IELTS Speaking Tips and Sample Questions

[lauxley]

IELTS SPEAKING TEST

It is important that you are relaxed when taking this test. It is understandable that you will be under considerable tension created by the examination situation. Nevertheless, take a deep breath, and try to look self-assured. The examiner is trying to assess your language communication capabilities. He/she will not be able to assess you unless you speak up The test is designed to give you ample chance to answer a variety of questions. It does not matter if all the things that you say are not true.

Answer in complete sentences. Keep talking until the examiner interrupts you or goes to the next question. Start speaking within the time it takes one to count to 5. If you need time to think say something like "That's an interesting question." or just repeat the question in a form like "You'd like me to tell you about (topic)."

Do you have anyone who speaks English to train with? (You don't need anyone proficient as long as they can read a bit.) Hand them the list of speaking questions and have them ask questions at random.

If you get stuck on vocabulary try to describe what you mean. Don't sit there knitting your brow and allowing the tension to rise. "Oh, the word I'm looking for has slipped my mind." is a good phrase to introduce a description if you can remember it. If you get utterly lost, say something like, "I'm afraid I've talked myself into a corner. Let me start over." or better "I don't think I should continue in this vein. Let me say it in a different way." and start answering the question in a different way.

You will be assessed on the following criteria:

- ability to communicate effectively
- ability to use appropriate vocabulary and structures
- ability to take initiative in a conversation
- general fluency
- organization of thoughts and points
- content (totally relevant/ sometimes irrelevant/ totally irrelevant)

This test is divided into 3 different sections. Initially you will be asked the so called "warming up" questions such as your name, the place you come from, etc. Here you should demonstrate your skills in providing extended answers rather than just an outright YES, NO or other similar one word answers. Attaining fluency takes plenty of practice and so make it a point to converse in English with others. Another aspect is to THINK IN ENGLISH. Let your thoughts be in English rather than in your own language.

Don’t learn chunks of answers. The examiner is trained to spot this and will change the questions.
Develop your answers as much as possible.
Speak more than the examiner.
Ask for clarification if necessary.
Remember it is not a test of knowledge and there is no single answer, but ensure that you give your opinion. Don’t worry if you feel it is not sophisticated enough.
The areas covered are fairly predictable and not infinite so practise at home by recording ideas onto a tape recorder

In the second part of the test, the examiner will give you a topic on which you will have to speak for 2 minutes. You will be given 1 minute to prepare your talk. Don't be afraid to jot down your points in a piece or paper and plan your answer. Then start talking ! If you do not plan your answer, you may end up running out of ideas for the talk.

During the Examination :
Let your volume be normal, not too loud
Do not speak too fast else you will run out of topic material or the examiner may not understand you
Maintain eye contact with the examiner
Do not show any signs of nervousness even though internally you might be

Some Helpful Websites
--------------------------
http://www.effingpot.com/slang.shtml
http://www.slangcity.com/
http://1000dictionaries.com/slang_dictionaries_1.html
American Slang
http://www.manythings.org/slang/

Here are some samples questions which could be useful. Try answering them.

1. What is the meaning of your given name?
2. Does your name affect your personality?
3. Tell me something about your hometown.
4. What are the differences in accent between your hometown and (test city)?
5. What is the character of the people like in your hometown?
6. What is people's favourite food in the region where you live?
7. Are there any traditional festivals in your region?
8. Tell me something about a local Festival.
9. How have weddings changed in recent years?
10. Describe a traditional wedding ceremony.
11. How do (Nationals) usually celebrate birthdays?
12. Are there any traditions concerning the birth of a baby?
13. How do you like (test city)? Compare it to your hometown.
14. What place do you like best in (city)?
15. What places in (your city/test city) should a foreigner visit?
16. What places would you recommend a visitor to go to in your region/hometown?
17. If you had the choice, where would you choose to live in (your country)?
18. Which parts of (your country) would you recommend a foreigner to visit?
19. Tell me something about your family.
20. Which is the worst place you've been to in (your country)?
21. Who takes the greatest responsibility for bringing up your child in your family?
22. Which is the best place you've been to in (your country)?
23. Who does most of the household chores in your family?
24. Are the traditional sexual roles within the family changing?
25. Why is the divorce rate increasing so rapidly? Is it a problem?
26. What is your opinion of the (some problem) situation in (your country)?
27. How are children disciplined in (your country)?
28. Is it acceptable for couples to live together without marrying?
29. If you had the choice, would you have a son or a daughter?
30. Would you bring your child up any differently to the way your parents did?
31. Who is your favorite musician?
32. Do women still have too heavy a burden in their day to day life?
33. Is the increasing influence of American culture largely a positive or negative thing?
34. What, according to you, has been the greatest change in recent years?
35. What, according to you, has been the most problematic change in recent years?
36. What, if you are a lecturer what changes have you seen in education over the past few years?)
37. Who should bear the responsibility for payment of tuition fees?
38. What can be done to improve education in rural areas?
39. Have recent changes affected your job in any way?
40. Do you agree with private education?
41. What can be done to close the gap between urban and rural areas?
42. If you had the power, what reforms would you carry out within education?
43. Describe a typical working day for you.
44. How do you see yourself in ten years time?
45. If you had the opportunity to change your job, what would you do instead?
46. If you had one million (local currency), what would you do with it?
47. If you could start your life again, would you do anything differently?
48. Do you have any ambitions?
49. Which country/place would you most like to visit?
50. What changes do you think (your country) will see in the next few years?
51. Will any possible future changes affect your job in any way?
52. How do you think you will cope in (your host country)?
53. What do you do in your spare time?
54. What will you do if you fail the IELTS?

Wish you all success in the IELTS exams.

Adios
Lauxley

[Guest]

its very useful...thanks for your strive.

[dampy]

thanks lauxley... and adding on

i feel it is really important to give instinctive and quick answers.... in other words u shud be responsive and shud try to display ur attentiveness...

further more candidate shud be prepared to field a volley of questions... to the examiner in the round where he is supposed to do so ...

Offcourse stress much on framing long sentences.... and at the same time do pay utmost attention to ur .vocabulary..

Here is a sample interviewer's comments on candidates speaking performance : The candidate is a guy from sweden ... here it is

It was a lively discussion and the communication was good. Pehr was good and gave quick responses to the questions. and was strong on question formation. Instances of use of formal and informal . language were inappropriate.. . Pehr's Grammar was reasonable and made some minor mistakes. and inaccuracies. Pehr's vocabulary was almost like native in terms of variety. Clearly there was some struggle with some responses as Pehr's argument was not always perfectly developed nor expressed logically.

_________________
daksh

[lauxley]

Thank You Dampy. Nice to note that more and more people are becoming proactive in this forum.

I believe that the speaking test does not have a session where the candidate has to address questions to the examiner. That was an old version of the speaking test which was dicontinued after 2001. Now all that the candidate has to do is to answer just as you said - impromptu. !

Regards
lauxley

[suneth]

thanks for the very long list of questions.. i'm about to face the speaking exam in another 3 hours.. and i practised with your list .. it took one hour.. well i feel more confident now.. thnks
suneth

[naveed saqib]

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[tatatka]

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rollwheel@ukr.net
Thanks a lot to all of you for this fantastic site!!

[soniakho]

Hi there,1
Could you also send me a copy of it? Thanks

[IELTS-blog]

These are real IELTS Speaking question from the latest exam, one of my students shared them:

Interview
- Do you work or are you a student?
- What is difficult about your job?
- Would you recommend your job to someone else?
- What are the types of shops that you usually go to?
- What is the name of the shop?
- What changes have you seen in those shops these days?
- Do you read books? What kinds of books?
- Did you read books when you were a child? How often?
- Do children nowadays love reading?
- Would you give a book as a gift?

Cue Card
Describe a magazine that you read, you should say
- Why is it interesting?
- Who reads them?
- Is it popular with other people?
Explain why is it important to read them.

Discussion
- Compare reading a newspaper and a magazine.
- How do people read them? Do they just read the headlines or the entire story?
- Why do people read magazines?
- Is reading the newspaper popular in your country?
- What are the other sources of news? Do people from the rural areas have the same access to these sources as people from the urban areas?
- What are the advantages of the Internet?
- Are there any disadvantages?
- Describe the impact of the internet in the lives of the students.
- Do you recommend that all countries adopt the latest trends in technology?

[ngwemoekhine]

THANK U

[irfan82]

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[irfan82]

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