IELTS Speaking Exam How to Do Part One of the IELTS Speaking Exam
Hi, I’m Oli.
Welcome to Oxford Online English.
In this lesson, you can learn about the IELTS
speaking exam.
The IELTS speaking test has three parts.
In this class, you can learn about part one
of the speaking exam in more detail, and how
to improve your score.
First, let’s review what happens in part
one of the IELTS speaking test.
After you introduce yourself, the examiner
will ask you some simple questions about one
or two topics.
Some common topics are: where you live, your
job, your family, your free time, food, sports,
and other simple things like this.
Section one of the IELTS speaking test lasts
four-five minutes.
The examiner reads questions from a script,
so it’s not a discussion—it’s just question
and answer.
In this video, we’ll look at some sample
IELTS speaking test questions and answers,
and see what makes a good answer.
Part one: The First Questions in IELTS Speaking
At the beginning of the exam, the examiner
will ask you some basic questions:
What’s your name?
Where are you from?
Can I see some identification, please?
These are easy questions, and they are the
same in every IELTS exam.
Use the start of the exam to get comfortable.
You might be nervous at the beginning of your
IELTS speaking test.
This is normal, but you need to try to relax.
If you’re more relaxed, you’ll speak better.
So what can you do?
Answer the examiner in full sentences.
Don’t say, “Berlin,” say,
“I’m from Berlin.”
Don’t say, “Andrew,” say,
“My name’s Andrew Gray.”
Speak in a clear, confident voice.
Make eye contact with the examiner.
Making a strong start will help you to feel
more in control.
This will help you to feel more confident
speaking English in the exam.
Part two: Speaking Fluently and Clearly
After the opening questions, the examiner
will ask you questions about one of the simple
topics we saw earlier.
Let’s start with a simple question:
“Describe your hometown.”
We’re going to look at three different answers.
In this section, you can see how you can speak
more fluently and clearly.
Ready?
Answer number one:
“I come from Moscow.
It’s a big city.”
What do you think?
Is this a good answer?
No, it isn’t.
It’s too short, and there aren’t any details.
To get a score of 6 or 7 in IELTS, you need
to speak at length.
You also need to use a wide range of vocabulary,
grammar and pronunciation features.
If you give a very short answer, you can’t
do any of these things.
Remember: every question is a chance to show
the examiner what you can do in English!
Let’s try again!
Answer number two:
“I’m from Moscow.
As you may know, Moscow is the capital of
Russia.
I’m really proud of my city and I miss it
when I’m not there.
In my neighbourhood, there are many cafes
and parks where I like to hang out with friends
in the evening.”
What about this one?
It’s better, right?
It’s longer and it has lots of details.
However, this answer isn’t really answering
the question.
The answer talks about how you feel about
your hometown, and what you like doing there.
The question asks you to describe your hometown,
not say how you feel about it.
This is a common problem.
Many IELTS students know that they need to
give longer answers, but it’s also important
to stay on topic.
You do need to develop your ideas.
You do need to add details to your answers,
but you also need to answer the question which
the examiner asked.
You can’t just talk about whatever comes
into your head!
OK, let’s look at answer number three:
“I come from Moscow.
It’s a very large city, and also the capital,
so it’s very busy and crowded.
It’s the kind of place where people always
seem to be in a hurry.
The centre has a lot of historical buildings
and monuments, while out of the centre there
are mostly just residential areas.”
This is the best answer.
It’s clear, detailed, and on-topic.
Remember that you can pause the video and
review the answers if you want.
Part three: Using Vocabulary Effectively in
Your Answers
Let’s look at another question:
“Describe your home.”
This time, we’ll look at two sample answers.
Think about how the candidates use vocabulary,
and which candidate does a better job.
Answer number one:
“I live in an apartment in a big building.
My apartment has four rooms.
There is a bedroom, a living room, and a kitchen.
The fourth room is a…
Um…
I forgot the word in English.”
Answer number two:
“I live in a mid-sized apartment in a tower
block.
It has four rooms in total, with a tiny bedroom,
an open-plan living room, and a dining area,
and a kitchen.
Then there’s a…
What’s the word?
Like an office, where I do some work or studying
sometimes.”
Which answer do you think is better?
I hope it was obvious: the second answer is
much better.
What makes this answer better?
The use of vocabulary is much better in the
second answer.
The first candidate lives in a big building.
The second lives in a tower block.
This is much more specific.
The second candidate also uses a lot of adjectives,
like mid-sized, tiny or open-plan, while the
first candidate doesn’t add any description.
Using a variety of vocabulary can make your
answer clearer and more descriptive.
This helps your score.
Both candidates forget a word, but the second
candidate deals with it much better.
The first candidate just gives up and says
“I don’t know the word” while the second
candidate finds a way to explain the word
and explain the meaning.
You don’t need a perfect vocabulary to get
a good score in the IELTS exam.
If you don’t know a word, don’t panic,
and don’t give up.
Try to find other words or phrases which have
a similar meaning.
When preparing for your IELTS exam, think
about the topics which can appear in part
one.
Learn some more advanced or interesting vocabulary
you could use for each topic.
For example, learn and practice ten words
to describe your home, ten words to describe
your hometown, ten words to talk about your
hobbies, and so on.
Part four: Improving Your Grammar Score in
Part One of the IELTS Speaking Exam
Let’s look at our third sample question:
“What do you like doing in your free time?”
We’ll look at three sample answers.
This time, we’re going to focus on grammar.
Think about how these candidates use grammar.
Answer number one:
“I have a lot of different hobbies.
What I do depends on my mood.
For example, if I’m feeling energetic, I
like to play basketball or go jogging.
If I want to relax, I read a book or cook
something.
I find cooking very relaxing.”
What do you think?
Good answer?
Yes, it is.
It’s very good.
It’s clear, and the candidate has mixed
shorter and longer sentences.
There aren’t any grammar mistakes.
It’s a really good answer.
However, most IELTS candidates can’t use
grammar perfectly, and make mistakes when
they speak.
Let’s look at two more answers which might
be more realistic for you if you’re planning
to take IELTS in the near future.
So, answer number two:
“I have lot of hobbies.
I’m doing different things depending on
what’s my mood.
For example, if I am very energy, I will play
basketball or go to jogging.
If I want to relaxation, I read some books
or cook something.
Cooking is relaxing to me.”
Answer number three:
“I have many hobbies.
Sometimes I play basketball or go jogging.
Sometimes I read or cook.
Cooking is relaxing.”
Remember, we’re focusing on grammar.
Which answer do you think is better?
It might surprise you that answer number two
is better than number three, even though there
are many, many grammar mistakes in the second
answer.
In the third answer, there are no grammar
mistakes.
What’s going on?
How can an answer with lots of mistakes be
better than an answer with no mistakes?
First of all, the second candidate at least
tries to use more complex sentences.
The third candidate uses very short, simple
sentences.
This is an interesting point: in IELTS, trying
and failing, or partly succeeding, is better
than not trying at all.
The third candidate is trying to stay safe,
by only using grammar which he/she knows,
but this is not the best idea.
Secondly, the second answer is clear.
There are lots of grammar mistakes, but the
mistakes don’t make it difficult to understand.
This is another important point: in the IELTS
exam, mistakes which don’t affect your meaning
are not such a big problem.
I should say now, this is only true if you
are aiming for a score of 6.0 to 7.0.
If you need to get 7.5 or higher, then you
need to speak accurately, without grammar
mistakes, like the first candidate.
However, this is not true for many IELTS students,
especially students I meet.
Most people need a score in the 6.0-7.0 range.
If this is what you need, you don’t need
perfect grammar, just like you don’t need
perfect vocabulary.
You need to use what you know to communicate
clearly.
That’s much more important.
So, if you know that your grammar is not perfect,
it’s better to try to speak fluently and
express yourself clearly.
You can still get a good score in the IELTS
speaking test.
Part five: Review
Let’s go over what we’ve talked about
today.
To get a higher score in part one of the IELTS
speaking test, you need to:
Give longer, more detailed answers without
going off-topic.
You need to use a range of vocabulary to make
your answers more descriptive.
You need to find a way to express yourself
even if you don’t know a word.
You need to try to use some longer, more grammatically
complex sentences even if you make some mistakes.
Think about the questions we looked at today:
“Describe your hometown.”
“Describe your home.”
“What do you do in your free time?”
Think about how you could answer these questions
in the IELTS exam.
What details could you add?
What vocabulary could you use?
If you want, you can leave your answers in
the video comments, and we’ll give you feedback.
That’s the end of the lesson.
Thanks very much for watching!
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See you next time!