IELTS Speaking Tips and Tricks

/ IELTS Real exam questions, IELTS Speaking / By

 

IELTS Speaking tips and tricks for candidates who want to take the IELTS exam shortly.

 

Speaking test is one of the major parts of IELTS examination where specially the natural ability of talking is tested. IELTS speaking test is he held face to face (kind of interview) with an examiner (Male or Female). The total duration of IELTS speaking test is around 11-14 minutes, divided into 3 sections/parts; Part-1, Part-2 and Part-3.

 

How you will be assessed:

 

In terms of IELTS speaking test you will be scored on a scale of 1-9 Band based on four criteria;

 

  1. Fluency and coherency
  2. Lexical resources
  3. Grammatical range and accuracy
  4. Pronunciation

 

The criteria mentioned above, the examiner really looks for in your speech. Each of the criteria carries 25 percent marks of IELTS speaking test.

 

What is to do for answering the question according to criteria:

 

  1. Fluency: here, the fluency does not mean you must talk in a force rather you have to talk in a rhythmic way. The actual meaning of fluency is the way of talking, it means in what rhythm you start talking with, you must finish talking in that rhythm. Moreover, you have to talk at length. Length means when you are asked a question, do not give the answer in one sentence or very shortly. You should expand your answer at least into 3 sentences.

 

Coherence: it is basically the relevancy, how exactly you can talk about the question/topic will be assessed here. You must be on the truck while you are answering the question.

 

  • Lexical resources: it is actually the range of vocabularies; the Examiner will see the variety of your vocabularies.

 

To show that you have a range of vocabularies you should use:

 

  • Advanced words
  • Advanced phrases
  • Standard group of words
  • Less common words
  • Lengthier words
  • Idiomatic languages
  • Contractions
  • Chunks and so on.

 

NB: you must use all of them very efficiently.  

 

  • Grammatical range and accuracy:
  • Grammatical range means the variation of sentence structures. The Examiner wants you to use several type of sentences; simple, complex, compound, active, passive, modified and so on.
  • Accuracy means the perfect use of tenses, what tense you are using is really a matter. It says in what action you are asked the question, you must answer in that action; Past, Present or Future.
  • Pronunciation:

 

Pronunciation does not mean you have to talk as perfectly as native speaker. It actually means that how clear and easy your speech to understand. You just have to emphasize on the word or letter where needed and maintain the silent words (to know what is silent word you may watch a video here…).

 

Let’s talk what type of questions you will be asked in three different parts:

 

  1. IELTS Speaking Part-1: this part lasts for 4-5 minutes. In this part you will beasked some general questions like what’s your name? where are you from? Do you like travelling?

 

Here are some familiar topics that you may be asked:

 

  • Firstly, to talk about your Hometown
  • Secondly, to describe your Study/Education
  • Thirdly, to tell about your Childhood
  • Then, to say something about Computer
  • Next, to talk about Reading
  • After that, to explain about Food
  • Moreover, to describe your Hobbies
  • In addition, to know about Music and so on.

 

Do not need to be much worried about the questions in part-1, because the Examiner will have a set of questions for this part. He/she won’t ask you any questions by making him/herself, so just be relax and answer smoothly. You should answer all the questions without repeating the question or word. For example: If the examiner ask you “do you like travelling?” You should not answer with “Yes, I like travelling” rather you should answer the question like “certainly yes! I think almost every person loves travelling, and so do I” ….

 

  • IELTS Speaking Part-2: it is an individual tern where you have to talk alone for long time, in this part you will be given a prompt card containing an IELTS Speaking Cue Card/Topic, and you have to talk individually for 1-2 minutes, however, you will be given extra 1 minute to take some notes on the given topic. Once you start talking after taking preparation for 1 minute, the Examiner won’t interrupt you and ask you any question during this time. After that the Examiner may stop you any time “saying thank you”. So, no worries if the examiner stops you before the time.

 

Here are some familiar topics you might be asked to prepare for and talk:

 

  • A precious item
  • A book
  • A film
  • A piece of music
  • Television program
  • Items of clothing
  • A special journey
  • People who influenced you
  • A skill you have learned
  • A special day

 

Use the time (Extra 1 minute) to make a plan what you are going to talk about! You won’t impress the Examiner if you start talking immediately without planning whatever your level of English is.

 

So, always take a brief written note, as it will assist you to speak with a good start, and keep your rhythm.

 

 Here are some instructions you may follow to write notes:

 

NB: don’t write the full sentence, write just key words (Garden, sea beach) or short phrases like love sightseeing, have a brisk walk and so on. 

 

  • Write the points in order
  • Words relating to the topic
  • Use nouns, verbs, adverbs, expressions
  • Try to make an intro to start talking with

 

IELTS Speaking Part-3:

 

This is the final part of IELTS Speaking test, here you and the Examiner will have a conversation followed to the Part-2 topic, however, sometimes the questions can be asked about different situations or topics. Specially, the following questions will be asked.

 

Need to remember that, in this part the Examiner won’t have any set of questions like part-1. So, the Examiner is free to extend the conversation as he/she sees fit. And the Examiner will ask you a variety of questions to assess your actual speaking skills.

 

Here are some points to help you:

 

  • Listen carefully to the examiner’s question
  • Try to keep a rhythm while you are answering
  • Go into details
  • Give reasons for what you say
  • Stay on the topic/question
  • When you answer any question, try to qualify it and expand it to support your opinion
  • Use functional languages and connective words to make your speech more organized.

 

Let’s see an example:

 

Question: How important the good friends are?

 

Answer: It’s beyond the limit, which is tightened with invisible thread. In a word I would say that it is as important as keeping one’s exiting.

 

Watch our Speaking Video to take your skills to the next level 🙂