The test opens gently: “Describe your job.” “When did you decide to do this work?” No storms, no emergencies — just you. And that is exactly why it's dangerous: the examiner starts scoring all six criteria from your very first sentence, while you are still warming up. This lesson makes sure your first five minutes are your strongest, not your weakest.
What the opening questions really test
Fluency before adrenaline Easy topic, so hesitation has no excuse. Long pauses on “describe your job” cost more than long pauses on a MAYDAY.
Tense control Your career story forces you through three tenses in one answer — what you do, what you did, and how long you have done it. Examiners listen for exactly this.
Structure A three-word answer ends the conversation; the examiner has to drag the rest out of you — and marks the interaction score down while doing it.
Naturalness A memorised speech sounds like a memorised speech. The goal is a flexible story you can tell in 30 seconds or 3 minutes, from any starting question.
The trap of the easy question: most candidates prepare hardest for emergencies and not at all for “tell me about yourself.” So the examiner hears rich vocabulary about wind shear — and broken grammar about the candidate's own life. Nothing signals “rehearsed, not fluent” more clearly than that gap.
Cold open — before any practice (60 seconds)
Answer now, with no preparation, and notice where you slow down: “Describe your job.” We'll come back to this at the end and compare.
01:00
Your story's grammar — three tenses, one life
Every question about you and your job lands in one of three time zones. Choose the zone first, and the grammar chooses itself.
Time zone
Tense
Sounds like
Your job now — duties, routine
Present simple
“I observe and report the weather. A shift starts with…”
The moment you chose it — finished, dated
Past simple
“I decided in my last year of school. I started in 2012.”
From then until today — unfinished, still true
Present perfect
“I have worked at the airport for ten years / since 2014.”
The classic mistake — and it is exactly the one the opening question invites: “I am working here since ten years.” Three problems in six words. The repair: have worked (present perfect, because it continues) + for ten years (a length of time) — or since 2014 (a starting point). “I have worked here for ten years” — that one sentence, correct and confident, tells the examiner more about your level than any weather word.
For or since?
For + how long (for six years, for a long time). Since + when it started (since 2018, since I finished my training). Test yourself below — then the tenses.
Complete each sentence with the correct form of the verb in brackets — or with for/since. Then check.
1. I to work in aviation when I was still at school. (decide)
2. I have been a weather observer more than eight years.
3. I at this airport since 2019. (work)
4. Before that, I meteorology for three years. (study)
5. The technology has changed a lot I started.
6. These days I usually the night shifts, because the airport is quieter. (take)
1. The examiner asks: “When did you decide to do this job?” Which opening is grammatically right — and answers the actual question?
Say your timeline (90 seconds)
Three sentences minimum, one from each time zone: what you do, when you decided or started, and how long you have done it. Then keep going — add what you studied, and one thing that has changed since you began.
01:30
The question bank — every way they ask about you
These are the shapes the opening questions take. Answer each one aloud, full time. After speaking, open the phrase box and steal anything better than what you said. The same story answers all of them — told from different doors.
1. Describe your job. What do you do?
01:30
Openers and connectors: “I'm responsible for…” · “My main task is to…” · “In practice, that means…” · “What most people don't realise is…” · “The part pilots depend on most is…” — and always land on a concrete example: “For instance, on a foggy morning…”
2. When did you decide to do this job?
01:30
Time-zone toolkit: “I decided when… / It goes back to…” · “What first attracted me was…” · “I'd always been interested in…, so when the chance came…” · “I started in… and I've been doing it ever since.” A moment, a reason, a result — that's the full answer.
3. Why did you choose this profession — what attracted you to it?
01:30
Reasons that sound real: “Partly because…, but mainly because…” · “What appealed to me was the combination of… and…” · “I liked the idea that my work would actually matter to…” Two reasons beat one; one honest detail beats five general ones.
4. How did you become a weather observer? What training did you do?
01:30
The training story: “First I studied…, then I did a course in…” · “The training took… and covered…” · “The hardest part to learn was…” · “And you never really stop learning, because…” Sequence words (first, then, after that, eventually) carry this answer.
5. Describe a typical shift, from arriving to going home.
02:00
Routine language: “The first thing I do is…” · “Every half hour / At fixed times, I…” · “Between observations, I…” · “If anything unusual develops, I…” — and one sentence about handover: “At the end of the shift I brief the next observer on…”
6. What do you enjoy most about your work — and what is the hardest part?
01:30
Balance it: “The thing I enjoy most is…, because…” · “On the other hand, the hardest part is probably…” · “It can be stressful when…, but that's also when the job matters most.” Giving both sides in one answer is exactly the “extended discourse” the top levels require.
7. How has your job changed since you started?
01:30
Change language (present perfect territory): “It has changed enormously — when I started, we used to…, whereas now…” · “Automation has taken over…, but it hasn't replaced…” · “The biggest change has been…” The pattern used to + now makes this answer almost write itself.
8. How do you use English in your work?
01:30
Be specific: “All our reports use standard international formats, so…” · “I use English every time I…” · “The moments when English really matters are…” — and it is completely fine, even impressive, to say: “That's exactly why I'm taking this test seriously.”
9. What are your plans — where do you see yourself in five years?
01:30
Future forms: “I'm hoping to…” · “I'd like to move towards…” · “If the opportunity comes, I'll…” · “Whatever happens, I want to keep…” Honest and modest beats ambitious and vague.
Notice what all nine questions have in common: they are one story — your story — entered through different doors. Prepare the story (the moment you chose it, the training, the routine, the change, the future), not nine separate speeches, and no question in this part can surprise you.
Upgrade the answer — from Level 3 to Level 5
Same question, three answers. Your job: judge them the way the examiner does, then rebuild the weak ones aloud. The question throughout: “When did you decide to do this job?”
2. Answer A: “In 2012.” — What is the real problem with it?
3. Answer B: “I am deciding this job in 2012 because I am always liking the weather since I am a child.” — The examiner hears effort and personality, but what pattern is costing a whole level?
Now build Answer C yourself (60 seconds)
Take Answer B's content — decided in 2012, loved weather since childhood — and say the Level 5 version aloud: correct tenses, a reason, and one concrete detail. Then compare.
01:00
Something like: “I decided back in 2012, but honestly, the interest goes back much further — I've been fascinated by the weather since I was a child. When I found out there was a job where you watch the sky professionally, and pilots actually depend on what you tell them, the decision more or less made itself. I've never seriously considered doing anything else.” — Notice: decided (moment), have been fascinated since (childhood to now), a reason, a touch of personality. Under twenty seconds to say.
The shape that upgrades any answer
1 · The direct answer Answer the actual question in the first sentence — the date, the fact, the choice.
2 · The reason or story “because…” / “it started when…” — one or two sentences of why.
3 · The detail One concrete, visual detail no other candidate would say. Details are what fluent sounds like.
4 · The door left open End on something the examiner can pick up: “…and that's still my favourite part of the job.” You are feeding the conversation, which is the interaction score.
The follow-up trap — when they interrupt your prepared answer
Examiners know candidates prepare the big questions. So they listen politely — and then push off your script: “Why?” “For example?” “Was it difficult?” The follow-up is where they find your real level. The skill: treat every follow-up as a gift — it tells you exactly what to say next.
The four follow-ups and their answers
They say
They want
Your first words
“Why is that?”
A reason
“Mainly because…”
“For example?”
One concrete case
“Well, just last winter…”
“Was that difficult?”
Honesty + detail
“At first, yes — especially…”
“What do you mean by…?”
A paraphrase
“What I mean is…”
The one wrong move: restarting your prepared speech from the beginning. It tells the examiner the speech was memorised — the exact suspicion the follow-up exists to test. Answer the small question that was actually asked, then flow on.
Chain drill — answer, then survive the follow-up
Chain 1 (2 minutes total)
Answer: “What does your job involve?” — speak for about 40 seconds. Then, wherever you are, imagine the interruption: “For example?” — give one specific morning, one specific storm, one specific report. Keep talking until the timer ends.
02:00
Chain 2 (2 minutes total)
Answer: “When did you decide to do this job?” — about 40 seconds. Then the interruption: “Was your family surprised?” — a question you almost certainly haven't prepared. Notice that unprepared is fine: past simple, one honest detail, keep moving.
02:00
Chain 3 (2 minutes total)
Answer: “What's the hardest part of your work?” — about 40 seconds. Then: “What do you mean by that?” — paraphrase what you just said in completely different words. (This is the paraphrasing skill from Lesson 3, pointed at your own sentences.)
02:00
4. Mid-answer, the examiner asks a follow-up you don't fully understand. The Level 5 move?
Full mock interview — eight questions, no stopping
Run the whole opening section as one continuous interview. Read each question aloud in the examiner's voice, then answer in your own. One timer for the whole thing — keep the conversation alive for all eight minutes. If a word is missing, go around it; if you make a mistake, correct it once and move on, like a professional.
The interview (8 minutes)
Good morning. To begin — could you describe your job for me?
When did you decide to do this kind of work?
And why this profession — what attracted you?
What training did you need to become qualified?
Take me through a typical shift.
How has the work changed since you started?
What part of the job would you happily give away — and what part would you never give up?
Finally — how important is English in your daily work?
08:00
The comparison
Cold open, round two (60 seconds)
Answer the very first question of this lesson again: “Describe your job.” Same timer as the start. Compare: smoother start? Better tenses? A real example this time? That difference is what this lesson built.
01:00
Self-check
The opening interview is the cheapest place in the whole test to gain a level — it is the only part you can fully know in advance. Tell your story until it is flexible, not memorised, and you walk into the harder sections already ahead.