What Part 2 asks, exactly
In VSTEP Speaking Part 2, Solution discussion (Thảo luận giải pháp), you are given a situation and three suggested solutions, and you must say which one is best and argue against the other two. The ULIS test format page puts it this way: "Test takers are provided a situation with three suggested solutions. Test takers need to give their own opinions of the best solution among three options." The ULIS format PDF, in Vietnamese, adds the part many candidates miss: phản biện các giải pháp còn lại, argue against the remaining solutions. So a complete answer has four moves: name your choice, justify it with two reasons tied to the situation, give each rejected option one fair point and one flaw, and close. This page shows the structure, the planning minute, a B2 and a C1 model of the same task, ten practice situations, the comparison language, and the seven ways answers lose marks. ULIS is the University of Languages and International Studies at Vietnam National University, Hanoi, the home centre of the test.
- English wording: a situation with three suggested solutions; give your own opinion of the best one (ULIS test format page).
- Vietnamese wording: "Thí sinh phải đưa ra ý kiến về giải pháp tốt nhất trong 3 giải pháp được đưa ra và phản biện các giải pháp còn lại" (ULIS format PDF).
- Time: 12 minutes for the whole Speaking test; no official time for Part 2 or its planning. We practise it as 1 minute to plan and up to 3 minutes to speak.
- Marking: the five ULIS Speaking criteria: grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, fluency, and content and organisation.
- Level: the ULIS Level 4 (B2) description ends with explaining a viewpoint on a topical issue and the advantages and disadvantages of different options. ULIS writes that line about texts, but it is exactly what Part 2 asks you to do aloud.
Here is what a Part 2 task looks like in our practice bank. The layout is ours; the Vietnamese instruction line is quoted from the ULIS format PDF. For the official layout, open the sample test on the ULIS format page (a Google Drive file that would not open for us this week, so we have not described it).
Example task (written by TalkDrill, bank task P2-04)
Phần 2: Thảo luận giải pháp. Thí sinh được cung cấp một tình huống và 3 giải pháp đề xuất. Thí sinh phải đưa ra ý kiến về giải pháp tốt nhất trong 3 giải pháp được đưa ra và phản biện các giải pháp còn lại.
Situation: Mr Hùng has just started a new job in the city centre, about twelve kilometres from his home. He is deciding how to travel to work. There are three options:
Option 1: ride his motorbike. Option 2: take the bus. Option 3: buy an electric bicycle.
Which option do you think is the best? Give reasons, and say why the other two are less suitable.
The four-move structure: choose one, reject two
This is the structure every Part 2 model on our site follows. The timings are our practice targets for an answer of up to three minutes; ULIS publishes none.
| Move | What you do | Practice time (ours) | What it sounds like (bank task P2-04) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Situation and choice | Restate the situation in your own words in one sentence, then name your choice. | About 15 seconds | "Mr Hùng needs to travel twelve kilometres to the city centre every day, and he could use his motorbike, the bus or an electric bicycle. I would advise him to take the bus." |
| 2. Why it is best | Two reasons, each tied to a fact in the situation, each with a detail or example. | About 70 seconds | "My first reason is that the bus is the least stressful option... My second reason is cost. A monthly bus pass is much cheaper than petrol and parking in the city centre." |
| 3. Why not the other two | For each rejected option: grant one real strength, then give the flaw that matters for this person. | About 35 seconds each | "Of course, the motorbike is the most flexible... However, flexibility is less important for a regular trip..." "The electric bicycle is cheap to run... The problem is the distance." |
| 4. Close | Restate the choice in new words; optionally add one small follow-on step. | About 15 seconds | "So, overall, I think the bus is the most sensible choice. If the route is not convenient, he could ride to a nearby stop and take the bus from there." |
Choice first or choice last?
Some prep materials teach the reverse order: reject two options first, then reveal your choice at the end. We recommend choice first, for three reasons. It answers the question in the first fifteen seconds, which is the relevance part of the content criterion. If time runs short, your choice is already on the recording. And it stops you changing your mind halfway, which happens surprisingly often when candidates start talking before they have decided. Choice-last can work for confident C1 speakers who control their timing; for most candidates aiming at B2, it is a risk with no reward.
Why grant a strength before rejecting
Rejecting an option with "Option 3 is bad" is short, rude and weak. Granting a real strength first ("A café job would give her some money and experience of dealing with customers") and then naming a flaw specific to the situation ("but after the first week she would not learn much more") does three things at once: it shows you understood the option, it uses concession language that markers hear as B2, and it makes your rejection more convincing. It is also exactly what phản biện means: a reasoned counter-argument, not a dismissal.
What to do in the planning minute
ULIS does not publish a planning time for Part 2; our timer gives one minute, and you should check the on-screen instructions on the day. Whatever time you get, spend it deciding, not writing sentences. Sentences written in a minute come out stiff when read aloud, and reading is not speaking. A three-row grid in keywords is enough:
| Option (bank task P2-01, Lan's first-year housing) | + for Lan | − for Lan |
|---|---|---|
| Dormitory | 5 min walk; first-year friends, clubs | noisy? |
| Room with two friends | freedom, nicer room | rent + deposit + bills; contract before she knows Hanoi |
| Aunt, 10 km away | cheapest; parents reassured | 40 min at peak; family rules, misses evenings |
Then a fifteen-second decision rule: choose the option with two pluses that use facts from the situation, not the option you personally like best. "Lan is from a small town" and "first year" point to the dormitory; "ten kilometres" is the fact that sinks the aunt's house. Facts from the prompt are free evidence, and markers notice when you use them. Spend the last fifteen seconds choosing your opening sentence and your two linkers ("The main reason is...", "The second reason is..."), then stop planning and breathe.
One situation, a B2 answer and a C1 answer
Both answers below were written by TalkDrill for this page. They are not official answers and not real candidates' answers, and ULIS does not publish scores for single answers, so no score is attached. They follow the same four moves, so you can see that the difference between B2 and C1 is not structure or length.
The task (written by TalkDrill)
Situation: During exam season, the library at your university is so crowded that many students cannot find a seat. The university is considering three solutions:
Option 1: keep the library open 24 hours a day during exam weeks. Option 2: introduce an online booking system for seats. Option 3: open empty classrooms as study rooms in the evenings.
Which solution do you think is the best? Give reasons, and say why the other two are less suitable.
B2 model answer (written by TalkDrill)
"The library is too crowded during exams, and the university could keep it open twenty-four hours, introduce online seat booking, or open empty classrooms in the evenings. In my opinion, opening empty classrooms is the best solution.
The main reason is that it adds space immediately. The problem is simply that there are more students than seats, and a university has dozens of classrooms that stand empty after five o'clock. Opening even ten of them would add hundreds of places overnight. The second reason is cost. The rooms already have lights, desks and fans, so the university only needs a guard and a cleaner.
Opening the library twenty-four hours sounds attractive, and some students do like studying late. However, it does not create a single new seat. The same people would simply stay longer, and the library would still be full at the busiest times, in the afternoon and early evening. It would also mean paying staff to work all night.
An online booking system would make things fairer, because nobody could keep a seat with a bag all day. The problem is that it shares out the same small number of seats. Students who do not get a booking would still have nowhere to go, and some would book a seat and then not turn up.
So, all things considered, I would choose the classrooms. They solve the real problem, which is space, and they cost very little. If they work well, the university could add a simple booking system for the library later."
C1 model answer (written by TalkDrill)
"What the library really lacks during exam season isn't opening hours or a fairer queue; it's space. That's why, of the three proposals, I'd back opening empty classrooms in the evenings, and I'd argue the other two treat the symptoms rather than the cause.
The case for the classrooms is almost arithmetic. Demand peaks for a few weeks a year, and the campus already has rooms that sit idle after five o'clock, furnished and lit. Opening a dozen of them would add capacity overnight at the cost of a security guard and a cleaner, which is about as cheap as a solution gets. It's also flexible: rooms can be opened or closed week by week as demand rises and falls.
Granted, a twenty-four-hour library would be welcomed by night owls, and it sends a signal that the university takes exams seriously. But it stretches the same capacity over more hours rather than adding to it, so at four in the afternoon, when everyone wants a seat, nothing changes. And staffing a building through the night is far from cheap.
Online booking has a stronger argument, since it would end the familiar habit of reserving a seat with a bag and disappearing for three hours. Even so, it's essentially a fairer way of rationing scarcity. Those who miss out on a slot are no better off, and no-shows would leave booked seats empty while others are turned away.
So my recommendation is the classrooms, because they address the bottleneck directly. Once capacity is no longer the issue, a light-touch booking system for the library itself would be a sensible second step."
What separates the two
| ULIS criterion | B2 model | C1 model |
|---|---|---|
| Content and organisation | Four clear moves, each signposted ("The main reason", "The second reason", "However", "So, all things considered"). | The same four moves, but the opening frames the real problem first ("What the library really lacks... is space"), so every later point connects to it. |
| Vocabulary | Clear, accurate, everyday: "adds space", "fairer", "shares out", "turn up". | More precise and idiomatic: "capacity", "bottleneck", "rationing scarcity", "night owls", "light-touch", "treat the symptoms rather than the cause". |
| Grammar | Accurate conditionals ("would add", "would still be full") and comparatives, with sentence patterns kept simple and safe. | A cleft sentence ("What the library really lacks... is"), concession with "Granted... But" and "Even so", a relative clause carrying an evaluation ("which is about as cheap as a solution gets"). |
| Fluency | Steady and complete; short sentences that are easy to deliver. | Longer stretches held together without strain, which is what the ULIS Level 5 description means by fluent and spontaneous. |
The C1 answer is only slightly longer. It reaches C1 because it is more flexible and more exact, not because it says more. If you are aiming at B2, the B2 model is the one to copy; trying to sound like the C1 version before your grammar is secure usually produces errors that cost more than the vocabulary gains.
10 practice situations and the argument that wins them
These are the ten Part 2 tasks in our practice bank, all written by TalkDrill in the official shape, each with a full B2 model and a timer there. The table shows the choice our model defends and the key line of each argument, so you can test your own plan against it before you open the model. There is no correct option: the opposite choice scores just as well if it is argued just as well.
| Task | Situation and options | Our model's choice and main reason | The line that rejects the others |
|---|---|---|---|
| P2-01 | Lan's first year in Hanoi: dormitory, a room with two friends, or her aunt's house 10 km away. | Dormitory: on campus, and where first-year friendships and clubs start. | Renting means a contract before she knows the city; ten kilometres can take forty minutes at peak. |
| P2-02 | A class prize: a day trip, a class dinner, or a donation to a mountain-area children's charity. | Donation: the money does far more there, and it fits the class's community project. | A trip needs extra money from everyone; a dinner is over in two hours. |
| P2-03 | Minh, three months to improve speaking: English club, an online course with feedback, or a language partner. | Course: a teacher's weekly feedback and practice in the test format. | In a club nobody corrects anyone; partners cancel or are too polite to correct. |
| P2-04 | Mr Hùng's 12 km commute: motorbike, bus, or an electric bicycle. | Bus: the least stressful, and cheaper than petrol plus city-centre parking. | Flexibility matters less for a fixed daily trip; twelve kilometres is a long e-bike ride in office clothes. |
| P2-05 | Thảo's six free weeks: a café job, volunteering in a rural area, or a graphic design course. | Course: a skill lasts longer than the summer and helps her CV. | Café work stops teaching after a week; good volunteering needs more time and money than she has. |
| P2-06 | A family cutting plastic: own bags and boxes, sorting for recycling, or a water filter. | Own bags and boxes: it stops plastic before it enters the house. | Sorting deals with plastic already bought; a filter fixes only one kind. |
| P2-07 | Vy, stressed before finals: a strict hourly timetable, daily exercise, or a study group. | Exercise: it treats the two symptoms in the prompt, poor sleep and poor focus. | A strict timetable adds pressure when she falls behind; groups drift into chatting. |
| P2-08 | Parents' 25th anniversary on a small budget: a restaurant, a photo book and video, or a beach weekend. | Photo book and video: personal, lasting, and it costs time rather than money. | Dinner is one ordinary evening; the beach would use most of the savings. |
| P2-09 | A primary school on a busy road: police at the gate, a lower limit with speed bumps, or a school bus. | Speed bumps and a lower limit: they work all day without anyone standing there. | Police cover an hour at each end of the day; a bus leaves walkers on the same road. |
| P2-10 | Ngọc's first job: a well-paid firm in Ho Chi Minh City, a Hanoi start-up, or the public sector at home. | Public sector at home: stability, lower living costs and family nearby. | The salary gap shrinks after big-city costs; start-ups can run out of money. |
Five more situations to plan in one minute (no model)
Use these for planning practice only: one minute with the grid, then a full answer recorded. All five are ours.
- Your English class wants more speaking practice. Options: a weekly debate, a short video recorded by each student every week, or an English-only rule in class.
- A café near your university is losing customers. Options: lower its prices, offer free study space with power sockets, or run weekly English-speaking evenings.
- Your grandmother lives alone in the countryside and is getting older. Options: she moves in with your family in the city, the family pays a carer to visit every day, or a relative moves in with her.
- A small town wants more young people to stay after school. Options: build a vocational college, offer loans for small businesses, or improve internet and transport so they can work remotely.
- Your friend has failed the driving test twice. Options: more lessons with a new instructor, practice with a family member, or a six-month break before trying again.
Language for choosing, conceding and rejecting
Part 2 is a comparison, so the language that carries marks is the language of reasoning. The B1 column below is accurate but plain; the B2 and C1 columns show the range markers hear as higher levels. All examples are ours.
| Function | B1 | B2 | C1 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stating the choice | I choose option 2. | In my opinion, the best option is... / I would go for... | Of the three, I'd back... / On balance, ... strikes me as the most sensible. |
| Main reason | Because it is cheap. | The main reason is that... / What makes it the best is... | The case for... rests on... / Crucially, ... |
| Second reason | And... | On top of that, ... / My second reason is... | Beyond that, ... / Just as importantly, ... |
| Conceding | Option 1 is good but... | It is true that..., but... / Of course,... However,... | Granted,... Even so,... / Admittedly,..., but... |
| Rejecting | Option 3 is not good. | The problem with... is that... / ... would not work as well, because... | Where... falls down is... / ... treats the symptom rather than the cause. |
| Comparing | more cheap (an error) | much cheaper than / far less stressful than / not as flexible as | considerably more cost-effective / nowhere near as reliable |
| Imagining the result | If he go by bus... | If he took the bus, he would... | Were he to take the bus, ... / Had the budget been larger, ... |
| Closing | That's all. | So, all things considered, I would recommend... | So my recommendation is..., with... as a sensible second step. |
The comparative errors a marker notices at once
"More cheaper", "more better", "the most cheap", "less cheaper", "as cheap than". The rules: one-syllable adjectives take -er and -est (cheaper, cheapest); most adjectives of three or more syllables take more and most (more expensive, most convenient); never both together. To strengthen a comparative, use "much", "far" or "a lot" (much cheaper), not "very" (very cheaper). Use one accurate comparative and one superlative in every Part 2 answer and say the final sounds clearly: "cheaper", "safest".
Seven ways a Part 2 answer loses marks
These are common patterns in Part 2 answers. The criterion named is the ULIS criterion each one hurts most; the diagnosis is ours.
- Describing all three options equally, then choosing in the last sentence. The marker hears two minutes of description and a choice with no argument behind it. Content and organisation (relevance).
- Rejecting only one option, or none. The ULIS format PDF asks you to argue against the remaining solutions. Missing one leaves the task half done. Content and organisation.
- Changing your choice halfway. Usually a sign you started speaking before deciding. Use the planning time to decide. Content and organisation.
- Arguing in general instead of for this person. "Buses are good for the environment" is true everywhere; "for Mr Hùng's twelve kilometres at rush hour" answers this task. Content and organisation (relevance).
- Reading the options aloud word for word as an introduction. It uses time and shows no vocabulary. Paraphrase them in one sentence. Vocabulary.
- "Combining" two options to avoid choosing. The task asks for the best one. Choose, then add a small second step if you must. Content and organisation (relevance).
- Running out of time before the close. A long first reason squeezes out the rejections. Keep each reason to a point and one detail, and practise with a visible timer. Fluency.
A 10-day Part 2 practice route
Ten days, one situation a day from the bank, about 15 minutes each. The timings are ours.
- Plan (1 minute): the three-row grid, keywords only, a decision in fifteen seconds.
- Record (up to 3 minutes): the four moves, choice first, timer visible.
- Check (5 minutes): Did I choose in the first two sentences? Did I reject both others with a strength and a flaw? Did I use one comparative and one concession? Then read the model and the examiner note on the practice bank.
- Re-record (3 minutes): the same task, your own words, better organised.
Twice in the ten days, defend a choice against someone who pushes back. TalkDrill's role-play practice includes structured debates, such as a debate on social media for under-16s, where the counterpart argues the other side and you get a report afterwards. It is not a VSTEP task, but holding a position under pressure is the Part 2 skill. For unseen situations, the topics in group discussion practice each come with the situation spelled out.
If you are booking at ULIS, the next sittings are 14 November 2026 (registration closes at the end of 4 November) and 12 December 2026 (registration 12 November to 2 December), per the ULIS notice for 14 November and the ULIS 2026 administration plan; our dates and fees page has the details. Next, read Part 3, topic development, which uses the same reasoning language over a longer talk, or go back to Part 1. What your target level means in points is on the VSTEP score guide, and the six-week B2 plan fits these ten days into a full schedule. The official wording is on the ULIS test format page and in the Vietnamese format PDF on Định dạng đề thi VSTEP.3-5. Everything else is on the VSTEP hub.