Onterra TutorBand 8 model answers: Role models and inspiration
Every IELTS Speaking Part 3 question on role models and inspiration, with a band 8 model answer for each one and notes on why it scores. Part 3 answers run 4 to 6 sentences, because Part 3 rewards a developed opinion.
What kinds of people become role models in your country?
I think it varies a lot by generation, to be honest. Older relatives tend to look up to people who built something lasting, a respected teacher, a community leader, that kind of figure. Younger people, though, are much more likely to name someone they follow online. It's not that one group is right and the other wrong, it's just that the pool of visible people has completely changed with social media.
Do celebrities make good role models? Why or why not?
Sometimes, but I'd say it depends heavily on which celebrity and what they're being admired for. A musician being praised purely for talent and hard work is a reasonably healthy kind of role model. When someone is admired mainly for wealth or a curated lifestyle, though, that strikes me as a much shakier foundation. It teaches admiration for the result rather than the process.
Is it better to be inspired by someone you know personally or someone famous?
Personally, I lean towards someone you know, because you see the whole picture rather than a highlight reel. A famous person's public image is, by definition, edited. Someone in your own life, a coach, a parent, an older colleague, shows you the setbacks as well as the successes. That is arguably more useful for actually copying their behaviour.
How has social media changed who young people admire?
Enormously, and I don't think that's an exaggeration. It's compressed the distance between admiring someone and feeling like you know them personally. That can be motivating, but it also means young people are constantly comparing their ordinary daily life to someone else's edited highlights. That comparison rarely ends well for the person doing it.
Why these answers earn band 8
- "It's not that one group is right and the other wrong, it's just that the pool of visible people has completely changed" is a balanced, nuanced conclusion rather than a flat generalisation, which is exactly the developed reasoning Fluency and Coherence rewards in Part 3.
- "admiration for the result rather than the process" is precise, topic-specific phrasing under Lexical Resource that would sound out of place in a Part 1 answer but is expected here.
- "Someone in your own life, a coach, a parent, an older colleague, shows you the setbacks as well as the successes" packs an inserted list into a single sentence without losing control of it, showing real Grammatical Range and Accuracy under pressure.
- "It's compressed the distance between admiring someone and feeling like you know them personally" is an original, precise way to describe parasocial closeness without using that specific term, which is the kind of independent thinking Part 3 rewards.
- Every answer takes a clear position first and then explains it, rather than listing both sides with no conclusion, which is the single biggest difference between a band 6 and a band 8 Part 3 answer.
Timing
Part 3 answers run 30 to 45 seconds each, roughly double a Part 1 answer, because the examiner is testing whether you can develop and defend an opinion, not just state one.
Phrases worth learning
| it varies a lot by generation / by context | to open a balanced Part 3 answer that avoids an oversimple claim |
| that strikes me as | a natural way to introduce a personal judgement in a discussion answer |
| by definition | to justify a claim about something's inherent nature, like a public image being edited |
| arguably more useful for | to state an opinion while acknowledging it is debatable |
| that comparison rarely ends well for | to conclude a point about a social or psychological effect |
Give your own honest view of role models and celebrity culture in the exam; the examples above (a coach, an older colleague) are illustrations of the level of specificity to aim for, not facts to repeat.