Tips for preparing IELTS Speaking
Task 1: Introduction
The examiner will ask you around 12 questions from 2 to 3 familiar topics, such as your study/work, your free-time activities and your favourite holiday destination. You should expect that there will be 4 to 6 questions for each topic.
Since the session is expected to last for 4 to 5 minutes, your response to each question should not be too short or too extensive.
Tips for IELTS candidates
Stay on topic
Listen carefully to the question and make sure you are answering it. Don't talk about something completely different in order to talk for longer.
Extend your answers
Give reasons for your answer. This can be a useful way to extend your responses. Always explain WHY you have given the answer that you have. You may also include meaningful details to enrich the content.
Don't speak excessively
Extend your answers but don't go on too much. This will only mean the examiner will have to keep interrupting you to move onto the next questions.
Be honest but positive
Try to remain upbeat and positive even if you are saying you don't do things or don't enjoy things you are being asked about. You can always put a positive slant on your answers.
Practice
After discussing on some advice for tackling the task, let’s practise with an example.
For instance, the examiner asks, "How many people are there in your family?"
Which response is the best for the question?
- There are four. We live in a large house in the north of my country. It gets very cold there in the winter but it is really nice during the summer months. I try to go back there often.
- There are four. My brother and my parents.
- There are four. There's myself of course. Then there's my younger brother, he's fifteen years old. And I have my mother and father who are both in their late 50s. I have two grandparents as well, but they don't live with us.
The answer
C is the best response for the question because the candidate talks about their family, and the candidate gives some but not too much extra information.
Task 2: 2-minute Long Turn
In this task, the examiner will give you a topic and you will need to talk about it for 2 minutes. In order to make sure that you can speak in length, you should think of at least 3 areas related to the topic. Since you have only one minute to prepare, here are some ways for you to better prepare for this task before taking the test.
Use Wh-questions
Wh-questions include Who, What, When, Where, How and Why. When you prepare, write down the other question prompts that are not on the list, and think of things you can say about those as well. For example:
- When - When did you meet?
- Where – Where did you meet?
Tell a story
You can also tell a story about the person, place, event or thing you are discussing. So, in your one minute, think of and note down a quick and preferably interesting story to tell about the topic. You can tell the story anywhere in the task, as long as it fits in.
The person I’m going to talk about today is my teacher from high school. (who) Her name was Miss Chadwick and she taught quite a few subjects at the school. She had been working there for quite a few years when I met her I think. (where) We met for the first time in my English class. (more about ‘who’) I remember this well because she was quite young compared to most of the other teachers in the school so I was surprised that she was a teacher! In fact, she looked more like she could be one of the older students!
(How long) So I met her when I was 15, and that was 10 years ago. I don’t actually know her anymore as we lost contact soon after I left the school, but I still remember her very well for several reasons. (What qualities) Firstly, she was very kind. She always treated all the students very well in the class, and I can’t remember her ever shouting at anyone. Also, she had a really good sense of humour. She would make jokes in the class which most of the other teachers never did. The other teachers were very serious all the time. And she made the classes a lot of fun and very interesting, something that I think is very important otherwise you start to get bored. Oh, and also, she explained things very well and very clearly. Often teachers are not able to do this in a way that students can understand, especially when it's complicated subjects.
So those are the qualities that she had. (why such an influence) The reason she had such an important influence on me is because I was quite a shy person at school and not very confident, but she helped me to change this. (tell a story) Each year, there was a school play that would be held in front of all the parents, and that year, when I was 15, Miss Chadwick was organizing and directing the play. I really didn't want to be in it because I was so shy, but Miss Chadwick insisted that I take one of the roles, and it was one of the main roles which meant that I would have to do a lot of speaking! I was so nervous. Anyway, I went ahead and did it, and on the night I did really well and really enjoyed it. And that really boosted my confidence and this has helped me to this day.
So, my teacher Miss Chadwick is the person who has influenced my life and I will never forget her.
Task 3: Discussion
Unlike task 1 and task 2 where you are required to express your personal experience or things related to yourself, in task 3, the examiner will expect you to give answers more generally, which should be related to everyone or general public.
As you can see, the focus of these questions is no longer on YOU, but the general public (Question 1), the past (Question 2) or the future (Question 3). Therefore, in order to achieve a higher band score, you can first express some of your personal experience (words in orange) to illustrate your general response in order to further explain what you mean, as the sample answer below:
Expressing opinions or giving your thoughts is an important part in task 3. You will also need to justify your opinion or explain why you have that opinion. To do this we usually use adverbial phrases at the start of the sentence.
Useful Expressions for Expressing Opinions
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