Tips for preparing IELTS Speaking
Task 1: Introduction
The examiner will ask you around 12 questions generally about yourself from 2 to 3 topics, such as your study/work, your free-time activities and your favourite holiday destination. Therefore, 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, yet too extensive. Let’s consider the following example:
Q: How many people are there in your family?
- 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 70s. I have two grandparents as well, but they don't live with us.
Which response is the best for the question?
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.
Here are some tips to handle task 1:
Stay on topic
Listen carefully to the question and make sure you are answering it. Don't talk about something completely different just so you can 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.
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.
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.
Here is an example of using Wh-questions on the topic about “someone who has had an important influence on your life”:
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. Let’s consider the following questions:
Leisure:
- Why are some activities more popular than others?
- How do the types of leisure activities popular now differ from those popular when your parents were young?
- What types of leisure activities may become more popular in the future?
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 red) to illustrate your general response in order to further explain what you mean, as the sample answer below:
Q: What do you think about the way languages are taught in schools in your country?
A: In most schools in my country, English is the main language taught. I think it is actually taught quite badly because many of the teachers are not native English teachers. A good example is at my school. The teachers themselves were nearly all Korean, not native English people, and their English was not perfect. So, they taught us to say some things incorrectly, and also, they could not always say things clearly so we could not learn good pronunciation from them.
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.
Expressing Opinions
| Expression | Meaning | Example |
| Clearly Obviously |
Easy to understand or see | Clearly, the economy is not going to improve this year. |
| Personally | Showing that it is your opinion | Personally, I don't think the legal drinking age should be reduced. Others may disagree. |
| Generally | Usually, or in most situations | Generally, the trains are a lot more reliable than the buses in my country. |
| Surprisingly | Unexpectedly or in a way that is unusual | Surprisingly, the government prohibited smoking in all public places last year. I never thought this would happen. |
| Inevitably | In a way that cannot be avoided | I didn't study much. Inevitably, I didn't get the score I needed. |
| Predictably | As expected | Predictably, problems are now occurring in the city because of overpopulation. |
| Frankly | To be honest and direct | Frankly, I wish I'd waited before taking the IELTS test as I'm not ready! |
| Sadly Regrettably Unfortunately |
Unhappy, sad or sorry about something | Regrettably, my family could never return to their country because of the civil war. |
Justifying Opinions
| Across one sentence | |
| Generally, the trains are a lot more reliable than the buses in my country... | + Subject Verb:
...as the government has invested a lot of money into the system. ...because the government has... ...since the government has... ...due to the fact that the government has... + Noun Phrase: ...because of the government's investment of money into the system. ...due to the government's investment of... ...as a result of the government's investment of... ...as a consequence of the government's investment of... |
| Across two sentences | |
| Generally, the trains are a lot more reliable than the buses in my country. | + Subject Verb:
The reason for this is that the government... This is because the government has... This is due to the fact that the government has... + Noun Phrase: This is due to the government's investment of... This is because of the government's investment of... This is as a result of the government's investment of... This is as a consequence of the government's investment of... |
References:
https://www.ieltsbuddy.com/ielts-speaking-questions-and-answers.html
https://www.ieltsbuddy.com/ielts-speaking-part-2.html
https://www.ieltsbuddy.com/expressing-opinions.html
https://www.ieltsbuddy.com/personal-experiences-in-part-3-of-the-ielts-speaking-test.html