Top 10 Tips for Your IELTS Speaking Exam Advice from IELTS Examiners Students
Hi, I’m Daniel.
Welcome to Oxford Online English!
In this lesson, you can get ten vital tips
for your IELTS speaking test.
There’s a lot of information and advice
about the IELTS speaking test online.
Some of it is good, some of it isn’t.
Much of it is similar.
However, after working with hundreds of students
who were taking IELTS, we discovered there
was a lot of information which isn’t easy
to find online, from official sources or not.
We got feedback from students of ours who
took the IELTS speaking exam, and we also
interviewed several IELTS examiners.
Based on this, we’ve put together these
ten tips.
We chose these ten points because they’re
things which aren’t easy to find information
about, or because they’re points which are
often misunderstood.
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dot com.
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can help you to prepare for your exam.
One more thing before we start: don’t forget
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Let’s look at our first tip.
Here’s a question for you: in part one of
the IELTS speaking exam, how long do you have
for each answer?
In IELTS speaking part one, the examiner is
aiming to ask you twelve questions.
The examiner must ask at least seven questions,
otherwise the exam is not considered valid.
To answer twelve questions, you have around
fifteen to twenty seconds per answer.
Another question: how many sentences can you
say in twenty seconds?
Try it now.
Find an easy text, and read it aloud, with
a twenty-second timer.
How many full sentences can you finish?
Whatever number you got, in the IELTS speaking
test, you won’t be reading a text.
So, your number will be lower.
Many students we meet find it difficult to
get through more than one or two full sentences
in this time.
Common IELTS speaking advice is “develop
your ideas”, “give longer answers,”
and so on.
That’s not wrong, but it’s not the full
picture, either.
You don’t have time to make a very long
answer.
Even a highly fluent speaker can’t say that
much in twenty seconds.
And, twenty seconds is the maximum.
OK, it’s not like the IELTS examiners are
timing every answer you give, but they will
be controlling the time tightly.
By the way, this is similar in part three
of the speaking test.
So, when you’re practising, use a timer.
Limit your answers to twenty seconds.
Don’t practise huge, long answers which
take you a minute to get through.
If it’s difficult for you to get through
more than one sentence in twenty seconds,
practise for speed, with a timer.
How much do you think the examiner will interrupt
you in your IELTS speaking exam?
And, does it mean that you did something wrong?
The examiner might interrupt you for many
reasons.
We get feedback from IELTS students who are
surprised at how much the examiner interrupts.
Some people even get annoyed: “The examiner
wouldn’t let me speak!”
There are many reasons the examiner might
interrupt you, and not all of them are problems.
The examiner will interrupt you if your answer
is too long, or if your answer is off topic
– in parts one or three only, because the
examiner can’t interrupt you in part two.
The examiner will also interrupt you in part
three if you give personal examples, rather
than talking generally.
The examiner might also interrupt in part
three for a positive reason: your answer is
strong, and the examiner wants to move on
to more challenging topics.
Here’s the thing: you might not know why.
The examiner won’t generally tell you.
But, you should be ready for it.
Should you be worried?
Not necessarily.
There’s only one of these points which is
a problem, and that’s going off-topic.
We’ll cover that in more detail in tip number
eight.
There are many popular IELTS videos on YouTube
about “how to greet the examiner.”
Don’t worry about it.
It isn’t assessed.
It’s not part of your score.
It doesn’t count as part of the exam time.
Sure, it’s a good idea to use this time
to warm up, try to get comfortable, and remind
yourself of basic good habits: speak in full
sentences, give full answers, and so on.
But, it’s not assessed.
You can make a huge mess of it, and it won’t
affect your score at all!
In part one of the IELTS speaking exam, the
examiner wants to get through twelve questions,
on three different topics.
The second and third topics could be almost
anything, but the first topic – meaning
the first four questions – is always one
of two things: where you live, or what you
do.
Generally, it’s not a good idea to try to
guess questions or memorise answers, but you
should prepare to talk about these topics:
your house or apartment, your hometown, your
job or your studies.
Listen carefully to the form of the question.
Many students we meet mishear or mix up ‘home’
and ‘hometown’.
If in doubt, ask the examiner to repeat.
Although the topics are similar in every IELTS
exam, the questions are different.
For example, the examiner might ask: “Tell
me about where you live.”
“Tell me about your home.”
“Do you live in a house or an apartment?”
“Describe your house or your apartment.”
These questions are similar, but not exactly
the same.
“Tell me about where you live” is broader.
You could talk about your home, or the town
or city where you live.
“Tell me about your home” is specifically
about the house or apartment you live in.
“Do you live in a house or an apartment?”
is a more focused question, and you could
give a shorter answer.
“Describe your house or your apartment”
is more open, and requires a more detailed
answer.
So, listen carefully to the exact words of
the question.
In part two, you have one minute to prepare
your answer.
Then, the examiner will say this: “Alright.
Now, remember you have one to two minutes
for this, so don’t worry if I stop you.
I’ll tell you when the time is up.
Can you start speaking now, please?”
Your time starts when the examiner stops speaking.
When we prepare English learners for part
two, they’re often slow to start.
Sometimes, people need another five to ten
seconds to get their thoughts together and
start their answer.
This is a problem for two reasons.
First, you’re wasting your speaking time.
More seriously, if the examiner decides that
your pause is because you’re trying to find
the words and sentence patterns you need,
this will have a major effect on your fluency
and coherence score.
A pause of five seconds or more anywhere
in your IELTS speaking test limits your fluency
and coherence score to band four.
During part two, when your preparation time
is finished, you don’t need to listen to
what the examiner says.
It’s the same in every exam.
You do need to be ready to go.
Make sure you’re ready to start speaking
when the examiner finishes.
How long should you speak for in part two?
There are different opinions about this.
Some people advise trying to speak for the
full two minutes.
We advised aiming for 90 seconds in a video
we made previously.
The truth is that it doesn’t really matter.
Speaking more is generally better if you have
ideas and can express them clearly.
However, so long as you speak for more than
one minute, length isn’t a direct factor
in your score.
However, there’s one thing which is important.
If you finish before the two minutes is over,
you need to clearly signal to the examiner
that you’ve said everything you wanted to.
If you stop speaking before the two minutes
is over, the examiner will try to prompt you
to continue.
If the examiner feels that you can’t continue
because you’ve run out of words, or because
you can’t express your ideas, then this
will affect your score.
So, if you’ve said everything you can, tell
the examiner directly.
Say something like “That’s everything
I have to say.”
In part three, if you want to give an example
to support your idea, make sure it doesn’t
start with ‘I’ or ‘my’.
In part three, the examiner wants you to talk
in a more general way.
The examiner will interrupt you if you start
giving examples about yourself and your life.
It might be OK to give examples about individual
friends or relatives.
However, different examiners interpret things
differently, and some examiners might interrupt
you even if you do this.
But, don’t worry!
There’s a simple solution.
Just change your answers and examples to make
them general.
Imagine the examiner asks you: “When do
people traditionally give gifts in your country?”
Instead of “I usually give my family gifts
at New Year’s,” say “Most people give
gifts to their families at New Year’s.”
Instead of “I buy birthday presents for
my close friends,” say “Generally, people
would only buy birthday presents for their
close friends.”
Instead of “My former colleagues gave me
a gift when I left my last company,” say
“In the workplace, people might buy a gift
for a colleague who’s leaving.”
You don’t need to change the ideas; just
present them differently!
By the way, if you give a personal example
and the examiner interrupts you, this isn’t
a problem.
The examiner is just trying to keep you on
track, and it won’t affect your score.
There’s a lot of debate about whether it’s
necessary to stay on topic in IELTS, and whether
it’s a problem if you don’t.
Basically, you need to answer the questions
which the examiner asks.
If you go off topic in a natural way – for
example, if you start talking about one thing
in part two, and you take your idea in a new
direction in a way which is natural and coherent,
then no problem.
However, if you don’t answer the questions
which the examiner asks, or if your answer
is not relevant, this will limit your score.
Firstly, the examiner will not let you go
off topic in parts one and three.
The examiner will interrupt you and repeat
the question if he or she feels that your
answer does not fit.
If you still can’t produce a relevant answer,
this will affect both your vocabulary and
fluency-coherence scores.
In particular, the examiner will decide that
you aren’t answering the question because
you don’t have the vocabulary to do so.
This will put a limit on your vocabulary score
to band six maximum.
Giving irrelevant answers also makes higher
fluency-coherence scores impossible.
Especially for the highest scores – eight
and nine – your answers need to be relevant
and fully coherent.
There’s no point using memorised language
in your IELTS speaking test.
First, it will be obvious.
The examiner will know.
Trust me – it’s incredibly obvious when
someone is speaking from memory.
Secondly, it affects your score.
It’s not a disaster, but it puts a limit
on your vocabulary and fluency-coherence scores,
similar to going off topic.
That means both of these scores are limited
to band six maximum.
Finally, it’s a waste of time.
In the best case, you will get the same score
you would get by speaking naturally.
In the worst case, you’ll get a lower score.
So, why do it?
Memorising answers takes time and effort.
Spend that time and effort practising your
speaking and improving your communication
skills instead!
Sometimes, we meet IELTS students who try
to speak like they’re writing an essay.
They use lots of formal linking words, like
‘furthermore’ and ‘nevertheless.’
They don’t use contractions, like ‘won’t’
instead of ‘will not’.
Their intonation sounds robotic because they’re
speaking in an unnatural way.
This is not a helpful approach.
Firstly, with linking words and other discourse
markers, using them appropriately is important.
Using extremely formal language in a simple
conversation is not appropriate.
Secondly, for your pronunciation score, it’s
important to talk smoothly, using features
of connected speech.
An important feature of connected speech is
using contractions.
Many English learners don’t use contractions
at all in speech, or very rarely.
This is something you can work on, and it
will help your IELTS speaking score!
Using natural intonation is also helpful.
The examiners aren’t looking for any specific
points – they don’t have time to focus
on every detail of your pronunciation – but
they will consider the overall effect.
Focusing on intonation, and trying to copy
the intonation of native-level speakers, can
help you here.
Those are our ten tips.
What about you?
Have you taken an IELTS speaking exam recently?
Do you have any of your own advice to add?
Please share your ideas in the comments!
Good luck if you have an IELTS exam coming
up soon.
Thanks for watching!
See you next time!