Speaking 7.0: What "Fluent Enough" Actually Sounds Like

Band 7 Speaking still pauses, still searches for a word, still corrects itself — what it does not do is lose the listener. Short marked-up transcripts, pauses and all, show exactly where the line between 6 and 7 sits in each of the four official criteria; then one original Part 3 answer is decoded across all four, and a thirty-second check runs the same test on your own recording. Updated for 2026: Speaking is the one skill the move to computer leaves alone, and Part 2 looks at One Skill Retake from Speaking's side.

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Category:Band-Score Targeting

Contents

1. Part 1 — "Fluent enough" is a line, not a feeling
2. Part 2 — What's changing in 2026 — Speaking's own version
3. Part 3 — Fluency and Coherence: where the line sits
4. Part 4 — The other three criteria, at "enough"
5. Part 5 — One answer, decoded
6. Part 6 — Hearing the line in your own recording
7. The end

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