutes)

Set-up (read aloud by the partner playing the examiner): "Your cousin is visiting from abroad for one day next Saturday. Together, decide where to take them, how you will travel, and what you will eat. You have three minutes. Please start."

Candidate A: "Shall we start with the place? I think we could take her to the city centre, because she has never seen it. What do you think?"

Candidate B: "That is a good idea, but the centre is very busy on Saturday. What about the park near the river first, and the centre in the afternoon?"

Candidate A: "Yes, I agree. The park in the morning is quieter. How should we travel? By bus or by train?"

Candidate B: "The train is faster, but it is more expensive for three people. I would say the bus, and we can sit upstairs so she can see the city. Is that all right with you?"

Candidate A: "Fine. And lunch? She does not eat meat."

Candidate B: "Then the Gujarati restaurant on the high street. Everything there is vegetarian. We went last month and it was very good."

Candidate A: "Perfect. So: park in the morning, bus into the centre, lunch at the Gujarati place, and the shops after. Shall we tell her the plan tonight?"

Candidate B: "Yes, let us call her at eight."

Examiner follow-up to each: "Why did you choose the bus and not the train?" / "What would you do if it rains?"