OPIc Questions in 2026: What You Actually Get Asked

Most people prepare for the OPIc by hunting down a list of real questions. It is the wrong search, and the test is designed so that it fails.

Your questions are generated from answers you give in the first few minutes of your own session. Nobody can hand you the list, because the list does not exist until you make it.

If you want to practise answering questions you cannot predict, SpeakShark is free with three AI conversation sessions a day and no card.

In this guide: where the questions come from · how many you get · the question types · why memorising backfires · the survey decision · how to practise · the mistakes · how we researched this guide · FAQ

Key takeaways

OPIc questions are generated from your own Background Survey, so no two candidates get the same test.
The test takes 20 to 40 minutes and ACTFL publishes no fixed question count, because the prompts are drawn at random from a pool you created.
Every question is one of five moves in disguise: describe, compare, narrate, handle a complication, ask a question back.
Memorised answers are a documented risk. ACTFL warns rehearsed responses can leave you without a rating.
Asking questions back is a real scored function and the one candidates most often never practise.

Where your questions actually come from

The OPIc session runs in a fixed order, and the first two screens decide everything that follows.

The Background Survey asks about your occupation, your living situation, your leisure activities, your hobbies and interests, your sports and your holidays. You select what applies to you. The test then builds your questions around those selections.

The Self Assessment presents five descriptions of speaking ability. Per ACTFL's Familiarization Guide, your choice determines which of five test forms is generated, and each form has its own rating range. That sets the difficulty of what you are asked.

Combine the two and you get a set of questions that is specific to you. Somebody who selected office work and cycling gets a different test from somebody who selected student life and cooking. Both are valid, both are rated on the same scale, and neither could have been predicted from a list.

This is worth sitting with, because it changes what preparation means. You cannot prepare the answers. You can only prepare the ability to produce answers.

How many questions, and how long

ACTFL's Familiarization Guide states the test takes 20 to 40 minutes to complete. It does not state a question count, and the omission is not carelessness. The guide describes prompts being randomly selected from a pool your Background Survey answers create, so a fixed number would contradict how the test is built.

This matters because question counts get quoted online with great confidence. Any specific figure is somebody reporting their own session, which tells you nothing reliable about yours.

The window itself is worth reading correctly too. Twenty to forty minutes is the whole session, including the Background Survey, the Self Assessment and the setup screens. The speaking is a good deal shorter than the outer number suggests.

Three mechanics matter more than the numbers:

You can replay each question once. Use it deliberately. The replay is most valuable for confirming exactly what is being asked, not for buying thinking time after you have already lost the thread.
There is no pause. Once the session is running, it runs.
You cannot go back. A weak answer stays weak. Move on rather than carrying it into the next question, which is where a single stumble usually turns into three.

The question types that cover everything

You cannot know your questions. You can know their shapes, and there are not many.

Move	What the question is really asking	What raters are watching
Describe	Tell me about a familiar person, place, routine or object	Detail, organisation, whether you can sustain speech alone
Compare	How has this changed, or how do these two differ	Whether you can hold two ideas at once and structure a contrast
Narrate	Tell me about a time something happened	Past tense control, sequencing, whether the story arrives somewhere
Handle a complication	Something has gone wrong, deal with it	The Intermediate High and above skill: unexpected situations
Ask a question back	Find out what you need to know	A distinct function, and the one least practised

Every OPIc question is one of those five wearing a topic from your Background Survey. Prepare the five and the topic stops mattering, which is exactly the position the test is trying to put you in.

The fourth and fifth are where grades are decided. Research on Korean OPIc candidates found that asking questions ranks among the weakest functions at Intermediate Low and among the strongest at Intermediate Mid, which makes it one of the clearest markers of movement between bands. And the official Intermediate High descriptor is built around handling unfamiliar and unexpected complex situations, so complications are not a bonus round, they are the band definition. Our guide to what OPIc IH takes goes into that in detail.

Why memorising answers backfires

This is not a style preference. It is documented in the test's own materials.

ACTFL defines the construct the OPIc measures as the ability to use language in situations the speaker has not rehearsed or encountered previously. Unrehearsed is not a side condition of the test, it is what the test is for.

The Examinee Handbook goes further and warns that raters are experienced in identifying rehearsed responses, and that using them may result in no rating being issued.

Read that consequence carefully. Not a lower grade. No rating. You would sit the test, wait for the result, and receive nothing, then face the minimum 25 day gap set by Article 5(2) of the test administration rules before you could try again.

There is a quieter failure mode too, and it is more common than the dramatic one. A memorised answer is rigid. When the follow up goes somewhere your script did not cover, you have nothing, and the collapse is usually more visible than if you had simply spoken plainly from the start. Fluency built on recall breaks the moment the conversation moves.

The Background Survey is a strategy decision

Since your questions are generated from your survey answers, the survey is the one place where you have direct influence over what you will be asked.

The temptation is to pick topics that sound impressive. Resist it. Pick topics you can talk about without preparing, because the point is to be asked about things where you already have material.

Two practical notes. Answer honestly, since the test may probe a topic from several angles and thin ground shows quickly under follow up. And favour topics that support all five moves: something you can describe, compare across time, tell a story about, and imagine going wrong. A topic that only supports description leaves you stranded when the complication arrives.

The Self Assessment screen sitting next to it deserves the same care, because it sets the ceiling on your possible grade. We cover it in which OPIc self assessment level to pick, and the grade it feeds into in OPIc IM2 and who requires it.

How to practise without a question list

Drill the five moves, not five topics. Take any subject and run all five: describe it, compare it to how it was, tell a story about it, handle something going wrong, ask a question about it.
Practise the replay decision. Have your partner say something once. Decide consciously whether you need it again. That habit is worth more in the room than another rehearsed paragraph.
Practise question forms out loud. Most candidates have never said an English question under time pressure. Role play scenarios put you in situations where you have to.
Speak into silence. The OPIc has no interviewer nodding along. Practising English speaking alone covers how to build tolerance for that.
Fix clarity before range. Being understood outranks sounding native. Six pronunciation fixes in fourteen days targets the sounds that block comprehension.
Make it daily. Free methods to raise fluency and building confidence in English cover the habit, and SpeakShark's free tier gives you a partner whose next question you genuinely cannot predict.

The mistakes that cost a band

Answering in one sentence. The question is an invitation, not a form field. Add the reason, the contrast or the example without being asked.
Reciting. Covered above, and worth repeating because it is the most common preparation strategy and the most directly penalised.
Freezing on an unfamiliar word. Say it another way and keep moving. Working around a gap is a rated skill; stopping is not.
Letting one bad answer spread. You cannot go back, so do not spend the next question thinking about the last one.
Choosing survey topics to impress. They generate your questions. Choose ground you can stand on.
Preparing for the wrong test entirely. If your employer accepts an alternative, check before you spend weeks here. OPIc vs TOEIC Speaking and the TOEIC Speaking test guide cover the other route, and if your process is a recorded video interview, see HireVue interview questions and English job interview role plays instead.

Not sure where you are starting from? Test your English speaking level free first, so the practice is aimed at a real gap.

How we researched this guide

The 20 to 40 minute session length, the Background Survey prompt pool mechanic, the Self Assessment, the five form structure and the construct definition come from ACTFL's OPIc Familiarization Guide, read directly rather than quoted from secondary sources. We have not stated a question count because that guide does not give one, and we would rather leave a gap than fill it with a figure we cannot trace. The rehearsed response warning comes from the ACTFL OPIc Examinee Handbook. The retake gap comes from Article 5(2) of the official OPIc Korea test administration rules. The function research on Korean candidates comes from published applied linguistics work on OPIc performance.

We have deliberately not reproduced test questions. Question content is the property of the exam body and lists circulating online are both unreliable and, given how the survey generates your set, not applicable to your session anyway. What we have described are the categories the questions fall into, which is public information and the only part that transfers.

Practise speaking, from SpeakShark

SpeakShark is an AI English speaking practice app, and it is our pick for OPIc preparation precisely because it cannot give you a question list. You talk, the AI answers, and the next thing it says depends on what you just said. That is the same unrehearsed condition ACTFL says the test measures, which no set of memorised answers can rehearse you for. You get feedback on pronunciation, grammar and fluency while the conversation is still running.

Start free with three sessions a day and no card. Limits are on the pricing page, and how it works walks through a full session.

We are a speaking improvement tool. We are not an exam preparation provider and we are not affiliated with ACTFL, Language Testing International, ETS or any exam board. For test format, rules, booking and official practice material, go to the exam body directly. Use SpeakShark to make your spoken English stronger, and use official material to learn the test.

Site: speakshark.com
Support: speaksharksupport@gmail.com
Free tier: 3 AI conversation sessions per day, no card

Sources

ACTFL OPIc Familiarization Guide: question count, session length, Background Survey, Self Assessment, the five forms, construct definition
ACTFL OPIc Examinee Handbook: rehearsed response warning and the no rating consequence
OPIc Korea, test administration rules: Article 5(2) minimum retake gap
OPIc Korea, about the test: grade bands and official descriptors

FAQ

How many questions are on the OPIc?

ACTFL does not publish a fixed number, and this is deliberate rather than an oversight. The Familiarization Guide states the test takes 20 to 40 minutes to complete and that prompts are randomly selected from a pool your own survey answers create, so the count varies with the form generated for you. Treat any specific number you see quoted online as somebody's sample of one, not a rule.

Are OPIc questions the same for everyone?

No, and this is the single most misunderstood thing about the test. Your questions are generated from the topics you select in the Background Survey, combined with the form your Self Assessment triggers. Two candidates sitting at the same time can receive entirely different sets. That is why lists of real questions circulating online are unreliable as a study plan.

Can I memorise OPIc answers?

You can, and it works against you. ACTFL's Examinee Handbook warns that raters are experienced at identifying rehearsed responses and that using them may leave you without a rating at all. The construct ACTFL states the test measures is the ability to use language in situations you have not rehearsed or encountered previously, so memorised material is the opposite of what is being scored.

What is the role play question on the OPIc?

A prompt that puts you in a situation and asks you to act inside it rather than describe it, typically involving asking for information or dealing with a complication. It matters more than its share of the test suggests, because asking questions is a distinct function raters look for, and it is one that a lot of candidates never practise.

Can I hear an OPIc question again?

Yes, once. The test allows you to replay each question a single time, which is why the practical advice is to spend the replay confirming what is being asked rather than panicking after the first listen. There is no pause and no way to return to an earlier question once you move on.

How do I practise for questions I cannot predict?

Practise the moves rather than the answers: describing something familiar, comparing two things, narrating a past event, handling a complication and asking a question back. Every OPIc question is one of those in a costume. A conversation partner that responds unpredictably trains this better than any question list, which is what SpeakShark's free tier is for.