首先明确一点：考什么、怎么考。虽然各大名校自主出题，但命题思路是相似的。现以北京外国语大学的高考保送生口语真题为例。
英语口语考试共分为4项：
1.考生朗读英语短文，考查考生在朗读中的语音、语调是否标准、自然
2.考官就该短文内容进行提问，考生回答问题时不能参看原文
3.考生就指定话题进行长度不少于10句话的英语口头作文；时间为1分钟（一般为描述式话题）
4.考生就指定的题进行英语口头陈述；时间为3分钟（一般为思辨式话题）
其次要学会如何在短短的09秋季备考。现以去年一道北京外国语大学的真题为例。
朗读下列短文：
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?”
此题考察的是考生的语音语调是否标准、自然。而这道考题的真正考点有三：
一，生词。想必只有极少数高中生会正确地读出粗体的“cruise”、“magician”这样的词汇。保送生考试毕竟是择优考试，需要考生不仅仅满足于3500个高考必考词汇，还要记住保送生考试范围规定的生词。但这些生词从何而来？就是历年的真题和考试大纲。
二，懂得语音规则。连读和失去爆破是复习的重点，但更重要的是弱读。下划线上的三处：“It’s in his pocket, it’s in his pocket”、“It’s up his sleeve! It’s up his sleeve”、“made his”中，“his”一词的读法不是【hIz】，而变成了【Iz】，这样就使得整个句子的发音发生了根本性的改变。
三，正确区分英音、美音。题中斜体“asked”一词，英国人与美国人发音迥然不同，英音为【a:skt】，美音为【?skt】。因此，两者若不能正确区分，会让考官对该考生产生水平不高的印象，直接对分数造成致命的影响。
因此在第一题上，如果连读、失去爆破、弱读没有学好，考官会认为该考生功底不扎实；若没能正确区分英音、美音，则会被认为水平不高。
再举一例：去年北京外国语大学的一道真题：
考生就指定的话题进行长度不少于10句话的英语口头作文：
“Which of your teachers do you like most? Why?”
针对这道题，考察的其实的只有2点：
1 口语是否有逻辑性
2 口语是否用合适的词语表达真实的感受
很多考生面对这道题只会一边想一边说，其结果为逻辑混乱、结结巴巴。需要要明确的是，描述一个人自然是由表及里、先说外表再说性格的结构。同时，很多考生的口语表达方式十分匮乏。比如头发，只会说“long hair”、“short hair”，而知道中等长短“medium-length”的则少之又少。因此，学会答题的正确思路和准确、丰富的表达方式对考试是十分必要的。