首先明確一點：考什么、怎么考。雖然各大名校自主出題，但命題思路是相似的。現以北京外國語大學的高考保送生口語真題為例。

　　英語口語考試共分為4項：

　　1.考生朗讀英語短文，考查考生在朗讀中的語音、語調是否標準、自然

　　2.考官就該短文內容進行提問，考生回答問題時不能參看原文

　　3.考生就指定話題進行長度不少于10句話的英語口頭作文；時間為1分鐘（一般為描述式話題）

　　4.考生就指定的題進行英語口頭陳述；時間為3分鐘（一般為思辨式話題）

　　其次要學會如何在短短的09秋季備考。現以去年一道北京外國語大學的真題為例。

　　朗讀下列短文：

　　Once upon a time there was a cruise ship sailing along the coast of the Pacific Ocean. On board the ship, there was a magician, who was traveling with a parrot, his companion. The magician made his living by giving performances to the passengers on the ship.

　　One day, the magician was giving a show to some passengers. The parrot always stood on the magician’s shoulder when he gave a show. Whenever the magician told a joke, the parrot would give it away. One time the magician had a knife, he spun it around and the knife disappeared! The parrot said “It’s in his pocket, it’s in his pocket”. The crowd booed him because the parrot gave it away. The next trick he did, he waved a magic stick around and it vanished. Again, the parrot said “It’s up his sleeve! It’s up his sleeve!” The magician got mad because he couldn’t keep any of his tricks secret. The parrot kept giving them away.

　　One day the cruise ship sank. The magician and the parrot managed to swim to an island where they stayed for about 3 months when the parrot all of a sudden burst out and asked：“Ok. I give up! Where did you hide the ship?”

　　此題考察的是考生的語音語調是否標準、自然。而這道考題的真正考點有三：

　　一，生詞。想必只有極少數高中生會正確地讀出粗體的“cruise”、“magician”這樣的詞匯。保送生考試畢竟是擇優考試，需要考生不僅僅滿足于3500個高考必考詞匯，還要記住保送生考試范圍規定的生詞。但這些生詞從何而來？就是歷年的真題和考試大綱。

　　二，懂得語音規則。連讀和失去爆破是復習的重點，但更重要的是弱讀。下劃線上的三處：“It’s in his pocket, it’s in his pocket”、“It’s up his sleeve! It’s up his sleeve”、“made his”中，“his”一詞的讀法不是【hIz】，而變成了【Iz】，這樣就使得整個句子的發音發生了根本性的改變。

　　三，正確區分英音、美音。題中斜體“asked”一詞，英國人與美國人發音迥然不同，英音為【a:skt】，美音為【?skt】。因此，兩者若不能正確區分，會讓考官對該考生產生水平不高的印象，直接對分數造成致命的影響。

　　因此在第一題上，如果連讀、失去爆破、弱讀沒有學好，考官會認為該考生功底不扎實；若沒能正確區分英音、美音，則會被認為水平不高。

　　再舉一例：去年北京外國語大學的一道真題：

　　考生就指定的話題進行長度不少于10句話的英語口頭作文：

　　“Which of your teachers do you like most? Why?”

　　針對這道題，考察的其實的只有2點：

　　1 口語是否有邏輯性

　　2 口語是否用合適的詞語表達真實的感受

　　很多考生面對這道題只會一邊想一邊說，其結果為邏輯混亂、結結巴巴。需要要明確的是，描述一個人自然是由表及里、先說外表再說性格的結構。同 時，很多考生的口語表達方式十分匱乏。比如頭發，只會說“long hair”、“short hair”，而知道中等長短“medium-length”的則少之又少。因此，學會答題的正確思路和準確、豐富的表達方式對考試是十分必要的。